After reading the article, "Can Amazon Be Wal-Mart of the Web," featured in the New York Times, I began to question: Are there really that many people out there who make their purchases online? Well, apparently, "Amazon is quickly becoming the world's general store."
Ever since Jeffrey P. Bezos founded the company as just a bookstore, it has recently become so much more, selling almost anything you can think of from car parts to even cars! According to Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, he believes that the Amazon market will grow to 15% of retail in the next decade. "If Amazon grows their market share throughout that period, and honestly I don't see anything stopping it, that is pretty scary." But if this is the case, what will smaller retailers and even companies like Wal-Mart do to keep business going?
Amazon has no plans to step down, either. In fact, their popularity has been growing even more rapidly because of their fast delivery and free shipping and handling promises. Not to mention the growing number of people who sell their own products on Amazon, in which Amazon itself takes in 15% of the profits. Despite Amazon's success, however, some employees and executives are shocked to see how much their company has grown. "It means we are becoming increasingly important in the lives of our customers, which has been our mission from the beginning," Amazon's senior vice president of North American retail has said. "We had the chance to earn the trust of the customer beyond media, and we took it."
Although I have never bought or sold anything off of Amazon personally, I think people will start re-thinking their buying strategies and where they shop for their products. One problem with ordering through a magazine or online is the heavy duty add-on of shipping and handling. So now that Amazon has offered it for free, I think people will reconsider where they shop. Also, with the holiday's not too far off, shopping online is a great way to buy gifts since Amazon offers almost anything you can imagine; there's definitely something for everyone.
Oh, I think it totally can be. The most interesting trend over at Amazon is their evolution of Amazon Grocery. As of now, it's not incredibly popular, but if they change the limits of purchasing (right now they require you buy, like, 50 of one item in order for them to ship it) I think this could explode in popularity.
ReplyDeleteYou think about something that everyone uses like coffee or bottled water... if I could get a great price on these items where I'm required to buy, maybe, 10 of them... I'd do it every time.