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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Retail Amazon Is at the Top of the Retail World; Will Tablets Take Them Even Higher?

Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 1:02 PM

GigaOm highlighted a recent Morgan Stanley report on Amazon's successes in retail and how they resemble—and in fact better—the last giant of retailing:

In 1991, Walmart reported revenue of ~$44B, an increase of 35% over the prior year. In 2011, we estimate Amazon.com will report revenue of $49B, an increase of 43% over the prior year. Amazon.com is the Walmart of our era but it’s better, in our view – Amazon.com is the combination of a technology + logistics company, allowing it to participate in a transition of physical to digital retail supported by a store-less (in Seattle) business model that leads to higher long-term economic returns.

I don't think this Amazon = Walmart analogy is going to last for long, though, because they're about to climb to a whole other level:

[Amazon] is planning 7- and 10-inch tablets. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Amazon was outsourcing a "roughly nine-inch screen" tablet to an Asian manufacturer and planning a touchscreen version of its Kindle e-reader, which could correspond to the 7-inch device that supplier sources have suggested.

According to DigiTimes...2.0-2.4 million touch panels will be shipped to Amazon by the end of September, with Wintek accounting for 70 to 75 percent of the volume.

The truth is, we've never seen a company quite like this before.

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Oh you

Posted by Steve Jobs on July 27, 2011 at 1:12 PM

They're on top for a reason.

When can a pre-order a tablet?

Posted by sepiolida on July 27, 2011 at 1:24 PM

Bu-bu-but Will in Seattle already tole us that this is impossamable, because he has secret access to the component manufacturers.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 27, 2011 at 2:08 PM

I bet they are released right before x-mas, possibly November 2011. Pre ordering beginning maybe in September...

Posted by hans millionaire on July 27, 2011 at 2:10 PM

I could remember when people had to get in their car and drive to get cheap shit...now it just comes to you in a truck.

Goddam lazy kids.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on July 27, 2011 at 2:42 PM

@3, dont forget about the sooper-seekrit 3D ipad (that Will has seen!) that is coming that will blow everything out of the water.

Posted by Akbar Fazil on July 27, 2011 at 3:37 PM

@Fnarf: "Bu-bu-but Will in Seattle already tole us that this is impossamable, because he has secret access to the component manufacturers."

Lawl, what privileged access does he have to Taiwanese ODMs?

Posted by undead ayn rand on July 27, 2011 at 4:25 PM

@7 he "gets the reports" (i.e., he reads the crawl at the bottom of CNBC out of the corner of his eye while he's playing Farmville).

Posted by Fnarf

on July 27, 2011 at 4:47 PM

3,000 of the 36,000 post offices in the U.S. are being closed as "unprofitable."

This trend continues, the U.S. privatizes post offices further until all we have are Fed Ex and UPS: so they raise their rates and inexpensive postal service will be dead, and good luck Amazon.

Posted by judybrowni on July 27, 2011 at 9:56 PM

"I don't think this Amazon = Walmart analogy is going to last for long" - I've had this frame of mind for about 2-3 years now (few bad experiences have made me anti-amazon for life). They 'steal' profits from artists buy buying their material in bulk paying them less money for their services because they have capital to throw around. I think putting an equal sign there is taking it too far, but in the sense that they buy bulk products, offering discounts other chains can't possible offer, selling things at a loss to attract customers, Amazon takes on many of wallmart's most profitable strategies. It's the same tactic only on the internet, where there is a more level playing field and as a consumer I can shop around still and not have to drive a million miles away to see if the same product they're selling can't be found better somewhere else. That's why I like 'the wallmart of our era' better, only you can't have a wallmart on the internet because the playing field will always be level. Have you seen all the cheap plastic shit on Amazon though? I'd suggest looking through their catalog, it's just a fucking wallmart for the internet if I ever saw one. I always have to find better products elsewhere, Amazon is like a poor man's corner shop.

Posted by watchout5

on July 28, 2011 at 12:45 AM

@10: ". They 'steal' profits from artists buy buying their material in bulk paying them less money for their services because they have capital to throw around."

What a terribly dumb analogy. Artists don't get a higher percentage of the profits from brick & mortar stores, you know.

Posted by undead ayn rand on July 28, 2011 at 1:30 PM