Daily Obsessive Google Rank Check:
Pool Cues: #1
Pool Cue: #2

I have really mixed feelings about this one.  As employee #4 of Thunderbeam.com which later became Brainplay.com which was then turned into KBKids.com and finally KBToys.com, I was around to see the business grow from a few orders per day to one of the leading online toystores.  Even so, there was always a complete lack of focus on any business metrics while I was there.  I was continually told that my concerns about basic ecommerce metrics like conversion and customer acquisition costs were a waste of time since we were in the middle of “a land grab” as the former CEO and VP of Marketing continued to remind me.

While I do feel for the 103 remaining employees who are likely going to be looking for work soon, a company that never made any money and had a history of poor management should not be surprised by its failures.  Even on the eToys side, there was never a focus on profitibility.  It was always a cash flow/market share game.  There’s a great article about it at The Denver Post.

On to happier news.  I’m still treading water with my bowl picks, now at 6-6 for the season.  Today I’m going with Maryland +2.5, Oregon +2.5 and Rice -3.

Daily Obsessive Google Rank Check:
Pool Cues: #1
Pool Cue: #2

Like many online retailers, PoolDawg sells on Amazon.  The way that Amazon seems to work creates an interesting dilemma.  In order to sell more on Amazon, you have to get your listing in the so called “buy box”.  If there are 10 stores selling the same product, the store who’s listed in the buy box with their one click checkout will get the lion’s share of the sales.  The problem though is that the buy box seems to be controlled by the store who offers the lowest price.  So, in order to get the buy box, you need to continually lower your price and stay ahead of the competition.

The question though is whether or not its worth it.  In the billiards business, margins are already thin.  When you get into a price war and then work in Amazon’s commission, you have to wonder at what point you should just give up the sale to your competitor.

On the 2009 Bowl front, I ran my record to 5-6 with two of my three picks from yesterday covering the spread.  In today’s coin flip game, I’ll go with Louisiana Tech -2 over Northern Illinois and see if I can get back to .500.

Daily Obsessive Google Rank Check:
Pool Cues: #1
Pool Cue: #2

Looking at the paper this morning, I saw tons of Black Friday style sales.  The problem of course is that Xmas was yesterday.  Stores are using the day after Xmas to try and salvage what was for most, one of the worst holiday shopping seasons on record.  Doing the Black Friday thing is one thing, but bringing back liquidation style events for after the holidays on anything other than holiday themed items is a bad idea.  Hopefully this will be a one time thing, because if stores start training customers to wait until after the holidays to shop, customers will catch on and this won’t be the only year of piss poor holiday sales.  Thankfully, I haven’t seen the online stores jumping on the bandwagon with this doomed for failure idea.

On another note, I’m up to 3-4 on my Bowl Picks as the Golden Domers really did a number on Hawaii.  Tonight is really a coin flip since I don’t know a thing about either team, so I’m going with Central Michigan -7 over Florida Atlantic in the Motor City Bowl.