Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
That's what people were saying about Barnes & Noble in 1994.
B&N had all the advantages against Amazon -- size, influence, relationships, capital, infrastructure, brand awareness and market dominance. Now, Amazon is on the verge of putting B&N out of business.
If a startup would have a tough time against Amazon, it's not solely because of those advantages. It's also because Amazon executes really well, and is unlikely to give anyone an opportunity. And again unless they're doing something illegal, and as long as those goods are available elsewhere (even with a handful of exclusives), I'm not sure why there's a problem.
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Amazon really didn't start to beat up on B&N until Amazon began subsidizing its book losses with its profits from nonbook items. That was and is a key difference between Amazon and other ebooksellers -- the ability to absorb losses in books for years because other divisions are profitable and able to support the book losses.