Finding the source of

Martin Dodge

Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis

University College London

E*Space 5 Conference, Cape Town, 10-15th July 1999

What does Amazon.com look like?

Figure 2: Amazon.com Stock Price

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Where is Amazon.com?real & virtual

Mythology of Amazon

• Fascinating story of myth and hype

• Bezos - goofy nerd and multi-billionaire

• Genesis myths– the 2300% statistic

– no gorillas in the book market

– the drive West in the old Chevy

– starts in the garage

– irony of using B&N coffee shop

• Stock price bubble - $20 billion

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$210.125(23/04/99)

$184.625(11/01/99)

Amazon.com stock price from May 1997 to June 1999.

http://www.amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc1516 Second Ave, Seattle

books

music videos gifts

e-cardsauction

Homegrocer.com (35%)Pets.com (54%)

Drugstore.com (46%)

Junglee (100%)

PlanetAll.com (100%) Alexa Internet (100%)

IMDb.com (100%)

Exchange.com (100%)Accept.com (100%)

Sotheby’s auctionhouse ($45m)

Livebid.com (100%)

Strategic Technologies

Web Retailing Properties

Associates (260,000)

MajorPortals

(eg Altavista)

Amazon.co.uk Amazon.de

Kansas (750,000 sq ft)

Delaware(200,000 sq ft)

Nevada(323,000 sq ft)

Seattle(93,000 sq ft)

Germany(32,000 sq ft)

United Kingdom(41,000 sq ft)

Distribution Centres

Georgia(800,000 sq ft)

Auctions

Shop theWeb

Traffic Generation

Kentucky(770,000 sq ft)(570,000 sq ft)

Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de web sites

Secure web servers per 100,000 inhabitants, August 1998

www.amazon.co.ukfe0-0.cr1.sdt.iafrica.netgip-penn-2-serial10-1.gip.netsl-bb7-pen-1-0-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb11-pen-1-3.sprintlink.netsl-bb10-sea-8-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb11-sea-9-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb1-sea-8-0-0.sprintlink.netsl-internap-14-0-0.sprintlink.netborder3as.fe0-1-fenet2.sea.pnap.netamazon-6.border3as.sea.pnap.net208.226.123.14www.amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.defe0-0.cr1.sdt.iafrica.netgip-penn-2-serial10-1.gip.netsl-bb7-pen-1-0-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb11-pen-1-3.sprintlink.netsl-bb10-sea-8-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb11-sea-9-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb1-sea-8-0-0.sprintlink.netsl-internap-14-0-0.sprintlink.netborder3as.fe0-1-fenet2.sea.pnap.netamazon-6.border3as.sea.pnap.net208.226.122.14www.amazon.de

Traceroutes from Global One in South Africa to Amazon

www.amazon.comfe0-0.cr1.sdt.iafrica.netgip-penn-2-serial10-1.gip.netsl-bb7-pen-1-0-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb11-pen-1-3.sprintlink.netsl-bb10-sea-8-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb11-sea-9-0.sprintlink.netsl-bb1-sea-8-0-0.sprintlink.netsl-internap-14-0-0.sprintlink.netborder3as.fe0-1-fenet2.sea.pnap.netamazon-4.sea.pnap.net208.226.123.11www.amazon.com

Will Amazon Wash Away the Malls?

• End of malls, but not an end to shopping inthe real world

• Online lacks emotional experience

• Bezos - "strip malls are history"

• Refocus retailing• "shoptainment"

• 24 x 7 convenience

Will Amazon Run Dry?• Competition from "brick & mortar" dinosaurs

• Bertelsmann AG

• Brand dissolution

• How loyal are the Amazon.com "community"

• Debts and deep pockets

• Price wars

• Barriers to entry are not as low as they seem

• Competitive price agents

Comparative Price Shopping - Acses