Andrew H.,
I agree with you. I think the links provided in Robert's post may overstate the number of potential new customers. For comparison, CDNow claims to have had a *combined total* of 738,000 customers from 1994 to September 30, 1998. See below.
<<< CDnow has grown rapidly since its inception in 1994. Of the 738,000 customers who have made purchases since inception through September 30, 1998, 442,000 made their initial purchases during the nine month period ended September 30, 1998. Average daily visits to the CDnow store have grown from approximately 12,000 in January 1996 to approximately 215,000 in September 1998. The Company's net sales grew to $13.9 million in the third quarter of 1998 compared to $11.6 million and $3.9 million in the second quarter of 1998 and the third quarter of 1997, respectively. The Company has also generated significant customer loyalty. Despite the Company's rapid acquisition of new customers, repeat customers accounted for approximately 59% of net sales in the third quarter of 1998. >>>
I think this just goes to show the magnitude of this Babe Ruth deal. If we have 900,000 potential salespeople out there selling on average one card each we get a lot of potential customers. Imagine, we could get a customer base equal to half of CDNow's customer base in just a few months. It took CDNow years to get to where we could be by June. The potential is mind boggling.
-Dave |
