Wall Street Legend

Competition in the retail industry is also fierce these days.

When Wal-Mart first started, its profit margin was about 7%. How much is left now? It's only a little over 4%, which means that for selling goods worth almost 100 dollars, the company can earn a little more than 4 dollars. This is not the money that shareholders can get, and the net profit will become even less.

With a price-to-earnings ratio of over 21, investors are no longer optimistic about Wal-Mart. The slightest disturbance will cause the company's stock price to fall. It has almost reached its end. At its peak, Amazon's stock price could have dropped by three or four. Walmart is high.

Investors pay more attention to the benefits that Internet companies may bring, which are not limited to dividends, but also the rise or fall of the stock price itself. Speaking of a company as awesome as Boeing, its market value is actually less than 100 billion US dollars.

From this point of view, it is indeed possible for Wal-Mart to seek transformation, try to contact Amazon, and try to acquire it. This kind of approach is enough to show the attitude of Wal-Mart's top management, just like the merger of Warner Time and AOL, the expectations are good. , it’s a pity that it merged with the wrong company at the wrong time.

The reason why Ye Dongqing asked about packaging is because Amazon's profit margin is not high, so it can only reduce costs on the current basis. If it can save a dollar on the packaging cost of each order, it will be better in the long run. A substantial income.

"I have considered this aspect and am preparing to acquire a carton manufacturing company. Now if a user's single order exceeds 99 US dollars, we will not only deliver it to your home for free, but we will also bear the packaging cost. The profit is not high. We can do better in packaging. To save money, we often put all goods in the same box, which not only saves transportation space, but also saves packaging costs.”

Mr. Jeff Bezos's tone was a little helpless. At present, e-commerce companies want to compete with traditional retail giants, but their strength is more than a little bit behind. The most important thing Amazon should consider now is how to survive.

Although the market environment is much better than in the first three years of the 21st century, it is still not very friendly to the e-commerce field led by Amazon. The main reason is that it is not easy to open up the market. Huge losses are faced every day, and there are very few places to spend money. many.

Looking on the bright side, at least more investors are willing to take over stocks, and financing plans can proceed smoothly. In the second half of 2000 and throughout 2001, investors treated Internet stocks as garbage. Few people are willing to invest money.

"I was busy some time ago, so I didn't look at the data carefully. When I get back, I'll help analyze it and see where else we can reduce costs." Ye Dongqing continued to drink the smoothie.

Mr. Bezos nodded and continued: "Sometimes I really envy you for entering an industry that doesn't require much effort. With Facebook, you just need to ensure that there are enough users to attract others to advertise.

On Amazon, we sell most of the goods ourselves, and we can’t even sell ads and charge auction fees like eBay. You can’t imagine how many nights I was tortured by the high cost and couldn’t sleep. "

"It should be easier next time. As the number of transit logistics warehouses increases, the cost and transportation pressure will definitely be slightly reduced. The number of orders will increase. It is true that the profit per order will be small, but the savings will still be a lot of money.

Why don't you contact the manufacturers directly and squeeze more profits from them? For example, if the quality is the same, whichever company offers a lower price will sell more of that company's products. This is also a disguised form of advertising. If the sales volume is large enough, they will be willing to give up part of their profits, and the manufacturing industry will also The market needs to be cultivated. "

“...This is a very good idea, but I think we should still comply with the wishes of consumers. However, we will indeed provide more promotion resources for high-profit products, and then sort them according to sales volume to ensure that high-profit products can be maintained for a long time. At the front end of the web page, consumers can see it at a glance.”

The two chatted and exchanged their thoughts with each other.

Ye Dongqing didn't tell the other party that the online social circle was not easy to manage. Recently, he was inviting professional lobbyists from K Street to work in Washington to try to promote Internet social information, network security and other policies that were beneficial to him. It was okay here in the United States, but abroad. This is troublesome. In addition to pro-American regions such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Facebook has faced multiple non-public censorships in Europe and the United States, mostly under the banner of national security.

Facebook is not easy, and the promotion of Skype is even more difficult. Several major telecommunications operators in the United States have already targeted it. Foreign telecommunications operators even regard Skype as a scourge, because the online calling technology involves their important interests and are already working on it. Seal was carried out, and bad news reached Ye Dongqing's ears from time to time.

In order to kill this program, the Communications Industry Association of America even sent representatives to try to contact Ye Dongqing and want to spend money to buy this program. The offer given last week was as high as 1.1 billion US dollars, which is lower than the valuation of Skype. The main reason is that they don't think Skype can survive into the future, so they are reluctant to spend too much money. In addition, they are also worried that after acquiring it, other similar products will appear, and they will waste money in vain.

It’s a bit stressful, but not too much. Skype currently has more than 80 million users around the world, and its valuation is around US$2 billion. These users are enough to help it withstand many risks. If it is blocked, communication operators are worried that there will be cascading negative effects.

Of course, Ye Dongqing is at the center of the storm in this whole thing, but the video calling technology and the series of breakthroughs he has made are estimated to be only about half a year away from being launched. By then, these operators can still Block video calling technology altogether? What's more, not long after Skype was launched, similar technologies appeared, such as the Online program launched by Google.

The larger the scale, the more disputes it causes. While competing with large companies for the market, they also have to face countless litigants who are crazy about money. Ye Dongqing occasionally feels annoyed.

After sitting in a Starbucks cafe for more than two hours, the topic gradually jumped from business to the scenery of Yellowstone Park, and then to the charming restaurants in London. We parted ways around ten o'clock, agreeing to visit Seattle the next time we have the opportunity.

Before leaving, Mr. Bezos said that Ye Dongqing's ideas were very mature and made him feel like chatting with his peers. Of course, Ye Dongqing is not young mentally. The only thing that seems childish is probably the personal emotions. He is a prodigal who doesn't know how to fall in love, and he doesn't want to live a stable life with someone else...