Amazon has separate retail websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and China, with international shipping to certain other countries for some of its products. It is also expected to launch its websites in Poland,[5] Brazil,[6] Netherlands and Sweden.[7]
Jeff Bezos incorporated the company (as Cadabra) in July 1994, and the site went online as amazon.com in 1995.[8] The company was renamed after the Amazon River, one of the largest rivers in the world,[8] which in turn was named after the Amazons, the legendary nation of female warriors in Greek mythology. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry.
What Amazon's ebook strategy means
Three keywords that need defining before you can understand Amazon:
Disintermediation
is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate (such as a distributor, wholesaler, broker, or agent), companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet. One important factor is a drop in the cost of servicing customers directly.
Disintermediation initiated by consumers is often the result of high market transparency, in that buyers are aware of supply prices direct from the manufacturer. Buyers bypass the middlemen (wholesalers and retailers) in order to buy directly from the manufacturer and thereby pay less. Buyers