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Amazon hasn't had the cheapest prices for a few good years now. They're taking advantage of the fact that they have what I like to call "brand inertia". The pr

by mtgx 8y ago

Amazon hasn't had the cheapest prices for a few good years now. They're taking advantage of the fact that they have what I like to call "brand inertia". The problem is brand inertia is not infinite. If you no longer do the things that have given you that inertia to begin with, eventually you'll run out of it. When a worthy competitor appears, your customers, who by then will have little loyalty to you, will switch.

hef19898 8y ago
One could almost come to the conclusion that Amazon running a global experiment on price elasticity on their complete customer base.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  At any retailer that isn't running that experiment constantly, at least half of the executive team should be fired.
  - hef19898 8y ago
    True that. For normal retailers there is still the competition part which kind of tends to pull prices down. And Amazon has the legendary fly wheel which has lower prices in it. So it kind of seems that Amazon is moving away from the original strategy and becoming an "normal" retailer. Not that investors don't like that, obviously.
icantdrive55 8y ago
I don't think it matters to those that can afford the service? Amazon captured peoples trust, and those with funds buy their counterfeit, overpriced goods. Along with that Prime scam. (I have kept track of their portable AM radios for ten years. Every year the price slowely ticket up.). I fell for the Prime scam, until I realized I payed $130 in shipping for two items----along with the movies I never watched. (Amazon prime now sends you a reminder when your membership is due. Two months ago, the customer had the ability to cancel the upcoming month in advance. I don't know if they think we don't notice, or don't care?) Anyhoo, I don't see any competition. Sad? All that VC money being poured into apps that will fail, and no one takes on the beast? Alibaba is not competition for those of us in the states.
abnry 8y ago
So clearly there will be some delay in between when brand inertia is still going and competitors haven't caught up, but it does look like Walmart is stepping up its online retail business, so I have hope that Amazon won't maintain near monopoly status.
- lovich 8y ago
  My local Target has started providing a service where anything you buy in the store can be rung up at the register and then delivered to your home as well. Really gets rid of the friction of buying anything when you live in a city and don't drive to any stores

by mtgx 8y ago

hef19898 8y ago

One could almost come to the conclusion that Amazon running a global experiment on price elasticity on their complete customer base.

jessaustin 8y ago
At any retailer that isn't running that experiment constantly, at least half of the executive team should be fired.
- hef19898 8y ago
  True that. For normal retailers there is still the competition part which kind of tends to pull prices down. And Amazon has the legendary fly wheel which has lower prices in it. So it kind of seems that Amazon is moving away from the original strategy and becoming an "normal" retailer. Not that investors don't like that, obviously.

icantdrive55 8y ago

I don't think it matters to those that can afford the service? Amazon captured peoples trust, and those with funds buy their counterfeit, overpriced goods. Along with that Prime scam. (I have kept track of their portable AM radios for ten years. Every year the price slowely ticket up.). I fell for the Prime scam, until I realized I payed $130 in shipping for two items----along with the movies I never watched. (Amazon prime now sends you a reminder when your membership is due. Two months ago, the customer had the ability to cancel the upcoming month in advance. I don't know if they think we don't notice, or don't care?) Anyhoo, I don't see any competition. Sad? All that VC money being poured into apps that will fail, and no one takes on the beast? Alibaba is not competition for those of us in the states.

abnry 8y ago

So clearly there will be some delay in between when brand inertia is still going and competitors haven't caught up, but it does look like Walmart is stepping up its online retail business, so I have hope that Amazon won't maintain near monopoly status.

lovich 8y ago
My local Target has started providing a service where anything you buy in the store can be rung up at the register and then delivered to your home as well. Really gets rid of the friction of buying anything when you live in a city and don't drive to any stores