they seem to have had bigger problems than Amazon
https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/10/forever-21s-failure-is-a-good-time-to-prioritize-fashion-quality-over-quantity/
We have a Forever21 here downtown and it seems to be doing fine. It's not high quality, but that's to be expected for those prices. I like their retro stuff. I actually like them better than Primark, which is also cheap but seems to be of an even lower quality.
shareOf course it is. It's completely redefined the rules of business to such an extent that any business with an unsustainable business model can dominate the market share, while the ones playing by the rules are going under through no fault of their own.
What people fail to understand is that the Amazon STORE (not the entire company, but the store) has never, ever turned a profit a day in its life. The store is a front. Amazon makes its money from its cloud computing services and other side ventures and then uses the profits to cover the store.
To use an example: imagine you start a hamburger joint called McAmazon where you only charge 50 cents for a hamburger meal that includes a side of fries and a 20 ounce drink. You lose $1-$2B a year. But no worries--you have a software development company that makes so much money building apps, that you can easily use the surplus to cover McAmazon's $2B annual loss and still have money left over. (And, of course, not paying any taxes helps and getting billions in tax breaks helps.)
Meanwhile, McDonald's, Wendy's, etc.--which started out turning a profit--begin losing sales like crazy to McAmazon (because of how cheap it is) and then ironically lose money to a company that never turned a profit. This is what's happening to so many retailers now. They're playing by the rules but Amazon has changed the rules to the point where the only companies that can stay in business are the ones that are cheating the way it and other companies like WeWork and Uber have been doing for years now.
Walmart has been trying to drive all the other pharmacies in the US out of business, by selling drugs at a huge loss.
It's hardly a new business model, it's just done on a scale never seen before.
Amazon loses money overall even with its Amazon Web Services (AWS) business. Shareholders don't seem to care for now but eventually Amazon will have to become profitable. I suspect they are trying to increase their market share of the retail business before they have to increase prices.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/19/how-amazon-actually-makes-money.aspx
I thought they have been profitable in recent years, or am I reading this wrong?
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/financials?p=AMZN
I hate to admit I would be lost without Amazon. Not so with Wally World. I don’t like it, but like so many others I depend on Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce company which he too started in his garage. What is it with billionaires and garages?
This worries me.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/what-jeff-bezos-wants/598363/?utm_source=feed
How does Uber make $ then?
shareIt doesn't make money. That's what I mean by how Amazon has changed the rules of the game. You don't have to make any money to be seen as a profitable business anymore. All you need is to "go public" and get "valuated" (as in, seen as being worth billions by investors/Wall Street because of its stock, even though it's actually losing billions a year).
Uber’s Plan to Lose Money on Each Transaction and Make It Up in Volume, Annotated
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/ubers-plan-to-lose-money-on-each-ride-make-it-up-in-volume.html
Uber lost over $5 billion in one quarter, but don’t worry, it gets worse
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/8/20793793/uber-5-billion-quarter-loss-profit-lyft-traffic-2019
The same happens with Netflix. The same happens with Hulu. The same happens with Tesla. And so on. The real clients are the investors, that put more and more money in waiting for the Next Big Thing.
The problem is that investors will stop feeding the meter eventually. By then, you won't have Amazon stores.... but you won't have the old stores neither. That moment, anyone with deep pockets can overtake the whole market that has no competition anymore. And guess who will have the deepest pockets? China.
The same with Mattel. I own Mattel stock and it’s hanging on by its fingernails. We Mattel investors haven’t received dividends in over 2 years! As soon as the price gets up to what I paid for it (if it ever does) I’m selling!
shareThey don't.
shareAmazon has improved some peoples lives though. Imagine if its difficult to leave your home, injury, disabled. These people probably think Amazon is a godsend.
shareThe disabled don't have family members and social service programs to help them? The disabled don't have wheelchairs and specially equipped vehicles to get around?
Even if for the sake of argument we could say that Amazon "helps" the disabled, it only helps in the sense that it enables them. The only "disabled" people who Amazon could be said to truly be a Godsend are agoraphobes, the isolated, or those suffering from some form of autism or aspberger's in which they have to work harder than most to interact with others. If you have some problem in which you can't handle being around people or be out in public, Amazon is the perfect enabler. I have a relative who never leaves the house because he can do everything online. I don't see the ability to escape society by relying on Amazon as a Godsend.
I've been disabled for most of my life, and yes, I have mobility devices like a power-wheelchair for around the house and a 3-wheel scooter to get out and about in the area, plus hand controls on my wife's car. All of which are a godsend and I'm grateful for them, because I have no family in the area. Besides, I like to stay as independent as possible and not keep in the habit of asking fellow churchgoers and neighbors for help.
I've been an Amazon Prime member for a few years now and enjoy it. Getting deliveries right to my home is an appreciated option, instead of arranging to meet someone at a store to help me get larger products home. And as a member of a disability meetup, I also know friends (like a married blind couple) that find shopping online and getting home delivery to be very helpful. It's why services like home delivery and curbside pick-up are popular in my area of sunny Arizona. It levels the field with people that can go wherever they want and buy something, put it in the car and take it home.
I don't know but smart phones have destroyed humanity.
shareYes, they most certainly have. I never thought that such a rinky dinky gadget could cause so much havoc. It completely turned everything that was great about the internet on its head. Have you noticed that there have been virtually no great leaps in innovation since the smartphone debuted? Because before the smartphone, everyone was encouraged to innovate. Now everyone is encouraged to stay glued to their phones 24/7 like a bunch of zombies. I have a sister who has been obsessively playing Candy Crush every single day for hours at a time since the game was released.
shareAmazon is putting a lot of big box stores out of business, so it's destroying those stores but not destroying the economy.
shareTwo sides to every coin really........they have done some good.
share