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 : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gridiron 99 who wrote (5672)	5/17/1999 2:25:00 AM
From: B. A. Marlow	Respond to of 28311

(NOT O-T!) What will be your "first" Mercata purchase, gridiron? More GNET? Is it just me, or did Mercata forget to hire...a merchandise manager! Somewhere along the way, Mercata seems to have fumbled its elegant and central idea for a special-interest (i.e., "narrowcast") variation on PCLN's "demand-collection" business approach: gathering orders for the brands and models people really want but wish they could buy with "clout" (by assembling and putting to work the leverage of large groups of similarly-inclined purchasers). Let's face it, many of the products people want are what the trade refers to as "sacred cows." Distribution is controlled and thus, they're tough to get at "points off." Still, an order for 500 Model XYZ Widgets at $1,247 each "talks." Thus, deals can be made. Merchandise? What Mercata seems to have ended up with is a bunch of garden-variety schlock conspicuously lacking "buzz." Heck, Onsale's much more effective and rewarding, and Home Shopping Network's at least entertaining (well, sort of...). Waring appliances? Your wife wants KitchenAid! RCA TVs? Aren't you really dreaming about Sony flat-screens and HDTVs?! Quite the high-tech consumer himself, Paul Allen should know better. Now, here's where GNET comes in. At present, if you want Mercata to add something to its "line card," you fill out a "Product Request" and send it, with the click of your mouse, to cyber-purgatory. This seems a lot like sending a letter to President Clinton asking for the SEC to get you...Internet IPOs! A slick solution?: Mercata's "merchandise manager" (and "uncle in the business") should be...GNET Labs! Missing-in-action in Mercata's retail adventure is the "viral" component. Using a SI-like interface, products can be self-nominated, discussions encouraged, requests logged, feedback supplied and most importantly, dynamic ETAs ("estimated time to availability/arrival") displayed and refreshed. Will your child wait eight months for his birthday bike? Don't think so! In other words, within the Mercata system, let buyers collect their own demand, and keep them apprised in real-time as to when they'll get "executed." This is the winning formula, and GNET Labs can make it happen (for a modest piece of the action, of course!). BAM