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• EBay's changing auction strategy

  Posted Jun 03 2008, 09:56 AM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Amazon, eBay, Kim Peterson
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  Auctions are disappearing on eBay and being replaced by fixed-price item sales. BusinessWeek says that's due to the changing needs of the consumer, who thinks bidding is too much hassle. Nope. Don't blame the bidder. EBay is doing everything it can to choke the life out of its own auction business -- and that's a big gamble.

  Yes, time is precious. And yes, there are people who would rather "buy it now" on eBay at a higher price than spend days in a prolonged bidding war. About 42% of eBay auctions have a "buy it now" option, a figure that has grown 22% in the last year, according to BusinessWeek. EBay shares are up nearly 1% today to $29.59.   Read More...

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• Apple's fast climb to top music seller

  Posted Apr 03 2008, 12:32 PM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Apple, Amazon, Retail, Kim Peterson
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  Apple has become the top music seller in the U.S. The company made the announcement today after Ars Technica leaked an internal e-mail with details. Just a couple of months ago, Apple passed Best Buy to become the #2 music retailer. Now, the company is topping the charts.

  Apple had 19% of the market in January, and Wal-Mart was in second place with 15%, according to the leaked e-mail. It's worth noting an obvious difference between the two: Apple is an all-digital music seller, while most of Wal-Mart's sales are physical CDs. Best Buy, Amazon and Target rounded out the top five spots. Some tech blogs thought that January's numbers were skewed due to people redeeming iTunes gift cards recieved over the holidays. But it looks like Apple stayed on top in February as well.

  Shares of the company rose nearly 3% today to close at $151.61. Here's what others had to say about the news:   Read More...

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• Shopping by text message, now at Amazon

  Posted Apr 02 2008, 12:17 PM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Amazon, Kim Peterson
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  Amazon will now take your orders through text message, and though the system seems a little clumsy, I like the idea.

  Here's how it works. Say you're at Borders and see a copy of the book "Unaccustomed Earth" on the shelves. Looks interesting. Hm. Wonder if Amazon is selling it for less? Send a text message with the book's title to 262966 (that spells "Amazon" on the keypad). Amazon will send you two results with the option to buy.

  I tried it this morning and quickly got a response with a set of instructions on how to buy by phone. A few seconds later, I got a second message offering me the book for $15.94. It also listed a book called "Malgudi Days," which has an introduction written by the same author. Amazon will only send you its top two results in each text message, so don't make a generic request like "Disney."   Read More...

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• Amazon to start selling wine

  Posted Mar 07 2008, 06:08 AM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Amazon, Kim Peterson
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  Selling wine online in this country is pretty screwed up. Or, as the Financial Times so elegantly stated, it's "a business fraught with regulatory complexities and littered with the wreckage of previous failures."

  But Amazon is up for the task, and is recruiting a senior wine buyer on its site. I'd like to volunteer, but my knowledge of wine basically comes from what I learned in "Sideways." Amazon has been interested in this area for some time, having spent $30 million nine years ago for a 45% stake of Wineshopper.com. Oops, Wineshopper was folded into Wine.com the next year.

  Maybe Amazon can help straighten out the convoluted mess that is selling wine online. Retailers can only ship wine to 26 states. Wineries and retailers follow different rules. FreetheGrapes.org has a nice summary of this complex issue. And the competition is nasty. Online wine retailer Wine.com went so far as to conduct its own sting operation, telling state regulators whenever it found that its rivals were violating wine-shipping laws.   Read More...

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