Submitted 1 year ago by LazerDickMcCheese@sh.itjust.works to fediverse@lemmy.world
Is it possible to one day replace the privacy nightmare of Amazon with a decentralized merchant network? All I really use Amazon for these day is aggregate customer reviews by query, then buy the items as direct as possible. Why can’t respectable tools to this instead? I understand the cost, but could the tech be adopted?
Using amazon for it’s reviews? Isn’t that one of the least trustworthy aspects of amazon?
I don't know about "decentralized" as centralization is a driving influence in cost of marketing. Amazon is efficient because of every step of the way is centralized, from store front to the warehousing to the shipping. Sure there are some products that don't ship by Amazon, but they're usually at a cost disadvantage unless they're unique. Plus payment processing is centralized and allows for consumer protections which wouldn't be possible with something like crypto.
Amazon could be dethroned, but it would require very specific circumstances and unlikely wouldn't be by a privacy minded entity.
Amazon is cheap because personal data subsidizes a lot. If they couldn't sell targeted sponsor ads to you, they'd make that revenue up elsewhere.
Amazon is as you said extremely efficient on their warehouse and shipping because of their centralization and size. They can build extremely expensive warehouse to keep being efficient and surpass the competition.
There would maybe be possible to get an “enhanced” activity pub in order to protect privacy and financial informations. There is already something similar but without activity pub : a multitude of website where it is possible to buy things.
But there still needs to be some centralization, either through the postal service for small companies, or through centralised warehouse companies, with spzcialized equipments. And both of these things are already in place.
However if the OP wants a decentralized Amazon like efficiency, it won’t happen. The costs will increase and it will take more time, because the way the shipment will work will heavily depend on the seller.
That’s quite a tall order. The options are already there and that’s to directly go to a merchant’s site and buy through them.
But if they’re going to decide to primarily list their store in Amazon or Ebay, there’s really not much one can do about that.
Have a look at particl.io
I haven’t installed it yet, but that sounds exactly like what I had in mind. Is it limited by which companies have adopted it?
The developers have made it clear that they want to have a robust, sophisticated and scalable ecosystem before they do any advertising. The project is therefore mostly known only in cypherpunk and niche privacy communities, and so are the things that are sold on the public marketplace.
However, all the tools and automations to run an efficient online commerce already exist. For example, there is a connection to WooCommerce and scripts that facilitate the listing of items.
So from the technical side, practically everything is already available in the marketplace. What is missing is a web integration which is urgently needed for a broader adoption and easier possibilities to buy PART the native currency. The developers are currently working on the latter by developing Basicswapdex.com.
Amazon is too big. Bigger than some countries economy. Nothing can replace it.
If you count ship to store or home sales, it’s competing with Walmart, Hole Depot, Zoro and EBay. Most of the same garbage sellers are on those sites as well. The problem is none of them are any better than Amazon.
I’m just attempting to shop locally, or if I need something particular , get it from more trustworthy (though unfortunately usually more expensive) sources, usually direct from manufacturers, or industrial suppliers (McMaster or Grainger for hardware or construction parts for example).
Bookshop.org is an attempt to provide an alternative to Amazon as a bookseller by using a network of independent book stores. It’s not decentralized technologically or anything like that; it’s just a website that bookshops can affiliate with. But it does represent a model to build an alternative that other industries can learn from.
Flohmarkt is probably the closest thing codeberg.org/grindhold/flohmarkt
Carighan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m not entirely sure you’d want that, tbh.
Think about how logistics work, and how fuel has to be spent. You don’t want a decentralized network for physical goods. That’s extremely inefficient and wasteful.
Even if it’s just about the final point of sale… we kinda already have these aggregations of individual merchant stalls? We call them “malls” mostly, nowadays, or “markets”, depending on type. They exist, but keep in mind that a lot of stuff is centralized behind the scenes, be it maintenance, logistics or chains.
Tibert@compuverse.uk 1 year ago
There are malls, markets, things like that. These are just the front end for the customers to buy things, the retailer.
As you said there are centralisation behind. Either through the same company managing all those different malls, or through Wholesalers working in the background selling to a lot of retailers.
LazerDickMcCheese@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I apologize for not being more specific, I’m not interested in a centralized delivery system. I just want vendors to have their inventories posted online (as usual), but for them to be aggregated by category and filterable in one location without depending on a dystopian tech company. MAYBE have a frontend to appear as though everything is centralized, but I would be indifferent
Carighan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Aaaah, okay. I keep thinking I heard of exactly this in the German city of Hamburg before, or even the entire area. But I can’t find anything about it right now. But I’m sure I had heard of this. There was like this meta-shopping-system, and then the orders were fulfilled by each company individually, they just pooled their catalogues basically.