What is Amazon?
Amazon is a global e-commerce company based out of Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1994, Amazon grew rapidly under founder Jeff Bezos’ leadership. In 2000, Amazon began selling books online and now offers products across numerous categories including electronics, clothing, toys, jewelry, household items, beauty products, pets, food, games, and much more. Amazon sells its products through its website, mobile apps, and marketplace.
Amazon is a global e-commerce company based out of Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1994, Amazon grew rapidly after its initial public offering in May 1999. In 2000, Amazon ranked 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, remaining at the top of the list for 11 consecutive years. Amazon’s revenue for 2010 was $136 billion. As of August 2017, Amazon had annual revenues of over half a trillion dollars.
How does Amazon work?
Amazon operates as an online store where customers can shop for various products. When shopping at Amazon, users can browse the site using different categories and search for specific products. After selecting a product, customers add it to their cart and proceed to checkout. At checkout, customers provide payment information and then complete their purchase. Once they have completed checking out, customers receive an email confirmation containing tracking information.
Amazon sells millions of products worldwide and provides services including web hosting, cloud computing, Kindle book readers, video streaming, music downloads, software applications, online backup, and Alexa Internet (a voice service). It offers these services both directly and through subsidiaries and affiliates. Additionally, Amazon owns patent and copyright on various aspects of its business model, and has been awarded patents in the area of retailing technology. The company maintains a subsidiary in London.
How do I sign up for Amazon Prime?
To become a member of Amazon Prime, customers must first visit amazon.com/prime. From here, customers select “Start Free Trial” and follow the prompts to create a free account. Customers can choose between three membership options: 30 days, 1 year, or 2 years. Each membership option comes with varying perks.
Amazon’s first Prime membership plan was introduced in November 2005. The service offers free two-day shipping on select items and access to a number of other member benefits.
How many people use Amazon?
As of 2017, Amazon had over 100 million active members. On average, each user spends $80 per month on Amazon. Amazon’s website began operation in July 1995, but did not launch nationally until February 26, 1997. The site initially sold only books and computer hardware. In November 1996, the company launched its first search engine, known as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which provided virtual machines which could host Web sites; this feature was designed to allow Web developers to avoid paying for additional server space.
On June 5, 1998, the company announced its first branded electronic commerce site, called Amazon.com. The following year, the company began selling CDs and DVDs. In October 1999, the company launched its own wireless ISP, called Amazon Link, which offered customers free access to high-speed modem connections.
How much money does Amazon make?
In 2018, Amazon generated over $100 billion in revenue. Of that amount, Amazon’s net income was approximately $13 billion. Amazon’s first significant overseas expansion occurred in 2015, when it bought a 77% stake in Turkish e-commerce company Turkcell for \$2.067 billion. The same year, Amazon established a small base of operations in Luxembourg.
Amazon’s second-biggest market by sales volume behind the United States is China. In January 2016, Amazon made a profit of \$298 million on sales of \$3.2 billion in China. That same month, the company set up a base of operations in Singapore. Amazon‘s third-biggest market by revenue is India. The country is believed to become the biggest market for international purchases within the next two years.
Amazon’s headquarters are located in Seattle’s Denny Hill neighborhood. The company started off as an independent bookstore chain founded by Jeff Bezos in 1995. In addition to being the world’s largest internet retailer, Amazon is also the second-largest employer in the United States, after Walmart. The company’s fully distributed network consists of warehouses and store fronts across the globe.
Conclusion
Amazon’s first warehouse was opened in 1997, and the first product was shipped on July 16, 1998. The company now operates 4 distribution centers and ships items from more than 100 locations around the country. Amazon’s first book sale took place on September 23, 1995. In late 2001, the company released its first digital camera, called the Cyber Shot, which utilized bar codes to simplify ordering. In April 2006, Amazon debuted its first MP3 store, Amazon Music Store, which allowed members to download songs for a free.
Amazon‘s first book club started in December 2002. The program was originally called Club Amazon, but was renamed in 2007.Amazon entered the television market in 2009 with the purchase of Twitch, a live video game streaming platform, for \$970 million. In 2011, Amazon secured exclusive rights to stream Premier League football matches in the UK. Amazon’s first book-rental program, entitled Kindle Unlimited, was launched in 2014. The service allows members to borrow one Kindle ebook per month for US\$10 or one Kindle audiobook per month for US\$. Members may return their Kindle devices and ebooks at any time.
