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The Idea
Realising the economic potential of the rapidly expanding Internet, Jeff Bezos (founder), together with a few colleagues worked in a garage designing a database that could store all Amazon’s future book orders (Bernard, 2005). Bernard, R. (2005). Jeff Bezos Business: Executive and Founder of Amazon.com. New York, NY: Ferguson Image by: nialkennedy -
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Amazon.com
Amazon Timeline: an economic overview of the developments, workings and milestones of the world's largest online retailer, Amazon. -
The Launch
With $7 million in borrowed capital, Amazon moved to its new headquarters based in Seattle and launched www.amazon.com (Hill and Jones, 2008). Hill, C., Jones, G. (2010). Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Image by: Accedental Hedonist -
Announcement
In 1997, only three years after Amazon was launched, the company had its Initial Public Offering. Amazon ended the day $54 million richer. 1 Click was launched which added value proposition to the online buying experience by allowing repeat customers to order goods with just 1 click (Spector, 2002). Spector, R. (2002). Amazon.com: get big fast. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishing Image by: welendcashhouston -
Expanding
In 1998, Amazon moved into CDs. Amazon grabbed and held its users’ attention by not only allowing them to easily search the music database but also listen to a clip prior to purchasing (Skrabec, 2012). Skrabec, Q. (2012). The 100 most significant events in American business. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood. Image by: BasicB -
Joining forces
In 2000, Amazon started to let other retailers sell products along side its own. This venture resulted in third party products being more profitable for Amazon than what it was making through its own sales (The Associated Press, n.d.) Image by: o5com -
Branching out:
During 2001, Amazon enhanced its features available to the company’s expanding network of users by launching sites such as Amazon Travel. Amazon also formed alliances with Target (Rowley, 2003) and Borders, which, in exchange for order fulfillment and guest services, provided Amazon with fixed and variable fees. Rowley, L. (2003). On Target: How the World’s Hottest Retailer Hit a Bull’s-eye. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons Inc. Image by: j.reed -
Amazon Web Services:
In 2002, Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS provided online computing services for Web sites such as Target Direct. Image by: Will Merydith -
Search-ability
The introduction of Amazon’s A9 provided customers with the ability to search within a book and read a few pages returned from their key word search. This in turn, of course, helps Amazon sell more books (Blanchard, 2005). Blanchard, R. (2005). The Digital Challenge for Libraries: Understanding the culture and technology of total information. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse. Image by: images_of_money -
eBook Released
In 2007, Amazon’s much awaited e-book, the Kindle, was released. The 3G device with free Internet connected customers to Amazon’s store where they could download books at discounted prices (Hill and Jones, 2010) Hill, C., Jones, G. (2010). Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Image by:Jimmiehomeschoolmom -
Success
Amazon announces that the Kindle is its best selling product and that digital downloads were rapidly increasing (Hill and Jones, 2010) Hill, C., Jones, G. (2010). Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Image by: Matteopenzo -
Domination:
Amazon launched its Kindle iTunes app allowing users to purchase & read content on the iPhone and iPod. Amazon could have stayed with the Kindle and shunned all other devices to retain control on the e-reader market. However, what the company is really interested in is selling ebooks and spreading the Kindle delivery system across many platforms (Shroeder,2009). Shroeder, S. (2009). Turn your iPhone into a Kindle. Retrieved: mashable.com/2009/03/04/amazon-kindle-iphone Image by: R.Stewart -
The Kindle era:
In 2010 Amazon introduced a range of kindle applications including: Kindle for Mac, Blackberry and iPad. Image by: Mirindas27 -
Still climbing
After a huge year in 2010, the company announced its second quarter sales in 2011 were up 51% to 9.91 billion (phx.corporate-ir.net n.d.). Image by: Katrina Tuliao -
Watch this space
In its early days, Amazon made use of the increasing number of Internet users to rapidly grow its business. By removing the overheads of more convectional brick-and-mortar shops, users would benefit from low prices and value the convenience of shopping on the Web (Reading, 2005). The Internet has not only enhanced the ability for individuals to connect and share information but also created an environment where businesses have the potential to thrive in new and diverse ways. Image by jonobacon
