Tag Archives: amzn

Is Amazon Changing Diapers Focus To Selling Its Own Brand?

E-tail juggernaut Amazon.com ( AMZN ) might be getting serious about selling its own brand of diapers. Amazon is asking some of its customers via an emailed market research survey about the design and packaging of a new diaper brand called Mama Bear, tech news webside Re/code first reported . The survey asked about the potential new brand’s trustworthiness and whether shoppers would buy such products, if they were offered at a “reasonable price,” among other questions, said Re/code. Amazon.com stock rose 2.8%, to 521.10, on the stock market today , more than 25% below its all-time high of 696 touched in late December, before the stock markets tumbled on global economic worries and falling oil prices. Re/code pointed out Amazon’s survey could be on behalf of another brand. The company doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation, an Amazon spokeswoman told IBD via email. The diaper business is worth more than $29 billion, according to research firm Nielsen, which suggests that the product category could be an important one for large retailers such as Wal-Mart ( WMT ) and Amazon.com. Diapers are also ordered frequently, which is shopping behavior that e-tailers such as Amazon like since it affords them a chance to upsell the shopper on other offerings as well as track buying behavior. Amazon had previously launched — and then killed — a program to sell its own brand of diapers, though the company does own Diapers.com, which it purchased for $545 million in 2010 . Former Diapers.com executive Marc Lore has gone on to found Jet.com, an e-tail startup that aims to take on Amazon. When asked how to beat Amazon at diapers, Cathy Halligan, former chief marketing officer for walmart.com, told IBD in 2010 that the solution involved “developing those capabilities themselves. “What I believe is a possibility is that with larger companies’ purchasing power, there might be an advantage in product costs, opportunities through procurement, because a company like Target ( TGT ) or Wal-Mart has larger-volume buys than” others,  she said. “They can leverage their larger scale to lower product costs.”

Amazon Customers Confirm: Cloud Transition Still Biggest Trend

After tracking down top tech execs of 10 Amazon Web Services customers and nine AWS “premier consulting partners” for interviews, Deutsche Bank analysts came away convinced that the migration to the cloud is still “the biggest and most disruptive trend in the enterprise IT market today.” Aside from “assessing macroeconomic risks to 2016 IT budgets (as) the topic du jour,” many tech execs are slowing their IT spending as they prepare to move their enterprises to the cloud, said Deutsche Bank analyst Karl Keirstead in a research note Tuesday. Keirstead questioned whether the macro headwinds that many blame for the current softness in tech spending are really at fault. “Even Tableau Software ( DATA ) cited this phenomenon,” he wrote. Tableau stock notoriously gapped down 49.5% Feb. 5, spooking investors and dragging many software stocks with it, after offering 2016 guidance that missed Wall Street expectations. Tableau stock, down a fraction, near 40, in afternoon trading in the stock market today , is more than 50% off its Feb. 4 close and 70% below its all-time high above 131 set last July. Amazon ( AMZN ) stock was up 2.5% in afternoon trading Tuesday, near 520 and 25% off its all-time high of 696.44 set in December. The runway is still enormous for cloud migration. Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s ( MSFT ) Azure and Alphabet’s ( GOOGL ) Google Cloud Platform combined have grown revenue to about $10 billion annually, a “tiny penetration” of the $500 billion to $1 trillion spent annually on tech services and products, Keirstead said. “The trend to AWS is clear … as more and more large enterprises are shuttering private data centers in a quest to become ‘data center independent’ and younger and smaller customers are piggy-backing on AWS as a faster and cheaper way to scale up in new geographies,” he wrote. Neutral Toward Oracle, Security Vendors The big legacy IT infrastructure vendors are feeling the brunt of the migration, he said. Those interviewed were “cautious” toward managed hosting and colocation data center vendors, neutral toward enterprise software developer Oracle ( ORCL ) and neutral (not negative)  toward security vendors because “most” customers won’t rely only on AWS security, Keirstead says. “It was a mixed  bag for Red Hat ( RHT ), as several of the ‘all-in’ customers seemed content to move to Amazon’s own Linux distribution,” he wrote. He said feedback was “bullish” on software-as-a-service companies  Salesforce.com ( CRM ) and Workday ( WDAY ). “We now wonder if AWS is creating a tailwind for the SaaS (Software as a Service) vendors … and if the IT services vendors could get a lift as enterprises look to move or re-platform workloads to make them more cloud-friendly,” Keirstead mused. Deutsche Bank maintains buy ratings on Microsoft, Salesforce and Amazon.  Salesforce is expected after the close Feb. 24 to report earnings up 36% for the January quarter. Salesforce stock was down a fraction Tuesday afternoon, near 59 and 29% off a Nov. 19 all-time high at 82.90. Rival Workday stock was up 2.5% Tuesday afternoon, near 50.50, still 48% off nearly two-year high set in October 2014. It’s scheduled Feb. 29 to report an adjusted loss of 4 cents per share for its fiscal Q4 ended in January, vs. 6 cents lost in Q4 a year earlier. Keirstead said he doesn’t doubt that macro pressure is “keeping a lid on infrastructure IT spending,” but big legacy players Cisco Systems ( CSCO ), IBM ( IBM ) and EMC ( EMC ) “have cited a ‘tough macro’ seemingly every quarter for 12-plus months, he says. “It is entirely plausible that the ongoing weakness in technology capex, private data center build-outs and hardware refresh activity is also due to ongoing structural shifts as large enterprises rethink their IT infrastructures to prepare for a transition to the public cloud model.”                  

Verizon Edges AT&T As Top Telecom Brand; Comcast Xfinity In Top 10

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) once again had the top-ranked global telecom brand among service providers, though cable firm Comcast ’s ( CMCSA ) Xfinity service cracked the top 10 for the first time, according to U.K.-based research firm Brand Finance. Among telecom network gear makers, China’s Huawei overtook Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) for the top spot worldwide, Brand Finance said. Verizon’s brand is ranked No. 6 globally among all technology companies, behind Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google, Samsung, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ). In the U.S., Verizon edged out AT&T ( T ) in branding power. Wireless service providers are among the biggest advertisers. AT&T, which acquired satellite TV broadcaster DirecTV in July, has so far kept the DirecTV brand in its marketing. Comcast’s Xfinity ranked No. 10 globally in the Brand Finance report. Analysts credit Comcast’s Xfinity service platform with improving video subscriber results, owing to video-on-demand and cloud DVR features. Verizon has ramped up marketing for its new Go90 mobile video service, including live concerts and billboards, but Verizon’s own brand doesn’t appear in its Go90 commercials. The mobile video service can be downloaded as a mobile app by non-Verizon subscribers, though some features and perks are available only to Verizon customers. “Verizon’s most important milestone after the last year was the completion of its acquisition of AOL , a deal which significantly bolsters Verizon’s potential content offering. It is also reinforcing its established mobile dominance by pioneering the use of 5G,” said the Brand Finance report. The top 10 global telecom service brands also include: China Mobile ( CHL ), Deutsche Telekom ( DTEGY ), Vodafone Group ( VOD ), Softbank ( SFTBY ), Orange, BT and Japan’s NTT ( NTT ).