AMZN - Amazon.com Inc.

[ScottHall]

Lately, Amazon has widened its selection of name-brand parts — and is already selling them for less than its brick-and-mortar rivals. For example, a 34 Series RedTop Optima Battery was recently being offered at $166 on Amazon, versus $216 at AutoZone.

 

In a September report, investment bank Jefferies said Amazon is offering same-day delivery for auto parts in 40 major US cities — at prices that average 23 percent less than those of O’Reilly, Advance and AutoZone.

 

http://nypost.com/2017/01/22/amazons-next-frontier-to-conquer-auto-parts/

 

Interesting.  I recently bought wiper blades at a local Autozone and was kind of pissed about how much I paid.  I went to my computer logged on to Amazon and sure enough, I could have gotten the exact same set of blades for my car for about $20 cheaper.  I spent over $50 on two Bosch Icon blades and the some ones on Amazon would have cost me a little over $30 with free prime 2day shipping.  I won't be buying them locally next time.

 

Retail's goose is cooked IMO. Once customers find out how badly they're being screwed by the auto parts retailers, their economic model is OVER.

[jawn619]

Lately, Amazon has widened its selection of name-brand parts — and is already selling them for less than its brick-and-mortar rivals. For example, a 34 Series RedTop Optima Battery was recently being offered at $166 on Amazon, versus $216 at AutoZone.

 

In a September report, investment bank Jefferies said Amazon is offering same-day delivery for auto parts in 40 major US cities — at prices that average 23 percent less than those of O’Reilly, Advance and AutoZone.

 

http://nypost.com/2017/01/22/amazons-next-frontier-to-conquer-auto-parts/

 

 

+1

 

Interesting.  I recently bought wiper blades at a local Autozone and was kind of pissed about how much I paid.  I went to my computer logged on to Amazon and sure enough, I could have gotten the exact same set of blades for my car for about $20 cheaper.  I spent over $50 on two Bosch Icon blades and the some ones on Amazon would have cost me a little over $30 with free prime 2day shipping.  I won't be buying them locally next time.

 

Retail's goose is cooked IMO. Once customers find out how badly they're being screwed by the auto parts retailers, their economic model is OVER.

[rogermunibond]

DIY is not the target.  Professional shops are.  ORLY, NAPA, etc. have over 50% of revs from professional mechanics.  They value on-time in-stock delivery.

[fareastwarriors]

Too Early to Junk Auto Retailers on Report of Amazon Parts Push

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-23/too-early-to-junk-auto-retailers-on-report-of-amazon-parts-push

[Liberty]

'With An Eye On Google, Amazon Wades Deeper Into Paid Search And Ecommerce Marketing'

 

https://adexchanger.com/ad-exchange-news/eye-google-amazon-wades-deeper-paid-search-ecommerce-marketing/

[gfp]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-expands-into-ocean-freight-1485357884

[Liberty]

AMZN Q4:

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2241835

 

Fourth Quarter 2016

 

Net sales increased 22% to $43.7 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $35.7 billion in fourth quarter 2015. Excluding the $558 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 24% compared with fourth quarter 2015.

 

Operating income increased 13% to $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with operating income of $1.1 billion in fourth quarter 2015.

 

Net income was $749 million in the fourth quarter, or $1.54 per diluted share, compared with net income of $482 million, or $1.00 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2015.

 

Full Year 2016

 

Net sales increased 27% to $136.0 billion, compared with $107.0 billion in 2015. Excluding the $550 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales increased 28% compared with 2015.

 

Operating income was $4.2 billion, compared with operating income of $2.2 billion in 2015.

 

Net income was $2.4 billion, or $4.90 per diluted share, compared with net income of $596 million, or $1.25 per diluted share, in 2015.

[SlowAppreciation]

http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/amazons-antitrust-paradox

 

ABSTRACT. Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a retailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space. Although Amazon has clocked staggering growth, it generates meager profits, choosing to price below-cost and expand widely instead. Through this strategy, the company has positioned itself at the center of e-commerce and now serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it. Elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns—yet it has escaped antitrust scrutiny.

[rkbabang]

http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/amazons-antitrust-paradox

 

ABSTRACT. Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a retailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space. Although Amazon has clocked staggering growth, it generates meager profits, choosing to price below-cost and expand widely instead. Through this strategy, the company has positioned itself at the center of e-commerce and now serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it. Elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns—yet it has escaped antitrust scrutiny.

 

 

While Amazon is a major player in all of those industries it isn't a monopoly in any of them. Unlike say google in search or with YouTube.  Google is more of an antitrust parodox than Amazon.

[Liberty]

http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/amazons-antitrust-paradox

 

ABSTRACT. Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a retailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space. Although Amazon has clocked staggering growth, it generates meager profits, choosing to price below-cost and expand widely instead. Through this strategy, the company has positioned itself at the center of e-commerce and now serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it. Elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns—yet it has escaped antitrust scrutiny.

 

 

While Amazon is a major player in all of those industries it isn't a monopoly in any of them. Unlike say google in search or with YouTube.  Google is more of an antitrust parodox than Amazon.

 

Yeah. Berkshire is also huge and plays in many industries as a major player, but that doesn't make it a monopoly either.

[sethatk]

I have been a 3rd Party seller on Amazon for a few years now. Many of the bigger sellers that I know are refocusing there efforts on Walmart/Jet/Ebay. Walmart's marketplace seems to be gaining a lot of steam and many 3P sellers are having a lot of success. I would say it is only a matter of time before Walmart offers a fulfillment service like Amazon for 3P sellers, until then 3P sellers must fulfill their own orders which limits a smaller operations ability to scale.

[SlowAppreciation]

http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/amazons-antitrust-paradox

 

ABSTRACT. Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a retailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space. Although Amazon has clocked staggering growth, it generates meager profits, choosing to price below-cost and expand widely instead. Through this strategy, the company has positioned itself at the center of e-commerce and now serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it. Elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns—yet it has escaped antitrust scrutiny.

 

 

While Amazon is a major player in all of those industries it isn't a monopoly in any of them. Unlike say google in search or with YouTube.  Google is more of an antitrust parodox than Amazon.

 

Yeah. Berkshire is also huge and plays in many industries as a major player, but that doesn't make it a monopoly either.

 

I haven't read it yet, but I think the framework of the report is that anti-trust law is currently limited by its focus on marketshare and pricing power, rather than market power. Amazon is used to illustrate this point

 

I take no stance, but do think it's an interesting argument. Antitrust laws came out during the robber baron days when the economy was powered by heavy industry. But now you can build a global behemoth without marketshare, yet the power rivals that of JP Morgan, US Steel, US oil, etc.

 

 

 

 

[rkbabang]

http://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/amazons-antitrust-paradox

 

ABSTRACT. Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a retailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space. Although Amazon has clocked staggering growth, it generates meager profits, choosing to price below-cost and expand widely instead. Through this strategy, the company has positioned itself at the center of e-commerce and now serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it. Elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns—yet it has escaped antitrust scrutiny.

 

 

While Amazon is a major player in all of those industries it isn't a monopoly in any of them. Unlike say google in search or with YouTube.  Google is more of an antitrust parodox than Amazon.

 

Yeah. Berkshire is also huge and plays in many industries as a major player, but that doesn't make it a monopoly either.

 

I haven't read it yet, but I think the framework of the report is that anti-trust law is currently limited by its focus on marketshare and pricing power, rather than market power. Amazon is used to illustrate this point

 

I take no stance, but do think it's an interesting argument. Antitrust laws came out during the robber baron days when the economy was powered by heavy industry. But now you can build a global behemoth without marketshare, yet the power rivals that of JP Morgan, US Steel, US oil, etc.

 

It is counterproductive to enforce antitrust laws in a modern economy where things change on the order of decades not centuries.  Look at the anti-trust actions against Microsoft.  How much time, money, and labor were wasted on those legal actions only to have PCs be largely irrelevant not many years after?  If there is a monopoly due to government regulations (e.g. AT&T in its heyday, Comcast in the areas where it has a protected monopoly, etc) then fine get rid of those regulations and allow competition, but otherwise even something like google search, give it 10 or 20 years and something else will naturally come along.

 

Of course this article is in a law journal, lawyers being the one group that benefits tremendously from working on both sides of large antitrust cases.

 

[Aurelius]

Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb's Sequoia Fund 4th Quarter Shareholder Letter:

 

In the fall, we exited our small position in Walmart and replaced it with a similarly small position in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). The company’s e-commerce operation (Amazon.com) and its cloud computing platform (Amazon Web Services) are two of the most advantaged businesses we’ve analyzed in quite some time. Both are growing fast and have miles of runway ahead of them. And they are run by arguably the most talented, customer-focused and long term-oriented businessman of his generation.

 

At a consolidated level, Amazon produces very little in the way of reported profits. Amazon Web Services, whose financials are disclosed separately, earns very rich margins, but the larger e-commerce business reports scant earnings. Our research indicates that the company’s e-commerce business has substantial earnings power that is being masked by a variety of ambitious growth investments. The Fund purchased shares at what we believe to be a reasonable multiple of underlying earnings power excluding those investments. Estimating the long-term potential of Amazon’s many investments is an inherently imprecise exercise, which is why the investment thus far has been a small one.

[rkbabang]

Pretty Funny: https://www.cnet.com/news/jeff-bezos-amazon-go-mocks-robot-powered-supermarkets/

 

"Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Tuesday knocked down the idea, saying on Twitter: ".nypost, whoever your anonymous sources are on this story...-- they've mixed up their meds!"

 

Bezos added in a later tweet, "if anybody knows how to get 20% margins in groceries, call me! :)"

 

[Cevian]

Noticed something lately on Amazon which I don't like both as a customer and as an avid reader and thought I'd bring it to my fellow group's attention.

 

I've encountered many occasions where Amazon is pricing the same kindle book at a different price (always higher in my case) depending on whether I'm logged into my account or not. Take "Intelligent Investor" for example. Try to clear your browser history or use a different browser or laptop and see what you get for the price of the kindle version. Then log in with your Amazon account and compare the price. Any changes? In my case, most of the items in my wish list are priced much higher if I'm logged into my account. I've started logging off, clearing my browser and starting the purchase process prior to logging in.

 

Not happy about this experience and wanted to let you guys know.

[EliG]

Noticed something lately on Amazon which I don't like both as a customer and as an avid reader and thought I'd bring it to my fellow group's attention.

 

I've encountered many occasions where Amazon is pricing the same kindle book at a different price (always higher in my case) depending on whether I'm logged into my account or not. Take "Intelligent Investor" for example. Try to clear your browser history or use a different browser or laptop and see what you get for the price of the kindle version. Then log in with your Amazon account and compare the price. Any changes? In my case, most of the items in my wish list are priced much higher if I'm logged into my account. I've started logging off, clearing my browser and starting the purchase process prior to logging in.

 

Not happy about this experience and wanted to let you guys know.

 

They've been doing it for years. Here's an article from year 2000:

 

Test of 'dynamic pricing' angers Amazon customers

[Jurgis]

Noticed something lately on Amazon which I don't like both as a customer and as an avid reader and thought I'd bring it to my fellow group's attention.

 

I've encountered many occasions where Amazon is pricing the same kindle book at a different price (always higher in my case) depending on whether I'm logged into my account or not. Take "Intelligent Investor" for example. Try to clear your browser history or use a different browser or laptop and see what you get for the price of the kindle version. Then log in with your Amazon account and compare the price. Any changes? In my case, most of the items in my wish list are priced much higher if I'm logged into my account. I've started logging off, clearing my browser and starting the purchase process prior to logging in.

 

Not happy about this experience and wanted to let you guys know.

 

I got "Intelligent Investor" kindle price $2.99 recently, so I can't complain...

 

If they hike up prices when I'm logged in, they are just losing business, since I don't buy...

[DooDiligence]

Noticed something lately on Amazon which I don't like both as a customer and as an avid reader and thought I'd bring it to my fellow group's attention.

 

I've encountered many occasions where Amazon is pricing the same kindle book at a different price (always higher in my case) depending on whether I'm logged into my account or not. Take "Intelligent Investor" for example. Try to clear your browser history or use a different browser or laptop and see what you get for the price of the kindle version. Then log in with your Amazon account and compare the price. Any changes? In my case, most of the items in my wish list are priced much higher if I'm logged into my account. I've started logging off, clearing my browser and starting the purchase process prior to logging in.

 

Not happy about this experience and wanted to let you guys know.

 

I got "Intelligent Investor" kindle price $2.99 recently, so I can't complain...

 

If they hike up prices when I'm logged in, they are just losing business, since I don't buy...

 

Kindle book buying (like investing) is a game of patience.

 

(fill a watch list with quality & monitor closely!)

[Aurelius]

Noticed something lately on Amazon which I don't like both as a customer and as an avid reader and thought I'd bring it to my fellow group's attention.

 

I've encountered many occasions where Amazon is pricing the same kindle book at a different price (always higher in my case) depending on whether I'm logged into my account or not. Take "Intelligent Investor" for example. Try to clear your browser history or use a different browser or laptop and see what you get for the price of the kindle version. Then log in with your Amazon account and compare the price. Any changes? In my case, most of the items in my wish list are priced much higher if I'm logged into my account. I've started logging off, clearing my browser and starting the purchase process prior to logging in.

 

Not happy about this experience and wanted to let you guys know.

 

If this were true it would violate what Amazon stands for. Amazon wants to offer its costumers everyday low prices. Sure, they change their prices up and down all the time. But if they were to charge each costumer differently depending on what people like people would lose trust in Amazon.

 

Also Amazon wants to eliminate friction as much as possible and what you are describing is that the second order effects would lead to enormous friction. Therefore I just could not believe they would do such a thing.

 

I sampled almost 40 books from my wishlist against a the same books in a new browser with clear history, operating incognito.

 

All prices were identical.

[villainx]

Noticed something lately on Amazon which I don't like both as a customer and as an avid reader and thought I'd bring it to my fellow group's attention.

 

I've encountered many occasions where Amazon is pricing the same kindle book at a different price (always higher in my case) depending on whether I'm logged into my account or not. Take "Intelligent Investor" for example. Try to clear your browser history or use a different browser or laptop and see what you get for the price of the kindle version. Then log in with your Amazon account and compare the price. Any changes? In my case, most of the items in my wish list are priced much higher if I'm logged into my account. I've started logging off, clearing my browser and starting the purchase process prior to logging in.

 

Not happy about this experience and wanted to let you guys know.

 

Not that I don't believe you, but a couple of examples of the price discrepancies would help.

[DCG]

I tested it and was unable to replicate any price differences.

 

I'm pretty sure authors have full control over the price of their books on Amazon. It's a common practice now to initially sell kindle books at $0.99 to boost your sales ranking and search position, as well as get reviews, and then increase the price.

[Jurgis]

I tested it and was unable to replicate any price differences.

 

I'm pretty sure authors have full control over the price of their books on Amazon. It's a common practice now to initially sell kindle books at $0.99 to boost your sales ranking and search position, as well as get reviews, and then increase the price.

 

From what I understand, if you see this:

 

Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers

Price set by seller.

 

then the price is indeed set by seller and not by Amazon. (Hachette group has this, some other publishers).

 

I don't know who is in control of the price when sale is done by Amazon.

 

The sellers do run periodic promotions, like one-day-$1.99-$2.99-$3.99 sales.

I don't know if they have access to account data and whether they can run per-account price changes.

[Cevian]

Ok, thanks guys, maybe its just my profile. Plenty of example of this happening ongoing but here are specifics which you can try and let me know if you see the same thing:

 

Zen books from Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Compare the Kindle price of "No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering" when logged in versus logged out.

 

Same thing happened the other day with "Intelligent Investor" but getting a different result today. Again not the same price but I'm more advantaged today when I log in as opposed to when I'm logged out.

[Jurgis]

Kindle Edition

$ 12 99

Paperback

$ 9 24

 

for your example. Both logged in and logged out.