Sears to Sell DieHard Car Batteries on Amazon | Hacker News Reader

Sears to Sell DieHard Car Batteries on Amazon

fortune.com

11 pointsrbanffy13 comments

I recently walked through my local Sears to get to the mall (I parked near them since it was 30F outside and their lot was the only one relatively unfilled) and it was literally empty compared to the rest of the mall. On my way out I started checking out the prices and comparing them on Amazon and it makes sense why it was all empty. At least Best Buy matches or even gives better discounts compared to Amazon.

But Sears doesn't make batteries. Suppliers like Johnson Controls and Exide do...and Exide is in bankruptcy.

There's absolutely nothing Sears could do to stop Amazon from going straight to the manufacturer once they figure out the logistics of moving lead-acid batteries around. This feels like a way to bootstrap sales until that happens.

That's true, but people who have been buying DieHard batteries for forty years are comfortable with the brand.

"Sears will expand its DieHard partnership with Amazon next year to include tires and batteries."

How can they ship something so heavy and large and still make any money? Doesn't it cost a huge amount to ship those things?

Surely it is expensive. But think about the cost to make them. Its a simple combination of water, metal and plastic. FYI, shipping batteries is considered hazardous. In my experience Amazon did not accept return shipments for a battery they sent to me that was defective.

Its a simple combination of water, metal and plastic

A lot of them still contain lead and sulfuric acid. That's why they are hazardous.

Not only that, but most people don’t install their own tires and batteries.

The ~25-foot long top to bottom shelf space dedicated to car batteries at most Walmart Stores would suggest it is a significant market.

You are correct on tires. Batteries, though? Where I'm from many know how to do it and only a few pay. Sometimes the guys at auto zone will replace it for free or some dude in the parking lot is happy to help. Or that friend at work. And so on. A few cars have a more complicated path to the battery and you have to remove things, but it isn't usually a problem.

I'm about as mechanically un-inclined as it gets and I still install my own batteries. It's trivial. I'm pretty sure I know far more people that install batteries themselves or with a friend than pay for someone to do it.

Have you ever tried to replace the battery on a Corvette? You need to take apart a dozen parts... it's ridiculous, I'm convinced they do it to keep mechanics in business.

UPS delivers tires from TireRack to my door. Granted, I don't own a Big Foot replica, a mining dump, or a large John Deere. But ordinary tires are not that big and not that heavy and ship at ordinary rates...or in Amazon's case a heavily negotiated rate.

Larger businesses get extremely steep discounts on shipping.

As a small business I get 15-30% off, but billion dollar businesses can get as much as 70% off counter rates.

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