Amazon.com Inc – Amazon Amazing
Address:
410 Terry Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109-5210
Telephone:
206 266-1000
Internet Homepage:
http://www.amazon.com
Total Stores:
0; Internet-only Retailer
Trading Area:
Worldwide
Total Annual Sales:
$74,452,000,000
Senior Executives:
Jeffrey P. Bezos- Chairman, CEO, President
Jeffrey M. Blackburn- Senior VP, Business Development
Andrew R. Jassy- Senior VP, Amazon Web Services
Diego Piacentini- Senior VP, International Consumer Business
Amazon’s success, much less its game changing abilities, are all the more improbable when considering the company’s birth as an Internet retail pioneer. At its startup in 1994, Amazon had to literally fundamentally introduce the concept of Internet retailing. They did this as a new age, enormous book retailer.
Essentially, Amazon had to demonstrate to consumers that they were in for a safe, convenient and thrifty shopping experience. Amazon explained that customers never had to leave home, were being offered at least as wide a variety of books as was available anywhere, at prices lower than competitors could offer, be they brick and mortar (a phrase yet to be in use) or Internet based (there were few upstarts at the outset). At the time, many potential customers were still learning what the Internet was and how to approach it.
Amazon quickly expanded product offerings to include complimentary products such as prerecorded films and CDs. With rapidly growing consumer acceptance and demand came additional product offerings including electronics and hardware. Ultimately, Amazon expanded through the acquisition of well-run Internet retailers such as Zappos.
One of Amazon’s greatest innovations to the world of retailing was its creation of the marketplace concept. Here a plethora of independent retailers were able to offer their goods through Amazon’s website. This gave these independents almost instant credibility along with a most popular vehicle through which to sell their products. This marketplace concept has been copied by many prominent retailers such as Best Buy.
Lately Amazon has created headlines with the introduction of their own line of electronics, ranging from tablets to smart phones to smart TV devices. This while longtime competitor Barnes & Noble has cut back on its Nook tablets and handed over much of the production to Samsung.
Now the world anticipates the introduction of Amazon drones to deliver product to households. With all the company’s success we must not overlook Amazon as an inventor of retail innovations.
