To: Peter Bernhardt who wrote (34015 ) 1/10/1999 2:47:00 PM From: Dian Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Even if one were to concede this point, citing a growing customer base that includes anyone who has ever purchased a book from them as evidence of Amazon's "success" is misleading as it avoids the essential issue of Amazon being unable to sell books or anything else profitably Peter, I agree with this (citing a growing customer base that includes anyone who has ever purchased a book is misleading), though I really believe Amazon, who presently has the best e-tail system on the net, will have no problem creating customer loyalty. The biggest thing that Amazon offers customers in the world of books, is the truly great quality of their search, the commentary and information (and reviews) they can offer on books--"Books in Print" only offers title, author, publisher, little abbreviated microscopic bits. When I go to Amazon and look for all books on harp playing, I can pull up a 100 of them, look at them all, read about them, look up the authors and read about them, see what other shoppers have said, etc. If I go to Crown books, I find NO books on harp playing, and then try to make a totally uniformed choice from a bunch of abbreviated titles in "Books in Print." Then I have to see if Crown can "special order" them for me (often they won't, because it is not on the list of publishers they deal with), then I wait 6 weeks for them to come in. Then I have to review them, and if they are not what I want, I have to return them. What Amazon has offered me is a truly superior way to shop. Better than I can do if I go to the store.
