In 1994, Jeff Bezos was thirty years old and Vice President of a New York Investment Firm. He just got married and life seemed 'perfect'. Bezos had a solid future ahead of him and was financially stable. Fortunately, he gave it all up and moved to Seattle with his wife to run a business out of their garage. "I'm going to do this crazy thing. I'm going to start this company selling books online," said Jeff Bezos. An idea that sounded crazy... books were too large to ship and why would anyone want use the Internet? Bezos was confident that his idea would work; with funding from family and friends, Amazon.com was launched and quickly changed the way we bought books. The Seattle based company grew from a book seller to a virtual superstore; selling a wide range of products such as music, movies, tools and cookware. Revenues grew from $150 Million in 1997 to $3.1 Billion is 2001. Jeff Bezos was chosen as the 1999 Time person of the year which made him the fourth youngest person of the year at age thirty five. Amazon.com's goal is to become Earth's largest retailer where customers can purchase just about anything. Jeff Bezos practices his "customer-centrism" theory; figure out what the customer wants, innovate and personalization. Amazon.com has personalized their website by adding features such as Your Store (where customers can list item
s), and exclusive Amazon.com technology that records what customers look at on their site. Amazon.com believes in taking ad dollars and placing them into the customer; adding more features to make online shopping convenient such as auctions and Zshops. The company has also invested in many partnerships with other retailers such as Ashford.com, Gear.com, Audible.com and Pets.com. A few years ago, Amazon.com expanded into international markets such as the UK, Germany, Canada and Japan. I like Amazon.com because they took a risk...their CEO, Jeff Bezos is a true innovator of e-commerce. Many other online e-tailers have tried and failed to become the next 'Amazon.com'. I especially like the ease of use at Amazon.com... one can search for exactly what they want by browsing through the various categories displayed. The company has tried to distinguish itself from the 'typical online store' by thinking out-of-the-box. Amazon.com has recently added Fishbowl which is an online video talk show featur
ing authors and entertainers. I think Fishbowl is brilliant because it lures in customers who want the experience of visiting a brick and motor retail store but rather shop online. Fishbowl should instead, in my opinion, feature the makers of products sold on Amazon.com (for example, Martha Stewart can discuss her dedication to create products for your home... or promote her eco-friendly towels which will increase sales on Amazon.com). I like the idea of having authors promote their books on the site but they should definitely feature more (similar to an online QVC). Now, I must address something that has been the talk of the street since June... will Amazon.com purchase NetFlix? I really hope they do... and I think they will. The partnership or buyout will be a tremendous asset for Amazonl.com which currently has UnBox (video downloads) but by featuring NetFlix they will obtain established subscribers. StreetBlabber will look into this potential merger... but for now it looks like Amazon.com has a solid future ahead of them.
In 1994, Jeff Bezos was thirty years old and Vice President of a New York Investment Firm. He just got married and life seemed 'perfect'. Bezos had a solid future ahead of him and was financially stable. Fortunately, he gave it all up and moved to Seattle with his wife to run a business out of their garage. "I'm going to do this crazy thing. I'm going to start this company selling books online," said Jeff Bezos. An idea that sounded crazy... books were too large to ship and why would anyone want use the Internet? Bezos was confident that his idea would work; with funding from family and friends, Amazon.com was launched and quickly changed the way we bought books. The Seattle based company grew from a book seller to a virtual superstore; selling a wide range of products such as music, movies, tools and cookware. Revenues grew from $150 Million in 1997 to $3.1 Billion is 2001. Jeff Bezos was chosen as the 1999 Time person of the year which made him the fourth youngest person of the year at age thirty five. Amazon.com's goal is to become Earth's largest retailer where customers can purchase just about anything. Jeff Bezos practices his "customer-centrism" theory; figure out what the customer wants, innovate and personalization. Amazon.com has personalized their website by adding features such as Your Store (where customers can list item
s), and exclusive Amazon.com technology that records what customers look at on their site. Amazon.com believes in taking ad dollars and placing them into the customer; adding more features to make online shopping convenient such as auctions and Zshops. The company has also invested in many partnerships with other retailers such as Ashford.com, Gear.com, Audible.com and Pets.com. A few years ago, Amazon.com expanded into international markets such as the UK, Germany, Canada and Japan. I like Amazon.com because they took a risk...their CEO, Jeff Bezos is a true innovator of e-commerce. Many other online e-tailers have tried and failed to become the next 'Amazon.com'. I especially like the ease of use at Amazon.com... one can search for exactly what they want by browsing through the various categories displayed. The company has tried to distinguish itself from the 'typical online store' by thinking out-of-the-box. Amazon.com has recently added Fishbowl which is an online video talk show featur
ing authors and entertainers. I think Fishbowl is brilliant because it lures in customers who want the experience of visiting a brick and motor retail store but rather shop online. Fishbowl should instead, in my opinion, feature the makers of products sold on Amazon.com (for example, Martha Stewart can discuss her dedication to create products for your home... or promote her eco-friendly towels which will increase sales on Amazon.com). I like the idea of having authors promote their books on the site but they should definitely feature more (similar to an online QVC). Now, I must address something that has been the talk of the street since June... will Amazon.com purchase NetFlix? I really hope they do... and I think they will. The partnership or buyout will be a tremendous asset for Amazonl.com which currently has UnBox (video downloads) but by featuring NetFlix they will obtain established subscribers. StreetBlabber will look into this potential merger... but for now it looks like Amazon.com has a solid future ahead of them.
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