Lots of changes to come this is just the start we are in the process of creating exchanges that will drive significant efficiencies. Aivars Lode thanks Mac for the article.
Amazon has annoyed retailers in the US with a new price check app that allows shoppers to get a discount on items via the online store if they find them to be more expensive elsewhere.
Hot stuff: Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, unveiling the new Amazon tablet, the Kindle Fire, last month. Photo: EPA
3:55PM GMT 08 Dec 2011
433 Comments The row has broken out only days after James Daunt, the managing director of Waterstone’s, criticised Amazon – calling it a “ruthless, money-making devil”.
The new Amazon Price Check app and promotion, which is starting from this Saturday, will allow people to perform a price check on an item in a shop, by scanning in the bar code using the app on their iPhone or Android device. The online retail giant will then offer a $5 discount to shoppers who carry out this market research for it for free, on any item across the site, including the same item they wanted to buy in the first place.
The American Retail Industry Leaders’ Association issued the following statement about Amazon’s attempt to poach shoppers at the point of sale: “Retailers compete on price 365 days a year, and at no time is that competition hotter than during the make-or-break holiday shopping season. However, by continuing to evade collecting state sales taxes, Amazon’s exploitation of a pre-Internet tax loophole is resulting in a 6-10 percent perceived price advantage over their competitors on Main Street.
“Amazon’s aggressive promotion of its Price Check app shows the lengths they are willing to go to exploit this tax loophole, and is a stark reminder of why Congress needs to act to protect retailers on Main Street. A failure to act is an implicit endorsement of a subsidy of Amazon.”
It is expected that the same app and promotion will be rolled out around the world and affect UK retailers.
Amazon was unavailable for comment.
Daunt, who only joined Waterstone’s in June and was hired to turn around a pattern of falling sales as online competition grows, said of Amazon earlier this week: “They never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer's interest. They're a ruthless, money-making devil.
“The computer screen is a terrible environment in which to select books. All that 'If you read this, you'll like that' – it's a dismal way to recommend books. A physical bookshop in which you browse, see, hold, touch and feel books is the environment you want."
Daunt also said Waterstones was working on its own e-reader.
"You'll walk into a Waterstone's and there'll be a bit of the shop where you can look at e-readers, play with them. We're inventing one of our own – perhaps we'll call it the Windle – and we're working on the Barnes & Noble approach. They've embedded their own e-book, called the Nook, within their bookshops and have succeeded in taking market share from the Kindle," he said.
Amazon has recently launched a new version of its Kindle reader in the UK - and several new Kindles in the US, including a tablet device, the Kindle Fire.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief and founder, recently told the US magazine Wired: "There are two ways to build a successful company. One is to work very, very hard to convince customers to pay high margins. The other is to work very very hard to be able to afford to offer customers low margins. They both work. We're firmly in the second camp."
He added: "We'd rather have a very large customer base and low margins than a smaller customer base and higher margins."
In a comment that highlights the difference between Amazon's approach and Mr Daunt's plans for Waterstones, Mr Bezos said: "Our vision of a perfect customer experience is one in which our customer doesn't want to talk to us."
Daunt, who only joined Waterstone’s in June and was hired to turn around a pattern of falling sales as online competition grows, said of Amazon earlier this week: “They never struck me as being a sort of business in the consumer's interest. They're a ruthless, money-making devil.
“The computer screen is a terrible environment in which to select books. All that 'If you read this, you'll like that' – it's a dismal way to recommend books. A physical bookshop in which you browse, see, hold, touch and feel books is the environment you want."
Daunt also said Waterstones was working on its own e-reader.
"You'll walk into a Waterstone's and there'll be a bit of the shop where you can look at e-readers, play with them. We're inventing one of our own – perhaps we'll call it the Windle – and we're working on the Barnes & Noble approach. They've embedded their own e-book, called the Nook, within their bookshops and have succeeded in taking market share from the Kindle," he said.
Amazon has recently launched a new version of its Kindle reader in the UK - and several new Kindles in the US, including a tablet device, the Kindle Fire.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief and founder, recently told the US magazine Wired: "There are two ways to build a successful company. One is to work very, very hard to convince customers to pay high margins. The other is to work very very hard to be able to afford to offer customers low margins. They both work. We're firmly in the second camp."
He added: "We'd rather have a very large customer base and low margins than a smaller customer base and higher margins."
In a comment that highlights the difference between Amazon's approach and Mr Daunt's plans for Waterstones, Mr Bezos said: "Our vision of a perfect customer experience is one in which our customer doesn't want to talk to us."
