Piotr Kaniuk
997699389
SMC 229 – READERS AND READERSHIPS
March 13, 2012
ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY
The idea of Amazon, the world’s first online bookstore was conceived in 1994 by Jeff Bezos (Spector, 50). It was not until 1995 that Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, brought the company forward and introduced it to the world (Spector, 50). The company’s headquarters is located in Seattle, Washington and became the world’s first online bookseller (www.internet-story.com). Amazon’s first major investment as a company came from Tom Alberg of the Madrona Venture Group, with a sum of $100,000 in 1995. (www.internet-story.com) At the end of 1995 Amazon acquired 1 million dollars in financial investments (Byers, 63). In July of 1995 Amazon sold its first book (Drexler, vii) titled “Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies,” which would be the beginning of their book selling empire. In 1994, Amazon placed a request for the patent of 1 Click (Woodford, 26) but it was not until 1996 that they finally got it approved. 1 Click is the secure technology that Amazon enlisted onto their website in September of 1996, that allows customers to store their credit card information and shipping address so that each time they make a purchase they do not have to re-enter their information (Sherman, 61) rather now they could just use the 1 click to purchase books (Amazon – History & Timeline ). In June of 1997, Amazon expanded from selling books and began selling music (Ryan, 61). In November of 1997, the DVD and Video store opened up as well (Ryan, 68). To expand even further into a one-stop online shop, Amazon integrated the selling of electronics, toys and video games, which catered to an even larger audience (Robinson, 71).
To gain its worldwide recognition, in October of 1997, Amazon launched its First International Sites (Brandt, 72): Britain: Amazon.co.uk and Germany: Amazon.de (Amazon – History & Timeline ). As a courtesy and to demonstrate their strong customer service, in November of 1999 Amazon integrated a Super Saver Shipping offer where any orders of $100 or more would receive free shipping. In June 2001, Amazon expanded its online empire to its northern neighbours of Canada (www.internet-story.com) and began amazon.ca. Amazon.ca offered Canadians the opportunity to not pay taxes on products that are distributed throughout Canada, thus not paying any border taxes. In December of 2004 Amazon announced that during their 11th Holiday Season there were 108 million items ordered worldwide. In July of 2005, Amazon developed a marketing strategy to let their customers know they are fueled by lower prices and free shipping. In November of 2005, strived to stay on top of their customer service etiquette, they were voted number one in customer service in the National Retail Survey.
In November of 2006, the new way of reading was introduced with the Amazon Kindle (Alef, 12) which marks the beginning of the e-book revolution. The Kindle was an electronic e-book reader exclusively owned by Amazon. In February 2008 the Kindle 2 was introduced (Alef, 16) with new features, a color screen and an overall new and updated layout. Following the success of the Kindle, the application for the iPhone and the iPod (Amazon – History & Timeline) was introduced in March 2008. The app gave users the ability to make the reading experience even more mobile than it already was with the Kindle. To make shopping even easier for users, in August of 2008 Amazon introduced a mobile application for the Android system. The Kindle gained popularity and was announced the most gifted item ever. Subsequently Kindle gained apps on Mac computers, Blackberries, and the iPad, and was made available in Canada. Currently there are over 14,000 employees at Amazon, a job that is not easy to attain (Alef, 1) the greatest amount of people working in the IT department. Amazon once again strives for superb customer service, great innovation, distinguishing that they are not an auction site and products are ready to buy instantly. Lastly, to ensure money is spent properly, Amazon strives to spend money where it is most needed within the company (Schneider).
Works Cited
Amazon – History & Timeline . n.d. www.amazon.com. 27 February 2012.
Schneider, Laura. Amazon.com Company Research . n.d. Website. 29 February 2012.
Spector, Robert. Amazon.com Get Big Fast . New York : Harper Collins , 2000. Book .
www.internet-story.com. n.d. Website . 28 February 2012.
Byers, Ann. Jeff Bezos: The Founder of Amazon.com. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2007. Print.
Robinson, Tom. Jeff Bezos: Amazon.com Architect. Minnesota: ABDO, 2010. Print
Sherman, Josepha. Jeff Bezos: King of Amazon. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century, 2001. Print
Brandt, Richard L. One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2011. Print.
Drexler, Kateri M. Icons of Business: An Encyclopedia of Mavericks, Movers, and Shakers. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007. Print.
Alef, Daniel. Jeff Bezos: Amazon and the EBook Revolution. Titans of Fortune, 2011. Print.
Poole, Hilary W., Laura Lambert, Chris Woodford, and Christos J. P. Moschovitis. The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Print