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A minor clarification: there was nothing stupid, per se, about selling pet related products online. It was their execution that was horribly flawed. Others ha

by rmah 16y ago

A minor clarification: there was nothing stupid, per se, about selling pet related products online. It was their execution that was horribly flawed. Others have executed on the "sell pet stuff online" idea and succeed to one degree or another.

Retric 16y ago
Why limit yourself to selling "pet stuff" online? Edit: There are advantages and disadvantages to selling Pet stuff online. (Bad: tends to be low value per weight and vary fragmented dogs, cats, fish, birds. aka Dry fish food is reasonable to FedEx 50lb bags of dog food less so. Good: Large market and ???) Clearly you can make money selling pet stuff online but there is little reason to do that over selling kitchen supply's online.
- MicahWedemeyer 16y ago
  Be excellent at 1 thing. Trying to be all things to all people is a great recipe for failure. If you love pets and have great connections in that community, it's a crap-ton easier to build a "pet stuff" store than a "everything under the sun" store.
  - michael_dorfman 16y ago
    But that doesn't mean that there's a market for the "pet stuff" store, necessarily. In other words: Be excellent and one thing, but make sure that one thing is worth being excellent at. Trying to be all things to all people is a great recipe for failure, but it's not the only recipe for failure. There are lots and lots of ways to fail.
    - Gormo 16y ago
      I think most of the big successes that came out of the dotcom era were the ones that applied internet technologies to enhance markets that already existed. Amazon worked; bookstores are a very viable market. Ebay worked; flea markets are common in every town. PayPal worked; everyone has a checking account. There are also plenty of pet stores. Pets.com could have easily been a success if they had built their company properly. What you're saying seems to validate the article's point: execute a proven "commodity" idea well, and you can succeed. Bet the company on an experimental vision, and you risk failure.
  - Retric 16y ago
    If you love pets and have great connections in that community Building a pet community and then up selling stuff is an ok idea, but it's also a different idea than just creating a pet store online. Limiting yourself to just selling generic pet stuff without said community is a poor idea. PS: If you go to pets.com now you see the second version, but they initial push was all about selling stuff and not building a community. The issue is one of trust, if you sell yourself as a store it's much harder to build a community than it is to have a community and then sell stuff (the good) stuff
- Gormo 16y ago
  Why limit yourself to shelling shoes online?
  - Retric 16y ago
    There is actually a lot to be said for selling shoes online. Having a huge selection is extremely valuable. It's a reasonably uniform product line with a high value to shipping cost. You can independently measure them so people can have a good idea if it will fit them etc. Unlike computer parts or toy's your inventory does not lose value quickly. And unlike jewelry it’s easy to figure out what it looks like from a picture. You are likely to be able to resell "returned" items without people noticing.

by rmah 16y ago

Retric 16y ago

Why limit yourself to selling "pet stuff" online? Edit: There are advantages and disadvantages to selling Pet stuff online. (Bad: tends to be low value per weight and vary fragmented dogs, cats, fish, birds. aka Dry fish food is reasonable to FedEx 50lb bags of dog food less so. Good: Large market and ???) Clearly you can make money selling pet stuff online but there is little reason to do that over selling kitchen supply's online.

MicahWedemeyer 16y ago
Be excellent at 1 thing. Trying to be all things to all people is a great recipe for failure. If you love pets and have great connections in that community, it's a crap-ton easier to build a "pet stuff" store than a "everything under the sun" store.
- michael_dorfman 16y ago
  But that doesn't mean that there's a market for the "pet stuff" store, necessarily. In other words: Be excellent and one thing, but make sure that one thing is worth being excellent at. Trying to be all things to all people is a great recipe for failure, but it's not the only recipe for failure. There are lots and lots of ways to fail.
  - Gormo 16y ago
    I think most of the big successes that came out of the dotcom era were the ones that applied internet technologies to enhance markets that already existed. Amazon worked; bookstores are a very viable market. Ebay worked; flea markets are common in every town. PayPal worked; everyone has a checking account. There are also plenty of pet stores. Pets.com could have easily been a success if they had built their company properly. What you're saying seems to validate the article's point: execute a proven "commodity" idea well, and you can succeed. Bet the company on an experimental vision, and you risk failure.
- Retric 16y ago
  If you love pets and have great connections in that community Building a pet community and then up selling stuff is an ok idea, but it's also a different idea than just creating a pet store online. Limiting yourself to just selling generic pet stuff without said community is a poor idea. PS: If you go to pets.com now you see the second version, but they initial push was all about selling stuff and not building a community. The issue is one of trust, if you sell yourself as a store it's much harder to build a community than it is to have a community and then sell stuff (the good) stuff
Gormo 16y ago
Why limit yourself to shelling shoes online?
- Retric 16y ago
  There is actually a lot to be said for selling shoes online. Having a huge selection is extremely valuable. It's a reasonably uniform product line with a high value to shipping cost. You can independently measure them so people can have a good idea if it will fit them etc. Unlike computer parts or toy's your inventory does not lose value quickly. And unlike jewelry it’s easy to figure out what it looks like from a picture. You are likely to be able to resell "returned" items without people noticing.