Amazon.com has launched a new Web site that will focus solely on shoes and handbags. The name of the site is Endless.com and will offer 250 brands and 15,000 styles. The site also boasts that it will offer free overnight shipping on all items. It will be interesting to see if the overnight free shipping will remain permanent or if it is just an initial promotional tool.
“Endless.com is unusual in that we are offering free overnight shipping on everything,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “Plus, return shipping is always free and we offer a 110 percent price guarantee on items customers find cheaper somewhere else.”
Why Amazon would launch a site like Endless when they all ready sell shoes and handbags is the real question. There is speculation that one reason for the launch is to compete with Zappos, which is well established in the marketplace.
This new venture could work since Amazon has established itself as a reliable online retailer. They will still be shipping products from their existing warehouse infrastructure and customers will be able to use their existing Amazon accounts when they checkout.
Some of the views from the blogosphere have raised the issue of competition. “I wonder how this is going to effect the consumer though. We all know that real competition drives down prices and improves services but I suspect this pseudo competition will have a lesser effect in this area.” Which is an excellent point that is probably not lost on Jeff Bezos. The more you can control the competition the better off your company will be, especially if that competition is artificial.
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Mike is a staff writer for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
