Page: 1
An online business growing
Most people have hear about it, and many have actually used its services. It is big. It has been around for a relatively long time. (Jeff Bezos started Amazon in the summer of 1994) It is international. Amazon already operates in the USA, UK and Germany, and is about to launch in France. As a pure-play e-commerce initiative, there are no complications around separating the e-commerce issues from those of the rest of the organization. You can do business with Amazon from anywhere in the world. Amazon.com's core book and CD retailing businesses fall neatly into the middle of the e-commerce / e-world continuum. (See diagram below.)
In the e-commerce phase, Amazon.com competes directly with incumbents such as Barnes and Noble, the incumbent business which played e-commerce catch-up with relative success. Amazon.com itself has played directly into the e-business phase by completely restructuring the value chain with a $500 million investment in its fulfilment systems which allow for few points of online, value-added, ordering fulfilled from several central warehouses which deliver directly to the consumer. Amazon.com remains at risk over the longer term from the entrant of an e-world competitor. Two examples might make Amazon.com's investment in warehousing a distribution redundant: First, a commercialisation an legalisation of the Napster model might replace the pre-recorded CD as a product. Secondly, E-books could similarly replace the pre-printed book.
Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, remains a cultural icon and, as Fortunes 5th ranked in their "America's Forty Richest Under 40" for 2003, remains an inspiration to dot.com entrepreneurs.