9% return - I meant an assumed worst case - perhaps I should have called that out more clearly.
In ref Amazon, I do understand and have read that they plough back everything they have into their business.
Read this article by Ben Evans, it is a really nice eye opener.
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2...t-works
Some of my personal impressions as a consumer.
I like both Flipkart and Amazon very much indeed - I always enjoy buying from them, but very specific categories like books, DVD's and stuff. I shop often on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.in as well. I generally prefer Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk because of the excellent selection of things I am interested in. Amazon.in being a marketplace, in general doesn't always carry lots of stuff that I personally like or am in need of.
In general I don't like buying the really expensive electronic items like TV's and laptops etc on the net. For such things, I think I will always prefer going to Croma here in India because I have great trust in the House of Tatas.
Saying that, I do and will continue to buy some branded electronics on Amazon.com in the US (especially when the items are Amazon fulfilled) and provided I can't get a better deal in a physical store. Saying that, there are some lovely BOSE Factory outlets out there in the US and one does get some super fantabulous deals there. Or there's always a nice friendly local BestBuy or Fry's etc.
I trust Amazon because I ve been shopping with them 15 years since inception.
I trust Flipkart because I ve been shopping with them 6 years since 2008.
iTunes too is very important for me - there is such a lot of lovely content out there.
My wife and I have just got into the ChromeCast / NetFlix world (dipping our toes in it right now) and I am yet to fully figure it out - can only do it when I visit the US since the need is greater when there. However, am sure it will be cool!
I do not somehow like/trust SnapDeal fully and for now, will not buy from them because my old and very close friend in Coorg bought something from them and was completely dissatisfied. Worse, he never got any recourse from them either.
I don't like all these weird sites like ShopClues etc because I somehow don't trust them at all.
I did buy a chair on Pepper Fry and it was delivered in broken condition. Of course I raised a stink and again, I know someone who used to work there so I got resolution from them in a while - they only repaired the chair though and I can see the scar every time I look.
For food and beverage needs, which are very rare in my case, I prefer TelePhone Commerce - using the phone to order in. For example, the Dominos Mobile App is amongst the absolute worst I have ever experienced - absolute rubbish. Much simpler to order on the phone though, where I live, in HSR, the local Dominos branch is probably the worst in the whole world - over here it actually makes sense to go across, pay, pick up and take away!
I am in general, not really a "deal seeker" in that sense and do not generally react to things like this Diwali Dhamaka and Big Billion Day etc.
I am quite used to and happy with indulging in "Travel and Accommodation and Holidays" on the web, through all the major airline sites like Indigo, BA, Singapore, Emirates, Malaysia, Lufthansa, Qatar etc and big travel aggregators like Expedia.com etc. Cleartrip is a good site. MakeMyTrip is ok too. I don't very much like GoDaddy and GoIbibo because I don't see the real differential. However, for travel especially air tickets, I like referring to SkyScanner.com for a sense of the price ranges available across different airlines for a particular sector of travel.
I like GiftBig.com for all my gifting and gift cards needs to give family and friends etc.
Ive been using Booking.com for Hotel bookings, for absolutely ages - around 10 years or so and there's never been a problem. For Cinema tickets, PVR and Book My Show etc are good, in general. I ve never had a problem with IRCTC.co.in and I ve been buying train tickets online for 10 years or so.
I am not sure about whether at this time, I will use BigBasket.com etc - I love the idea and I am sure it works beautifully for working couples who haven't got a lot of time on their hands. However, I rather like looking at and buying my lovely fresh veggies and meat myself from the brick and mortar world or have my trusted Home attendant do it for me.
There is one thing that I do like to do - I like to support the local economy and the small local retailer or small service provider by giving them my custom. It is also that I like that social interaction with the local community service providers. I believe strongly that people make the world go round and it is our bounden duty to do our best by the people in our immediate neighbourhood, community and so on. It is for this reason, that I vastly prefer working with my local "Kirana" store or "Kaday" because to me, they are very important people. My small contribution towards oiling the wheels of the local economy, you might say.
One last thing from me personally - it is wonderful, as a consumer, that most of these sites and e commerce companies have now ventured into their own Mobile Apps - it is really easy shopping off one's iPhone or iPad I find. Uber for example, is a brilliant case in point.
The one disadvantage is that one always tends to yield to impulse and sometimes this knocks the budget badly out of kilter!
Quote:
Originally Posted by binand Not sure where you got this info from; I have some foreign holdings on which I get 6-8% returns annually with capital protection (ie, zero risk tolerance). With the kind of risk that these HNIs are capable of taking, I expect their returns are in the 20-25% range.
Investors (unless institutional investors like pension funds) don't bother to look at the bottom line because it is the most irrelevant and the most easily manipulated of them all. Though there are many metrics, the ones I would want to see first are operating cash flow and EBITDA - both of which are extremely healthy for Amazon ($5.5 billion operating cash flow, $4 billion ebitda - in 2013). The reason they are not showing much profit is that they pretty much invest every dollar they make back in the business. |