Can’t Beat ‘Em? Join ‘Em
There’s no wealthier place to be than the Amazon right now, investors seeing a $2,020 stock price as perhaps Prime Day’s best bargain. In response to the holiday sale, competitors can only mimic the e-commerce goliath to keep up and, even hampered by strikes, Amazon may have more in its locker, yet!
Amazon has become so successful that it’s developed a monopoly over a holiday. It’s now displaced that holiday by changing the name and date association in customers’ minds. Black Friday? You’re over. Jeff Bezos has taken shopping festivals under his control, and despite offering thousands of products, there’s only one sales metric he’s tracking in his business. That’s Prime membership, the weapon brandished by Bezos as destined to ultimately bludgeon the fatal blow to Walmart, Target, and eBay. Capitalism at its finest!
As we embark on the second day of Prime Day, Amazon investors will agree that it’s mostly going to plan. Competitors have no choice but to imitate the company and make the most of strikes against it. Greg Portell of retail consulting firm A.T. Kearney, says “competitors are learning to counter-program,” using any edge they can find to siphon off customers. Marketing such counter-programs as anything but a second-rate Prime Day sale is hard, as these companies program themselves to be followers of industry instead of leaders.
So, the Amazon survival guide is getting a new paragraph on copy-catting, a short-term measure for investors to keep their other retail holdings alive, and soften the Prime Day damage. Over the long-term, deciding to invest in a retailer is becoming more of an analysis of Amazon! Kudos to the company, the saving grace for its competition is looking more and more like a government break-up.
We’re only days and weeks away from some of these market players releasing earnings, revealing the ultimate scoreboard for this week’s deal contest. Can’t wait!
