Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: brad greene who wrote (88459)	12/24/1999 4:50:00 AM
From: Luis	Respond to of 164684

BRAD my broker is M.S.D.W. and just bought amzn yesterday 300 at 91.50 oooppppppppppssssssssss,he tell me something about the stock down about rumors of lower margins hit the wires ........ but instructions were keep it quiet ,let the wire and the rumor do their job ...... so just imagine

To: brad greene who wrote (88459)	12/24/1999 11:30:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

<<An analyst from Forester on the CNBC news mentioned that 20% of on-line purchases will be returned in the week after Christmas......so the longest lines may be at the post office.....>> <<PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec 24 (Reuters) - Internet stores selling everything from books and Barbie dolls to lingerie and laptop computers may have little time to celebrate their stunning holiday sales before the next big challenge arrives in the form of post-Christmas returns. If the traditional retail pattern of record high sales leading to record returns holds true for online stores, they are about to be bombarded with unwanted gifts being sent back. This could prove the biggest test yet for these online merchants, many of whom have perfected the business of processing orders, wrapping and shipping goods with barely a human touch, but are less well equipped for the labor-intensive returns process. "Items coming back to us require much more labor," concedes Mark Steinberg, director of retail at the Shopping.com store, a division of CMGI Inc.'s <CMGI.O> AltaVista Internet portal, which sells computers, consumer electronics and other items. "It takes almost no labor to send things out." In preparation for post-holiday returns, Steinberg is increasing his customer service staffing by 50 percent, above his regular bare-bones crew of 10 to 12 employees. "It's an extremely important time of year," he said. "The way we process returns will be a big test of the customer service we offer." Online merchants say one of the main ways they prepared for after-Christmas returns was to do everything possible before Christmas to make sure their customers were happy with the items they ordered. "We provide oodles of information about our products up front, all intended to help make the right purchase in the first place," says Bill Curry, spokesman for the online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O>, which includes customer reviews on its Web site as well as detailed pictures of many of its products. "In physical stores you've often got salesmen pressuring you to buy things. We offer lots of information and no pressure," says Curry, who argues that online shoppers tend to be a cautious group whose extensive research pre-purchase should correspond to higher overall satisfaction rates. But there have already been some indications that online shoppers have not had the best overall shopping experience. A few days before Christmas, Andersen Consulting came out with a study showing that many online purchases were not arriving on time. Robert Mann of Andersen Consulting said the poor record getting goods sent out on time would likely mean that more of those late-arriving gifts would be sent right back to the merchant. The Andersen study found a striking disparity between traditional retailers that had set up an online store to accompany their physical presence, and pure Internet retailers, known as e-tailers. The retailers surveyed delivered orders when promised only 20 percent of the time, compared with 80 percent for e-tailers. If the e-tailers have tended to invest more aggressively in back-end computer systems to ensure outgoing items move swiftly, it may be the retailers that are best equipped to handle incoming merchandise. Many retailers who have both physical and virtual stores, such as Gap Inc. <GPS.N>, let customers who purchase online return items to the physical store, and vice versa. "We think it's an added element of consumer service," said a Gap spokeswoman. "It's a policy designed for consumers' convenience. They can return by mail or to any store." Many online stores have tried to accommodate customers by offering a longer window for returning goods. Amazon.com even offers to pick up especially bulky items at the customer's home to save them the trip to the post office. But the convenience of taking an item back to the nearest store for an instant refund may be hard for e-tailers to match. As an example of how complex online returns can be, Shopping.com asks that customers phone or send an e-mail to the company for instructions on where to send the item, which will vary depending on which manufacturer is involved. They are then instructed to follow up with another call, to tell the company that the item is coming back, and leave a tracking number. Shopping.com says some customers will invariably fail to follow these instructions, which are posted on its Web site, and ship the returned goods to the wrong location. In the past, returns have even come to its corporate headquarters. "It does happen a bit," says Steinberg. "It really slows down the returns process." 08:45 12-24-99>>