Blocking 500 Million Users Is Easier Than Complying With Europe’s New Rules - Bloomberg Article

Sounds unbelievable right? Well believe it, here is a link to the article but this issue has been shared by many other news outlets as well.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-25/blocking-500-million-users-is-easier-than-complying-with-gdpr?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=business&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social

A lot of US Businesses with online businesses in Europe are scrambling for the new GDPR and rather than trying to comply and respect the privacy and data protection, they choose to just block access of Europeans to their sites in order to protect themselves against fines that can go up to EUR20m+.

Maybe it is high time that US businesses rise to the occasion and updated their approach to privacy and data protection, even though the US government seems to be oblivious to the most important issue of our times (as demonstrated by Facebook and recently Amazon/Alexa).

It is this mentality that I am having particular difficulty since I moved to New York from London. It is the same all around for all firms, from newspapers to online retailers, banks and all other service providers, it is in their DNA.

Respect for customers’ rights is only pep talk for them, when it comes to actually showing it in their actions and approach, it is nowhere to be found, unless they get sued for it.

Let's look briefly at some examples form different segments.

Groceries:

Amazon invests billions in groceries yet they lack a cold chain to transport deliveries?! My milk&cheese comes packed with cold water bottles!

Instacart is just some kids shopping around the corner and bringing all in some plastic bags.

Fresh Direct is no better in supply or delivery although they have improved over the past year and instead of the reusable cardboard boxes in which they dumped pretty much anything mixed and unprotected (use of some form of paper shell for bottles was certainly not enough), they seem to have moved to reusable bags. However it is still weird to see FreshDirect Boxes laying around on sidewalks while the delivery guys try to sort them out right there. There is definitely big problem with the last mile delivery for all of these companies.

Why can't they do as all large supermarket brands in the UK do and get some tailor made small trucks with freezers. They have a thing or two to learn from Tesco and Sainsbury or even Ocado. If they are serious about this business they need to invest in the infrastructure, and whoever does will certainly have my business for a proper, trustworthy shopping and delivery experience.

Problem is not only about the last mile delivery but also stock management. I am sure you will agree if you have done some shopping using these grocery suppliers that about 20-30% of my shopping is not in stock, every time. Especially Amazon's stock variety is already very limited but when they don't have milk in stock I start to suspect how professional is the management.

Wireless & Broadband:

Verizon is good at sales & marketing, and then you will find hundreds of dollars in extra charges in illegible bills. Getting back your money requires an attorney. FIOS is even worse. AT&T is no better. No honouring of any promises at sales point. No care.

This story is all very similar for;

banking (turn your back and you get slapped with fees), online retail (even on Amazon sellers cheekily try to get away with not honouring their lucrative offers),

or online food ordering (lost, very late or undelivered meals).

In short, online industry is battling with an overgrown drive to grow & sell and it is not matched by the actual delivery of the service or product. And there is a big disconnect & detachment between the sales point and after sales care, which is basically an automated message.