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?'


Only 20% of US indies sign up to Google Editions

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 15:20 Only 20% of American Booksellers Association (ABA) members have signed up to the Google E-books programme, the head of the ABA has said. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Axel Springer First-Quarter Profit Advances on International, Online Sales

German publisher said it was confident for annual sales after reporting strong revenue growth thanks to its expansion abroad and into its digital business. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #online sales #german publisher #annual sales #digital business


Sainsbury's grows book sales 20%

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 08:22 Sainsbury's has singled out book sales as an area of strong growth in its most recent financial year, and has said that it will now devote more new space to "non-food ranges". For the 52 weeks to 19th March 2011, the retailer... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book sales #strong growth #20% growth


Book sales "well down" as general retail rises

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 08:59 Book sales for April were "well down" in a month where general UK retail sales rose by 5.2% on last year. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) today (10th May) reported like-for-like sales were up 5.2% in value from April... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon to Publish New Line of Romances [Voices]

Amazon.com Inc. is expanding its fast-growing publishing business with a new line of romance books, its latest quest for original content to distinguish its print and digital bookselling services. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #romance books #original content


Argos takes on Amazon with book push

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 08:30 High street retailer Argos intends to increase its online book range from 500 to 5,000 titles over the next month. The chain store, known for stocking a large range of non-food products, launched its books category on its... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #large range #books category #online store #previously sold


Amazon Kindle for Android Now Honeycomb Optimized

Amazon has tweaked its Kindle for Android app to run optimally on tablets running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2011-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon launches German Kindle store with fixed prices

Written By: Anja Sieg Publication Date: Thu, 21/04/2011 - 13:53 More than three years after it was introduced in North America and eight months after the UK become the first country outside of the US to get a dedicated Kindle store, Germany has followed suit. The German Kindle store was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers anticipate "busy" bank holiday double

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 21/04/2011 - 08:00 Bookshops are readying themselves for the upcoming four-day back-to-back bank holiday weekends created by Easter and the royal wedding, with stores broadly expecting a sales boost. Looking back at the last notable royal... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Check it Out: Amazon Will Add 11,000 U.S. Libraries to the Kindle [eMoney]

Amazon just eliminated one of the biggest differences between the Kindle and competing e-readers. It said today it will be rolling out the Kindle Library Lending feature later this year, allowing customers to borrow books for free from more than 11,000 libraries in the U.S. Other e-readers and... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Myriad's Haynes wins Amazon Rising Star award

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 15:44 Police intelligence analyst Elizabeth Haynes has won the first Amazon Rising Stars award of 2011. The mother-of-one, who lives in Kent, came top in a consumer-review poll asking readers which one of four Amazon-selected... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon launches "spring spectacular" Kindle sale

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:22 Amazon.co.uk has launched a two-week Kindle ebook promotion, with Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White priced £1.47. According to information sent to publishers whose books will feature, the campaign will be a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon launches #kindle store #michel faber


Former Radar Online Editor David Perel Named Star EIC

American Media Inc. has announced Candance Trunzo will leave Star Magazine after four years with the publication. She will be replaced by David Parel, who comes to Star from Radar Online. Radar Online will now be run by Jose Lambiet. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #american media #radar online


Amazon to Release Ad-Subsidized Kindle for $114 [eMoney]

Amazon is dropping the price of its Kindle e-reader to $114 as it faces increasing competition from Apple, Barnes & Noble and other tablets. The new price point represents a $25 price cut on the Wi-Fi version, but it comes with one major trade-off: ads. The e-reader will be sold by Amazon,... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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20 Game-Changing Events That Shaped the Internet, Part 2

We continue to look at the events that made the Internet into what it is today. In this part we examine blogs, Napster, Skype, online books, Facebook, and more. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #online books


Amazon underbidder on frontlist auction

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 09:00 Amazon has emerged as the surprise underbidder on a multi-million dollar auction for a self-published author, the first time the retailer is believed to have bid on frontlist. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent Retail Group folds

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 30/03/2011 - 15:14 The Independent Retail Group (IRG) has folded, closing five of its bookshops and selling the remaining 11. The company, a subsidiary of Three C Publishing, bought the 16 stores in 2005, employing managers to make independent... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Academic retailing "unsustainable"

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 25/03/2011 - 09:36 Academic retailers have demanded that academic publishers provide them with greater support, arguing that the current model is "not sustainable" in the long term. The development comes after Waterstone's m.d. Dominic Myers... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Auel's latest tops Amazon preorders for 2011

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 24/03/2011 - 15:50 Jean M Auel's new Earth's Children title is Amazon.co.uk's most pre-ordered book of 2011. The Land of Painted Caves: Earth's Children 6 (Hodder & Stoughton), is the last in the Earth's Children series. It will be published... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Appstore for Android Opens, Magazines Wait

With the recent reports from Bloomberg News that Android is one of the fastest operating systems currently on the market, it is no surprise that the system has introduced a new appstore in partnership with Amazon.com, Inc., which launched on Tuesday. "Custome Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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