Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
from MediaFile:
Hey Woot, its Amazon. You’re rich.
You gotta figure that every web entrepreneur waits (prays!) for a call or email that goes like this: "Hey dinky but popular outfit with a loyal customer base -- super-huge company here. We want to buy you and make you rich. Have a nice day."
Woot.com got a call like that from Jeff Bezos's Amazon.com. They announced the deal on Wednesday. It's speculated that Amazon paid about $110 million for the company that sells only one item per day at discounted prices, until inventory runs out. The next day, it moves on to another item such as you know, a water gun or a home pedicure kit.
Already, Woot is playing a part in the e-book reader price war between Amazon and its Kindle, and Barnes & Noble and its Nook, by selling Kindles cheap. (But sorry, It sold out before many of you woke up.)
The deal opens up a monstrous growth opportunity for the suburban Dallas outfit. But it doesn't appear to have taken the starch out of the company's irreverant CEO Matt Rutledge, who told employees that they should continue doing what they do best -- whatever that is.
Check Out Line: Amazon’s board shrinks
Check out the downsizing at Amazon.com.
No, no, it’s not a big corporate layoff. But the e-commerce giant is cutting the size of its board of directors by 12.5 percent.
Of course, once you’ve lost the part of “the center of gravity in the Internet,” why even try to replace him.
Bezos and Zappos.com in a garden, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos puts his quirky on in an online introduction geared to employees of Web shoe retailer Zappos.com.
The chief executive of the world’s largest online retailer, in an 8 minute YouTube video posted on Zappos’ website, told folks he “gets all weak-kneed when I see a customer-obsessed company.”
Is Amazon’s Kindle DX e-reader hype?
“The new Kindle DX is bigger, but is it better?” asked one headline as gadget reviewers examined the latest electronic reader from Amazon.com.
The verdict: “It isn’t as revolutionary as its promoters might like us to think.”
Check Out Line: Recession? Not at Amazon.com
Check out the sales surge at Amazon.
The online retailer beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly earnings and revenue as lowered prices lured more shoppers online. It also benefited as sales of its Kindle electronic reader gained momentum.
The company increased revenue an unexpectedly strong 18 percent as cash-strapped consumers went shopping online, and Amazon’s own discount shipping program spurred purchases.
from MediaFile:
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos talks about Kindle 2
Reuters spoke to Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos at the launch of the Kindle 2.
He talked about device's price, Amazon's big picture for Kindle, international plans and cannabilization.
Reuters: Has Kindle been a big hit since its debut late in 2007?
Jeff Bezos: We had way more demand than we ever expected or even hoped for.
which meant that we were sold out during 2 holiday seasons. which is not a good idea - not the plan. we made more than we though we would need and we still sold out. so its a high quality problem in the sense that demand has been very very good.
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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