Electric Thoughts in a Digital Era

Author: Hendrik

  • The big battle for ecommerce domination

    It is the month of February and  Q4 seems like a lifetime away. I am beginning to see one story develop in more detail as time goes by. Ecommerce in North America is becoming a battle between Amazon and Google. It is Jeff Bezos vs Larry Page, the State of Washington vs California and it all boils down to owning the commerce vertical online.

    Background

    Regular readers will be aware that I believe that Amazon is the gold standard for ecommerce. Their value proposition is attractive for customers and they control the entire ecommerce value chain when a customer acquires a product from them. The only thing that Amazon does not have a 100% control over is logistics, the final step to getting the product into the hands of the customer. I believe that Amazon is solving that problem by coming closer to their customer’s location through fulfillment centre’s.

    Google on the other hand is a technology company not really sure what it’s core offering is. It is a media company (via Adwords, Product Listing Ads), a lobbying behemoth (they spent $18 million dollars in Washington, as seen in the graph below), a mobile operating system company (via Android and Motorola Mobility), provide analytics and software for business (Google apps). It is becoming clear that they have ambitions for retail which makes sense. Increasingly it is being shown that they also want to be part of ecommerce.

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  • The 10 e-commerce stories for the week ending 15 February 2013

    Google shutters commerce search and wants do retail, eBay not keen on the new The Marketplace Fairness Act and ecommerce news from Africa, France and Russia

    We have gone past the middle of February and this past week was a historic one. It flew below the radar but Amazon this week got the wheels moving on their “tax problem”.  Most ecommerce businesses fear 2 businesses – Google and Amazon (outside North America, Rocket Internet is added to the conversation) and both have a considerable say in what happens in ecommerce. I  believe Jeff Bezos is a master negotiator and many people have said that tax collection was going to become a problem for Amazon.com. However, if you are skating where the puck going is to be then this supposed liability becomes a huge asset. Let me explain.

    Amazon has had the advantage of not collecting sales tax in a large part of the company’s history. That tax was never collected as Amazon found ways to ensure that they pay the lowest taxes to ensure their sustainability. Needless to say, that tax money was never collected but that was given to users when they bought via the Internet. Wait what? The money was never given to the user but the fact that Amazon was cheaper than retailers or competitors was and is in some cases a competitive advantage. This is one of the big pillars of the Bezos mantra and something that most business executives don’t understand (the only person that does was Sam Walton). Lower prices is a huge asset for any retail business and Bezos has ensured that his company is seen as being pro-consumer. Low prices and a great experience is one of the big things that drives Amazon. In the last few years tax collection has become something that many thought would cripple Amazon, yet it is becoming increasingly clear that it is becoming asset.Why?

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  • PriceMachine shows Wize Commerce’s future

    About a year ago, I found a company based on West Coast that had strong connections with Comparison Shopping Engines (CSE). I researched and read everything I could about Wize Commerce and was left confused.

    I have been keeping an eye on the Comparison Shopping environment in the US as Google continues to circle around the industry.  I am going to say it as I don’t think anyone else will, I fear for the industry in the US and believe now more than ever that 2013 is a make or break year. Google and Amazon are slowly taking developed markets under their control. Google Shopping, Product Listing Ads, Amazon.com and Amazon product ads are all taking clicks and eyeballs away from Shopzilla, Nextag, PriceGrabber, TheFind, Pronto, Shopping.com and Bing.  Shopping.com and Bing is in a different situation as they are part of an ecosystem for their respective owners (eBay and Microsoft) and have in my mind less pressure to be profitable.

    Jeffrey Katz is one of the most vocal CSE President’s and he has not flinched in calling Google out on their operations on Google Product Search. I noted that when Google Shopping came around he has started to talk more on general ecommerce trends. I am not going to debate Google’s impact on ecommerce or Comparison Shopping as that is another long form post in itself.

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  • The 10 e-commerce stories for the week ending 08 February 2013

    Amazon unveils Amazon Coins, Google acquires Channel Intelligence, eCommerce industry news from Turkey, Poland and much more

    It is Sunday night (which became Monday Night) and if I look back at the past week then the stories from this week is the calm before the storm. The storm refers to the ongoing battles seen in the ecommerce industry across the globe.

    Let me be clear, 2013 is slowly becoming a fight between Amazon and Google in the US. Amazon Coins is to be available from early May and is a genius move from Amazon. Virtual currency is huge business in China and something that been lacking in Amazon’s arsenal.  It seems that the currency is to drive usage on the Kindle Fire and also closes the loop in terms of transactions that are to be done on the Amazon appstore. This announcement highlights the fact that apps and ebooks are now a bigger focus for the Seattle behemoth.

    The other big story this past week is the Channel Intelligence acquisition by Google. Google is spending millions of dollars on ecommerce and acquisitions to bolster its Google Shopping product. Channel Intelligence is a commerce enabler that has some of the biggest retailers (Target, Best Buy and Staples) in the US as clients. The acquisition poses some interesting questions. One, does all the current clients stay with Channel Intelligence after the Google acquisition? What is the gain from the acquisition for Google Shopping? Also does Channel Intelligence become an autonomous business inside Google? The one thing that this acquisition highlights for me is that data is an important part of Google strategy at regaining market share back from Amazon in ecommerce.

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  • The 10 e-commerce stories for the week ending 01 February 2013

    Google Shopping taking market share from Amazon, Amazon posts results and Andreessen predicts the death of retail.

    The second month of the year has started and last week was dominated by Amazon’s results. Amazon posted results that lead to a stock price increase. I think anybody that keeps an eye on ecommerce in North America would not be surprised with the record number of sales that Amazon did in 2012. The results did contain a few interesting snippets; third party marketplace transactions were more than those of merchandise sold my Amazon. I believe strongly that this trend will continue in the coming months. Secondly, digital media and in particular eBooks created several Billion dollars in transactions. This was a significant disclosure by the CFO of Amazon during the analyst call. Will Amazon ever become a profit making machine or will it continue to be a low margin high volume business?

    Wired featured an article this week on Google’s Plan to Snatch Shopping From Amazon Is Working – It is linkbait and in all honesty contains thoughts that I don’t agree with. The big issue I have is that the author misses one thing. I agree with the fact that shoppers in the US either start shopping with a search on Google or open their browser on Amazon.com. The search on Google is being infiltrated by Product Listing Ads and in all honesty it is becoming more difficult to find non Google businesses in the search results in the US. What the author misses completely is that Amazon has a very successful loyalty program called Amazon Prime and that ensures that users don’t bother with doing any commerce related searches on Google. So my questions is simple, how does Google’s plan work with the users going directly to Amazon.com?

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