Forum Archive Index - November 2000

["Ben Dutton" <bendutton@sharechat.co.nz>]

And following on from this John, in a somewhat different vein, is one of the
latest offerings from James Cramer at TheStreet.com

It's an interesting view - Mr Cramer certainly does make one think:

http://www.thestreet.com/p/comment/wrongrear/1186545.html


State of the Web: Where Are the Brickbats for Bricks-and-Mortar Failures?
By James J. Cramer

11/26/00 5:23 PM ET

What will the mainstream companies do with their dot-coms now that they
weren't able to float them? What will they do with their truncated business
plans and their bleeding operations now that they can't even think about
tapping the public markets?

Those of us who attempted to start something new on the Web, to take
advantage of its widespread development and potential for revenue, found
ourselves in the last few years blindsided by bricks-and-mortar folks who
stepped in to be sure they weren't Amazoned. It's been long enough now that
I probably have to remind you what that means: That's when a start-up Web
competitor takes advantage of a buoyant market and taps it for millions of
dollars to take on the entrenched bricks-and-mortar competition.

So frightened of the Web were so many of these entrenched interests that
they quickly sought to duplicate their own operations on the Internet and
even sought to float them. But other than barnesandnoble.com (BNBN:Nasdaq -
news - boards) nobody got through the chute. They sure did build up quite a
bit of infrastructure, though. And for a while it looked fine because there
was enough advertising around to make these companies seem like potential
revenue winners.

Not any more, though. In fact, these operations are bleeding from the
eyeballs, just like many of the public dot-coms. You just don't see it yet.

Now, though, I think that you are going to see some real chaos in the
bricks-and-mortar world as they realize that their "commitment" to the Web
isn't going to make them any money for years. In fact, I think the next big
round of layoffs is going to come from the me-too bricks-and mortar-folk who
outsmarted themselves by bulking up on their dot-coms, betting the market
would be far more benign.

But you won't read about it. The open season is strictly on the public
dot-coms, not on the bleeding divisions of the bricks-and-mortar crowd. I
wish, for example, that some of the scribes who have devoted so much time
and energy to "exposing" the foibles of those who are kicked down already
would examine their profligate units.

I think they would discover many of the same errors of judgment and same
turmoil, if not more, at their own shops. The carnage of the public dot-coms
is now well known.

Let's hear about the unknown carnage for a change.


Check out TheStreet.com here:

http://www.thestreet.com/

Best Regards

Benjamin Dutton

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wedde, John" <john.wedde@cit.ac.nz>
To: <Sharechat@sharechat.co.nz>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 10:49 AM
Subject: [sharechat] FW: US Thanksgiving sales were hot


> I know that one fine day does not a summer make but check out this report
> from the USA.
> All you cynics note the mention of Yahoo. Etail will see its day. Make no
> mistake about this!!
>
>
>
> The US shopping season gets underway at Thanksgiving.  This data is
closely
> analysed as it is the 8th largest shopping day of the year.  All
indications
> are that shopping was brisk and above expectations; sales value up 4.6% on
> last year (expectations were for a 4% rise).  However, price incentive
were
> seen to be required to draw crowds.  It is estimated that 67 million
people
> headed to shopping malls.
>
> Wal-Mart had its best day ever, sales at Yahoo (for those that could not
> stand the crowds) doubled last years. Visa processed 3032 transactions per
> second (10,915200 in the hour) in the peak shopping hour of 2pm to 3pm,
13%
> higher than last year.
>
> So, the US consumer has not given up yet but is not as aggressive as
he/she
> was last year when sales were 6.2% higher than the previous year.
>
> This data should support US equity prices, particularly those of retailers
> and Etailers.
>
>
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