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AmazonLocal

local.amazon.com

11–20 of 28 posts

Re: AmazonLocal

#11
post #7

If Amazon succeeds with this now then this will be a really good example to disprove the concept of the first mover (or maybe in this case hundredth mover) advantage forever.

Can't say I ever really agreed with the first mover advantage. Looking back, it's usually someone who comes later who really "gets it right", now that they have the perspective that the first guy laid out for them. As a first mover, you've got to be constantly changing to keep up with these newcomers.

Re: AmazonLocal

#12
So we've got LivingSocial, Groupon, Google Offers, and now AmazonLocal. Am I the only one not seeing the point of these coupon sites?

I suppose Groupon's required email address turned me off to the genre early on.

Re: AmazonLocal

#13
post #7

If Amazon succeeds with this now then this will be a really good example to disprove the concept of the first mover (or maybe in this case hundredth mover) advantage forever.

Can't say I ever really agreed with the first mover advantage. Looking back, it's usually someone who comes later who really "gets it right", now that they have the perspective that the first guy laid out for them. As a first mover, you've got to be constantly changing to keep up with these newcomers.

If you can't be first, be best. If you can't be best, be first.

Re: AmazonLocal

#14
post #10
post #4

How utterly shameless! It even looks just like GroupOn... that's... lame... that's all I can say.

One of the knocks on Groupon has always been how easy their product is to clone, and how the competition in the space will inevitably drive margins down.

It's not that easy to clone a user base though which is the leverage of most niche sites. Not saying Amazon can't do it, it is Amazon so anything is possible but it's not a general rule. For example, if I was the one doing a clone of Groupon I would most probably fail since I lack the resources (sales people) to do better than them.

Re: AmazonLocal

#15
This is a surprisingly raw launch by a company like Amazon, especially considering they have a partnership with living social. You sign up and nothing is available? Even in a fairly large city like Boston? From a launch POV I'm just surprised they didn't wait til they had some inventory and then add it to your customized homepage. e.g. "Since you were looking at cookbooks would you like 50% of 1 $20 gift card at Temple Bar?"

Re: AmazonLocal

#16

So we've got LivingSocial, Groupon, Google Offers, and now AmazonLocal. Am I the only one not seeing the point of these coupon sites? I suppose Groupon's required email address turned me off to the genre early on.

>Am I the only one not seeing the point of these coupon sites?

http://www.evanmiller.org/golden-football.html

Re: AmazonLocal

#17

Looks like it's Boise only right now? Interesting place to start.

It comes up pre-populated with my address, presumably because I'm logged into Amazon. But the design doesn't seem to account for me wanting, say, a coupon for lunch in the city where I work.

Re: AmazonLocal

#18
Doesn't make sense though ! I would prefer this concept if they have it on the amazon.com homepage. I would hate to give my mail address. I have a feeling this was done in response to Google Wallet.

Re: AmazonLocal

#19

This is a surprisingly raw launch by a company like Amazon, especially considering they have a partnership with living social. You sign up and nothing is available? Even in a fairly large city like Boston? From a launch POV I'm just surprised they didn't wait til they had some inventory and then add it to your customized homepage. e.g. "Since you were looking at cookbooks would you like 50% of 1 $20 gift card at Temp…

Looks like it's only available in Boise: http://local.amazon.com/boise

Re: AmazonLocal

#20
post #16

So we've got LivingSocial, Groupon, Google Offers, and now AmazonLocal. Am I the only one not seeing the point of these coupon sites? I suppose Groupon's required email address turned me off to the genre early on.

>Am I the only one not seeing the point of these coupon sites? http://www.evanmiller.org/golden-football.html

"Groupon provides the mechanism to move businesses and customers over to a part of the diagram previously regarded as unreachable. It only works because customers can collectively commit to buying more than they would with a run-of-the-mill coupon."

But it breaks down when that business fails to increase it's capacity. Case in point: I used groupon once for a restaurant and the experience was horrible. The restaurant was completely unprepared for the number of people showing up. On paper I got $40 bucks worth of food and service for $20 bucks, but the experience was so bad I wish I had stayed home and saved my $20 bucks.

In my situation the restaurant and Groupon dropped the golden football.

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