Two interesting, intersecting reads. First, there’s this from Eugene Wei, about his time at Amazon:
When I was at Amazon, we obsessed over being the “site of first resort.” When it comes to search, Google is the site of first resort. When it comes to ordering a ride share, Uber is the service of first resort.
For us at Amazon, being the site of first resort for an online shopping trip was an obsession. This is why it was so critical to expand out from books to other product lines quickly. We didn’t want to cement ourselves in shoppers’ minds as the site of first resort for buying books but nothing else.
And:
A few years back I was in a wedding party, and I had to purchase a specific shirt to match the other groomsmen. I could only find it at Barney’s, and the local outlet didn’t offer it in my size so I ordered it from their website. The package was stolen from our apartment lobby, so I wrote Barney’s customer service asking for a replacement shipment. They refused and asked me to take it up with UPS or FedEx, or whoever the shipper was. If it were Amazon, they’d have a replacement package out to me overnight on the spot, no questions asked. Needless to say, I’ll never order from Barneys again, but it’s amazing to think that Amazon’s customer service is superior to that of even luxury retailers.
As much as anything, this is why the retail sector is at a historic tipping point. From this New York Times article:
Along the cobblestone streets of SoHo, Chanel handbags and Arc’teryx jackets are displayed in shops like museum pieces, harking back to the height of the neighborhood’s trendiness. But rents there are softening, and the number of vacant storefronts is rising.
Today, some of the most sought-after real estate by retailers is not in SoHo, but five miles away in Red Hook, a gritty Brooklyn enclave with a shipbuilding past. E-commerce merchants are vying to lease part of a huge warehouse space, spanning 11 acres, that would allow them to deliver goods the same day they’re ordered online.
The profound reordering of New York’s shopping scene reflects a broad restructuring in the American retail industry.
Retail is shedding jobs at a historic rate:
E-commerce players, led by the industry giant Amazon, have made it so easy and fast for people to shop online that traditional retailers, shackled by fading real estate and a culture of selling in stores, are struggling to compete. This shift has been building gradually for years. But economists, retail workers and real estate investors say it appears that it has sped up in recent months.
We’ve all known this was coming, more and more choosing to shop from the couch. These days, if I’m going to a brick and mortar store to shop, there has to be a compelling reason. Custom fit is one reason (trying on clothes, for example). Products I can’t easily get online is another (a book I want to hold in my hand and want to read today, or fresh produce I want to pick out myself).
Great customer service is more and more a minimum requirement. Amazon is obsessed with reducing the friction in the shopping process, and that means great customer service and easing the pain of returning a purchase. For me, Amazon is the “site of first resort.”