Wsj article
<A new survey of online bookstores ranks Amazon.com Inc. as the most appealing site for customers, even though bargain hunters could find cheaper prices at half of its competitors.
The 19-company survey was conducted by Gomez Advisors Inc., Concord, Mass., which provides scorecards for a variety of online businesses, including stock trading, travel and banking. As competition intensifies in online commerce, there is increasing demand for such scorecards, both among customers and investors and analysts trying to size up companies' prospects.
<Picture: [Go]>Company Profile: Amazon.com
Julio Gomez, president of Gomez Advisors, said Amazon.com got top marks for ease of use and customer confidence. But it lagged slightly behind Borders Group Inc.'s site in building electronic relationships with customers and couldn't quite match Barnes & Noble Inc. for on-site resources. Meanwhile, All Direct Inc. was rated as the lowest-priced site.
"It wasn't a runaway for Amazon," Mr. Gomez said. While Amazon.com is by far the volume leader in online book-selling, he noted, it must contend with increasingly strong showings from various rivals. His firm listed Barnes & Noble, Buy.com Inc., and Cendant Corp.'s Books.com site as the rest of its top five sites, judged by overall consumer appeal.
To gauge price competitiveness, Gomez Advisors put together two typical orders for books, with titles ranging from "Memories of a Geisha" to "Windows 98 for Dummies." It then tallied total costs at each site, including shipping. All Direct had the best bargain, at $94.85, followed closely by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s site, at $96.54. Amazon.com ranked 10th, with an aggregate price of $111.60, still a sizable discount from total list prices of $161.70.
An Amazon.com spokeswoman said the Gomez Advisors findings sounded plausible. "Our goal is to give customers the best shopping experience," she said. "We will be competitive on prices," but Amazon.com isn't trying to win every price war.
Gomez Advisors said shipping remains complicated for most online bookstores, with limited ability to send an order to multiple destinations. Gift wrapping is common, but sophisticated services such as e-mail alerts for book reviews remain rare.> |
