PYMNTS.com revisits the Goldman Sachs technology conference, with updated business strategies for three other marquee attendees: Amazon, Western Union, and Google.
Amazon
While Amazon may have disappointing earning,, that’s primarily because their current focus is on long-term growth—the type of growth expected to weaken Amazon’s competitors, and eventually, eliminate them completely. At least so they say.
“If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people,” said CEO Jeff Bezos in an interview with Wired Magazine, adding that if companies would simply extend the time horizon on which they work, they could potentially rid themselves of a significant fraction of their competitors.
“Just by lengthening the time horizon, you can engage in endeavors that you could never otherwise pursue. At Amazon we like things to work in five to seven years. We’re willing to plant seeds, let them grow—and we’re very stubborn,” he explained.
Maybe one of its seeds was Amazon’s Kindle line?
With Amazon’s release of its Kindle Fire, a $200 tablet—complete with a lightweight design, powerful dual-core processor and Amazon’s new web browser, Amazon Silk—offering more than 19 million items of multimedia, Apple’s iPad may have some stiff competition.
The company also ignited controversy with various retailers this holiday season, by offering additional discounts to consumers who used their mobile devices to comparison-shop and order from Amazon.
Another contribution to the company’s long-term growth goals: the opening of 17 new fulfillment centers, an effort towards an even bigger retail presence (with the revamp of its Kindle line).
Judging by Amazon’s current success in the e-commerce market, long-term growth shouldn’t be a problem some say.
“Amazon is growing at twice the rate of e-commerce as a whole, which is growing five times faster than retail over all. Amazon is bypassing margins and profits for growth,” Morgan Stanley analyst, Scott Devitt, told Wired Magazine.
Two reasons for this may be the growth of Amazon’s web and media services. Many high-profile startup companies now depend on Amazon’s web service features for crucial business functions, while millions of consumers turn to the company for online media streaming.
Western Union
Western Union is expecting an additional increase in its global market share this year, according to a recent statement made by Stewart Stockdale, executive vice president with the company and president of its Global Consumer Financial Services unit.
The company—which currently operates within 485,000 agent locations and 200 countries and territories globally—carried out its highest full year revenue growth rate since 2008, completing approximately 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions.
And, despite some potential short-term market challenges, Western Union is anticipating further growth in 2012.
“We have about 18 percent share of the global cross border money transfer business and we tend to grow share every year. We grew share last year and our expectation is to continue to grow the share,” Stockdale explained, in an interview with Khaleej Times.
In addition to anticipated market growth, Western Union is also expecting long-term revenue growth, due to company-wide expansion, new products and a continued focus on what it refers to as the “three legs of stool”: global and domestic money transfer, new ventures (i.e. prepaid and e-commerce) and B2B business.
The current revenue prediction is an increase from six to eight percent for the 2012 fiscal year.
Google is looking at its Chrome and Google Apps for further productivity and innovation in 2012.
According to Senior Vice President (Chrome and Apps) Sundar Pichai, the apps are becoming increasingly popular with business struggling with
Senior Vice President (Chrome and Apps) Sundar Pichai says the intended focus will be improving Chrome’s functionality, and extending the platform of the browser to mobile devices and tablets.
Google released a beta version of Chrome for mobile devices running Android 4.0 last week, an initiative representing the “future of Chrome,” as it is referred to by Pichai.=
Some critics of this initiative maintain that Chrome is a desktop experience, adding that there is nothing left to innovate with a (web) browser. However, Pichai retorts that with the improvement of users’ overall experience, people will respond positively and with more frequent use.
Users expect a seamless, integrated experience across devices,” Pichai said, during a keynote discussion of the 2012 Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference last Thursday.
The ultimate goal, he explained, is to secure and maintain Chrome’s presence across company products, ranging from the desktop to smartphones and (Google) television.
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