eBay acquires Shutl and is subject to an investigation, same old Amazon seen in quarterly results, Fab redesigns and much more.
It was a bumper news week for the ecommerce industry. Amazon announced a second quarter in which they made a loss but their stock price increased. I have been thinking about Amazon.com in some detail and think these quarterly results is only giving the world a partial look at the Seattle based business. Amazon has increased their free shipping amount for the first time in 10 years to $35 and then in the analyst call mentioned that “millions of Prime members were added in the last quarter.” Coincidence? I think not.
Google is increasingly using maps and local to compete with Amazon. For me the hypocrisy seen in the last few weeks regarding Hummingbird, Banner ads in Search and these new PLA managment campaigns are all designed to do one thing – make Google more money. I can honestly say – Google is no saint but their “we care about our users” line can be kept in Mountain view meetings. Anyone notice that since Marissa Mayer left all the things she stood for has been changed.
Alibaba has not yet decided where they want to do their IPO. First it was Hong Kong, then New York and now Hong Kong is seemingly back in the good books of Alibaba management. The bigger story is that Alibaba has unveiled an investment group that will be seen in the US. I personally think Alibaba is going to hard into the US. Why? Jack Ma wants to show Amazon, eBay and other that his company is the most powerful ecommerce business in the world. He will invest in startups like ShopRunner, Fanatics and others. Alibaba will be able to invest a few billion if they want to.