Huh.
- 1/3 of online shopping?
- 75% of online book sales?
- 61% of e-book sales?
- Sweetheart deals are very sweet if 0 state sales tax means anything.
- Jobs? To coin a phrase from Treasure of the Sierra Madre...[Jobs? Jobs?] We don't need no stinkin' [jobs].
Anecdotally, these stats seem inline with what I have seen before. Anecdotal, schmanecdotal, though. I like to see links to resources and research. ILSR...maybe a 2nd iteration of this chart with links to the original data would be a good iteration.
By nature, I tend to bristle at the big bad anonymous, impersonal, corporate behemoth beating up on the little guy. A chart like this makes me and my bald head bristly...
That being said, I have to admire what Jeff Bezos and his crew at Amazon have accomplished. They created and executed a business model that seems akin to a perpetual motion machine, a fusion-energy source, one that never stops. Dig it.
Who among Amazon's employees, stakeholders and yes, we its customers, are not wow, pulled into its miracle of easy shopping and cheap prices and cool goods. From one place, too!
That being said, I wonder if maybe Amazon's business model has not become like The Borg as seen in Star Trek: First Contact.
The Borg use abduction and "assimilation" (forced cybernetic enhancement, connection to the hive mind) as a means of "achieving perfection".
Amazon uses hiring and "assimilation" (peer pressure coupled with missionary zeal well-funded and incentivized with rich bonuses, connection to the hive mind) as a means of "achieving perfection".
A stretch. But, I wonder if in the zeal of execution, in the pursuit of near-perfection, for their business model... Amazon has not lost sight of some of the more human aspects of their early days. Stories like this, The Real Price of Amazon's Free Shipping, makes many think, me included, that a disconnect has happened between conception and execution, particularly as you move away from the cool offices in Seattle to the warehouses in ...Allentown, PA.
It happens. People get disconnected from their loves and passions and in the rush to reach that next goal...they rationalize or deny.
See, here's the catch. Amazon's business model was based, is still based on disruption. Clearly, they have disrupted the sources of income for many businesses. And they have concentrated those sources into their revenue statement. But, what goes around always comes around. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Disrupt enough people's income and they find a way to disrupt yours.
I'm not as smart as Jeff Bezos and his team. They don't know me. But if I had a chance to talk with him...I'd say take a look at the human side of your business. Assimilation can only go so far, there's only so many people willing to be assimilated.
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