eBay vs Amazon: My Take

So, I asked you to think about whether eBay or Amazon is a better company. I pointed out that Amazon’s stock is performing a lot better than eBay’s this year. One of you rightly pointed out that Amazon’s margins are a problem. Indeed, as I discussed at length in the series we just completed, Amazon

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Web 3.0 & Amazon (Part 5)

Conclusion We have reviewed Amazon’s strategy in the upcoming Web 3.0 world over the last few days. Amazon has been focusing on enhancing its technology, introducing new categories of products and services (recently introduced, Amazon MP3 and Grocery), increasing depth of selection in each category, opening new markets (UK, Germany, Japan), offering better shopping tools

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 7)

SM: Does PayPal operate in South America? MG: You can withdraw money but you cannot fund a PayPal account. They do not have a Spanish speaking site either. SM: What is your dynamic with eBay today? Competitive or collaborative?

Web 3.0 & Amazon (Part 4)

Acquisition Targets Amazon has been slow to acquire companies. Amazon acquired dpreview.com, a London-based digital photography review site in May 2007. Amazon needs to use acquisitions to enter businesses that have a higher profitability dynamic in their business models. For example, Amazon could consider acquiring on-demand, customized product creation company CafePress. CafePress.com is a growing

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 6)

SM: So you grew well through 2006, and in 2007 you went public. How was the IPO received in the investor community? MG: Very well. The stock went up quite a bit. We were quite unlucky in that we did our road show in the middle of the sub prime crisis. The day we priced,

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Web 3.0 & Amazon (Part 3)

Web 3.0 Framework discussion Below is a quick overview of the Web 3.0 framework for the Amazon sites. Context Amazon’s primary Context is shopping. Whether it is for books, music, toys, or clothes, you come to Amazon to shop. Content Amazon has really good content about its merchandise. In fact, the Amazon catalog is a

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 5)

SM: What was Internet adoption like in 2003? MG: I do not remember year by year. I think the evolution was somewhere around 10% per year. SM: What type of revenues were you seeing in 2003? MG: I believe we had $4M in 2003. I would have to check that number, but 2006 was $52M,

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Web 3.0 & Amazon (Part 2)

Vertical Strategy Amazon is the most popular e-commerce site in the world. We will take a look at the Company’s various online verticals below. Books, Newspaper and Magazines Amazon was started as an online bookstore. It is the largest retailer of books online. It allows users to buy books, magazines and newspapers online. Amazon has

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