Good post;
<On the other hand, the barrier for switching vendors, on a purchase by purchase basis, is almost nonexist. In fact, most people will go to different site to make price comparison before buying. Isn't that what the Internet is for?>
A new internet standard called "Open Profiling Standard" or OPS will appear in browsers soon. What this standard does is to provide a standard way to store users information, such as name, address(es), phone numbers, e-mail addresses, credit card numbers, etc. and present these to various sites under user control. The user can, for instance, just submit their basic information but not their phone numbers or credit card info. And vendors can request that additional information be provided, such as browsing and purchasing preferences. The information is encrypted so that it is only available if the user wants it to be. The benefit to the user will be that it will prevent the requirement to re-enter the same daxn name, address and other information again and again at each site that requests it. Instead you will simply be asked to release certain types of information. The advantage to the web site or merchant will be that they can gain quick access to customer stats and basic profiling information. That will speed up the customer registration process, making it that much more transparent and convenient for the user to switch vendors. Unlike "cookies", the OPS file won't be accessible to anyone but those whom the user wants to see it. It will also be more "persistent" and survivable if something erases a file folder. I think they are also making it easy to export to a new computer or portable PC or other device. (Info on this can be gotten at the W3C forum on the web and at MS and Netscape developer sites).
Put the emerging user profiling and WEB SHOP BOT technologies together and what have you got? For one thing, the "BIG Advantage" that Amazon.com in user profiles (ditto other sites) will be greatly lessened. This diminishing advantage is arguable anyway as Barnes & Noble. Borders and other sites are building their own user profile databases. But the big advantage may be that shoppers will soon find it even more convenient to use Shop Bots because when they quickly come up with a list of the sources for the products they want, then they can sign on as a customer with just a few clicks of the mouse - no more tedious entry of information again and again.
Click . . . enter product name or number at a Shop Bot site, click, review list of sources, (maybe drill down the list to a clearer product description), then click on the product/source you want, enter the number you want, and click to check out. Then click to submit you user information, maybe another click or three to verify shipment methods, address, etc. and done. That's maybe an extra click or two different than buying from a vendor that you previously registered at.
Amazongonenuts.con bulls envision a future in which AMZN sees huge profits. IBM, Arthur Anderson, Georgia Tech Grad School, and other independent studies see a highly competitive environment in which margins are razor thin and profits hard to come by.
Who should speculators believe? Amazon's management and industry experts or their own wishful thinking? |
