Google and Walmart Partner With Eye on Amazon

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It's all about customer service

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I shop on Amazon because the prices are generally cheaper, and they offer low-cost two-day shipping. It's kind of like Sam's/Costco but with products straight to your door in no time.

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It's all about customer service, that thing that neither Google nor Walmart have historically been very good at.

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While I think the part about them not being good at it is true, I don't think that's the key to Amazon's success. It's convenience and ecosystem lock in. I used to shop from many more vendors before I became a Prime member. Amazon has become most people's first stop when they need to buy something online. Unless they don't have a specific product or the price seems way out of line, I don't even shop around anymore.

Will voice shopping present a potential for disruption to Prime's stranglehold on so many shoppers? I don't think so because humans are as bad at accepting sunk costs as they are at remembering to stop infrequent recurring payments like Prime. On top of that most people currently shop at Amazon and Walmart very differently. I often only buy one or 2 things at a time from Amazon, I rarely do that with Walmart. I can't imagine saying "Ok Google, order qtips from walmart."

I might say "Ok Google, buy my shopping list from walmart" but even then I'd worry about the specificity of my shopping list. I think most people are like me and put generic things on their list but have very specific things in mind. My list knows I want "bread crumbs", but whether I want plain or Italian, Progresso or store brand, and what size is only something I know.

I know this says they're aiming at the future but I think Amazon has a better chance of luring me over to them for stuff I buy from Walmart than Walmart has at stealing me away from Amazon. Especially once we see the end result of the Amazon Whole Foods acquisition.

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I have had to deal with Amazon Customer service twice ever and it was great, but that is not why I use Amazon.

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But do you still use Amazon because the times you had to deal with their customer service, it went well?

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While I think the part about them not being good at it is true, I don't think that's the key to Amazon's success. It's convenience and ecosystem lock in.

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IMO the customer service aspect is a huge component of the total convenience of buying from a particular company. And I wouldn't call it "lock in". It's not like it's a huge chore or even impossible to buy things elsewhere. The products are generally all the same, and the prices are usually similar.



Assuming the product offerings are the same, there are only a few differentiators between online retailers: price, speed/reliability of delivery, shopping experience/convenience, and customer service.. right?

Anybody can price-match, and it seems easy for anyone to match 2-day delivery, too. They are all working on same-day delivery and order pick-up, so we'll see what happens there. Google/Walmart seem to be focusing on the shopping experience, making it easier to buy stuff. My argument is that none of that stuff matters if you don't get customer service right. As a customer, you might only need it for less than 1% of orders, but when you do, it has a big impact (at least for me it does). Walmart can send me exactly what I want, exactly when I want it, cheaper than Amazon... but it either has to be perfect 100% of the time, or when something goes wrong they have to make it right without a huge inconvenience to myself. Otherwise, I will buy from the place I know I can get that guarantee.


A while back I rented a video on Amazon, and it played flawlessly as far as I could tell. Their systems detected that there may have been an issue with the stream, and they refunded me the full rental price. I didn't notice anything or complain at all, they just gave my money back. I just can't imagine Walmart doing that, and that's exactly why I stick with Amazon for nearly everything.

It's not that I use Amazon for their customer service and shopping experience

Rather, I use Amazon almost exclusively because of Wal-Mart's customer service and shopping experience

I would probably use an alexa type scanner for pickup via Walmart grocery.

Walmart Grocery is a game changer. Just waiting for them to offer delivery for $5 like Waitr

Amazon's customer service is excellent but I really don't think that's the sole reason people shop there. How many people really interact with Amazon's customer service, anyway?

I think people shop at Amazon because Amazon has just made it so easy to do so.
- They sell pretty much everything
- They often have the cheapest prices
- Shipping is pretty much always free unless you are non-Prime and spending under $25
- Returns are simple, customer service is great
- 1-Click, subscriptions, and voice ordering have made placing orders super simple



Ordering online can be harder for regular people than you think... My mom purchases tons of shite from Amazon herself, but the second she wants to buy something elsewhere online she calls me up for help.

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Do they really think that Amazon is winning because they dreamed up new ways to shop? No. It's all about customer service, that thing that neither Google nor Walmart have historically been very good at.

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Amazon's customer service (and it is good) is probably the last reason i shop at Amazon over Wal-Mart.com.

Some of y'all are missing the point. The fact that you rarely have to use the customer service is a testament to their customer service. A main reason that I buy so much from Amazon is trust that they will get it right almost always and if they don't, it will be quickly resolved. Customer service may not be forefront in your experience because when it's good you don't notice. When it's bad, it's the main thing you notice.

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I really don't think Walmart's customer service is nearly as bad as people are making it out to be.

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Try getting help at the auto parts department. Or go to another store and compare the amount of out of stock items. Or go to the self-checkout and notice how a line will build up, but the worker won't get off their phone to direct traffic or put new bags at the registers

There are lots of little issues with Walmart service that end up combining to make it a much worse experience than most other stores

Edit: I've never used Walmart Online or it's customer service, but I imagine it would be similar to my Walmart experience, where there's 100 registers, and only 2 of them are open, so you have 20 people in each line