Friday, May 09, 2008
WITHER WEBVAN? (a Sacramento Win! & The Future Of The Web, January E-News from 2SS.Com)
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[[Company:25]]
Dear [[Salutation:40]],
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‘ E – N E W S from ‘
‘ 2SS.Com ‘
‘ Compiled and Edited by ‘
‘ Mailed on: 01/01/2002 9:10 PM Number 37 ‘
‘ Int’l Standard Serial No. - ISSN: 1523-3537‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
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‘ In this issue (5 Items): ‘
‘ ================ ‘
‘ 1--WITHER WEBVAN ‘
‘ 2--QUESTIONS, The Future Of The Web? ‘
‘ 3--PRODUCT WATCH (Loud PC) ‘
‘ 4--STRATEGIC/USEFUL/INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ 5--WHY SUBSCRIBE? 2SS.Com & ‘
YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ --------------------------Item One---------------------- ‘
‘ WITHER WEBVAN? ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ Wither is an appropriate term for an idea that was ‘
‘ probably just a little ahead
‘ of its time. Online grocer, WebVan, tried to ‘
‘ make it big in several selected cities, and ‘
‘ something like it is likely to return again‘ ‘
‘ ========================= ‘
‘ =Wither – To cause to languish,= ‘
‘ =perish or pass away, to blight = ‘
‘ =as a reputation withered by = ‘
‘ = calumny = ‘
========================= ‘
‘ (See definition at http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=Wither ) ‘
‘ What happened is that, last July, online grocer ‘
‘ WebVan shut-down, after spending $800 million ‘
‘ in an unprecedented expansion effort. ‘
‘ In the beginning, WebVan had it all: ‘
‘ * An unbelievable IPO that raised $375MM ‘
‘ * Well-financed backers ‘
‘ * Top notch CEO and former Andersen ‘
‘ Consulting head George Shaheen, and ‘
‘ * A compelling concept ‘
‘ Consumers could purchase groceries via the ‘
‘ Internet, WebVan bundles in a state-of-the-art ‘
‘ warehouse, and WebVan delivers your Internet ‘
‘ order to your door. It was a real bargain for ‘
‘ many overworked people who couldn't find the ‘
‘ time to get to the store. And, it even managed ‘
‘ to break even in a couple of its target markets. ‘
‘ Unfortunately, WebVan won over enough ‘
‘ converts to become a viable concern. Last ‘
‘ July, 2001 WebVan closed its business with ‘
‘ the dubious distinction of being the best- ‘
‘ capitalized, best-planned e-commerce ‘
‘ venture to fail. ‘
‘ Gartner Group analyst Whit Andrews suggested ‘
‘ that, despite WebVan's fate, there’s no ‘
‘ reason to believe that all attempts at online ‘
‘ grocery sales are over. He was quoted as ‘
‘ believing that… ‘
‘ “There is still a strong future there; it will just ‘
‘ look a lot different. The future of the online ‘
‘ grocer market belongs to the grocery stores. ‘
‘ They know the business, they can mix ‘
‘ (sales) channels, and they can take their time." ‘
‘ The conventional dotcom wisdom, that you ‘
‘ need to get big fast, appears to be working ONLY ‘
‘ for Amazon.com and no others! ‘
‘ For more information on WebVan see ‘
‘ http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-6519317.html ‘
‘ So what about PEAPOD? ‘
‘ Peapod, a Skokie, Ill. Firm, has moved into some ‘
‘ of the areas abandoned by other failed online ‘
‘ grocers including WebVan. Targeting WebVan ‘
‘ customers in Chicago, Peapod was able to ‘
‘ reach operating profitability earlier this year. ‘
‘ To Peapod's credit are its majority owner ‘
‘ Dutch grocery giant Royal Ahold, and ‘
‘ operations in just five markets, including Boston, ‘
‘ Chicago, Connecticut, Long Island and ‘
‘ Washington DC, that generated $90+ MM in ‘
‘ sales during 2000. ‘
‘ Peapod was lucky, at least in part, because ‘
‘ it failed first! While almost bankrupt early in ‘
‘ 2000, it was acquired cheaply and by a well- ‘
‘ financed parent, way before the 2001 dotcom ‘
‘ disasters. ‘
‘ As part of a major grocery corporation, Peapod ‘
‘ was able to get much-needed cash and still had ‘
‘ a chance to change strategy. Instead of ‘
‘ expensive inventory and warehouses (al la ‘
‘ WebVan), Peapod used ‘brick & mortar’ Royal ‘
‘ Ahold stores for inventory. Instead of ‘
‘ WebVan’s $30MM per warehouse, Peapod ‘
‘ just buys a couple of trucks per store and, ‘
‘ then, only for stores it determines have the ‘
‘ ‘right’ demographics. ‘
‘ They just put their Internet address on shopping ‘
‘ bags in target markets, and the cost of getting ‘
‘ new customers declines dramatically. ‘
‘ For more on Peapod see ‘
http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,16795,FF.html?ref=cnet ‘
‘ WEBVAN’S LOSS IS SACRAMENTO’S GAIN? ‘
‘ (…from a Metro Chamber news release)
‘ SACRAMENTO-Businessman Matthew R. ‘
‘ Mahood has been chosen as the new president ‘
‘ and chief executive officer of the Sacramento ‘
‘ Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the state’s ‘
‘ second largest chamber with 2,500 members in ‘
‘ the six-county Sacramento region. He will take ‘
‘ the helm on Jan. 22. ‘
‘ From 1999 to 2001, Mahood served in various ‘
‘ top executive positions for WebVan Group, Inc. ‘
‘ He was responsible for the company’s business ‘
‘ operations in Northern California, which equated ‘
‘ to more than $125 million per year in revenue. ‘
‘ Previously, he was general/district manager for ‘
‘ BAX Global Inc. (formerly Burlington Air ‘
‘ Express) and spent seven years rising in ‘
‘ management positions at Federal Express ‘
‘ Corporation. ‘
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‘ --------------------------Item Two----------------------- ‘
‘ QUESTIONS? ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ THE FUTURE OF THE WEB? ‘
‘ Creator of the World-Wide-Web, Tim ‘
‘ Berners-Lee, was recently asked about his ‘
‘ vision for the future. Here’s what he said… ‘
‘ This one vision I have of the future is the ‘
‘ Web becoming a social network that won't be ‘
‘ tied to you sitting at your computer. It will ‘
‘ really be mobile and a second skin to one's ‘
‘ body. For example, let's say that the ‘
‘ screen that you sought information on ‘
‘ your computer was reduced down to a ‘
‘ contact lens that you wore on your eyes. ‘
‘ Let's now combine this lens with biometric ‘
‘ abilities that scan the retina of other people ‘
‘ in hopes of recognizing them. Perhaps you
‘ would blink instead of click. So basically, the ‘
‘ contact lens in your eyes that helps you ‘
‘ view information will also read the retina of ‘
‘ someone you meet, and suddenly you will ‘
‘ learn of all the social links you have with ‘
‘ that person. It can tell you when you were ‘
‘ at the same event in the past, shared ‘
‘ interests and friends...basically placing ‘
‘ the two of you into some social context, to ‘
‘ let you see commonalities. ‘
‘ HOW IS GOD DOING ONLINE? ‘
‘ In a special report released on 12-23-01 by ‘
‘ the Pew Internet and American Life Project ‘
‘ (see www.pewinternet.org) it states… ‘
‘ 28 million Americans have used the Internet ‘
‘ to get religious and spiritual information ‘
‘ and connect with others on their faith ‘
‘ journeys. We call them "Religion Surfers." ‘
‘ * 25% of Internet users have gotten ‘
‘ religious or spiritual information online ‘
‘ at one point or another. This is an increase ‘
‘ from our survey findings in late 2000, ‘
‘ which showed that 21% of Internet ‘
‘ users - or between 19 million and ‘
‘ 20 million people - had gone online to ‘
‘ get religious or spiritual material. ‘
‘ * More than 3 million people a day get ‘
‘ religious or spiritual material, up from ‘
‘ 2 million that we reported last year. ‘
‘ * For comparison's sake, it is interesting ‘
‘ to note that more people have gotten ‘
‘ religious or spiritual information online ‘
‘ than have gambled online, used Web ‘
‘ auction sites, traded stocks online, ‘
‘ placed phone calls on the Internet, ‘
‘ done online banking, or used Internet- ‘
‘ based dating services. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ ---------------------Item Three------------------------- ‘
‘ PRODUCT WATCH ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ LOUD PC – Real Time access to OUTLOOK ‘
‘ Loud PC (http://www.loudpc.com/ ) works to ‘
‘ connect your desktop version of Outlook and ‘
‘ your mobile device (web phone, PDA, or any ‘
‘ web browser). Similar solutions are available, ‘
‘ but they tend to be more expensive and ‘
‘ more complicated. LoudPC uses recently- ‘
‘ developed instant messaging technology to ‘
‘ solve the problem. ‘
‘ A free 30-day trial is available at the site! ‘
‘ ORACLE SMALL BUSINESS SUITE ‘
‘ Growing from a small-business accounting ‘
‘ system, Oracle Small Business Suite 7 has
‘ become a highly integrated and very capable ‘
‘ on-line system for managing a small to medium ‘
‘ size business on-line. The $99 per month ‘
‘ program allows two managers, 10 employees, ‘
‘ and a catalog of up to 100 items to be tightly ‘
‘ tied together with accounting (formerly ‘
‘ NetLedger), sales force and customer ‘
‘ relationship and customer support ‘
‘ management, shipping, and receiving. ‘
‘ The system is highly customizable and even ‘
‘ allows you to initialize it with data from ‘
‘ QuickBooks and Quicken among others. For ‘
‘ more information read all about it at ‘
‘ www.oracleSmallBusiness.Com . ‘
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‘ ----------------------Item Four-------------------------- ‘
‘ STRATEGIC/USEFUL/INTERESTING LINKS ‘
‘ ------------------------------------------------------------- ‘
‘ WORTH PAYING FOR? ‘
‘ We agree with PCWorld Magazine, which titled ‘
‘ these Internet World-Wide-Web services ‘
‘ appropriately as ‘Worth Paying For’. They include ‘
‘ 1. www.CarFax.Com which will report the real ‘
‘ facts on your ‘potential’ new ‘used car’ ‘
‘ purchase. ‘
‘ 2. www.Ofoto.Com a printing service for digital ‘
‘ camera users that sends you back high-quality ‘
‘ digital prints from your uploaded digital picture ‘
‘ files for as little as $.50 for 4”X6” and ‘
‘ $1.00 for 5”X7”. ‘
‘ 3. www.ConsumerReports.Org where $24 a year ‘
‘ gets you a rich source of exactly what you ‘
‘ expect from Consumer Reports! ‘
‘ Not from PC World, but worth trying, are: ‘
‘ 4. http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/Phrases.htm ‘
‘ It is a site my 3rd grade daughter’s rapid learner
‘ class inspired us to find. She used it to earn ‘
‘ ‘extra credit’ in determining where phrases ‘
‘ like ‘Rule-Of-Thumb” comes from. ‘
‘ Rule-Of-Thumb: Based on the use of one’s ‘
‘ thumb as a rough measurement tool. ‘
‘ Generally correct for course measures. ‘
‘ Most old English measures of distance ‘
‘ were based on the body measurements ‘
‘ of the king--the length of the foot, inch ‘
‘ (thumb tip to first knuckle), cubit ‘
‘ (elbow-to-fingertip), and yard (nose-to- ‘
‘ fingertip). ‘
‘ Alternatively, ‘
‘ Old English law (and potentially early ‘
‘ American law) declared that it was okay for ‘
‘ a man to beat his wife but had to use a ‘
‘ stick no larger in diameter than his thumb. ‘
‘ 5. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/ where ‘
‘ there are very detailed USGS ‘topo’ and ‘
‘ aerial photographic maps of the entire ‘
‘ US including your city and backyard… ‘
‘ 6. Try http://dmarie.com/timecap for a great FREE ‘
‘ birthday or anniversary present. Just a few ‘
‘ clicks and a little personalization and you ‘
have a very custom rundown on any ‘special’ ‘
‘ date. ‘
‘ [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ‘
‘ -------------------------Item Five----------------------- ‘
‘ WHY SUBSCRIBE? ‘
‘ 2SS.Com & YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ‘
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