...October 25, 2012 EBay and Amazon are two companies who offer online retail. EBay is an auction site; whereas, Amazon is a retail website with various prices set by the different sellers. When you compare the net revenue from the two companies you can see both companies have had positive growth in the net revenue from 2000-2008. Although, EBay has had a positive change in revenue each year, the change in net revenue has been decreasing since 2003. In 2003, EBay had 78.33 percent change in net revenue, but in 2008 it had declined to only 11.33 percent change. Amazon, on the other hand had a spike in annual change in net revenue from 2001 to 2002. Since this spike Amazon’s annual change in net revenue has been in the range of 25-35 percent each year on average. Comparing earnings per share, you see both companies followed a similar trend. EBay and Amazon both rose originally and reached a peak and then both had a huge decline, but then both started increasing again. Amazon went through this pattern before EBay would. Also, when Amazon went through this trend, after their decline, once they started increasing again, their EPS in 2008, was only slightly higher than it’s previous peak in 2004. In contrast, in 2008, EBay’s EPS was almost double from what the previous peak was in 2006. Next, when you compare the share price you will see Amazon is doing much better than EBay. EBay was originally doing well and increasing at a much fast rate than Amazon until 2004, when...
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... DVDs, toys, jewelry, beauty products and any other name brand product you can name ("Hoovers: A D&B Company"). Becoming on of the worlds largest online retailer, its best selling products are the Kindle, which is exclusively sold through Amazon ("Amazon.com"). Amazon.com is a great role model and sets unprecedented standards for the Internet industry. Using the SWOL analysis I will describe why Amazon.com has a variety of qualities as well as new goals and achievements that have been done. First beginning with strengths of the business Amazon.com, one of my personal favorites is the ease. I can order anything on my computer with a click of my finger, without having to bother with long lines or inconveniences in the stores. Shipping is fast and efficient also saving the consumer gas and time wasted had they have driven to the store. In addition, anything over $25 has a shipping cost of $0 ("Amazon"). Who can beat that, and most items that you buy will easily be over the $25 limit. Another benefit is you can search Amazon.com for practically any product with competitive prices and shipping companies thus giving the buyer many options for where they would like for their money to go. The biggest and most profitable strength is the Amazon Kindle, an electronic book reader now integrated with Internet and games. Book purchases and other online apps can be purchased through the...
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...Case study eBay, Inc. And Amazon.com Introduction The case that we present concerns two of the most famous companies in the world: Amazon.com and eBay,Inc.. They have become so ubiquitous that probably there is not a household with a computer and internet connection in the world that hasn’t purchased at least one item from them or visited their websites at least once . In the following paragraphs we endeavor to analyze how these two companies have achieved this worldwide success and how they are defined by all as online giants and colossus. But above all, we will focus on how they differ from each other, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what their business model is and how it has changed over the course of time. We will discuss briefly the history of these two giants and explain how they deal and cope with this ever-changing market and business environment. We will start with the background of these two companies, and then analyze the differences in terms of business models, focusing on financial data, services provided, overall stakeholder value and customers’ perception. Background of eBay EBay was launched by Pierre Omidyar in 1995, and referring to his own words, his purpose was giving “ the power of the market back to individuals, not just large corporations”...and his goal was “pioneer new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust and inspired by opportunities”. It is important for us to underline the words of Omidyar because...
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...Amazon versus Ebay Amazon versus Ebay Analyze each company’s history, product / services, major customers, major suppliers, and leadership and provide a synopsis of each company. Seattle based Amazon.com was founded in July, 1994, but it was introduced to the world in June, 1995 by its CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos who was a hedge fund manager in New York left to head west after coming across a finding that the usage of the internet is growing 2300 percent a month. He came up with a plan to get his own retail business online, and headed to Seattle to begin his dream. He started with only 3 employees working out of a garage. Jeff Bezos was able to get Kleiner Perkins Caulfied & Byers to fund Amazon. Some of Amazon.com products include a variety from books, to CDs, videos, and video games. Amazon product line also includes groceries, supplies for pets, greeting cards, and has auctions. A major supplier for Amazon is Ingram, a book distributor, who is still the provider for 60 percent of the books. Amazon is also allied with sites such as Yahoo, Excite, GeoCities, and Netscape. Amazon.com also has links that can be used for household purchases such as groceries and prescriptions. Bezos leadership is demonstrated by observing his comfortableness when he is around the people he addresses on a regular basis from customers, to investors, and the employees. Other leadership qualities of Bezos include his understanding of e-commerce, being focused, having an entrepreneurial team to back...
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...In the battle of e-commerce with Amazon, eBay has to determine whether it should maintain the existing business model or transform its model and expand into new areas. By analyzing eBay with Porter’s Five Forces Model, I conclude that the most effective way for eBay would be to maintain the existing business model through strengthening its brand identity. The following analysis will provide reasons on why brand identity should be strengthened and how it can be used to improve eBay’s business. Threat of Entry This is an Internet driven service industry, which does not provide for many barriers to entry. The main barriers come from government regulation. The government will not permit some products to be sold in certain states or countries and so any online sites need to make sure they don’t violate those laws. It is also hard to enter a market where safety and brand recognition are this important. People will not purchase items or sell them if they do not think their transaction will be protected. For safety, eBay should ensure and establish sufficient blocks that can prevent someone from selling or buying an item that would violate his or her local government. Even though eBay does not directly buy or sell items, they facilitate the transactions, which could make them liable. Threat of Rivalry Because of low entry barriers, the market is full of competitors. Amazon is just one of the many up and coming competitors that are fighting eBay for a piece of the market. Brand identity...
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...Industry Amazon: Rivalry among competitors is high. Since Amazon offers such an extensive selection there are more companies competing with its products and services. They have direct competition from EBay and Barnes & Nobles. EBay: Just like Amazon, EBay faces high competitions. Like eBay number of companies offer the same service and products to the market. Threat of New entry Amazon: Threat of new entrants is low. It would be virtually impossible for a new company to reach the magnitude of inventory and status that Amazon maintains. Amazon has been in the market for over 15 years now and it would be extremely difficult for a startup company in the industry to raise enough capital to compete with Amazon even on a lower level. EBay: Compared to Amazon, the threat is relatively high because any company can act as a third party just like EBay to help people sell and buy the products. But when compared to other companies the threat is low because of the brand value or the trust people have when they buy or sell the product. Threat of Substitutes Amazon: One would expect substitutes to be high but, Amazon offers good products at low prices, provides fast shipping and excellent customer service. Given these advantages, I would believe that threat of substitutes is reduced from high to medium EBay: Faces threats from Amazon. But, due to strong brand value the threat from other companies is relatively medium. Bargaining power of Suppliers Amazon: Power...
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...Note: The company I cofounded, Hunch, was acquired by eBay in November 2011. I am now an eBay employee. But all the opinions expressed below are my own, and were developed prior to the Hunch acquisition, through my own research on e-commerce. Amazon and eBay are the two largest e-commerce companies. As of this writing, Amazon has a market cap of about $87B, trading at a trailing twelve-month P/E of about 139. eBay has a market cap of about $42B, trading at a trailing P/E of about 13. Each company competes with many other companies in many different areas. For example, Amazon competes with Apple on tablets (Kindle vs iPad) and digital media (Amazon’s media store vs iTunes). Ebay’s Paypal unit competes with multiple payment companies, and its marketplaces division competes with other “peer-to-peer” e-commerce sites like Craigslist. But given the potential size of the e-commerce market (not to mention the online-to-offline commerce market), Amazon and eBay’s main competitors are each other. And to understand their large strategic moves (e.g. large acquisitions like GSI and Zappos), it is important to understand their fundamentally opposing strategic outlooks: eBay wants commerce to be more decentralized (around its GSI/Magento partners and eBay marketplaces sellers) and Amazon wants it to be more centralized (around itself). First, some background. During the dot-com boom, many largest offline brands debated how to best move their businesses online. Some tried to build their...
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...Ebay vs Amazon (Porters 5 Force) Porters 5 Force Rivalry in the Industry Amazon: Rivalry among competitors is high. Since Amazon offers such an extensive selection there are more companies competing with its products and services. They have direct competition from EBay and Barnes & Nobles. EBay: Just like Amazon, EBay faces high competitions. Like eBay number of companies offer the same service and products to the market. Threat of New entry Amazon: Threat of new entrants is low. It would be virtually impossible for a new company to reach the magnitude of inventory and status that Amazon maintains. Amazon has been in the market for over 15 years now and it would be extremely difficult for a startup company in the industry to raise enough capital to compete with Amazon even on a lower level. EBay: Compared to Amazon, the threat is relatively high because any company can act as a third party just like EBay to help people sell and buy the products. But when compared to other companies the threat is low because of the brand value or the trust people have when they buy or sell the product. Threat of Substitutes Amazon: One would expect substitutes to be high but, Amazon offers good products at low prices, provides fast shipping and excellent customer service. Given these advantages, I would believe that threat of substitutes is reduced from high to medium EBay: Faces threats from Amazon. But, due to strong brand value the threat from other companies...
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...Amazon vs. eBay Choice of Investment James Reitnour Strayer University ACC 557 Professor Frank Gorbey September 2, 2013 Amazon vs. eBay Choice of Investment Deciding between two stocks to invest in can be like attempting to predict what number will come up next on a roulette wheel; it is a gamble to say the least. However, by following the first major rule about investing in a company, namely doing your homework, it is possible to make an informed choice between two companies. The choice is down to two internet based behemoths, Amazon and EBay. A Comparison of the Companies The first company, Amazon, was founded in 1994 by a former Wall Street vice-president looking to capitalize on a report that at the time projected the growth of the web twenty-three fold annually (Funding Universe, 2013). After narrowing down a list of 20 products that could easily be sold online to the most promising five, the product to be sold first was books due to the sheer number in print and the proximity of a major distribution hub nearby. Within four months of the website launch in July 1995, Amazon had become a very popular site. The key to their success was the fact they only stocked a small number of items in their warehouses, while using outside sources to provide the remaining products. This model is still in use to this day. Amazon went public in May of 1997 with an offering of 3,000,000 shares. The money was used to expand the distribution network to a facility in Delaware;...
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...Amazon Inc. SeifAllah Marzouk – Ahmed Fadel – Mohamed Hajaij Introduction Amazon is the global leader in ecommerce. It directly sells a huge range of diverse products. Ranging from books to music to other physical goods and, their specialized asset, Kindle e-book. The company attains their high value-added differentiation by customer-focused information services such as holding online customers’ preferences and providing customization. One of the main competitive advantages of the company is unique bundling of several recourses such as service and distribution. Amazon was initially an online bookseller that directly shipped orders to customers; however, the company grew substantially and soon established a distribution network through which it could ship millions of items to customers all over the world at the lowest costs possible. Operating 10 websites in more than 45 countries now gives Amazon a strategic advantage in its diversity. Amazon was founded in 1994 in the state of Washington DC, USA. It strategically competes internationally by attaining the lowest prices amongst its competitors. With regards to book selling, Amazon’s biggest competitor is Barnes and Noble. While Barnes and Noble enjoys the spoils of selling in the physical world and online, Amazon is stuck in the cyber world (which evidently keeps costs down but doesn’t help with the sales)...
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...AMAZON.COM Introduction Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retail store that offers products ranging from books, electronics, and clothing to movies, games, and beauty products. Incorporated in Washington State in 1994, it was reincorporated in Delaware in 1996. Since 1994, Jeffrey P. Bezos has been its Chairman of the Board and its Chief Executive officer since 1996, and with a brief interruption in 1999-2000, he has also been the President of Amazon.com, Inc. since its founding. Under the “AMZN’ symbol, its common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Amazon.com, Inc. began on the World Wide Web in 1995, with its main customer base being “consumers, sellers, enterprises, and content creators”. Amazon.com, Inc. is managed on a geographic basis with North America and International being its low operating segments. For its consumers, the website offers millions of products sold by Amazon.com itself and by third parties. As of December 31, 2013, Amazon.com employs over 117,000 full and part-time people. GAAP In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) of the United States, Amazon.com, financial statements and accompanying notes, the required estimates and assumptions that may affect the company’s reported assets and liabilities, and its revenues and expenses, are disclosed. However, free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure, is utilized by Amazon.com, as a long-term financial focus. Free cash flow is defined as “net cash provided...
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...presence in the US market will not only be limited to Wall Street or to Silicon Valley with investments in tech start-ups and that, with this move, Alibaba will attempt to compete against its fiercest global rivals, Amazon and eBay, in their domestic territory. Global E-Commerce Competitive Environment At present, and despite being mainly a regional player, Alibaba is the world’s second largest e-commerce company, with total B2C value sales of US$44.3 billion in 2013, according to Euromonitor International. However, when considering other indicators, in 2013 Alibaba was already the biggest online retailer in the world. For example, in terms of Gross Merchandise Volume, the Chinese company is bigger than Amazon and eBay combined, and also appears ahead of its two main competitions in terms of profits. So how do Alibaba’s operations compare with those of its main competitors? How Alibaba Compares Against its Two Main Global Competitors Alibaba vs Other E-Commerce Giants Alibaba can count on its leading place in the enormous Chinese market with around 230 million active users, not far from the entire US population, and around seven million sellers, figures that explain the disproportionately greater number of transactions compared to its competitors. Unlike Amazon, Alibaba does not sell directly. Its platforms Taobao and Tmall are pure online marketplaces, the former with millions of merchants selling directly to consumers, and the latter a virtual shopping mall, in which big...
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...Amazon and EBay A) For this purpose, the two retail websites of my choice are the very well known Amazon and EBay. Both websites offer a variety of items available for purchase and highly service regions within the United States of America. On both sites, you can find commodities ranging from house hold items, electronics, clothes, books and to some extent automobiles and automobile parts among other items. Both websites act as virtual stores where just about anybody with access to courier services and payment platforms such as MasterCard or Visa can easily make purchases on their computer or related devices and have the items delivered straight to their door step. The main reason as to why I opted to use the two sites in my response is mainly because both sites are highly diversified in terms of products available for sale. As initially stated, both sites deal with a variety of items including the most basic items such as clothing. Another reason as to why the two website retail stores fit this purpose is because they are among the leading retail websites on a global basis where both websites offer retail services beyond the United States thanks to logistics services from companies such as DHL and FedEx that have made shopping on both sites open to just about any other country outside the United States. For diversity purposes and range of products available on both websites, below are screenshots of categories of the various commodities both sites have to offer as “website based...
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... 4 ALTERNATIVE ANALYSIS 4 RECOMMENDATIONS 7 ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 9 Executive Summary In 2010, Big Skinny CEO Kiril Alexandrov was looking to transcend from retail distribution and print advertising to the world of online marketing to achieve maximum growth. The retail sales pitch was an easy one, as Alexandrov focused on the value of the wallet and the impulsiveness of consumers (Benjamin & Kominers, 2012). Unfortunately, translating this type of sales pitch was much harder to do in the world of cyberspace. Big Skinny centered their online marketing efforts around display Ads, keyword searches, social media and relationships with online distributors and deep discounted sites such as Amazon and Groupon respectively. The expansion caused much hardship, as Big Skinny received negative feedback on the review website Yelp that stemmed from their Groupon experiment. They also faced a glitch in their online promotion that allowed 4,000 people to order free wallets from their online store. Big Skinny needs to refocus their online marketing strategy by getting rid of display Ads, refining keyword searches and severing ties with deep discounted sites. Big Skinny can create value for their product and manage their orders better by being more selective with who distributes their product and by keeping the price steady. A more seasonal approach surrounding keyword searches can create new revenue from those who are looking to make...
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...most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them all in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells, or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, and consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon’s sales are products sold by Amazon, with the remaining amount from third-party sellers. Amazon was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It has direct international operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Since 2004, Amazon has begun to rapidly expand its web services arsenal. Products such as Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) and Amazon S3 (Simple Storage System), Amazon Route 53 have been large successes. Some of Amazon’s recent acquisitions include Shopbop (2006), Abebooks (2008), Zappos (2009), LOVEFiLM (2011). As of Q1 2011, Amazon has approximately 137 million active customers worldwide. It was also reported that there are 2 million merchants selling on Amazon equalling a third of the total listings. North America currently represents 55.4% of sales with the other 44.6% in the International market. HISTORY Figure 1 Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Figure 1 Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Amazon was founded in 1995, spurred by what Bezos called "regret...
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