You were out of stock of my razors yesterday (68.8p per blade). Although fair play for trying hard to disguise the fact by spreading what you did have over the 5 out of stock items.
Decided to check Amazon Prime, and can get them for 58p a blade, (with free delivery).
Spurred on, have put our monthly toiletries through, and realised we can save 10% *and* get them delivered.
disintermediation.
Running a supermarket site with the car parks and the staff is a high overhead compared with a warehouse in wales..
Not to mention actually paying tax.
Yes that's an often overlooked hidden cost of running out of stock - customer finds alternative supplier and a whole lot of business is then lost.
ISTM a proper comparison also requires e.g. the addition of a pro rata share of your £7.99/month Prime membership; the subtraction of the costs of travel to and from Sainsbury's; and adjustment for the net health benefit disbenefit of leaving the house.
DIY cost-benefit analysis can be hard work ;)
Sainsburys - since I worked for them nigh on 40 years ago - has always had woeful stock control. (Other supermarkets have other flaws).
They went through a phase for years, of simply never having certain things in stock at some stores, and trying to disguise the fact my moving the (obviously non-selling alternatives) across the shelf.
Size of store is no predictor of stock, or variety either. We found ourselves in a neighbouring city yesterday with the biggest Sainsburys I have ever seen ... getting on for twice the size of our local mega-mega store.
Still out of stock for razors *and* didn't stock an item our local does.
If it wasn't for the fact that with just SWMBO and I, our shopping rarely warrants online delivery ...
That's odd, my smaller local Sainsburys always has the things that I buy regularly.
Occasionally some things disappear, but a quick moan to the local store manager and they usually come back.
PS I wonder how much stock Amazon lose to shoplifting (customers *and* staff) ?. Once the high street has become a waste land of charity shops do you think Amazon will then feel the need to undercut anyone ?.
For some reason though, Amazon have missed Christmas this year in the Antipodes, electing to officially open their Aussie and New Zealand services in January. seems a strange decision. Brian
That doesn't matter to the consumer. It merely means that the supermarket business model is flawed.
Bill
So how much does Prime cost you I wonder. if you don't use Amazon a lot, it seems to me that its rather costly. I don't have any need of their video and have not signed up to their music on my Echo dot, prefering to use it as mostly a voice controlled internet radio with alerts and sundry other useful bits.
I am a cd owner. I have no time for only having virtual goods. I similarly baaulk at the Office 365 idea for similar reasons. Give me an application I can keep and keep the interface I want as I do with these newsgroups and email. Too much virtualness about which puts you at the mercy of a third party even more than you have to already. Brian
Agreed, but Asda are in general (from my non-scientific observation) around 20% cheaper on most branded goods than Sainsbury's and Tesco. Unless Walmart makes the difference here.
£79/year.
SWMBO uses it a lot for some specific products for delivery, so that already pays for it. Anything else is a bonus.
If they don't somebody else will, unless the law interferes.
Which is only of use if they carry the branded goods you want ...
Makes note ...
If people are willing to shop around I'll bet that that the same razor blades can be obtained cheaper in other non-internet retail outlets.
People who only shop in Tesco or Sainsburys may not realise how some "branded" items can be obtained heavily discounted elsewhere, especially non food items.
Where landlords are required to provide free drinking water, they often charge for the hire of the glass!
I think you'll find Amazon pays VAT, business rates, national insurance... there are probably others. The only one it doesn't pay is corporation tax, and that's because (like most multinationals) it arranges its profits to be made in a low tax jurisdiction. As it legally must.
Andy
I shall be interested as to how the bleating lefties respond to your post. Other than by foaming at the mouth, that is.
But a lot of the traders on there don't.
Article about last night's BBC Panorama at
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