The web sure is an interesting lab for testing and quantifying some of the accepted “truths” of marketing. What is first mover advantage in a market worth? In First-mover advantage, Infoworld reports on the results of a study comparing price increases at market (and mindshare) leader Amazon to the same price increases at lesser known competitor Barnes and Noble (barnesandnoble.com). A 1% increase at Amazon resulted in a .5% drop in sales, but at Barnes and Noble the same price increase produced a dip of 4%. The Amazon customer is much less price sensitive, it would appear.
Could it just be conditioning? After all, a common strategy for a company that is second to market is to cut prices. Are Barnes and Noble customers more likely to be price shoppers as a result?
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
