More like a big ad for them, because everyone is going to hate the state here, when there is one more month of lockdown and many people rely on amazon for distraction.
Also, there is no "real" competitor, and even if there was they would also need to limit their offerings the same way.
How big is Amazon compared to FNAC/Darty, Cdiscount and co? Personally I have never ordered anything there because
- when it comes to books, they are not cheaper than at my local bookshop, in fact they are often more expensive.
- for home appliances, I always prefer buying things sold directly by the platform and not a third party seller or dropshiper, unless it's something used, but then I use ebay.
- I don't care about one day delivery, personally, I'm fine with waiting.
- For some reason, I hate the UI I find confusing and way too busy. Even that monstrosity that is Cdiscount UI feels easier to browse.
So what are the advantages of using Amazon in France compared to other platforms? cheaper delivery fees? better customer service? or having the convenience to be able to buy anything at the same place?
More products, ability to constantly check for optimal price without moving (using camelcamelcamel), great customer service when sending back something, and convenience (even living within Paris, it's hard to easily find things when they're at a Castorama or Leroy-Merlin for example, and the quantities are limited, comparisons are difficult to make on the spot, and customer service is abysmal).
disclaimer: I'm not living in France right now but I'm french and have lived in Paris for most of my life, and ordered on amazon countless times.
- next day delivery even on Sunday and public holiday
- customer service (return, warranty, no question asked)
- same site for everything
Except very rare things like appliance or foods/household or very high discount, I don't use any other platform. I know how the platform works, it rarely failed me (order or delivery or quality), find everything I need and fast.
I mainly buy things sold and shipped by Amazon, less often fulfilled by Amazon (FBA).
First customer service. I never had any problems, hidden costs etc.
Return is free, you get a sticker and that's all.
Their prices are the same as Boulanger or Darty and I prefer to pay 3€ more and know I will never have problems.
As a counter example, my family was always buying at Darty and one day I went to the shop with a defective device. They first wanted me to choose a similar device because they would/could not repair. I wanted the same or nothing. So the manager told me they would only give me vouchers. I got that in writing and told them I would be back. He was smirking and said good bye. When I came back with a letter from their CEO saying sorry (and a cheque) he was less snarky.
This is the kind of trick I hate because of the tension and most time. This does not happen with Amazon.
Then there is delivery in their lockers. Super easy, open till 21,no need to worry to miss someone.
The only things I wrote not buy from them are home appliances because they do not provide installation (like Darty or Boulanger do)
> So what are the advantages of using Amazon in France compared to other platforms?
It’s hard to compare Amazon with FNAC/Darty, because Amazon sells a much wider range of items (food, clothing, musical instruments, unusual electronic items, etc.). Amazon is excellent for finding obscure, hard to find items that FNAC/Darty just don’t sell at all.
Both Amazon and the FNAC offer next day deliveries if you pay 49 euros per year, but Amazon Prime gives you other benefits as well, such as Amazon video.
If you don’t care about one day delivery, and just want to buy books in French and home appliances, FNAC/Darty is arguably as good or better than Amazon. Both have good warranties and deliveries. (I shop at both, depending on what I want to buy. I have Amazon Prime, but mostly for Amazon Video, not for fast deliveries.)
It seems that a court has ordered Amazon to deliver only essential products [0], and Amazon's reaction is to suspend all deliveries.
They write in their other tweets [1] that the decision is based on (i) the fine of €1M per infraction imposed by the court, and (ii) the risk of contravening the decision being high due to complex logistics.
I thought the court had ordered them to cease delivering non-essentials, but left the decision of whether to continue shipping essentials or to close altogether up to Amazon.
France will be just fine and Amazon's competitors will be more than happy to get the business. Hopefully this would be a good example for everyone considering Amazon as being 'essential'. I personally cancelled Prime 3 years ago and have not ordered anything from Amazon since (I live in the US). Very ballsy move by Amazon. The world would get a glimpse of an Amazon-free economy and maybe they'll be inspired.
This clearly shows why Amazon needs to be broken up. To allow a company to disrupt and disband local supply chains and then try to strong arm governments is very dangerous.
Walmart is known as a town killer. Amazon is an industry killer.
I see it as a good reason for why France needs to be broken up.
EDIT: Those who're getting upset at it, think why or how is this any different than what OP wrote. If you want to create a liberal democracy with prosperous free markets then you create a set of deterministic rules and let people act under it. IF you don't like an outcome, don't apply hacks to it like break up a big company because you're upset at it, but change the basic rules (if you need to, which I think is a terrible idea in this situation).
Amazon didn't do anything wrong other than played by the rules. If you don't like the outcome, don't try to apply hacks.
Twitter's translation of one of the tweets in the thread:
"Considering the complexity inherent in our logistics activities and the fine of one million euros per infraction imposed by the court, the risk of contravening the decision was too high."
This seems to be a valid reason for suspending operations, although no where in the tweet-thread explains how frequent the fines would be. If they can't comply with the order fast enough, shutting down operations in order to have time to comply without getting fined seems reasonable.
France clearly wants to fill its coffers by fining every big SV company. Soon they will all pull out of France and no the local companies won't be even half as good. Then the people will clamor for Amazon etc. to be back.
Lol we"ll see who your Google and Amazon competition will be. No one is stopping France from having startups in other domains and yet we see not one company of note.
It would level the playing field and enable a lot of competition. For example, is it fair the Amazon the platform as access to all the data about good selling products, pricing information, and can dictate to a selling what they are allowed to sell something for (i.e. you cannot sell a product cheaper on your own website if you sell it on Amazon), but then at the same time takes that data and then comes out with am Amazon Basic clone to then undercut you as a the seller? The seller that already had to take a price cut/profit margin cut to be on Amazon? Having them be both the platform and the seller is bad for industry. You the seller and giving them free market research only to sell at a disadvantage to them because they are the gateway to the platform, product, shipping. The have slowly strangled industry and in the case of France now want to take their ball and go home when we are dealing with a global emergency.
That's how the industry has always worked. Walmart, Costco, supermarkets, clothing stores, pharmacies, etc, all have their own brand of products that they sell on their own stores along with other brands that use their competitor's infrastructure to sell their products. Usually the store's brand is also cheaper.
If true then we should start with legislation to disallow platforms from mandating competitor's pricing if they also sell products in their own platform.
It seems like a good starting solution without having to go for the nuclear option.
It is only fair. If other businesses that are selling items which are “non essential “ and have to close, it would not be fair for amazon to continue since they will have an advantage. Here in South Africa regulations were put in place so online and physical both have the same regulations applied. Therefore online stores do not get undue advantage.
It forced the e-commerce companies to make quick changes and they were able to get it done in a few days. all non essential items cannot be added to your cart. Even Uber eats added functionality to get essential items delivered.
Top twitter comment from Amazon: Following the decision of the court on 14th April, we (Amazon Inc) have to temporarily suspend activity in our distribution centers.
Decision from the court, in a screenshot few comments below: We order Amazon Inc to evaluate work-related risks inherent to the covid-19 pandemic, across all its warehouses and to put in place measures expected by article L4121-1 from labor laws (not sure what's in this article)... we order Amazon, until the above measures are put in place and within 24h of being notified of this decision, to restrict warehouse activity to reception of merchandises, preparation and shipping of food items, hygiene items and medical supplies, otherwise it will be subject to a fine of 1M EUR per day late and per infraction.
I think Amazon is prioritizing based on product category. That's entirely reasonable given the size of their catalog.
The problem is, any single category will have any number of non-essential items along with the essential ones. Case-in-point was a D*ldo just mentioned by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight that Amazon is shipping. As I understand it, sex toys are categorised under "Health and Personal Care" (or something similar) so it makes sense that this category is still shipping with priority.
Side note: I think there's a valid (no doubt controversial) argument that while sex toys are not "essential", they are indeed helpful at time when everyone is confined to their homes for literally months on end. But that's another debate.
40 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 89.8 ms ] threadAlso, there is no "real" competitor, and even if there was they would also need to limit their offerings the same way.
- when it comes to books, they are not cheaper than at my local bookshop, in fact they are often more expensive.
- for home appliances, I always prefer buying things sold directly by the platform and not a third party seller or dropshiper, unless it's something used, but then I use ebay.
- I don't care about one day delivery, personally, I'm fine with waiting.
- For some reason, I hate the UI I find confusing and way too busy. Even that monstrosity that is Cdiscount UI feels easier to browse.
So what are the advantages of using Amazon in France compared to other platforms? cheaper delivery fees? better customer service? or having the convenience to be able to buy anything at the same place?
disclaimer: I'm not living in France right now but I'm french and have lived in Paris for most of my life, and ordered on amazon countless times.
- next day delivery even on Sunday and public holiday
- customer service (return, warranty, no question asked)
- same site for everything
Except very rare things like appliance or foods/household or very high discount, I don't use any other platform. I know how the platform works, it rarely failed me (order or delivery or quality), find everything I need and fast.
I mainly buy things sold and shipped by Amazon, less often fulfilled by Amazon (FBA).
For me its the return policy and warranty, I had to deal with other platforms such as cdiscount and fnac before and will never go back there.
Return is free, you get a sticker and that's all.
Their prices are the same as Boulanger or Darty and I prefer to pay 3€ more and know I will never have problems.
As a counter example, my family was always buying at Darty and one day I went to the shop with a defective device. They first wanted me to choose a similar device because they would/could not repair. I wanted the same or nothing. So the manager told me they would only give me vouchers. I got that in writing and told them I would be back. He was smirking and said good bye. When I came back with a letter from their CEO saying sorry (and a cheque) he was less snarky.
This is the kind of trick I hate because of the tension and most time. This does not happen with Amazon.
Then there is delivery in their lockers. Super easy, open till 21,no need to worry to miss someone.
The only things I wrote not buy from them are home appliances because they do not provide installation (like Darty or Boulanger do)
It’s hard to compare Amazon with FNAC/Darty, because Amazon sells a much wider range of items (food, clothing, musical instruments, unusual electronic items, etc.). Amazon is excellent for finding obscure, hard to find items that FNAC/Darty just don’t sell at all.
Both Amazon and the FNAC offer next day deliveries if you pay 49 euros per year, but Amazon Prime gives you other benefits as well, such as Amazon video.
If you don’t care about one day delivery, and just want to buy books in French and home appliances, FNAC/Darty is arguably as good or better than Amazon. Both have good warranties and deliveries. (I shop at both, depending on what I want to buy. I have Amazon Prime, but mostly for Amazon Video, not for fast deliveries.)
They write in their other tweets [1] that the decision is based on (i) the fine of €1M per infraction imposed by the court, and (ii) the risk of contravening the decision being high due to complex logistics.
[0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52285301 [1] https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481151313154048
EDIT: I read elsewhere that it was a million euros per day, not per infraction. Much more reasonable.
France will be just fine and Amazon's competitors will be more than happy to get the business. Hopefully this would be a good example for everyone considering Amazon as being 'essential'. I personally cancelled Prime 3 years ago and have not ordered anything from Amazon since (I live in the US). Very ballsy move by Amazon. The world would get a glimpse of an Amazon-free economy and maybe they'll be inspired.
Walmart is known as a town killer. Amazon is an industry killer.
EDIT: Those who're getting upset at it, think why or how is this any different than what OP wrote. If you want to create a liberal democracy with prosperous free markets then you create a set of deterministic rules and let people act under it. IF you don't like an outcome, don't apply hacks to it like break up a big company because you're upset at it, but change the basic rules (if you need to, which I think is a terrible idea in this situation).
Amazon didn't do anything wrong other than played by the rules. If you don't like the outcome, don't try to apply hacks.
"Considering the complexity inherent in our logistics activities and the fine of one million euros per infraction imposed by the court, the risk of contravening the decision was too high."
This seems to be a valid reason for suspending operations, although no where in the tweet-thread explains how frequent the fines would be. If they can't comply with the order fast enough, shutting down operations in order to have time to comply without getting fined seems reasonable.
Why is it an issue with Amazon?
It seems like a good starting solution without having to go for the nuclear option.
It forced the e-commerce companies to make quick changes and they were able to get it done in a few days. all non essential items cannot be added to your cart. Even Uber eats added functionality to get essential items delivered.
Top twitter comment from Amazon: Following the decision of the court on 14th April, we (Amazon Inc) have to temporarily suspend activity in our distribution centers.
Decision from the court, in a screenshot few comments below: We order Amazon Inc to evaluate work-related risks inherent to the covid-19 pandemic, across all its warehouses and to put in place measures expected by article L4121-1 from labor laws (not sure what's in this article)... we order Amazon, until the above measures are put in place and within 24h of being notified of this decision, to restrict warehouse activity to reception of merchandises, preparation and shipping of food items, hygiene items and medical supplies, otherwise it will be subject to a fine of 1M EUR per day late and per infraction.
https://twitter.com/AmazonNewsFR/status/1250481148209369088
https://twitter.com/BlaisePere/status/1250522103952158722/ph...
The problem is, any single category will have any number of non-essential items along with the essential ones. Case-in-point was a D*ldo just mentioned by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight that Amazon is shipping. As I understand it, sex toys are categorised under "Health and Personal Care" (or something similar) so it makes sense that this category is still shipping with priority.
Side note: I think there's a valid (no doubt controversial) argument that while sex toys are not "essential", they are indeed helpful at time when everyone is confined to their homes for literally months on end. But that's another debate.