r. Bezos, Amazon differentiates itself from potential rivals in many ways, besides just marketing and aggressive brand promotion. He observes (Fast Company, 1996): People who just scratch the surface of Amazon.com say-'oh, you sell books on the Web'-they don't understand how hard it is to actually be an electronic merchant. We're not just putting up a Web site. We do 90% of our customer service by e-mail rather than by telephone. Fourteen of our 110 employees do nothing but answer e-mail from customers. There are very few off-the-shelf tools that help do what we're doing. We've had to develop lots of our own technologies. There are no companies selling software to manage e-mail centers. So we had to develop our own tools. In a way this is good news. There are lots of barriers to entry" (Kotha, p. 10).Some additional threats, while not as threatening, do exist. For instance, online e-tailers are being sued over shipping delays. "The FTC alleges that some online stores did not give shoppers enough notice of impending shipping delays or that they continued to promise deliveries they could not make during the holiday season" (Farmer, p.2). Lastly, security concerns are limiting the growth of online retailing. Consumers often "surf" the Web to obtain information about a product, but do not purchase the product online for fear of putting their credit card number and other personal information on the Web. However, encryption technology is so advanced today, that it is actually safer to give a Web page your credit card number than it is to give your number to a salesperson over the phone.Next, a competitive profile matrix (CPM) will be performed to demonstrate how well Amazon performs relative to its competitor group. The CPM follows:Amazon.comBarnes & NobleBarnes & NobleeBayCritical Wtd.Wtd.Wtd.Success FactorsWeightRatingScoreRatingScoreRatingScoreMarket Share0.2040.8040.8040.80Management0.1520.3030.4530.45Financial Position0.2...
