The Perfect Store by Adam Cohen
April 11th, 2008Title: The Perfect Store
Author: Adam Cohen
Publisher: Back Bay Books (2003)
I was at the library recently and they had a featured section of eBay books. They were mostly “How to Make Money at eBay” books. But The Perfect Store: Inside eBay caught my attention. As you can probably already tell (or will soon), I am fascinated with different companies and how they succeed or fail. Also, I have always really liked eBay. I have used it to buy a lot of good stuff, and I have even sold a few things on it (although I prefer to use Craigslist for that.) eBay just seems like a really good idea and I wanted to find out why eBay was able to succeed when other auction sites did not.
The short answer, according to Cohen: community. The early founders of eBay spoke extensively about how important the “eBay community” is. As with most other successful companies, eBay was able to create brand loyalty…to the point where users refused to use other auction sites. The eBay users felt they were really a part of the company. The eBay management would often post bulletin board messages asking for advice on a new policy they were considering. Involving the eBay users created brand loyalty. Very smart.
The book does a nice job of showing how the rocket-fast growth eBay experienced affected to company: both good and bad. We are taken through the IPO experience. We are let in on when new management was needed, how certain employees were forced out, causing an uproar in the famed eBay community. Cohen neutrally explains exactly what happened in the early years of eBay.
This is a very well written book that should be of interest to anyone who is curious about eBay, online commerce, or business in general.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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April 12th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Great review, but I am not much of an eBay success story. Either I don’t have what bidders want or get caught in the bidding war and lose my shirt! People like me need to avoid such places.