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  • January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
  • Supplement
  • HBS Case Collection

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:3
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Abstract

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it had once been the only seller were now being sold by Amazon straight from X Fire’s suppliers, effectively cutting X Fire out. Amazon was also ignoring the minimum advertised price (MAP) set by manufacturers. How should X Fire defend itself? Now Amazon representatives were approaching X Fire to encourage them to sell on Amazon’s smaller but growing Canadian Marketplace. How should X Fire respond to this opportunity?

Keywords

Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

Citation

Zhu, Feng, and Angela Acocella. "X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 617-047, January 2017. (Revised August 2019.)
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About The Author

Feng Zhu

Technology and Operations Management
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Related Work

    • May 2019 (Revised August 2019)
    • Faculty Research

    X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (A) and (B)

    By: Feng Zhu
    • January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
    • Faculty Research

    X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B)

    By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella
    • December 2019
    • Faculty Research

    Interview with Stephen L. Herbert, X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Protagonist in 617-046 X Fire Paintball & Airsoft

    By: Willy C. Shih and Feng Zhu
Related Work
  • X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (A) and (B) By: Feng Zhu
  • X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (B) By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella
  • Interview with Stephen L. Herbert, X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Protagonist in 617-046 X Fire Paintball & Airsoft By: Willy C. Shih and Feng Zhu
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