At 11:54 AM 7/14/1998 -0500, Peter J. Schoenster so eloquently stated:
>On 14 Jul 98, at 9:50, Rainmaker wrote:
>
>> Hey:
>>
>> In today's wires...
>>
>> "Seattle -- Second-quarter loss at Amazon.com Inc. is expected to
>> be more than double analyst forecasts of three months ago, and
>> the on-line bookseller won't be profitable until 2000, First Call
>
>I don't see how they are losing money. Where is it going?
>
>I happen to like their site and think it is pretty good. I have
even bought a few
>books from them. I really like to see reviews, what others have bought, and
>similar books. And they make it pretty easy to buy -- except
the last time I
>was there I forgot my username/password. Something has to be done about
>this requirement for username/passwords everywhere you go. I
still think you
>could have a business where a person registers with you and you give them an
>id of some sorts and they can use this wherever they go instead
of putting in all
>the details and choosing a ....
>
>Anyhow, where is the money going at Amazon? How much of what they do is
>automated? Don't tell me they have hordes of people manually
doing everything.
>
I am waiting for my copy of the latest statement. For one thing,
they are spending a fortune on marketing -- $36 for every $100 of
sales -- 36%. Then, their prices are discounted, so that cuts
into profits. Bigger and lot's of volume doesn't mean success.
They are successful at building a brand as Kathy pointed out.
But at what cost.
It's like the two guys who buy a truckload of 500 watermelons for
$1.50 each and find they can't sell them at $2 so they reduce the
price to $1.50 and sell out the whole truckload. So they buy
more and reduce the price to $1.25. One guy says "we ain't
making any money." To which the other replies "I know, I think we
need a bigger truck."
George
_______________________________________________________
George Matyjewicz, C.M.O. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Moderator of E-Tailer's Digest http://www.gapent.com/etailer/
Your Resource for Retail on the Net
Moderator E-Marketing Digest http://www.webbers.com/emark/
Marketing Your Web http://www.gapent.com/myweb/
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