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Re:Amazon, a Friendly Giant as Long as It’s Fed by eclipxe on Sunday July 13, 2014 @03:24PM (#8028334)
>The cost to them would be minimal and the customers they would gain that have been using online shopping with shipping to their homes could be significant.

This does not compute. They already have ship-to-store, and have had for quite a while. It hasn't made a significant impact on their online power. Customers don't want to drive to a Walmart to pickup their online order. That's an extra step for no reason.

Re:Amazon, a Friendly Giant as Long as It’s Fed by cpwright on Monday July 14, 2014 @07:47AM (#8030443)
Site-to-store does indeed solve a problem. If there is something I want at Wal-Mart, then I have to find it. Not only that, after finding it I need to stand on a long check-out line. With site-to-store, I get it on the web site, then just go to the back of the store and pick it up. The problem is that at Wal-Mart it can be a crap shoot as to whether the site-to-store place is properly staffed.

I actually use the Home Depot site-to-store equivalent much more than the Wal-Mart one [probably several times a month, vs. once or twice a year]. Home Depot gets it right. There are still occasional problems, and it would be better if they could fulfill the orders faster, but it still avoids having to search for stuff, which I consider to be of significant value.

Re:Amazon, a Friendly Giant as Long as It’s Fed by dm2 on Sunday July 13, 2014 @03:46PM (#8028377)
See this comment about the site-to-store please: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8028352

For driving it really depends on the city and the persons situation. Many people drive by a walmart on their commute, the ability to order something in the morning then pick it up on the way home would be convenient. For businesses someone could order something the night before and pick it up in the morning and use it at work that day, that would be very valuable.