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See Full StoryAmazon's e-commerce triumphs are legendary. But every groundbreaking company must balance its successes against questionable experiments and outright failures. Paralleling Amazon's victories are product-category fizzles, the result of the company's near-constant efforts to morph into a universal department store. Which of these failures have been most prominent, and what potential uncertainties does Amazon face as a result of its entry into several new areas?
How quickly things do change. Just a few years ago, many analysts were predicting that Amazon would crash just like nearly all of the retail pure-plays did during the Dot Com crash. Amazon has not only survived, but still dominates the online shopping market and, moreover, continues to show steady progress in improving its financial performance.
While some of the analysts that Brad Hill interviewed may think that Amazon could be making a mistake by expanding its product mix into the apparel and tools categories, I disagree and think that these particular categories were purposely added to strengthen and broaden Amazon's appeal to women and male do-it-yourselfers. If these analysts would do a little research, they'd see that both apparel and tools are now evolving into the Net's ten most popular shopping categories and, furthermore, have much higher gross margins than books, consumer electronics and most other products that Amazon has traditionally offered its loyal shoppers. I don't know about you, but I'm wondering if the Net's analysts ever make accurate predictions.
Jim Pflaum - Raleigh, NC
While some of the analysts that Brad Hill interviewed may think that Amazon could be making a mistake by expanding its product mix into the apparel and tools categories, I disagree and think that these particular categories were purposely added to strengthen and broaden Amazon's appeal to women and male do-it-yourselfers. If these analysts would do a little research, they'd see that both apparel and tools are now evolving into the Net's ten most popular shopping categories and, furthermore, have much higher gross margins than books, consumer electronics and most other products that Amazon has traditionally offered its loyal shoppers. I don't know about you, but I'm wondering if the Net's analysts ever make accurate predictions.
Jim Pflaum - Raleigh, NC
