Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

[edit] History and business model

Amazon was founded in 1994, spurred by what Bezos called "regret minimizationframework", his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush.

[4]

While company lore says Bezos wrote the business plan while he and his wife drove from New York to Seattle,

[5]

that account appears to be apocryphal.

[6]

The company began as an online bookstore;

[6]

while the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores andmail-order catalogs for books might offer 200,000 titles, an on-line bookstore could offer more. Bezos named the company "Amazon" after the world's biggest river .Since 2000, Amazon's logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z,representing customer satisfaction (as it forms a smile) and the goal to have every productin the alphabet.

[7]

In 1994, the company incorporated in the state of Washington,beginning service in July 1995, and was reincorporated in 1996 in Delaware. The first book Amazon.com sold was Douglas Hofstadter 's

Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought

[8]

Amazon.com issued its initial public offeringof stock on May 15, 1997, trading under the NASDAQ stock exchange symbol

AMZN

, atan IPOprice of US$18.00 per share ($1.50 after threestock splits in the late 1990s). Amazon's initial business planwas unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years; the strategy was effective. Amazon grew steadily in the late 1990s whileother Internet companies grew blindingly fast. Amazon's "slow" growth provokedstockholder complaints: that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough.When thedot-com bubbleburst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and, finally, turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million, just 1¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion, but the profit was symbolicallyimportant.The company remains profitable: 2003 net incomewas $35.3 million, $588.50 million in 2004, $359 million in 2005, and $190 million in 2006 (including a $662 million chargefor R&Din 2006), nevertheless, the firm's cumulative profits remain negative. As of September 2007, the accumulated deficit stood at $1.58 billion. Revenues increasedthanks to product diversification and an international presence: $3.9 billion in 2002, $5.3 billion in 2003, $6.9 billion in 2004, $8.5 billion in 2005, and $10.7 billion in 2006.On November 21, 2005, Amazon entered theS&P 500index, replacingAT&T after it merged withSBC Communications. On December 31, 2008, Amazon entered theS&P 100index, replacingMerrill Lynch after it was taken over byBank of America. In 1999,

Time

magazine named Bezos Person of the Year , recognizing the company's success in popularizingon-line shopping.

[edit] Merchant partnerships

The Web siteCDNOW(cdnow.com) is powered and hosted by Amazon. Until June 30,2006, typingToysRUs.com into a browser would similarly bring up Amazon.com's Toys & Games tab; however, this relationship was terminated as the result of a lawsuit.

[9]

Amazon.com powers and operates retail web sites for Target, Sears Canada, Benefit Cosmetics,Bebe Stores,Timex Corporation, Marks & Spencer , Mothercare, andLacoste. For a growing number of enterpriseclients, currently including the UK merchants Marks& Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics' UK entity and Mothercare, Amazon provides a unifiedmultichannel platform whence a customer can interchangeably interact with the retailwebsite, standalone in-store terminals, and phone-based customer service agents.Amazon Web Servicesalso powersAOL's Shop@AOL.

[edit] Locations

[edit] Headquarters

Amazon.com's headquarters in the PacMed building inBeacon Hill, Seattle.The company's global headquarters is located on Seattle'sBeacon Hill. It has officesthroughout other parts of greater Seattle includingUnion Stationand TheColumbia Center .Amazon has announced plans to move its headquarters to the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle beginning in mid-2010, with full occupancy by 2011. This movewill consolidate all Seattle employees onto the new 11-building campus.

[10]

[edit] Software development centers

The company employs software developers in medium- to large-sized centers across theglobe. While most of Amazon's software development is in Seattle, other locationsinclude:

•

Slough(United Kingdom)

•

Edinburgh(United Kingdom

)

•

Dublin(Ireland)

•

Bangalore, Chennai,andHyderabad (India

)

•

Cape Town(South Africa

)

•

Iaşi(Romania

)

•

Shibuya(Tokyo, Japan)

•

Beijing(China)

•

Tempe, Arizona(United States)

[edit] Fulfillment and warehousing

Fulfillment centers are located in the following cities, often near airports. Amazon offerswarehousing and order-fulfillment for third-party sellers including large companies suchasTarget Corporation:

[11]

•

North America:

•

Arizona, USA:Phoenix, Goodyear

•

Delaware, USA: New Castle

•

Indiana, USA: Whitestown, Munster

•

Kansas, USA:Coffeyville

•

Kentucky, USA:Campbellsville,Hebron(near CVG

),Lexington, andLouisville

•

Nevada, USA:FernleyandRed Rock (near 4SD)

•

New Hampshire,USA: Nashua

•

Pennsylvania, USA: Carlisle,Chambersburg,Hazleton, andLewisberry

•

Texas, USA:Dallas/Fort Worth

•

Ontario, Canada:Mississauga(aCanada Postfacility) In March 2009, Amazon announced plans to close three U.S. distribution centers: RedRock, Nevada,Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, andMunster, Indiana.

[12]

•

Europe:Amazon.co.uk warehouse,Glenrothes.

•

Bedfordshire, England:Marston Gate

•

Inverclyde,Scotland:Gourock

•

Fife, Scotland:Glenrothes

•

Neath Port Talbot,Wales:Crymlyn Burrows

[13]