hownottowrite
Joined 14 years ago
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Comment · 7 months ago
I think in large part the average Walmart consumer does not shop like the average Amazon consumer. They load up a big cart over time rather than pull the trigger on lots of smaller, convenience-driven purchases. So Walmart is going to view a smaller cart size as a potential failure primarily because their operations are not optimized the same way that Amazon is.
Comment · 7 months ago
Sure, I use it for that too. But we’re also talking about most people. Your average Walmart customer is not going to be your average HN reader.
Comment · 7 months ago
I’ve been running e-commerce systems for 30 years (tech, marketing, etc). This was going to fail from the start for one reason: intent.
Most people using AI chat are exploring ideas and solutions. They’re doodling, not shopping. Or in old timey parlance, they’re looky-loos or tire kickers at best.
Anyone who’s had to justify ad spend in e-commerce can tell you that some sources produce huge traffic with absolutely terrible conversion. Reddit and Pinterest pretty much blow for this reason, with limited exceptions. It’s also why TikTok and other influencer platforms really work.
Conversion requires a mental shift from discovery to demand.
Also, really hate summaries like this without the actual source so here are the main points from the actual source (WIRED https://archive.is/7DuEV):
1. Instant Checkout inside ChatGPT performed poorly, with conversion about one-third of Walmart’s normal site.
2. The experience failed largely because it forced single-item purchases instead of letting users build a cart.
3. Walmart is shifting to embedding its own assistant, Sparky, inside ChatGPT and keeping checkout on its own system.
4. ChatGPT is still valuable because it’s driving significantly more new customer traffic than search.
5. Purchases that did work were mostly practical, problem-solving items like supplements and tools.
6. Fully automated “agentic shopping” is still unlikely in the near term because people want control over purchases.
7. OpenAI is moving away from in-chat checkout and focusing on helping users research while merchants handle transactions.
In short, AI is useful for discovery, but traditional e-commerce flows still outperform it at closing sales.
Comment · 1 year ago
Active voice. Minimum word count. That’s it, unless you’re Paul Graham.
Spoiler: You are not Paul Graham.
Comment · 1 year ago
When I had my first real programming gig in the early 90s, I worked 14+ hours a day and ate fast food exclusively (often in very large quantities). My weight ballooned to nearly 400 pounds.
Then I got sick…
I couldn’t eat anything with fat. Just the thought of it made me physically ill. I ended up dropping half my body weight in 18 months.
What I learned is that it is possible to break your body in many ways.
Comment · 1 year ago
Seems like someone needs to read more Frans de Waal “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?”
https://wwnorton.com/books/Are-We-Smart-Enough-to-Know-How-S...
Comment · 2 years ago
Archived Link: https://archive.is/m89pK
Comment · 2 years ago
“Without work there is no life…”
That’s not something you’re going to hear from someone in their 20s or 30s, even a few decades ago. This is an attitude that you develop as you get older and become more experienced. It also helps if you’ve already checked a lot of boxes along the way (family, success, and so on).
Sure, Chang was the right person at the right place at the right time, but TSMC could only be built by someone in their 50s. Someone who understood from experience that the work is more important than the accolades because they lived it.
Incredible story end to end.