Amazon.com strives to be Earth's most customer-centric company where people
can find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online. By giving
customers more of what they want - low prices, vast selection, and convenience -
Amazon.com continues to grow and evolve as a world-class e-commerce platform.
Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in 1995 by selling books because of the
unique customer experience the Web could offer book lovers. Bezos believed that
only the Internet could offer customers the convenience of browsing a selection
of millions of book titles in a single sitting. During the first 30 days of
business, Amazon.com fulfilled orders for customers in 50 states and 45
countries - all shipped from his Seattle-area garage.
It is by design that technological innovation drives the growth of Amazon.com
to offer customers more types of products, more conveniently, and at even lower
prices. Among its many technological innovations for customers, Amazon.com
offers a personalized shopping experience for each customer, book discovery
through Search Inside The Book, convenient checkout using 1-Click Shopping™,
and several community features like
Listmania and Wish
Lists that help customers discover new products and make informed buying
decisions.
Since 1995, Amazon.com has significantly expanded its product offering,
international sites, and worldwide network of fulfilment and customer service
centers. Today, Amazon.com offers everything from tennis rackets to live Maine
lobsters to diamond jewelry, and operates sites for Amazon United Kingdom,
Amazon Germany, Amazon Japan, Amazon France, Amazon Canada, and Amazon China
(www.Joyo.com). Amazon's 21
fulfilment centers around the world encompass more than 9 million square feet.
In 2000, Amazon.com began to offer its best-of-breed e-commerce platform to
other retailers and to individual sellers. Today, hundreds of thousands of
world-class retail brands and individual sellers increase their sales and reach
new customers by leveraging the power of the Amazon.com e-commerce platform.
Through programs such as Marketplace, Advantage, and by working with Amazon.com
subsidiary Amazon Services, sellers of all shapes and sizes offer their
selection to Amazon.com customers by using various components of the e-commerce
platform. Partners such as Target Stores and The Bombay Company work with Amazon
Services to power their e-commerce offering from end-to-end, including
technology services, merchandising, customer service, and order fulfilment.
Other branded merchants such as Nordstrom and Land's End offer leverage
Amazon.com as an incremental sales channel for their new merchandise. Smaller
sellers participate in Amazon Marketplace where they offer new, used and
collectible selections at fixed prices to Amazon customers around the world.
Independent software developers also derive value from the platform through
Amazon Web Services (AWS). Launched in July 2002, the
AWS platform exposes
Amazon technology and product data that enables developers to build innovative
and entrepreneurial applications on their own. More than 120,000 developers have
signed up to use AWS since its inception. Applications built using the AWS
Software Developers Kit range from enhanced Associates sites that advertise
products on the Amazon.com website to integrated solutions for retailers selling
merchandise through Amazon.com. Developers make money by earning referral fees
from their Associates sites or by charging users for the applications they
build.
Amazon's evolution from Web site to e-commerce partner to development
platform is driven by the spirit of innovation that is part of the company's
DNA. The world's brightest technology minds come to Amazon.com to research and
develop technology that improves the lives of shoppers and sellers around the
world.
