July 9, 2001

10:20 AM

Amazon Stops Free Shipping.After only 2 weeks, Amazon.com stops free shipping for orders with two or more items. (At least they rememberd to lower the prices they raised in order to be financially able to offer this promotion.)

Amazon stopped their free shipping promotion right as Barnes and Noble's website offered a similar offer. Is Amazon going to be able to compete with B&N? Is the end near for Amazon? Or is Amazon sufficiently love-marked enough to withstand shipping costs?
posted by jennak (11 comments total)

Is Amazon going to be able to compete with B&N?

I can only assume that they stopped because it wasn't working. I buy stuff from Amazon all the time, but not since I started seeing "You Save: $.74 (5%)" next to the price. My guess would be that sales dropped big time. Thus, this isn't going to hurt their competition with B&N.

Is the end near for Amazon?

Regardless of the buzz, I think that you'll always be able to buy books and CDs from Amazon. e-commerce is still in its infancy. Sooner or later, it will become the standard.
posted by jpoulos at 10:30 AM on July 9, 2001

Is the end near for Amazon?

And we blame the media for sensationaliziation...

Anyway, no, because Amazon will always have customers. I hate going to music stores - having to browse the selection to the beat of whatever the top 40 hit is. (The day I hear the Backstreet Boys again is the day I smash every speaker within reach. Make it stoooop...) Also, they rarely have what I want in stock, and the peirced weird pre-teen at the counter doesn't know how to read the policy manual well enough to order it for me. (Sorry, bad experiences with my local Sam Go^H^H^H^H^H^H mall music store.)

Amazon has what I want, their prices, even after shipping, are typically less than I can find at the mall, Walmart, or Fry's (Well, maybe not Fry's, but I hate having to put up with sales clerks asking me if that was all I was going to buy.). I have not had comofortable retail experiences shopping at large chains (The one exception is clothing stores - but that's probably only because I shop the sale racks at the 'snooty' mall), so I now either shop online or from small local merchants who appreciate my business.

Will I ever stop shopping online? Nope. Are there other people like me? Yep. Are there enough people like me to keep Amazon, et. al. afloat? Probably. We'll see. My bet is "yes".
posted by SpecialK at 10:43 AM on July 9, 2001

Yes, blame Jennak for sensationalism! I asked questions to start a conversation. I'm really tired of such haughty attitudes. If we were all objective and stoic, there really wouldn't be much to discuss here at MeFi.

I personally believe that Amazon will have to [merge/be bought] out [with/by] some other online business in the next 2 years. But I think the reason Amazon will stay alive is loyalty, not necessarily cost-savings. I continue to shop at Amazon, even though it would be cheaper if I shopped locally, or at another site.
posted by jennak at 10:56 AM on July 9, 2001

I think Amazon's rumored upcoming partnerships with Best Buy and Borders will do wonders for their profitability... I think they'd probably be good to go without either of those, but unlike drugstore.com, i think either of those would be a really smart business move.
posted by chrisege at 11:04 AM on July 9, 2001

That is really odd. I thought Amazon took over the Borders e-commerce site because Borders could not compete between Amazon and B&N. In fact, the girl and I have a Borders.com refrigerator magnet, which has "Borders" marked out and "Amazon" written below it. I remember it happening damn it! You're not my mommy! YOU'RE NOT MY MOMMY!
posted by chrish at 11:31 AM on July 9, 2001

Wish they were in OR so my orders for WA didn't have sales tax.
posted by greyscale at 11:35 AM on July 9, 2001

I think they should have stayed in books. Once they left books they lost focus.
posted by brucec at 1:24 PM on July 9, 2001

I think they should have stayed in books. Once they left books-only and went into other
areas they lost focus.
posted by brucec at 1:25 PM on July 9, 2001

"Lovemarks"...this makes my stomach turn. I hope I never encounter this word or that vomitrotious lovemarks.com site again.
posted by argus at 8:57 PM on July 9, 2001

chrisege: I think Amazon's rumored upcoming partnerships with Best Buy...

Goodness, if amazon partners with Best Buy I'll seriously consider dropping buying anything from them, even if it's not a BB item. self-link as to why

In regards to the shipping issue, I'm very pleased to see it go. As Brent Simmons notes, consumers shop on price alone. When it comes to shopping online, there are two things that do it for people: convenience and price. If the price isn't low enough, and there's a nearby store selling the same thing at a comparable price, people'll go.

With the free shipping masquerade, amazon's key bonus - an apparent low price - was wiped clean. Now I have to wait 3 days to get Chasing Amy on DVD? I can get it at Borders for the same price, today. The idea of free shipping is a nice one, but if the prices go up noticeably, forget it.

Amazon isn't dumb, but I think they would have been smarter to institute the free shipping policy and then gradually up the prices - over a three or four month period. Kind of how eBay changed their site's background color: nice and slow, see. That's the way you do it. Nice and slow.
posted by hijinx at 9:05 PM on July 9, 2001

hijinx: I can't believe I managed to force my way through that BB letter you wrote, but I did. I'd love to reply here, but it would take up too much space and be entirely off-topic, so I'm just going to email you.

I will say here that I can understand your frustration, but I think what you're doing is analagous to condemning the entire US government based solely on the practices of your town's elected officials (even though you readily admit your neighboring town's government is wonderful). Seem a little silly to you? I hope so.

If you're going to condemn the US Gov't, do it because the whole system sucks, not because Nowhereville does. If you're going to condemn Best Buy, do it because the whole corporation sucks, not because your local store hired some clueless employees.
posted by CrayDrygu at 6:47 AM on July 10, 2001