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Comment by hathawsh | Hacker News Reader

What's mysterious for me is just how much less Costco charges for staples than Amazon does. For example, for Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, Costco charges $0.15 per ounce (if you buy it locally), while Amazon charges $0.52 per ounce. Sometimes Costco even cuts 25% off that price. Bezos has a very long way to go if he wants to conquer that market!

https://www.costco.com/Post-Honey-Bunches-of-Oats-with-Almon...

https://smile.amazon.com/Honey-Bunches-Oats-Almonds-14-5-Oun...

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That product isn't sold by Amazon, but by some other seller. A comparable product (though sans Almonds) sold by Amazon through their grocery delivery service is also $0.15/oz.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IAE91AI/ref=afx_dp_ingr...

Ah, I suppose I didn't see that because Amazon Fresh is not available in my market.

Plus there's no torrent of stories about mistreated Costco or Trader Joe's employees.

Amazon is about convenience and variety first, followed closely by price. If you want to drive to Costco and buy the bulk-version of the few choices they have then yes they will be much cheaper.

> Amazon is about convenience and variety first, followed closely by price. If you want to drive to Costco and buy the bulk-version of the few choices they have then yes they will be much cheaper.

I feel like that's pretty revisionist. For a very long time, shopping at Amazon was about price first, variety a close second, and convenience a very distant third. I doubt so many people would have developed a habit of shopping there so much if the advantages were truly "convenience and variety" first.

Amazon's prices have gotten much less competitive the last several years, which has disrupted the value proposition that caused many people to choose it.

You don't have to revise history to say that it's true today. They definitely had a price advantage for a long time because internet commerce didn't have sales tax and they gained a massive following by the time that was legislated away.

I find it hard to believe that free 2 day shipping and free customer-first returns did not sway opinions though since it basically pushed the entire industry forward.

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