Amazon.com (“Amazon”) is one of the most globally recognized online e-commerce retailers, offering the world’s biggest variety of goods and services – all while not operating a single physical retail sales location. Yahoo! Finance provides one of the most precise and concise descriptions concerning the business and product variety of Amazon.com:
“Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. The company operates various retail Web sites, including amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.co.jp, amazon.ca, and amazon.cn. Its product categories include books; movies, music, and games; digital downloads; electronics and computers; home and garden; toys, kids, and baby; grocery; apparel, shoes, and jewelry; health and beauty; sports and outdoors; and tools, auto, and industrial. The company serves its consumer customers through its retail Websites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable seller customers to sell their products on its Websites and their own branded Websites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company offers co-branded credit card programs, fulfillment, and other marketing and promotional services, such as online advertising. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.” – Yahoo! Finance, 2010
Amazon focuses on building a strong brand reputation by spending tremendous efforts on, and continuously reinvesting in online marketing and sales promotions. As stated by Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO and founder, Amazon employs a “long-term perspective with regards to returns from its relentless customer-oriented initiatives”. This resulted in Amazon becoming one of the most widely