Basic Business Lesson: Forget Technology, Marketing; Consumer Dot.coms Should Focus on Making a Buck
Considering how Americans love their coffee it’s no wonder that Internet retailing companies are cropping up to satisfy the demand for a good cup of morning brew.
Brian Lunsford, president of the business, said the tradeoff for his privately-owned company being in the black is that he cannot afford to sink large sums of money into broadening its market.
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Coffee AM offers premium beans online starting at $7 a pound. With a minimum order of $15, customers can have their orders delivered free anywhere in the United States. But keeping prices affordable and making a profit require walking a fine line — a lesson best heeded by any company seeking to jump on the online bandwagon.
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If Coffee AM is making a profit, it is an exception to the rule in business-to-consumer transactions on the Internet, where most enterprises are willing to absorb huge losses to generate “aggregate eyeballs,” said Alan Amling, director of electronic commerce at United Parcel Service.
