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To: Walter High who wrote (4235)	5/12/1998 1:40:00 PM
From: Candle stick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Walter, so how do you differentiate a John Grisham novel? It is the same book whether you buy it from Barnes and Noble, Borders, or AMZN......the only thing that can be differentiated is price.....AMZN is NOT the lowest, frequently. Coke is different from Pepsi and Mountain Dew. John Grishams latest novel is the same everywhere. It is a commodity. I know. Service. Thats the answer, right? Well in another year service from all the major booksellers will be virtually identical. That is easy to do on the 'net, and any new service provided by one, will quickly be copied by the others. In many cases it can be identically replicated. In my opinion, soon there will be no difference where you buy a book, except for price. In that case, sites like acses.com and others will dominate the market. They will search for the best price amoung hundreds of 'net booksellers and you will go to the cheapest. Sites like these are proliferating and becoming better everyday. AMZN has yet to turn a profit and is burning cash at a very fast pace. if their pricing power is removed by 'net robots like Acses then they will never survive. I really do believe that the complete disappearance of AMZN is a possibility (not a likelyhood). Look at what happened to Atari.......and Wang Labs............;^)

To: Walter High who wrote (4235)	5/12/1998 6:17:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Regarding advertising and brand loyalty: I believe there is brand loyalty, especially when products can be differentiated. This is especially the case with products like Coke and Pepsi, McDonald's and Burger King. The reason these companies keep pouring large amounts into advertising is not so much to maintain loyalty, but to gain new customers. Books and music are not brands as are the perception of fries from McDonald's or Burger King. How can there be brand loyalty when there is only a commodity? Glenn