Last month internet retail sales fell. That is unheard of. Now we see that sales of electronic books have ground to a halt. It seems e-commerce has become e-stagnant. You can thank the government, with a little help from the mega-bricks and mortar retailers, who jammed through new sales taxes on internet sales. They couldn’t allow the American people to get a break by ordering on-line. They need those sales taxes to sustain the gold plated pensions of government drone workers. Well they’ve succeeded in putting a halt to the e-commerce revolution. One problem. It didn’t revive the sales of bricks and mortar retailers. Everyone is now in decline. That’s called leveling the playing field. Consumers have less to spend, the government got bigger, and more small businesses closed. That’s called e-success in Emerica.
You will find more statistics at Statista
Even though the global e-book industry is worth $8.5 billion, this still pales in comparison with print’s $53.9 billion. The pace of the digital reading revolution has slackened considerably with growth plumetting to just 5 percent in 2013. Meanwhile revenue stagnated between 2012 and 2013 at just over $3 billion.
Could it be that people prefer their dusty paperbacks to the influx of electronic devices? 46 percent of American internet users only read printed books while just 6 percent read e-books exclusively. It looks like the death knell for brick and mortar book stores is still a long way off.
AMAZON – LOOK OUT BELOOOOOW!!!!!
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Amazon was trading at $408 per share in January.
Amazon is trading at $280 as I type this.
That’s only a 39% loss in 10 months.
Amazon will be trading below $200 by December 31.
Amazon will be trading below $100 by sometime next year.
E-commerce Forever!!!!
Admin – Amazon trading at anything above zero is a miracle given they almost never make a profit.
If a company perpetually loses money, by definition it is worth nothing. But not in this golden age where tech companies with a programmer and a janitor are valued at billions.
We are doomed.
Hey guys didn’t you know? The stockmarket is totally up! We are all doing better! Charge more on your credit cards!
Nauseating. People can’t see the forest for the trees.
I take it Amazons business model is to lose money on items it carries in it’s warehouses as you saw on 60 Minutes to establish a buy anything anytime . And then sell streaming videos, music and books on line?
Amazon will end up having to build stores to stay in business. I should run the place!
@Adin
Seriously, how do I short Amazon?
wip
If you don’t know how to short a stock then you shouldn’t do it.
Greetings,
Without exception, everyone I know that has their own business is closing up shop and moving underground. They are dissolving their corporations & partnerships and moving to cash only. It is the way of the future.
I just met with a large retail client yesterday. They know they’re bleeding — hemorrhaging, even — but they can’t fathom what is needed to turn their business around. They keep thinking if they reduce prices, they’ll be fine. I keep telling them no one wants to buy “stuff” any more, even if they had money for it. I keep telling them they need to transition to a service-oriented company.
Frankly, I think they’re dead in the water for the long-term, but others will go down before they do. They have plenty of weight to throw around, and they’re planning on doing some of that if / when they have to. I just wish they’d wake up to the reality of retail today. But then, you can only lead a horse to water…
Even during the Depression, people demanded a days wages for a days work, but apparently the Millenials are too stupid to even ask about/for wages now:
———–
“Congratulations! Ajay thinks you’d be a great fit. The next step in the process is a tryout day. It will be a full day of work, like an extended interview, and unpaid. Could you come in tomorrow?”
I quickly agreed.
“Great! You’ll need to bring your own laptop and smart phone. Will that be a problem for you?”
My laptop had been stolen a year ago, leaving me with a creaky old Dell hand-me-down running Ubuntu, and my iPhone was two generations behind. I assured her it would be fine, anyway.
“Okay, our Customer Experience Associates normally begin work at 8 a.m. and wrap up the day around 8 p.m. They work five days per week, plus one rotating weekend shift. Is that okay?” She looked at me warily.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Yep, that will be fine!” We shook hands and I left, feeling good. I was sure that since things were moving so fast, the job would soon be mine.
On the train ride home, I vaguely recalled that I forgot to ask about salary. I’d ask about that tomorrow.”
———–
http://thebillfold.com/2014/10/my-day-interviewing-for-the-service-economy-startup-from-hell/
And the punchline of the article? Just this: “Postscript: Handybook recently changed their name to Handy, raised an additional $30 million dollars in venture capital funding, and hired an Amazon exec to be their CFO”
@mabuk – If you demand a days wages for a days work you won’t get the job.
Best to have hard copy in hand. SHTF includes Internet gone.