Can Amazon.com Become the Walmart of the Web?

When is the last time you went to Walmart to pick something up? Amazon.com? If you're like me, the latter was the most recent. I admit... I'm just not a fan of Walmart. It's not so much the people who tend to shop there, but the fact that the aisles (at least here) are too small given how many people there are in the store at any given time. I just don't like to stress out in a store just by walking through it, and since Walmart is the worst for that, I do anything I can to not go there, regardless of the deals.

So when I need to purchase something, like a movie or audio CD, I tend to either go to another store, or if the price is right online, I'll order it in and hold my patience until it arrives. I'm sure I'm not alone in preferring to purchase something online than off, because the convenience factor is unparalleled. There are some things I just won't purchase online, such as food or clothing, but for electronics or items of any other sort, I wouldn't think twice.

When Amazon.com was launched in 1995, it sold books. That's it. Over time, the service has evolved to sell pretty-well anything else, and according to the New York Times, within the next year, general merchandise for the first time will see more units sold than books, which is what many people still use the service for (I myself have bought books through Amazon.com in the past). The big question is, with Amazon.com's rapid growth, is it be possible that the company could become the "Walmart of the Web", or even better... overtake Walmart in sales?

The latter is an almost laughable thought, but I wouldn't discredit the notion so fast. After all, no one said that such a thing would happen next year, or even in the next ten. But with online shopping growing at an unbelievable rate, it may be mail couriers who really stand to benefit. Once Amazon offers color-accuracy on any monitor and the ability to smell and feel products they sell (hey, it could happen), Walmart could really be wary.

Credit: Jim Wilson (New York Times)

"Amazon has gone from ‘that bookstore' in people's mind to a general online retailer, and that is a great place to be," said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, an eBay-backed company that helps stores like Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney sell online. Mr. Wingo envisions e-commerce growing to 15 percent of overall retail in the next decade from around 7 percent. "If Amazon grows their market share throughout that period, and honestly I don't see anything stopping it, that is pretty scary," he said.

Tech Roundup - October 1, 2009

Motherboards & Processors
• Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 Motherboard: P55 vs X58 - Benchmark Reviews
• Jetway HA08 Combo L Socket AM2+ - Pro-Clockers

Displays & Video Cards
• ASUS EAH4890 TOP HTDI/1GD5/A - PCSTATS
• GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 260 Super Overclock - TweakTown

Memory & Storage
• Kingston HyperX DDR3 2133MHz 4GB - Bjorn3D
• Kingston SSDNow V+ 64GB SSD - PureOverclock
• MSI R4890 Cyclone OC - Neoseeker
• OCZ Agility Series SATA II 2.5" 60GB SSD - TestFreaks
• Super Talent UltraDrive ME 32GB SSD RAID - Ninjalane

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 - i4u
• Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard - ocaholic

Cooling
• Cooler Master Hyper N620 CPU Cooler - ThinkComputers
• Evercool Transformer 4 CPU Cooler - Red and Blackness
• GlacialTech F101 PWM Cooler - Hardware Bistro
• Nexus TDD-9000 Liquid Laptop Cooler - Red and Blackness
• Noctua NF-S12B Fan - Hi Tech Legion
• Logitech N100 USB Laptop Cooler - EverythingUSB
• Zalman CNPS10X Extreme CPU Cooler - Modders-Inc

Chassis & Power Supplies
• In Win Ammo Secure Hard Drive Enclosure - Tweaknews
• LanCool Dragon Lord PC-K62 Advanced Mid Tower Chassis - TweakTown
• QNAP TS-439 Pro NAS - APH Networks

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Alienware Aurora ALX Gaming System - HotHardware
• Contest: Teufel Concept E Magnum Speakers - XSReviews