Amazon, HERE I COMEEEE!
Wait a little bit! I am not
packing stuffs to visit the actual Amazon rainforest in South America. Take it
easy. I’m opening my laptop and typing in www.amazon.com.
Okay I must confess that I
am a shopaholic. Not really, I am more like an e-shopaholic. I love online
shopping; perhaps way too much as there were nights I chose to shop over sleep.
Hey, I’m serious! And let me tell you one thing, just like the other 180
million people in the world, amazon.com has always been my one
and only love. In other words, Amazon
has significantly altered my lifestyles and opened my eyes on how shopping
should be done in 21st century.
So what had happened that led to the domination
of amazon.com as one of the most
successful virtual businesses ever?
That’s why I guess today, I will be your tour guide back in time,
just about 20 years ago, when the Internet started to boom, to see how amazon.com have evolved from a
bookseller to the world’s largest online retailer.
*hurayyyy*
Our trip starts with Jeff
Bezos, the vice president of a hedge fund call D.E. Shaw in New York. One day
in spring 1994, after observing the increase of 2300% per year of Internet
usage, Bezos realized the potential of the Internet as being a revolutionary platform
that would generate more revenue than what traditional business might offer. As of mid 1990s, since mail-order catalogues for book service wasn't available to every customer, Bezos visioned that he should come up with a more effective business plan in order to tackle this problem. And he did it!. Of course, via the use of internet!
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Catalogue for these?
Oh no. Houston, we have a problem!
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In 1997, Amazon.com began to sell shares at $18 each, and Bezos’ 9.88 million shares were worth $290 million at that time. People was wondering whether or not a new online bookseller like Amazon was able to withstand the competition with the two giants “Barnes and Nobles” and “Border”. However, just two years later, Amazon's market not only increased in size but their market value of shares was also more than that of those two combined.
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| Jeff Bezos holding a copy ofthe first book sold online by Amazon |
Later in the same year,
1994, Jeff Bezos quit D.E. Shaw and founded Amazon.com. In July 1995, he published his website to the world. In just one month, even without any help from the press, his books
were sold in all 50 states and 45 other countries around the globe.
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 In 1999, Time Magazine named Jeff Bezos its “Person of the Year” |
In 2000, Amazon introduced
a new logo, implying that Amazon.com can offer their customers with anything, from a to z.
At the beginning of 21st century,
while a lot of dots.com companies went bankrupt, Amazon thrived.
In 2006, Amazon ended the
year with annual sales over $10.7 billion, a huge jump from $510,000 in 1995.
In 2007, Amazon introduced
the Kindle, a handheld digital book reader that allowed users to buy, download,
read and store their book selections. Kindle quickly helped Amazon capture 95
percent of the U.S. market for electronic book – e-book.
In 2011, Amazon yearly
sales passed $17 billion.
Soooo, what do you think about Amazon? AWESOM, right!!!
And, here are some more facts about Amazon and Jeff
Bezos:
+ “The empty chair”: Bezos
usually leaves one seat empty at a conference table and tell everyone to consider
that seat is taken by the most important person in the room: the customer.
+ Always try to offer wider
selection, lower prices and fast, reliable delivery.
+ Call Customer Service and
you might get the CEO: everyone has to attend two days of call-center training
every year, even the CEO. This practice helps all employees understand the
customer service progress.
+ Amazon owns 10% of North
American e-commerce while Office Depot, Staples, Apple, Dell, Wal-Mart, Sears
and Liberty own another 10%, leaving 80% for all other retailers to fight for.
+ All Amazon shipping boxes
are made sturdier so they can be used for other purposes. Packaging is
minimized to give customers the best experience.
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Left: Retail Packaging
Right: Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging
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Tadaaaa, that's it for this week's entry! Hope that you guys have learnt something new!
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