Because I Missed A Class!

The rise of e-tailing over the past decade can be hugely attributed to the innovation and strategy being adopted by the two companies. Albeit what is interesting is that even though both Amazon and eBay have become highly successful in the e-commerce space they both have followed different growth trajectories. Let take a look at both of them:

eBay VS Amazon

Amazon

Jeff Bezos’s letter to the shareholders describes Amazon as an “internally driven company” committed to improving customer experience before it needs to. In the last decade Amazon’s growth has been fuelled by its ability to control its operations and make them more efficient. The focus has been on providing the best price, selection, convenience to the end consumer, ease of functionality, reliable fulfillment and timely customer service.

Amazon has a great device, a platform that connects it to ready user base and operational might. Amazon Prime had moved swiftly to become a top content provider and is evident from its recent tie-ups and agreements with major studios for licensing their content as well as developing original content. Amazon coins were also launched earlier this year to help the company have more control over payments. All this is an indication of Amazon’s long term plan of controlling the entire ecosphere for its consumers where maybe (speculation) it would use its superior device making ability(Kindle HD) to connect the TV in the consumers house to the content on Amazon Videos

eBay

eBay was never an operations company. It is a platform that connects customers to sellers and enables connected commerce. However in recent years eBay has been trying to find ways to provide an alternative to the operational might of Amazon. The Global Shipping Program (GSP) allows sellers from United States to sell their products to international customers in other countries without the hassle of going through customs, regulations etc. The GSP program has since its inception grown tremendously and has become a key focus area for the company. eBay is also betting big on mobile commerce and its investments in this space is a part of its long term vision of connected commerce. Steve Yankovich talks about some of the innovation being done by eBay in this interview. Also making consumers feel connected to the experience is also an important part of eBay’s 3.0 strategy.

Some questions to think about

1.     Will local shopping become cost effective?

2.     Will Amazon be able to successfully develop original content for viewers?

3.     Does Amazon have a viable alternative for Paypal?

4.     Can eBay copy Amazon’s operational effectiveness

Maybe I will answer these questions when I miss the next class (Just Kidding, or am I!)