My my, and the good news just keeps on rolling in for my favorite internut stock. Gosh, some of these articles seem to echo, almost precisely what bears here, esp the esteemed G Rudolph, were saying here weeks ago ... what IS this world coming to???
Business Week: September 21, 1998
Department: International -- Readers Report
Headline: COMPARING PRICES ON THE NET: CAVEAT EMPTOR (int'l
edition)
''A new chapter for Amazon.com'' (American News, Aug. 17) and its plans to
become an E-commerce destination glossed over the fact that all of this growth won't
necessarily be good for consumers. Amazon' s purchase of Junglee, an Internet
comparison-shopping company, could actually raise prices. The products that
Amazon sells (currently books and CDs) are unlikely to be included among the
categories that consumers will be able to comparison-shop.
A similar situation occurred earlier this year when Excite acquired Netbot, another
Internet comparison-shopping company. The first thing they did was to remove the
ability to comparison-shop for books and CDs. According to Excite, these shopping
categories were removed as a result of contractual obligations.
Before Excite's purchase, the Netbot agents would scour dozens of sites looking for
the best price for a book. Now, Excite allows consumers to search only one
bookseller, its partner Amazon. A similar situation exists in other categories.
Consumers need to look carefully when a site says it can help find a good price. That
bargain might not be as good as it is made out to be.
Kurt Thearling
Boston |
