Amazon doesn't have much to worry about in the short term. Ordering online from walmart.com was so horrible that I'd never return. It's still pretty horrible, the people that's packaging the items do not give a shit whatsoever. I had a tv that had burn spots. I ordered groceries that somehow thought it was more efficient to ship from Ottawa when the nearest one was 10 minutes away.
Brand and impressions are critical when switching cost is nil. Amazon is not perfect but it's not due to their fault, it's always the carrier delivering items late.
Similar experience. I ordered twice from Walmart.Com with store pickup twice in 2 years. Both times it took 20 plus minutes to get my item. One of those times I had to dig through the pile of boxes to find mine myself... I suspect the core problem is they pay so little they can't attract anyone to work there that gives a crap.
I've had that experience (and worse) with all store pickup options: Target, Home Depot, WalMart, etc. I just don't do store pickup for online orders anymore. I either have it shipped or go find it in the store myself.
This was also my experience when I lived in the U.S., but in the U.K. my experience with in-store pickup (usually called "click and collect") has been pretty good. Not sure why. Virtually everyone does it in the U.K., both higher-end places (John Lewis, Marks and Spencer) and lower-end places (Argos, Wilko), and all seem to be pretty efficient at it.
Argos especially is much better than anything I've seen in the U.S. in that regard. They have a subset of more commonly ordered items labeled "FastTrack" items, meaning you can typically pick up within 1 hour at any location (you can check ahead of time whether the item is in stock for 1-hour pickup at your desired location, but it usually is). Other items are typically available the next day, with the exception of some larger stuff (furniture, etc.) that might take longer. And if you don't want in-store pickup, you can get home delivery within a chosen 3-hour window the next day, which I find a lot more convenient than even Amazon Prime, where you can't specify which time of day you want the delivery.
Argos is the original, pre-Internet version of this, in operation since 1973.
In the 1990s, everyone I knew (as a child) had an Argos catalogue at home. It was simple to write down product numbers, give them to the cashier, pay, then wait at the counter for the goods to be handed to you. Depending how busy the shop was, the waiting time would be 2-5 minutes.
The website says "FastTrack" means collection within 60 seconds of ordering. That's the slight change since I lived in Britain.
Brand and impressions are critical when switching cost is nil. Amazon is not perfect but it's not due to their fault, it's always the carrier delivering items late.