NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Amazon.com
ONLINE-ADS>> Amazon.com
Cliff Kurtzman (cliff_at_tenagra.com)
Thu, 1 May 1997 10:45:21 -0600
Bob Stewart <rstewart_at_mars.superlink.net> wrote:
>I think the model as used by Amazon has too many flaws. Everyone I've
>talked to who has reasonable levels of traffic and a fair number of book
>links has been pretty disappointed. The way Amazon has it set up, if a user
>is referred to their site and does anything but immediately buy that
>particular book, the referer isn't credited. If a user goes to Amazon and
>does a search for other books by that author and then ends up buying the
>original book anyway, the referer receives nothing. In any case, the
>referer only receives a commission on books discounted 10%. Now Amazon is
>discounting the 500 best selling books at 40%. Referers will receive zip on
>these.
We have been participating in the Amazon program on three of our sites for
a few months. Here are some comments and numbers:
Our revenue from our online book stores came to just over $350 for the
quarter ending April 1 on the sale of about 200 books. That revenue didn't
really cover our labor costs of operating the pages, but I would not
characterize the results as terribly disappointing either. The pages also
delivered value to our web site visitors, which is also a factor I consider.
We were near the point of withdrawing from the Amazon program until they
modified the way it worked on April 1st. As Bob stated above (but is no
longer true), they refused to pay a commission on deeply discounted books,
and they nearly always discounted the most popular books in the categories
which our pages promoted. It seemed that if we heavily promoted one of
their books on our page, it would sell well and then Amazon would discount
it and remove our commission. As a result, we would lose all revenue on
the books we promoted on Amazon's behalf, which was hardly an equitable
arrangement. As of April 1, however, Amazon has changed the program to
provide commission on all books sold, albeit at a reduced percentage for
the books they discount the most. If our book sales for the coming quarter
are similar to that of last quarter, our revenue should more than double
under their new program and commission structure, which would bring it to
the point of really covering the costs of maintaining the pages.
The comment Bob makes about Amazon not paying for books bought by people we
refer to the Amazon.com site (aside from the book they immediately linked
to from our pages) is still true and a real flaw in the way their program
is structured.
The bottom line is that it a transaction-based model such as used by
Amazon.com seems to be one that has the potential of working in some cases
and for some products. The fact that this particular company is still
experimenting and still working out kinks in their programs does not
invalidate the entire concept in my mind.
For reference, these are the URLs of our book stores:
Books on Year 2000 Computing Issues
http://www.year2000.com/products/NFy2kbooks.html
The Tennis Book and Video Index
http://www.tennisserver.com/books.html
Books on Internet marketing, public relations, advertising, and business use
http://marketing.tenagra.com/bookdesc.html
It is interesting to note that despite having pretty good traffic, the page
with books on Internet marketing generates the least sales and the least
revenues...
--Cliff Kurtzman
The Tenagra Corporation
http://www.tenagra.com/
281/480-6300
Internet marketing, public relations, consulting and web design
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