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Comment by everythingswan | Hacker News Reader

You have a point but I think the fact that grocery stores sell private label goods is the counter-point. Grocery stores re-package goods like rice, beans, paper towels, etc. to compete with their vendors all the time. We call them supermarkets, right? A grocery store is simply a more organized open market. Which is very comparable to Amazon.

I think the problem is that they present the results on good faith that "these results are the best match for you based on your search", not the most profitable for them.

I just ran a search and the default search filter was "Featured", which is so ambiguous it could mean anything, so it seems like a classic bait and switch that played out over the course of a decade of consumers getting the best search results based on reviews and sales.

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> A grocery store is simply a more organized open market.

That’s not true though right? Don’t grocery stores buy the products that are on their shelves and they are reselling them? That’s fundamentally different from a marketplace.

Some grocery stores, like Kroger, sell their own branded products in their stores.

Exactly. Stores like Kroger use their data, make generic versions of popular items, and sell right next to the brand at eye level. Amazon just does it at a larger scale.

> Don’t grocery stores buy the products that are on their shelves and they are reselling them?

No, not usually. Usually the seller pays the grocery to carry items, and the seller owns the items until sold.

For some products the seller even stocks the items on the shelves.

I think that's true for most goods, but there were definitely brands that stocked their own shelves at Publix when I worked there.

That said, what brands got that special treatment was very much decided by Publix, so they were still curating the selection, they just weren't paying up-front for the goods or responsible for keeping those shelves looking good.

Generally Publix still owns that inventory though (even if they have a buyback guarantee) My dad worked for Lance snacks when I was a kid. He stocked the shelves, but the stores paid him for the product.

Did they pay him for the product before or after it was sold? I never really knew which way it went, but assumed that since the entire thing, except checkout, was handled by the rep, Publix never really owed the product, they just sold it as if it were on consignment.

They paid him before. But really big stores would buy the whole thing on credit.

They definitely owned the product, while it was on their shelves.

Even if a vendor has a buyback guarantee for expired product, if someone were to break in and steal all the product, its the store who is liable not the vendor.

>Grocery stores re-package goods like rice, beans, paper towels, etc. to compete with their vendors all the time.

That was the original point I was arguing against.

My point is that grocery store is not a good analogy because Amazon is not the same as a retail store, they are a combination store and marketplace.

I would argue that a grocery store is a combination store and marketplace in that case. Stores have plenty of in-house brands, they also have racks of goods that are stocked and sold by third parties wherein they get a cut.

To be fair, I think I would be more comfortable comparing Amazon to Sears in it's heyday.

What store / grocery store has goods stocked by third parties? (Rather than purchased from the third party by the grocery store)?

All of the ones around here do. Used DVD racks still exist. Soft drink vending machines. Seasonal items. Newspaper racks.

In the case of items actually run through the register, I'm not sure how that's dealt with from an accounting standpoint. I do know that the stores have the ability to return 100% of unsold goods in those cases.

>, they also have racks of goods that are stocked and sold by third parties wherein they get a cut

I'm sure that exists, but it's not common. Grocery stores often charge slotting fees, but that's not the same as renting shelf space--the store still owns the product (even if there is an agreement to buy it back if it doesn't sell).

Also retail stores take on more product liability than marketplaces like flea markets do.

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