Let's look at the real business:
1. Swiftrade:
This site currently has few users (just my estimate). But it is only just starting to be advertised and numbers are growing. How many of you have looked at the fee structure of Swiftrade? It is expensive! $29 per trade and 2c/share over 3000 shares. This is pretty steep compared to Datek @ $9.95 per trade with no extra charge for volume. So what does Swiftrade have over Datek. Currently they are easier to deal with for account openings, especially if you don't live in the US (I know because I have tried it). And the customer service is first class (no asian accents here by the way). Is that enough to justify the price difference? Probably not! Now they WILL open London and Hong-Kong very, very soon. If you don't believe that now then you will pay the "uncertainty discount premium" (registered trademark, Oliver Schonrock :-)) ) after trading starts.
Trading on the world markets is smarter than just one market! People WILL pay the extra price; that's why Tobin set it where it is! OK, then the others (Datek, etc) will catch on and try to provide access to the world markets as well. This is where Tobin's strategy with the generic software package (see ZSUN release Feb 2, 1999T) will kick in. ZSUN will be able to roll out more On-line trading sites in more countries than Datek could ever hope to. So what market is ZSUN going for: "the globally aware investor, and all those outside the US that want to invest in their own stock market because it's more local and they understand it better" (isn't that what investing is about; I think some guy Buffett said that once). Is this a real market for Swiftrade? Is it untapped? Will $30/trade matter? Will that make ZSUN profitable?
At the same time the newly aquired company: "Online Investors Advantage Inc" will help ZSUN target the US market. Who here thinks that all those in the US that probably should have an online-trading account, know how to drive a browser, or even dial into the net. The people with the nestegg money are computer illiterate, mostly. So you need to tell them where the "On-Switch" is and how to push the "Buy Dell" button. OIA will do just that, and they will tell their customers how to use, guess what ...Swiftrade...these customers will probably never figure out that there are other online-trading sites available, because that would require using a serach engine and they don't know how to do that! Is this a real market? Will the vertical marketing work? Will it make a healthy profit at the same time rather than costing a lot of money like amazon.com style mass web-advertising? Will this improve ZSUN's EPS and PE? Will it all go really wrong, when OIA/ZSUN take this extremely smart formula to the new markets outside the US and train people there?
Please make up your own mind. It makes a heap of sense to me and that is why I am long....It's beautifully simple and makes money all the way....into the shareholders pocket!
Next time, Pinmail...
Oliver |
