B&N and Specialty Houses

[Ernest Perez]

Stephen Marek <smarek at nwu.edu> writes:
> Anyone who thinks that amazon.com is just another "electronic mega mass
> merchant" whose success can be easily emulated should take another look at
> them.Speaking as a hard-core customer, I'd say that they're just about the
> best in the business. Great web pages, ease of ordering, 3 million titles
> available, numerous reviews and special information services on the web
> site, deep discounts often to 40%, instant order confirmation, incredibly
> fast shipping, and books that arrive in perfect condition. Probably nothing
> to it :-)

I agree with Stephen, it does seem a bit more than just simple ol' mass
merchantry.  Technology totally changes abilities, for sure, but you
have to mix that with good new service and organizational concepts, and
a creative spread of services.  I think businesses (and maybe society)
can't help but benefit. E.g., the WWW and our own profession, online
vendors, .gov/.edu/.org sites, etc. Or, from the other end of the
innovation scale, buggy whip makers, vacuum tube mfrs., IBM Selectric
dealers, and so on.

BTW, I _was_ totally blown away by amazon.com's delivery speed.  I
ordered a (personal purchase) title one morning about 10 a.m. one day
and had it delivered to my doorstep the next day! This ain't just
automated order entry by "another electronic mega mass merchant";
someone's done some radical reengineering of the whole print delivery
concept.  Good luck to 'em. Now that they've proved their concept, I
hope amazon.com, can continue to give good competition against B&N.
That's the mythical 900-pound book dealer gorilla who's just stepped
into the Web/ring.

Cheers,
-ernest

Ernest Perez//Oregon State Library//perez at opac.state.or.us//503-378-4243
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