nickshanagher

Ben Thompson's Stratechery site is a constant source of inspiration. Last week he was tackling the development of Amazon and speculating that it could sell lots of products at a loss by adopting a Costco model. "Consider Costco: last year the wholesale retailer had net income of $2.3 billion on sales of $114 billion to its over 81 million members; the total sum of membership fees was $2.5 billion," he wrote. "In other words, Costco’s 11% gross margin didn’t even quite cover the cost of running the business; the difference, along with all of the profit, came from a “tax” levied on Costco customers." For retailers in the UK unhappy with paying a "tax" to news wholesalers to get their newspapers and magazines, this makes uncomfortable reading. The UK's regulators, now the competition commission, have gamed the system so two companies can make a profit out of "carriage service charges" for wholesaling newspapers and magazines in exclu