Summary
Blue Nile is Far from finished Everyone seems to overlook the obvious and shoot from the hip Here are key reasons why
Analysis
As much as some people want Blue Nile to fail, I do not see this happening with the recent announcements by Blue Nile of their expansion plans. Until recently Blue Nile was selling only in the USA and Canada, but has announced plans to expand. Blue Niles's sales in Canada and the UK, doubled last year, and now they are expanding into 12 additional countries and will be doing sales in their respective currencies. They also opened an office in Dublin, Ireland to accommodate this new growth. Their policy to allow people to buy in local currency and free shipping puts them a giant step forward. I cannot understand how some people consider a 27% growth in sales as a slow down, Blue Nile has announced that they expect the 2008 year to be a slower growth period in the US, but their new overseas selling locations will more than make up for this. Anytime a business has a finite number of customers, they will slow down in growth, but when you add in hundreds of millions of new customers in emerging nations, where hunger for American goods is huge, you can expect huge growth. As for the new CFO leaving after 6 months, it is anybodies guess, but considering the knowledge I acquired as senior buyer for a major internet jewelry auction site, I can only state that unless you are prepared you will be totally overcome by the sheer volume of business. The internet does not grow by 5, 10 or 15% per year as most brick and mortar stores are accustomed to, but they grow by 25, 60, or hundreds of percentage points. The internet is not for the faint of heart. Most retailers do not understand the working of the internet and are overwhelmed by the sheer volume available from the internet. Now add in (m-commerce) Mobile internet selling and overseas markets and all the other countries to grow into, I only see a rosy future for Blue Nile.
