“[Amazon] started selling diapers in the summer of 2006, just a year after Diapers.com debuted. When Quidsi launched Soap.com in July, adding an additional 25,000 products to their lineup, the site was strafed almost from the minute it went live by price bots dispatched by Amazon. Quidsi network operators watched in amazement as Amazon pinged their site to find out what they were charging for each of the 25,000 new items they initially offered, and then adjusted its prices accordingly. Bharara and Lore knew that would happen. ‘If we put something on sale, we usually see Amazon respond in a couple of hours,’ says Bharara.”
What Amazon Fears Most: Diapers
The Diapers.com story is one of my favorite startup stories.
