To think Amazon is overrated?

[SugarCanes]

I keep getting Amazon vouchers for Xmas and birthdays. And to be honest, I can never find anything I want so I end up spending it on presents for other people.

I don't buy DVDs - I have streaming services so no need. I don't buy music either and never have the time to read these days.

As for toiletries and household things etc, it's often more expensive on Amazon that it is in the supermarket or shops. I have bought some clothing bits in the past and it was always awful quality.

I don't understand the fuss?

Nothing beats the convenience of Amazon.

Today I ordered two bottles of Nikwax for washing and re-waterproofing my work gear, a box of doggy sausages, some striped paper bags (the ones you'd put penny sweets in) and some aftershave for DH for Christmas. Free delivery, all for under £40 and it was dispatched two hours after ordering to be delivered tomorrow.

There's nowhere else I could order such a random selection of stuff with the same level of convenience.

I don't understand this thing about buying from independent book shops - people who work for Waterstones or Amazon have bills to pay too and supporting them is just as important! Independent businesses aren't owed a living - people are only obliged to support what they value and want to see survive. That might not be the inde which is more expensive/has less choice.

I buy toys (for presents) books for DD (school and non-school), cycling stuff, kindle e-books, my bin bags (brabantia) and some clothes from there. It's too easy to use. I live in a huge city and I can buy all of the above (apart from the e-books) from chain stores here but Amazon is too damn convenient. Also, the Amazon lockers are nearby so I know it will be secure until I pick the parcel up. No, I don't like how they treat their staff and Jeff Bezos has way too much money but he's tapped into my psyche and the f*cker won't quit.

Interesting though, it's not always the cheapest place. Quite often we find electronics cheaper elsewhere.

I think we are in a period of profound change in retail. And Covid has accelerated it. Unfortunately the lines of Amazon are the future, unless action is taken to save the high street.

But l see eventually town centres just becoming cafe/entertainment/ socialising areas. I can’t remember the last time l went in a high street store.

Mary Portas review 8 years ago. Did anything change?

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6292/2081646.pdf

The shift to working from home for people whose job allows it might be what saves the high street.

Wtf no.

I buy almost all the things on Amazon

House stuff
Toys
Dog stuff
Kids trainers
Stationary
Random shite I probably don’t need

I don’t buy cosmetics as I have another website for that but we shop on Amazon regularly.

I genuinely don’t understand. Ok if you don’t want to use it but to say you can’t find anything - that’s bizarre. Literally think of anything you fancy buying and look it up and there it is POOOOFFFF
and delivered the next day. Fabulous

Also online didn’t kill the high street - ok if the internet didn’t exist then we’d all be down Woolworths and BHS buying our wares.... but the high street isn’t how people want to live their lives these days.

Rightly or wrongly, it’s about convenience, consistency, availability and flexibility. That’s what people need and want. The high street reached a natural end state, it will always have a place for the quirky and interesting shops and the cafes and bars and probably markets (if they are run well) but the huge shops - those days have been numbered a long long time. It’s not Amazon’s personal fault. It’s a multitude of factors

@2020iscancelled

Also online didn’t kill the high street - ok if the internet didn’t exist then we’d all be down Woolworths and BHS buying our wares.... but the high street isn’t how people want to live their lives these days.

Rightly or wrongly, it’s about convenience, consistency, availability and flexibility. That’s what people need and want. The high street reached a natural end state, it will always have a place for the quirky and interesting shops and the cafes and bars and probably markets (if they are run well) but the huge shops - those days have been numbered a long long time. It’s not Amazon’s personal fault. It’s a multitude of factors

I agree. Friends who might have ten years ago spent Saturday looking around large high street chain stores are ordering things they need online and using their time to do something else.

Amazon makes my life so simple. I have been a customer since 1999. Apart from Ocado almost everything that comes into the house comes from Amazon. Since COVID I have also discovered the Amazon Prime tie in with Morrison's. In normal times (not Christmas) you can spend £40 and get same day free delivery a few hours later. Swift, efficient and often delivered by taxi. Morrison's prices are good as well.

Agreed about people just not wanting shops. I don't want to spend hours trawling shops bothering everyone with my screaming child. I want to search what I need when I realise I need it and usually have delivery in 24-48 hours. Life and the world evolves. That is not a bad thing

However I've just had mysecondmonthly "subscribe and save" order of Vitamin-D tablets (for DW) cancelled. After 27 previous orders for it going back over 2 years.

They might not be lying. Vit D tablets of any strength have been almost impossible to get hold of in all the supermarkets and pharmacies round here for months. They can be found from time to time, but mostly it's empty shelves because they get cleared out so quickly.

I love Amazon because it delivers almost anything, almost anywhere and can be done at any time.

I work between 10am and 10pm, on work days I can very rarely make time to go shopping before work and by the time I finish at 10pm everywhere is closed ... with Amazon I can order things on my break at work at tea time and have it the following day. I have just now, at 1am, used Amazon to order my DBro, SIL and DNephew's Christmas presents via their country's Amazon site to be directly delivered to them since they live abroad and weren't allowed to come back to the UK.

I would love to send gifts but due to postal delays etc I didnt want to risk parcels not arriving in time as they live very rurally and it can take weeks for packages to arrive at the best of times. Additionally I dont know many companies/businesses in their country so I didnt want to risk ordering from various different websites just because they were on Google when I searched their town, as I have no idea of quality/customer service etc ... instead incould go to Amazon and find appropriate gifts for everyone in one place and I know that they will be trackable and any issues will be dealt with easily, despite being thousands of miles away

I ordered something at 5pm last night. It was delivered at 730 am this morning.

Cant find anything you want to buy ? They sell literally everything...

I would be lost without Amazon and Prime. I buy so much from there and it’s zero hassle and often no more expensive or cheaper than the high street. I’ve got a package with DDs teen sanitary pads today, for instant. I ordered them at 6pm last night.

No one should be made to feel bad for choosing Amazon!
Although it saddens me to see shops close for good. I’m fortunate to live quite centrally and everything is within walking distance and delivery is super fast, so I choose to buy from smaller shops.oh and cheaper than Amazon too.

Although we live in central London I’ve always been an online shopper so nothing has changed. Amazon is my first option for shopping.

I love amazon. I buy loads of things from there. Never buy clothes or shoes that aren't branded though.
Usually always cheaper than buying from anywhere else, with prime can usually get next day delivery.
You need to read the reviews of certain things though, and get good at spotting which ones are fake, but that's the same for all online shopping really.

There was an item on Countryfile last night about rural high streets.

They looked at Saltaire and Skipton in Yorkshire. Saltaire is doing ok because lots of people are working from home rather than commuting into Bradford (and I suppose Leeds, though they didn't mention Leeds). Skipton isn't, and the shops are struggling because of no tourists.

They mentioned the Mary Portas review and then interviewed another guy who apparently turned around Wickes. He said you can't stop the online trend - you have to make high streets destinations for wanting to do things with other people - cafes, craft places, and the more expensive shops would follow.

I don’t understand posters who say Amazon are paying the tax that is due. They are not, they have deliberately created a structure to avoid paying tax as much as possible. They are based in a tax haven (Luxembourg) which they route their profits through in order to pay an artificially low tax rate, lower than what the rest of us pay for our income tax. They didn’t have to do this, they could have just played fairly and paid up. Smaller corporations don’t have the resources to exploit the system like this, so it’s anti-competitive behaviour, not to mention companies who actually value public services (like the education and healthcare of their employees, the roads and infrastructure they use to transport their goods, and the police and fire services keeping their businesses safe). Ironically HMRC have had their workforce and budget repeatedly cut due to austerity and don’t have the resources to crack down on it.

Very convenient and I always read the reviews.
I check the prices not always cheaper but the guarantee is no quibble.