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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Craig Freeman who wrote (9915)	3/29/2000 11:56:00 PM
From: Rocky Reid	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

>>1) SNDK sells mainly through distributors. An on-line store could be viewed as competitive.<< Sell only at full retail MSRP in the online store, just like any other online store does. This minimizes the competetive aspect. The number of companies that already have their own online store and maintain strong retail store relationships as well is numerous, to say the least. And after all, Lexar is one of them. >>) Very few people are likely to ever visit SNDK's web site. They will probably buy their flash memory from the same source who supplies their e-cam.<< Could be. On the other hand, when a digicam user pops the Sandisk card out of his camera and sees an "http://www.sandisk.com" on the bottom of the label (along with one of Aus's catchy phrases), then perhaps they will bite. >>3) SNDK sells over half its products through non-US distribution. A spiffy web site and neato labelling would have to be created in 27 languages.<< Most world-wide corporations maintain only a handful of websites with different languages, English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese (Cantonese). These 5 alone can communicate with almost all of the world. >>From the looks of things, Lexar has found it a futile exercise to compete with SNDK at the commodity level and is attempting to create a "premium" brand image for itself. This is a fine strategy for a company with ~10% market share. With luck, they'll manage to hold onto that share over time.<< I rather tend to overestimate the competition rather than write them off before the race has really even begun. At this point in time, supply is constrained across the board, and competition is largely irrellevant. However, a year from now could be a different story. I would rather see Sandisk formulate and start executing a solid gameplan now. If there is such an endeavor underway right now, just a little teaser like a website update would be keen.