1.
What
are the advantages and disadvantages of
online B2C vis-à-vis traditional bricks
and mortar retailing? With your
study group, prepare a table that
summarizes these tradeoffs. You may
want to compare Amazon.com to the
traditional Borders as a starting point.
Your table should consist of 6-10
measures or criteria, and for each you
should state what are the advantages of
Web-based selling over bricks and mortar
retailing and vice versa.
Sometimes the answer is "it
depends," in which case you should
specify what it depends on and in what
way. Then, provide a short example
for each measure or criterion.
Use your table to analyze the
desirability of selling three product
groups online. Start from books and
continue with two other product
categories of your choice.
Hand in your answer to question 1.
This is a group assignment.
-
Analyze Amazon's
"Cash-to-Cash" cycle (timing of cash
flows, similar to the analysis we did for Dell).
Can you quantify the associated annual value to
Amazon.com?
-
What were the three
major periods in Amazon's evolution? What
data in the case best delineate them?
-
Should Amazon do
its own order fulfillment? Why or why not?
-
In January 2002,
Amazon offered free "super-saver"
shipping for orders of $99 or more; the buyer
agreed to wait 3-5 additional days for the order
to ship. The "super-saver" order threshold was then lowered in June and August,
2002 to $25. Does "super-saver" shipping
make sense for Amazon.com?
-
What should
Amazon’s pricing strategy be?
Should it use dynamic pricing?