????從前我在eBay工作的時候，我們相信，沒有人會通過完全復制我們的做法來與我們競爭。我們具有所謂的“先行者優勢”和網絡效應。隨著eBay的強勢發展，亞馬遜（Amazon）和雅虎（Yahoo）都推出了各自的拍賣市場，而這兩個市場基本上一推出就已經宣告死亡了。我們最關心的是有人可能會以一種全新的、顛覆性的方法，也就是一種全新的業務模式來與我們競爭。

????后來我們相信，谷歌（Google）日漸興起的搜索業務將成為eBay面臨的最大威脅。eBay能幫助用戶找到一般很難找到的獨特商品。而谷歌的目標是把全球的信息組織起來，它也能幫用戶找到很難找到的獨特商品。二者的機制和模式雖然有所不同，但是二者的重合卻是明顯的，所以我們把谷歌看成是頭號競爭威脅。

????這個想法后來被時任谷歌高管的謝麗爾?桑德伯格證實了。幾年前我和桑德伯格出席了財捷集團（Intuit）的一次活動并擔任演講嘉賓。我在發表完演講后，繼續留在會場里聽桑德伯格演講。在回答一個問題的時候，桑德伯格說了一句話，大意是：“我們早就知道，谷歌主要的競爭對手是eBay”。我差點跳起來大吼：“我早就知道！”而且eBay當時還是谷歌的一個非常重要的廣告客戶。我們每年送給谷歌大量的錢，但是它們卻用這筆錢來與我們競爭。

????對于今天的谷歌來說，我越來越相信，谷歌最重要的競爭對手并不是另一個搜索引擎，比如雅虎、必應（Bing）、百度（Yahoo）或日本雅虎（Yahoo! Japan），而是亞馬遜。因為亞馬遜正在帶來一種全新的搜索模式——也就是產品搜索。

????亞馬遜是一個主要關注如何幫助用戶尋找產品的垂直搜索引擎。在亞馬遜的網站上，搜索一款產品最主要的方式就是利用這個網站的搜索框。用戶只需鍵入一個關鍵詞，然后網站就會列出滿足查詢條件的結果。搜索結果的順序是按一定的算法決定的，而這個算法的目的旨在優化商品的相關性和刺激用戶付錢。聽起來是不是很耳熟？

????在我個人使用的過程中，我發現與谷歌相比，我越來越喜歡在亞馬遜上搜索產品。亞馬遜的購物體驗更加出色，而且它在商品選擇、商品價格和便利性這三大零售業成功法則上做得都更勝一籌。它的產品搭配越來越全面，直銷產品越來越多，同時還有大量第三方商家入駐。亞馬遜的商品價格幾乎一直極有競爭力，以至于我差不多已經不再用谷歌來貨比三家了。而且亞馬遜還提供了最快捷、最省錢的物流方案，尤其是亞馬遜的Prime服務（它對我產生了一種有趣的影響，讓我想在亞馬遜上多買些東西，好確保我每年７９美元的會員費可以得到最大化的利用）。我在亞馬遜只花一分鐘就下單，因為我相信我很可能是以最低的價格買下的這款產品，同時又能獲得免費包郵和快速的遞送服務。

????相比之下，在谷歌上購物更像是在干活。谷歌上有無窮無盡的選擇，不過你得在海量的搜索結果里篩選出你想要的東西。你必須費一番周折才能找到最優惠的價格，尤其是你還得在每個搜索結果里對比價格和運費的高低。而且當你從一個新的商家那里找到一款產品準備下單時，還得重頭填寫所有的付款信息和運費信息。在谷歌上買東西可能需要一個小時的時間，而不是像亞馬遜那樣一分鐘就能搞定。

????When I was at eBay, we had a belief that no one was going to compete with us by replicating exactly what we were doing. We had first mover advantages and network effects. Amazon and Yahoo! both launched auction marketplaces in response to eBay's strong growth, and both businesses were essentially DOA. What did concern us was that someone would compete with us with a new, disruptive approach—a completely different take on the business.

????Early on, we came to believe that Google's emerging search business was the biggest threat that eBay faced. eBay helped users find hard-to-find, unique products. Google's goal of organizing the world's information also helped users find hard-to-find, unique products. The mechanisms and models were different, but the overlap was clear and we came to view Google as our top competitive threat.

????This thought was validated after the fact by then-Google executive Sheryl Sandberg. We both were guest speakers at the same Intuit event a few years back, and I stayed after my talk to listen to Sheryl. In response to a question, Sheryl said something along the lines of, "We knew early on at Google that our key competitor was eBay." I almost jumped to my feet shouting, "I knew it!" It did not make me feel any better that eBay was one of Google's very top advertisers at the time, and that we were paying them tons of money that they were in turn using to compete with us.

????In Google's case today, I am becoming increasingly convinced that their most challenging competitor isn't another search engine like Yahoo!, Bing, Baidu or Yahoo! Japan. It's Amazon, which is bringing a completely different take on search—in this case, product search.

????Amazon is a vertical search engine focused on helping users find products. The overwhelmingly dominant way to find things on their site is the search box. Users enter a keyword phrase and are presented with results that match his or her query. The order of the search results is determined by algorithms that seek to optimize relevance and monetization. Sound familiar?

????In my personal website use, I increasingly find myself searching for products on Amazon instead of Google. Shopping on Amazon is a superior user experience and it runs the table on the magical retailer formula of selection, price and convenience. It has an increasingly comprehensive product assortment, with their ever-expanding direct sales supplemented by third-party merchants who sell on the platform. Prices are almost always extremely competitive, so much so that I have pretty much stopped using Google to comparison-shop at different merchants. And it offers the fastest and most cost effective shipping solutions, particularly in Prime (which has the interesting impact of making me want to buy goods on Amazon to make sure I get the most out of my $79/year Prime membership). I can buy an item on Amazon in a minute, secure in the knowledge that I'm likely paying the lowest price while getting free shipping and fast delivery.

????Contrast that with the shopping experience on Google. Shopping on Google is work. It has infinite selection…if you can manage to find what you're looking for amidst the forest of search results. You have to work to find the best price, typically by pogo-ing in and out of different search results to check both prices and shipping costs. And when you find a product you want to buy from a new merchant, you need to enter all the payment and shipping information from scratch. Buying on Google takes chunks of an hour, not an Amazon minute.