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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearded One who wrote (68889)	7/22/1999 2:27:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Respond to of 164685

Very good points. I went to a high-tech/Internet employment show a couple weeks ago here in Seattle - it was a great opportunity to talk to several small start-ups and get a different perspective on the large companies as well. I talked with people at the Nordstrom's booth and was told that they had big plans for the Internet but that, unlike Amazon and other early entrants, they had no desire to go into the Internet to loose money. They see themselves tying in every sales department with Internet terminals and offering customers the ability to select products via the Internet, purchase them for delivery or lay them aside at the most convenient store location so they can come in and "feel" the merchandise. Paraphrasing: "We want to personalize the Internet experience for our customers - that is what tell us they want." There will be many flavors of competition on the Internet but discounting the existing retailers who are just now starting to get active in putting together winning efforts is foolish, IMO. I think Amazon will become a large retailer of commodity products and get a piece of the auction market. Eventually they probably can make a small profit at it. Anyway let's speculate that they can. After the wild growth of the Internet starts to cools down to sub 100%, expectations will change to focus more on the profits these companies can deliver. Many "traditional" companies are now contemplating or preparing spin-offs of web parts of their business. The result will be massive amounts of competition and stock market dilution with too little regard for profits - outside of that from the sale of the stock. I wish I were one of the highly vested insiders at the next www.plunderthefrenzy.com! ;^)

To: Bearded One who wrote (68889)	7/22/1999 3:07:00 PM
From: Robert Rose	Respond to of 164685

<What I find amazing is that many investors just keep ignoring the fundamental syllogisms at work here: If one company finds it worthwhile to sell on the internet, then others will too. If one company finds it worthwhile to sell at a loss on the internet, then others will too. If one company which continually loses money gets valued at 20 billion dollars by selling at a loss on the internet, then other companies will find it worthwhile to sell at a loss on the internet, even if they only get valued at a 'few' billion dollars. Hence eternal competition and eternal pricing pressure from new directions. > Just as wmt proved that successful retailing is about exceptional execution, so too is amzn proving that fact. Despite intense competition, there is room for one mega-retailer on the net, and my money is with amzn. While its margins may never be large, amzn's BRAND will enable them to be larger than you think.

To: Bearded One who wrote (68889)	7/22/1999 7:13:00 PM
From: Jeff Dryer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164685

>What I find amazing is that many investors just keep ignoring the >fundamental syllogisms at work here: If one company finds it >worthwhile to sell on the internet, then others will too. If one >company finds it worthwhile to sell at a loss on the internet, then >others will too. If one company which continually loses money gets >valued at 20 billion dollars by selling at a loss on the internet, >then other companies will find it worthwhile to sell at a loss on the >internet, even if they only get valued at a 'few' billion dollars. >Hence eternal competition and eternal pricing pressure from new >directions. One of the best, insightful paragraphs I've ever read.