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New York, 2:42 PM
Fri Dec 18
68 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Purple Dave Purple Dave
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    I did just use Best Buy's pick-up service to order a 5G Nano, since they offer $10 off if you order it online. Ironically, since you have to wait in the same line as people who are returning stuff, it can actually take longer to pick up something you've already purchased than it does to get through the fully-staffed checkout lane.
     Reply
    Purple Dave was starred Purple Dave was unstarred
    Image of OpenPotion OpenPotion
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    The article failed to mention that Walmart doesn't charge for shipping for items sent to their stores - another great selling point.
     Reply
    Purple Dave promoted this comment OpenPotion was starred OpenPotion was unstarred
    Image of Purple Dave Purple Dave
    12/15/09

    @OpenPotion:
    I'm pretty sure they do. Maybe not for everything (certainly not for stuff that can be pulled from on-site inventory, I'd think), but I was looking at ordering something for in-store pick-up where the item was only available online, and they cheerfully informed me that they'd have to charge me shipping. JC Penney does the same thing, where it costs just as much to have them send it somewhere that you have to drive to for pick-up as it does to send it right to your doorstep. Really only worth it if you're trying to buy stuff without family members knowing (useful around Christmas and birthdays, I suppose) or if you have light-fingered neighbors.
     Reply
    Purple Dave was starred Purple Dave was unstarred
    Image of OCEntertainment OCEntertainment
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    I can only hope this drive-thru crap isn't as literal as it sounds. Wal-Mart's had online-order, pick-up in-store for a while now. If they think losing the need to get out of your car is going to make some difference, they're idiots.

    Then again, if the managers I used to work for are any indication....

    Roll out the welcome mat. Here comes the Wal-Mart literal drive-thru window!
     Reply
    OCEntertainment was starred OCEntertainment was unstarred
    Image of thebigcheese thebigcheese
    12/15/09

    @OCEntertainment: Unless you ask them to match their own web site's price. The stores will not match Wal-mart's online prices, which are sometimes a good deal cheaper. But you can order online and pick it up in the store, which seems to me like basically the same thing as just buying it in the store, so why won't they just give me the stupid online price and save everyone the hassle? Ugh. I hate Wal-mart soooo much.
     Reply
    OCEntertainment promoted this comment thebigcheese was starred thebigcheese was unstarred
    Image of Martin Martin
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    Unless I read the article wrong, the only thing new is that Walmart is moving the Site to Store pickup counter to the front of the store in some locations. They've had free shipping to most of their stores for a while. This still isn't like Best Buy's in-store pickup, which allows items ordered online to be picked up in a few hours if they are in stock at the local store.

    Of course, I don't use either. If an item I want to buy at either store is in stock, I just go to the store and buy it. Why mess with ordering online for the same price as is offered in the store and then waiting to be notified that they either found it and set it aside for me or waiting for it to be shipped from a warehouse to the store to go pick up?
     Reply
    HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Martin was starred Martin was unstarred
    Image of HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H. HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.
    12/15/09

    @Martin: Because:

    1) The price is often not the same.

    2) In my case, at least, Best Buy is about 10 miles away, and out of the way from everything I do during the day, so if I do want something from there, it's best for me to make sure they actually have it available by reserving it online.
     Reply
    HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H. was starred HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of OrbitalGun OrbitalGun
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    This strategy is aimed squarely at a person like me, who loves to order online and passes a Wal-Mart on my way to and from work every day (in fact, cutting through their parking lot would save me an additional block). But for the masses, I would think that direct-to-door delivery would still be preferred. If you have to drive to the store to pick up the item, what was the point of ordering online?
     Reply
    OrbitalGun was starred OrbitalGun was unstarred
    Image of Gann Gann
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    This just might be brilliant. I don't see it working for TV's so much as those random walmart trips where you have to walk around the entire store several times to get milk, eggs, q-tips, batteries, a pack of pens, condoms. Just send the list with your walmart app, pay with your credit card, and go pick up your sack of random stuff.
     Reply
    Gann was starred Gann was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    12/15/09

    @Gann: Its only for online orders. In order to do that you'd have to pay extra for the amount of time it would take a store associate to run around the store picking up the items.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of Gann Gann
    12/15/09

    @NorwoodIsMyHero: They have an iphone app that allows you place 'online orders':

    [www.walmart.com]

    The new service includes everything on walmart.com, which now has a beta section for 'grocery' and 'health and beauty'. I believe that covers everything in my comment. As for paying extra, I don't see that anywhere. I assume you just made it up.
     Reply
    Gann was starred Gann was unstarred
    Image of thechansen thechansen
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    Wasn't Walmart trying to class themselves up to compete with Target? Stealing McDonalds business model ain't going to help with that.
     Reply
    thechansen was starred thechansen was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    "Yeah, I will take a side of fries with that big screen TV.....No Fries? What about a shake? No? WTF is this drive through....."
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of Chewbenator Chewbenator
    12/15/09

    @Curves: Our Super Walmart has a McDonald's.
     Reply
    Curves promoted this comment Chewbenator was starred Chewbenator was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    12/15/09

    @Chewbenator: GTFOOH. I should have known.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of Odin Odin
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    To be fair I hate waiting for deliveries. Sitting around, constantly looking out the window, hoping the damn package will arrive. Then they happen to not deliver it that day despite the indications from the tracking that they would. Then they shop up at some stupid time when no one is around to accept it and it ends up back at the post office anyway meaning in the end you have to pick it up.

    Still unless you don't have to go far to do these pick ups and you still get competitive online pricing I can't see it taking off.
     Reply
    Odin was starred Odin was unstarred
    Image of tamoko tamoko
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    There's a drive through strip club here in PA... Wal Mart's so behind the times.

    RoadsideAmerica.com
     Reply
    tamoko was starred tamoko was unstarred
    Image of TheZolf TheZolf
    12/15/09

    @tamoko: I went to college about a half hour from the drive through strip club. To stay on topic, though, I still think Amazon wins with same-day delivery -- then you don't have to wait OR get off your ass.
     Reply
    tamoko promoted this comment TheZolf was starred TheZolf was unstarred
    Image of tamoko tamoko
    12/15/09

    @TheZolf: I agree. Amazon hands down.
     Reply
    tamoko was starred tamoko was unstarred
    Image of mercury_marine mercury_marine
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    I once saw a guy completely lose it at the Walmart photo desk because the pix he had sent in online at 11pm weren't ready at 8am. I suppose with a drive-thru in the equation you can keep some of the angry ignorant customers outside in their cars.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero approved this comment mercury_marine was starred mercury_marine was unstarred
    Image of Deckard Deckard
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    I absolutely hate shopping at Wal-Mart. The people who work there are poor tortured souls with hardly any lifeforce left in them, exerting minimal effort.
     Reply
    Deckard was starred Deckard was unstarred
    Image of PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
    12/15/09

    @Deckard: But it's the American dream: Capitalism at its finest. Bringing you the lowest prices by making life miserable for your employees and suppliers.
     Reply
    PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was starred PurpleMonkeyDishwasher: was unstarred
    Image of avconsumer2 avconsumer2
    12/15/09

    @PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:: Indeed. We should all be just as miserable.
     Reply
    OrbitalGun promoted this comment avconsumer2 was starred avconsumer2 was unstarred
    Image of OrbitalGun OrbitalGun
    12/15/09

    @avconsumer2: We are that miserable, because we shop at Wal-Mart.
     Reply
    OrbitalGun was starred OrbitalGun was unstarred
    Image of TailsNZ TailsNZ
    12/15/09

    In reply to Walmart's Grand Anti-Amazon Strategy: Drive-Thru
    Interesting idea. Online sales without the waiting or cost of shipping (although you have the time and cost of driving and petrol). It would appeal to me sometimes though, if they had the same kind of prices you get an online only stores.
     Reply
    TailsNZ was starred TailsNZ was unstarred
    Image of Professional_Iceberg_Hunter Professional_Iceberg_Hunter
    12/15/09

    @TailsNZ: Don't most electronic retailers do a price guarantee on their own electronics? I know that you have to mention it in Best Buy though.
     Reply
    TailsNZ promoted this comment Professional_Iceberg_Hunter was starred Professional_Iceberg_Hunter was unstarred
    Image of TailsNZ TailsNZ
    12/15/09

    @Professional_Iceberg_Hunter: I can only comment on New Zealand's stores unfortunately; most will price match but only other retail stores, they usually exclude "online only stores".
     Reply
    TailsNZ was starred TailsNZ was unstarred
    Image of spectralveil spectralveil
    12/15/09

    @TailsNZ: Obviously y'all missed the entire point of the Walmart-Amazon price wars, where you know, they have a price war.
     Reply
    thechansen promoted this comment spectralveil was starred spectralveil was unstarred
    Image of thechansen thechansen
    12/15/09

    @spectralveil: much like the big book pricing war? Since Amazon sells 100,000s of books and Walmart has a 4 foot endcap of Dan Brown?
     Reply
    thechansen was starred thechansen was unstarred
    Image of Dacker Dacker
    12/10/09

    In reply to Inside Amazon's RV Wonderland: Where Your Christmas Is Packed and Shipped
    Based on a 40 hour week, my unemployment pays more than $10.50 per hour.
     Reply
    Dacker was starred Dacker was unstarred
    Image of detraya detraya
    12/11/09

    @Dacker: and yet, that pays more then my full time job. it's amazing how prices fluctuate based on location.
     Reply
    Dacker promoted this comment detraya was starred detraya was unstarred
    Image of Dacker Dacker
    12/11/09

    @detraya: True. For example, unemployment in OR maxes out at a bit under $500/week. Down in AZ, I hear it's in the low $200's.

    At $10.50, rent and food would take up about half of anyone's take home pay! Hardly a living wage.....
     Reply
    Dacker was starred Dacker was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_ My Brute Dojo Code CDIAFIFE GitEmSteveDave_ My Brute Dojo Code CDIAFIFE
    12/10/09

    In reply to Inside Amazon's RV Wonderland: Where Your Christmas Is Packed and Shipped
    $.50 night differential? That just sucks. IIRC, I at least got a $1.50 extra working overnights stocking shelves.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_ My Brute Dojo Code CDIAFIFE was starred GitEmSteveDave_ My Brute Dojo Code CDIAFIFE was unstarred
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