Amazon buys Kiva Systems Max Effgen, March 19, 2012 The amazing Kiva Systems robots are now part of Amazon.com. Kiva System’s robots already have a place at Amazon’s Zappos. Now Amazon looks to likely take this technology forward in the operations and logistics side of the house. Toys-R-us is a Kiva Systems customer. Maybe this can help the Amazon… Continue Reading
A tale of two customer experiences Max Effgen, January 7, 2012June 14, 2023 In the past 24 hours, I have had two diametrically opposed customer experiences. One was delightful, the other made me cancel my account. I used to bank with a large national bank. When the wife (Disclosure: the wife works for Amazon but does not read my blog) and I married,… Continue Reading
Game-Based Marketing Max Effgen, November 18, 2011 I do not consider myself a gamer. Then I realized I am an elite player in American’s AAdvantage program. I have never made a mileage run, but know plenty who have. Games are everywhere. One of the hottest areas of the online engagement economy is gamification, a strategy that meshes… Continue Reading
Why Focus Intent? Max Effgen, October 3, 2011 I have been revisiting the idea of customer intent and its implications. Social media has exploded given customers and prospects the ability to express intent. Buyers signal. Customers signal. Competitors signal. These signals are important data points for the Sales, Marketing and Service — the 3 big users of CRM… Continue Reading
Amazon + Netflix Rumors (again) Max Effgen, May 13, 2010 If there is one e-commerce rumor that never seems to die, it is Amazon buying Netflix. I just do not see it happening, yet shares jumped again on the persistent rumors. From my July 2009 post: First, a deal with Netflix has been speculated for many years. The overlaps are… Continue Reading
iPad, the Kindle Killer? Max Effgen, January 29, 2010 Lots of chatter about iPad as the Kindle killer. The chatter is bunk. Kindle has a specific target audience, a niche. That niche loves the Kindle. Niche is the new critical mass. Look at some of the advantages Kindle has: Battery Life. Kindle can last up to 7 days without… Continue Reading
Spot Instances Max Effgen, January 1, 2010 Amazon AWS announced Spot Instances of EC2 a few weeks back. I have been very interested in this concept. Auction pricing should be natural for the cloud computing utility model. They will be selling spare capacity from moment to moment. The cloud is attractive since servers often site idle. Sharing… Continue Reading
WSJ: Amazon Is Selling Designs of Its Own Max Effgen, September 18, 2009December 2, 2013 Another read on Amazon’s private brands. I would love to think that the WSJ got inspiration from my earlier post Amazon’s private brands. Plus I re-learned that Pinzon is the name of the Spanish explorer who discovered the Amazon River. In reality, the new products and accounting for “general merchandise”… Continue Reading
Is the enterprise finally ready for AWS? Max Effgen, September 10, 2009 Just got an invite to a webinar co-hosted by Cast Iron Systems and Amazon AWS. I have been intrigued by Cast Iron’s integration offering for the enterprise for sometime. Their initial concept of an integration appliance has played well in the market and they now offer full cloud based services… Continue Reading
Amazon Widgets Max Effgen, September 8, 2009 Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation blog is a must read for marketing, branding and social media. Check his What’s In Your Bag? post for some an interesting take on Amazon Widgets. I took a turn creating my own widget about some of the coffee related products I have blogged… Continue Reading