t taken off as much, and Amazon will never be able to replicate the hype and excitement that it received in the United States during the 'Internet bubble.' Furthermore, Amazon must spend aggressively in each of its countries because media audiences are less likely to cross borders" (Becker, p.9). Amazon is not in the financial position to spend aggressively to achieve additional revenues, and, even if it were, the additional revenues alone would not help Amazon to reach its objective to achieve profitability. For this reason, an alternative strategy was selected for implementation.The strategy that was selected was a hybrid strategy of product development and joint venture. As was previously mentioned in the EFE Matrix evaluation, a tremendous opportunity for platform monetization exists for Amazon. The Company could sell "access to either its customer base, brand, inventory management, or customer service and order fulfillment infrastructure (or all of them simultaneously), then the economics of the Amazon.com business model could be a lot better than 2-3% margin. Operating margin could then start to creep toward double digits over time, which would indeed support a premium valuation relative to other retailers" (Reamer, p.6).Amazon has recently entered into two such deals. One deal was with Toys "R" Us and the other was with Borders Group. "Under the terms of the strategic partnership between [Amazon] and [Borders], [Amazon] will assume fulfillment and inventory for the co-branded Borders.com Web site. Amazon.com will be the seller of record, providing inventory, fulfillment, site content, and customer service for the co-branded site. The new site will continue to offer content unique to Borders.com, including store location information and in-store event calendars" (Legg, p.3)."With the announcement of its e-commerce partnership with ToysRus.com last year, Amazon launched into an innovative e-business services model that re...
