It also helps that virtually all their competition is in a race to the bottom of making customer service, the stores themselves, the shopping experience, etc. all markedly worse to cut costs.

I have never once heard of a company made successful by cutting costs. Sure you can defer the death, but the death is still coming. You're just buying time.

The competition was caught competing against a company that has a vastly different cost structure, namely that they don't have to even maintain buildings, have all that staff, and take on all the liability that comes with having people in your stores.

There's no way you can compete with that, the people have voted that they would rather order many things online than go to the store for it. I don't care how much service you provide, but for 90% of the things I buy, being able to do it wherever I am and having it show up to my door is way better than going to try and find it.

I feel the same way, but the thing is, there are plenty of things I need to buy and will need to buy someday that I know nothing about, and would very much appreciate the expertise of a proper salesman (not a salesman in terms of the coffee-voiced dolts we're so accustomed to, I mean a real salesman) when making my purchase decisions, and you just can't find them anymore, with rare exceptions.

I don't know if that would save many businesses, but it seems insane to me to take that one point where Amazon literally cannot compete on, and obliterate it.

Unfortunately, it's just not feasible. Salespeople are just not necessary for many day to day purchases, and the costs of a giant big box store don't work out.

Also, the information obtained from various online forums, reviews, websites and youtube could be more reliable and complete than from a salesperson. There are specialized products where a good salesperson can do wonders, but just not for much of retail.

Well I was picturing specialty retail and things like dealers, not really big box stores. I think big boxes are doomed, and I think we're better as a society for it.

> there are plenty of things I need to buy and will need to buy someday that I know nothing about, and would very much appreciate the expertise of a proper salesman

I can't think of ever feeling this need. I can't really remember needing a salesman for anything besides charging me.