Word: price
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...commerce world has changed enormously since Seattle-based Amazon jumped out to its "first-mover" advantage. There are plenty of second, third and fourth movers to battle. They come in the form of category killers that overwhelm you with selection, expertise, price and service for a given class of goods. Adornis.com is bauble central for luxury items, for instance, and Petopia.com is one of dozens of sites that will shower you and your doggie with selection. On the other side are e-malls such as Buy.com and Shopnow.com Traditional retailers are making the transition...
Bezos, naturally enough, is unmoved by the naysaying because he's convinced that as more customers come to his site, he'll be able to offer the lowest prices. And they will come because Amazon simply does the best job of helping them find stuff. But what if they use his site for research, then go elsewhere for the cheapest price? Bezos has considered that as well. And he has a possible solution: "Membership clubs!" he says. "If you want to see all the information we collect on Amazon--the customer reviews, the professional reviews and use our agenting technology...
Most of the market is betting that Bezos wins and that Amazon emerges from what will surely be massive carnage among Internet retailers over the next few years. During the past two weeks, with holiday sales booming, Amazon's stock price has soared to $94. The stock has split three times. Sales are expected to crest $1 billion this year. "We firmly believe," says Salomon Smith Barney's Holly Becker, "that Wall Street will look back on these growing pains and realize management's foresight in developing one of the smartest strategies in business history...
...Auction sites are one of the hottest corners of cyberspace right now. Online bidders are eagerly competing for new ovens ubid.com and used microscopes going-going-sold.com) There are service auctions, where lawyers can underbid one another for assignments to register patents elance.com) and reverse auctions, where buyers name their own price for a ticket to Hawaii and airlines decide if they will go that low priceline.com) There are niche auctions for vintage surfboards webworldinc.com/vintage and movie memorabilia auction.newline.com) express auctions that wrap up in an hour onsale.com and auction sites where the proceeds go to charity webcharity.com...
Global auctions are the kind of ideal market Adam Smith could only have dreamed of. Sellers are, at least in theory, guaranteed a price that isn't too low: they get to sell to the highest bidder anywhere in the world. And buyers are assured the price isn't too high because they get to choose the lowest one being offered by any seller in the world. Location becomes unimportant. You're not penalized for being a seller stuck in low-traffic, low-price Bismarck or a buyer shopping in high-cost Manhattan. Auctions also minimize transaction costs ("friction...