Evans: Amazon and Big-Box Retail Compete on Logistics Algebra, Not Experience
Benedict Evans · Amazon and eCommerce · Oct 26, 2020 · at 5:46
Tech analyst Benedict Evans analyzes the fundamental operational differences between efficiency-driven retail and experiential retail.
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“Walmart or Walgreens or a bunch of other kinds of retailers, which all of which sit with Amazon as what I would call retail as logistics. Like, you know what you want, you go to the place, you get the thing. And there's just an algebra of like retails cost per square foot and how far are you willing to drive and what's the inventory and how quickly can they turn the inventory. And also a bunch of other things that people argue about, like, you know, what's the cash conversion cycle and so on and what's the CapEx really look like and how much of the CapEx is leasing and so on. But it's all algebra. It's not about experience and joy and service and discovery. It's about the hyper efficiency of the piece of algebra.”
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