Amazon at 20: what has the online giant ever done for retail?

The e-commerce site is 20 years old this week. So what influence has it really had on the retail and internet industries?It was originally billed as “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore” and featured over one million titles. Twenty years later it boasts over 270m active accounts and claims to have more than 2m third-party vendors selling millions of products through the marketplace platform. In that time it has been both lauded and vilified, most recently over corporation tax and staff working conditions but Amazon is quite clearly one of the biggest success stories of online commerce. So what has been its lasting impact? Can it maintain this growth or have we seen the best of it?Amazon was born in July 1994, with the online site launching as Amazon.com a year later. In 1995, Bill Gates, founder and CEO at Microsoft, reportedly paid The Rolling Stones $3m (£1.9m) for the rights to use Start Me Up to launch Windows 95. It was also the year eBay launched as AuctionWeb (a bit later in September) and there were, according to IDC, 16m global internet users compared with over three billion today. Related: Has Net-a-Porter found the holy grail of 21st-century fashion? Related: To avoid Blockbuster's fate, your business needs a chief futures officer Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #corporation tax #lasting impact #bill gates #reportedly paid #holy grail

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Amazon at 20: what has the online giant ever done for retail?'


Amazon's new China app store could help pave way for Kindle products

Amazon.com has updated its mobile app store to include support for its Chinese customers, in a sign that the U.S. company could be preparing to sell its Kindle e-readers and tablets in the country.The update effectively launches a new version of Amazon's app store built in the Chinese language.... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Drama Online site launched

Bloomsbury and Faber's Drama Online, launched today (1st May) in beta, includes a partnership... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon's sales increase 22% in first quarter

Amazon has reported a 22% rise in sales over the last three months, the same growth increase as... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon petition handed to Number 10

A husband-and-wife bookselling team have described handing a petition into Downing Street calling... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon to Open Ebookstore in Russia, Taking on LitRes, Ozon

Amazon is hiring for positions in Russia, suggesting its Kindle ebookstore will open there soon and where they will take on several established, but not yet dominant, competitors. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What Would Happen Amazon Gave Every Ebook Away for Free?

Last week two of China's leading ebookstores Dangdang.com began offering nearly all of their ebooks for free, a move criticized by authors and publishers alike. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers alike


Can Amazon Transform TV?

Last Friday, when Amazon made 14 original TV pilots available for free viewing on its streaming video service, it launched an experiment that could do to TV production what the Internet juggernaut did to the book trade. The polite business term is disruption, but that’s not the word people whose... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2013-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Another 20 Make List of Top Spanish-Speaking Publishing Pros

The Fundación El Libro and Buenos Aires Book Fair have added another 20 new names to the original 50 on their list of the most inspiring people in the Spanish-language book trade. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon reportedly launching in Russia, goes on Kindle-related hiring spree

Amazon is fleshing out its international empire. The company has already conquered the US, Japan, UK and Canada, and has even launched an ebook assault on the Chinese mainland. Now it looks like the online giant has settled on its next target: Russia. According to a report in the Russian edition... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Snaps Up Goodreads, A Partner Apple Wanted

This article branches off of a longer story we're tracking called Apple's New Technology Partners: What Developers Need To Know.Steve Jobs once said said, "people don't read anymore." He wasn't the only tech pundit pronouncing books dead in the middle of the last decade, as people turned to... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ebook stores #form partnerships #tech giants #deal worth #$200 million


Publishers' online communities to double

Publisher–generated online communities, such as HarperCollins’ InkPop, Gollancz... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kindle drives Amazon print sales

New entrants to the UK ebook market buy more books, but tend to buy more from Amazon, even for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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BA's Godfray: Amazon can destroy book trade

Amazon’s quest for industry domination is “scary” and it could have the ability... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ganxy Adds Tools for Selling & Promoting Content Online

The New York-based start-up Ganxy, which was founded in 2009 to sell music, is rolling out more tools at the London Book Fair to help small and medium-sized publishers sell and promote DRM-free digital content online. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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H&S buys Ee from Amazon

Hodder & Stoughton has acquired fantasy thriller Angelfall by Susan Ee, a novel originally... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Random House creates online narrative game

Random House is launching a debut author with a new free-to-play online narrative game, Black... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon attacked for Welsh-language stance

West Wales-based publisher Y Lofla has attacked Amazon over the unavailability of Welsh-language... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Online translation tools changing lives

You might use Google Translate to read a hard-to-find Manga comic book or to decipher an obscure recipe for authentic Polish blintzes. Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2013-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon and US publishers dismiss indie DRM lawsuit

Amazon and six US publishers have asked a US court to dismiss a lawsuit by three American... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Online and in print, magazine launches tumble

Only 23 magazines launched in the first quarter of 2013, compared with 44 in the same period a year ago, but the number of titles that shut down between Jan. 1 and the end of March also dropped, according to figures released Monday by online database MediaFinder.com.The new titles include Condé... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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