I’d like the classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” and a whole lamb delivered tomorrow please.

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So my plan for tomorrow night is to have a relaxing evening and settle down with a nice box of chocolates, a glass of Pinot Grigio wine and start reading the 50th anniversary edition of the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” which has just been released.

The only problem is that I don’t have chocolates, wine or the book…

Not to worry though as I can order these over the internet for delivery tomorrow. Two websites I’ve ordered from before are those of the supermarket Tesco and the online bookstore Amazon. Tesco have sold books as part of their offerings for a while now so I might as well order all of them from their website.

Hold your horses though as Amazon today announced that as well as books, DVDs and suchlike they would now be selling a range of grocery items online.  Over 22,000 grocery items in fact.

Items ranging from a packet of cinnamon sugar for 29p through to a Highland Fayre Royal Banquet for £1,203.97 are now available for home delivery on www.amazon.co.uk.

Is this a smart move by Amazon or simply an online bookstore trying to get some extra revenue? After all, shouldn’t they stick to what they do best and sell books?

Well, if you think about it, what do they do well? (what are their “core competencies” in strategy exam talk?)

I’d argue that they are pretty good at getting stock into their warehouses (using Porter’s value Chain: inbound logistics), processing orders (operations), delivering goods to customers (outbound logistics), running a website (sales and marketing) and dealing swiftly with any returns (after sales service).

Whether the item of stock being processed is the classic book by Harper Lee or a whole lamb for £119.99 then does it really make any difference?

Only time will tell whether this venture will be successful. Amazon has a trusted brand and is a world leader in processing orders over the internet so maybe they will be successful. The established supermarkets already have a successful internet presence though so it will be interesting to see how this develops.

Anyway, after writing this I’ve now made my decision and I’ll buy the chocolates, wine and books from the Sainsbury Express store next to the office and have the relaxing evening tonight.

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