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Here's what I don't get. Amazon seems to be all about growth; in fact, their stock price is so high that its investors seem to believe that Amazon intends to ex

Here's what I don't get. Amazon seems to be all about growth; in fact, their stock price is so high that its investors seem to believe that Amazon intends to expand enormously internationally and that it will crush all of its competitors when it does. However, to this casual observer it seems they haven't made grounds in new markets in ages. And they're not at all a raging success in all of the markets that they have entered. I'll give two examples. China. They absolutely botched this. Chinese people just don't shop there. Worryingly, Amazon doesn't seem to know how to react. E.g. some time ago they started using this new Z.cn branding, but now they're just inconsistently using both the Amazon.cn and Z.cn names. (And of course they have a Chinese name also.) Europe. For some reason they have three different stores in Europe. Two of those are in France and Germany. These stores charge in euro, which would be convenient for other Europeans except that these stores don't have English language front-ends. As such they only serve a limited market. The third store is located in the UK. It charges in pounds, which makes it a hassle to shop there. Moreover, they have weird restrictions on what they will and will not ship internationally and you have to pay by credit card—which relatively few Europeans have. I recently read that Amazon is going to launch Amazon.nl in the near future. I've been hearing those stories for ages now, though, so I don't know if it's true. But suppose they did. Is it really a given that they will do well? In the many years that Amazon didn't open a Dutch store, tons of web stores have sprung up, and some of these have gained significant mindshare. I reckon it will be very costly and time consuming for Amazon to beat these competitors. Why is it that investors don't seem to be worried about this?

martinced 14y ago
You're right and it's still confusing me. I regularly enter "amazon.be" only to realize my "thinko" and then I head "amazon.fr". It's mindboggling that they didn't at least register and/or redirect the domains. Sure Belgium is a small market, but their european strategy seems totally lame. There's a need in Europe. I don't get why they don't fill it better. They're great in the U.S. and amazing too in Japan. These are two gigantic markets of course. What I don't get is why they don't see Europe --or at least the eurozone-- as one single big market.
- xxpor 14y ago
  Disclosure: I have worked in Kindle, so I have insight into what's happening. Think about Amazon's original market: books. In this case, it makes almost no sense to have a eurozone market. 1. Most countries speak different languages 2. The laws around selling books are CRAZY in Europe. Each country has different laws about how books are priced. FR and DE are fixed price (everyone sells the book for the same price), IT I think is Reseller (normal model, publishers sell to Amazon, Amazon sells to consumer), and UK is Commissionaire (Tax included Agent model, Amazon gets commission for selling books to consumers, but publisher sets price) and Reseller. 3. Each country has different publishers for the marketplace, with different requirements in terms of metadata etc.
  - DigitalTurk 14y ago
    > 1. Most countries speak different languages Yes, and in some countries people speak more than one language. It's worrisome that Amazon is having such difficulties dealing with such a simple matter. Additionally, there are a ton of English speakers in the eurozone and Amazon is doing a bad job in serving them. Here's one more example: Amazon.co.uk actually has a feature where you can pay in euros. However, it only works on check-out. When browsing the website you cannot have it show prices in euros. I'd shop a lot more often at Amazon.co.uk if they showed prices in euros! > 2. The laws around selling books are CRAZY in Europe. Each country has different laws about how books are priced. FR and DE are fixed price (everyone sells the book for the same price), IT I think is Reseller (normal model, publishers sell to Amazon, Amazon sells to consumer), and UK is Commissionaire (Tax included Agent model, Amazon gets commission for selling books to consumers, but publisher sets price) and Reseller. But you only have to abide by the system in the country you're shipping from, right? So what's the problem again? > 3. Each country has different publishers for the marketplace, with different requirements in terms of metadata etc. I don't understand what you mean. Are you talking about translations of books? Those, of course, are different products from the original. Also, some electric appliances are often sold under different brand names, but, again, in such a case we're talking about different products. Or were you referring to something else entirely?
- Evbn 14y ago
smackfu 14y ago
I don't see any evidence for your premise that their stock price is high because of international expansion.
- DigitalTurk 14y ago
  Well, it's a conjecture. The stock price is sky-high and this should mean that investors expect Amazon to grow much, much larger. International expansion seems to be the best way to go about that. For the long-term survival of Amazon it might also be a good idea to try to dominate everywhere. In every market that Amazon doesn't serve, a competitor will take its place. There's a danger that in the long run such a competitor will become large and efficient enough to compete with Amazon in Japan, UK, Europe, or even the US.
  - smackfu 14y ago
    I just have doubts that moving your low-margin mail-order business into other markets is really a good strategy. It's much more efficient to move into high-margin businesses in your strong markets.
PhantomLobe 14y ago
They have Amazon.es too.

martinced 14y ago

You're right and it's still confusing me. I regularly enter "amazon.be" only to realize my "thinko" and then I head "amazon.fr". It's mindboggling that they didn't at least register and/or redirect the domains. Sure Belgium is a small market, but their european strategy seems totally lame. There's a need in Europe. I don't get why they don't fill it better. They're great in the U.S. and amazing too in Japan. These are two gigantic markets of course. What I don't get is why they don't see Europe --or at least the eurozone-- as one single big market.

xxpor 14y ago
Disclosure: I have worked in Kindle, so I have insight into what's happening. Think about Amazon's original market: books. In this case, it makes almost no sense to have a eurozone market. 1. Most countries speak different languages 2. The laws around selling books are CRAZY in Europe. Each country has different laws about how books are priced. FR and DE are fixed price (everyone sells the book for the same price), IT I think is Reseller (normal model, publishers sell to Amazon, Amazon sells to consumer), and UK is Commissionaire (Tax included Agent model, Amazon gets commission for selling books to consumers, but publisher sets price) and Reseller. 3. Each country has different publishers for the marketplace, with different requirements in terms of metadata etc.
- DigitalTurk 14y ago
  > 1. Most countries speak different languages Yes, and in some countries people speak more than one language. It's worrisome that Amazon is having such difficulties dealing with such a simple matter. Additionally, there are a ton of English speakers in the eurozone and Amazon is doing a bad job in serving them. Here's one more example: Amazon.co.uk actually has a feature where you can pay in euros. However, it only works on check-out. When browsing the website you cannot have it show prices in euros. I'd shop a lot more often at Amazon.co.uk if they showed prices in euros! > 2. The laws around selling books are CRAZY in Europe. Each country has different laws about how books are priced. FR and DE are fixed price (everyone sells the book for the same price), IT I think is Reseller (normal model, publishers sell to Amazon, Amazon sells to consumer), and UK is Commissionaire (Tax included Agent model, Amazon gets commission for selling books to consumers, but publisher sets price) and Reseller. But you only have to abide by the system in the country you're shipping from, right? So what's the problem again? > 3. Each country has different publishers for the marketplace, with different requirements in terms of metadata etc. I don't understand what you mean. Are you talking about translations of books? Those, of course, are different products from the original. Also, some electric appliances are often sold under different brand names, but, again, in such a case we're talking about different products. Or were you referring to something else entirely?
Evbn 14y ago

smackfu 14y ago

I don't see any evidence for your premise that their stock price is high because of international expansion.

DigitalTurk 14y ago
Well, it's a conjecture. The stock price is sky-high and this should mean that investors expect Amazon to grow much, much larger. International expansion seems to be the best way to go about that. For the long-term survival of Amazon it might also be a good idea to try to dominate everywhere. In every market that Amazon doesn't serve, a competitor will take its place. There's a danger that in the long run such a competitor will become large and efficient enough to compete with Amazon in Japan, UK, Europe, or even the US.
- smackfu 14y ago
  I just have doubts that moving your low-margin mail-order business into other markets is really a good strategy. It's much more efficient to move into high-margin businesses in your strong markets.

PhantomLobe 14y ago

They have Amazon.es too.