well... markets always create a niche. as i posted on the buy.com (old) board (#reply-12824582), amazon has an advantage on speed and selection, but va.com is cheaper with limited selection. amazon can only lower its price to a point, since it carries inventory, while va can go very close to seller's price (vendor) and mark it up from there.
va's problem was taking care of too many items (which can still be found by bypassing the main menu, going straight to search; try to find gloves using the "search" method); amazon took care of one item, moving up from there.
va.com has a chance. it just needs a strong will, which i hope the new team can provide.
i hope you do well. ..."none of the smaller glitzy internet storefronts have a chance" if all they are going for is the ipo bliz. last year, when buy.com had all-free-shipping, plus extra incentives (such as a $10 coupon for "per-person"), i figured that the main reason was to paint their ipo. at the end of this year, when it comes to compare the two years/quarters, they will struggle to come up with the increase sales investors are hoping. what a stretch!
so, the small ones may not survive if they can't compete on 1) price, 2) speed, and 3) selection. marketing can be spread over time, by word-to-mouth or silent advertising (not another dot.com ad!). but in order for it to last, the underlying way of doing business must be strong.
i like vusa's model, but think it has a way to improve. it has a chance.
thank you for your time.
(implied disclosure: all imo, as always: you may have a different opinion.) |
