Overstock to Amazon: "If they go to 10 cents, I'll go to 9 cents"

[usuallee]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The mating ritual of the red-crested, online retailer?

Nice one!

I can't see overstock winning that kind of war, but it's scrappy of them for trying.

[MV64]

Like someone else said, Overstock will lose, meaning the price undercutting will end. But they may gain more loyal customers, so they still gain a victory.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The mating ritual of the red-crested, online retailer?

I will put down two-bits on the brawny buxom wench with the tiara and lasso.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by frahse

I will put down two-bits on the brawny buxom wench with the tiara and lasso.

And the twin magic swords these days.
(Hephaestus has been busy crafting her jewelry.)

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by MV64

Like someone else said, Overstock will lose, meaning the price undercutting will end. But they may gain more loyal customers, so they still gain a victory.

That is all they want.
They want to be noticed.
The deal here is somebody figured out that cutting margin to the bone for a week will cost less and generate a lot more promotional value that taking out a bunch of full page ads in newspapers and magazines or a superbowl TV ad.

It's a smart move to remind people they exist.
Mindshare is important, too.

[elemenoP]

I have purchased things from Overstock in the past and I never knew they sell books. So, mission accomplished.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That is all they want.
They want to be noticed.
The deal here is somebody figured out that cutting margin to the bone for a week will cost less and generate a lot more promotional value that taking out a bunch of full page ads in newspapers and magazines or a superbowl TV ad.

It's a smart move to remind people they exist.
Mindshare is important, too.

You are right. An extremely effective ad campaign!

[Kumabjorn]

How is their reputation among those that bought furniture and other things?

[elemenoP]

The site itself is reputable and they will deliver in the time frame that they say. The furniture and home items are a crapshoot. Could be great, could be... crap. If possible only buy items that have good reviews on the site.

eP

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

How is their reputation among those that bought furniture and other things?

Their name says it all; they deal in slow moving merchandise and refurbs alongside new dry goods. A good place to find last year's tech.
New products? Not the lowest price but decent.

Basically they're second-tier among online retailers behind Amazon and the specialty vendors.

[HarryT]

I've never heard of them. Do they only operate in the US?

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've never heard of them. Do they only operate in the US?

They ship internationally. That is why I was curious. I saw a floating computer table that looked interesting, but I'm sure shipping will be prohibitively expensive.

[jersysman]

I've used them for furniture and linens and things like that. They have decent products and they also offer free shipping in the US if you join their club. They are second behind Amazon in places I always check first.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I've never understood why publishers cared if they were getting their asking price, unless they were selling the majority of their books in their own stores.

It goes like this. You have a product you price at $30...and wholesale at $15...expecting the retailers to sell at $25. All is good. The customers know that the $30 retail price is never the one they pay and expect to pay approx $25 give or take a bit.

Retailer A decides to buy marketshare by pricing the book at $10 taking a bath on each book sold but they do so to drive the competition out of business. Or perhaps they have other merchandize they are making money on and losing money on books is made up on profits selling shampoo.

Why do the Publishers care? Are they not getting their $15 either way? Well, what happens when Company A runs Company B, C, and D out of business such that the Publishers becomes dependent on the only Company A to sell it's products?

What happens now that consumers are trained to expect brand new hard backs to come out for only $10. They become unwilling to pay the $25 they used to be willing to pay.

Then Company A, now that the competition is out of business...goes back to the publishers and says "we are no longer willing to pay a wholesale price of $15....but $7 for books".

The publisher can't just say "no" because the publishers other retailers are out of business....and it's customers have stopped being willing to pay $25.

Lee

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by leebase

It goes like this...

This scenario is often being used to illustrate why Amazon and others like them are bad, but has this ever happened? I'm genuinely curious, as I can't think of a time or a company that's done what's being described here.