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

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (12370)	8/2/1998 9:28:00 PM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

William: <<<<Amazon's model is much closer to AOL's than to conventional retailers. Amazon is executing much closer to AOL's plan: spend big and grab subscribers first. AOL lost $10 billion to get to its first 10 million members. That's $1,000 each. AOL's market cap is now $25 billion, and AOL is now an unqualified success on the way to immense profitability. That AOL-type model can work for Amazon because of the leverage in online retailing. As Mary Meeker at Morgan Stanley put it, Amazon is "swinging for the fences." If any company can do it they can: Amazon has first-mover advantage, one of the two coolest brands (critical on the Internet), powerful business momentum, increasing leverage with their suppliers, loyal repeat customers, a successful platform for line extensions, and as a friend would say "hard core" management.>>>> 1. amzn and aol are in DIFFERENT industries. retail v. portal. Just because you can buy from LL Bean and DELL on line, by fax or phone does not mean that they are in the same industry. 2. those who swing for the fences often strike out as well. 3. did you miss glenn's post on the overuse of "brand names?" 4. did you miss all of bezos' and covey's quotes on the practical limits to product extensions? 5. aol has suscribers. amzn has customers. big difference. amzn does not collect a $20 check every month no matter how much i use their site. amzn sells a commodity product. good luck -- LP

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (12370)	8/2/1998 9:32:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Amazon is executing much closer to AOL's plan: spend big and grab subscribers first. AOL lost $10 billion to get to its first 10 million members. William, You are very confused. AOL does have subscribers. Their charge cards are debited each month by AOL. AMZN does not have one subscriber. They have customers that must go there and choose to buy for AMZN to get revenue. That AOL-type model can work for Amazon because of the leverage in online retailing. As Mary Meeker at Morgan Stanley put it, Amazon is "swinging for the fences." If any company can do it they can: Amazon has first-mover advantage, one of the two coolest brands (critical on the Internet), powerful business momentum, increasing leverage with their suppliers, loyal repeat customers, a successful platform for line extensions, and as a friend would say "hard core" management. Amazon is not a brand. There is hype here than facts of any kind. Cadillac is a brand. Coke is a brand. Amazon is a retailer that resells products manufactured by others. There is no brand here. There is no loyalty to a retail store. Never has been and never will be. Ask the management of Kmart when Walmart came a long. Were their customers loyal? Was Kmart a brand? Ask Sears when Penneys decided to carry name brand merchandise. Was the Sears customer loyal? The proof is in the current Sears promotion of "Sears Brand Central." They do not mean Sears is a brand but rather Sears is selling known brand items. Glenn

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (12370)	8/3/1998 3:07:00 AM
From: Dell-icious	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

William DO you really think that AMZN customers are subscribers ? That (atleast for books and music) they are not mercenaries who look for the best price ? Don't you think AMZN will always have to match the lowest prices ? (However, my bet is that they will be able to do so - which is why you're not worried about that.) So - I guess what you are saying is that they are doing all the right things to keep bringing back their old customers and to that extent they have a subscription model ?