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n recent years, Amazon has won the hearts of millions of people for the amazing services they have been providing. Does the idea of knowing more about Amazon ever cross your mind?
It is not interesting to know nuts and bolts about the amazing Amazon? Well, if the answer is “Yes”, then here we are here to let you know more about the largest online marketplace.
History of Amazon
Amazon is an American e-commerce company. It is one of the best technology companies around the world. With a target to establish a store where everything is available, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon on 5th July 1994.
It started it’s a journey with the name “Cadabra” and later Bezos changed it into “Amazon”. Very technically Bezos choose Seattle to settle down as “Microsoft” is also situated there. The organization got recognition in 1997, after 3 years of foundation.
The story behind the name “Amazon”
About naming the company as “Amazon”, the founder Himself said that this name seemed different and exotic to him. And so “Amazon” replaced “Cadabra”.
While another reason behind naming the company as “Amazon” is that the letter “A” comes at first if sites are browsed alphabetically. Also, some people say that Bezos wanted his company to be as large as the river Amazon, that’s why he named it so.
Currently Amazon
At present has 7,98,000 employees around the world. The market capitalization of Amazon was more than US$1 trillion until February 2020. Till 2019, the revenue of Amazon was 2,80 522 USD$ (in mil.)
Net income and total assets were 11,588 USD$ (in mil.) and 2,25,248 USD$ (in mil.) respectively. Tough competitors of this great company nowadays are Apple, Google, Alibaba, Microsoft, Walmart, etc.
It is said that because of COVID-19, Amazon’s financial condition has improved more. But the founder and CEO have decided to spend $4 billion to bear COVID-19 expenses.
Uniqueness of Amazon
In this world of modern technologies, Amazon has many tough competitors like Google, Microsoft, Alibaba, etc. In spite of having all these competitors, it has such huge popularity and never failed to be in the top position in e-commerce. That’s because Amazon follows certain criteria –
- Amazon tries to build the products according to the choices and needs of customers.
- Experimentation and Innovations are part and parcels of their business flourishing process.
- They focus on delivering more values than the customer’s expectations.
- It never tries to find a substitute for greater customer experiences.
- The main focus of Amazon remains on the most mattering metrics.
- For excelling, it believes in taking risks.
- Investing in relationships with other businesses is another tactic.
- Amazon keeps looking on frequently to identify new opportunities in the market.
- Also, in advance, it tries to anticipate the needs of customers.
Amazon: To be followed
To establish a successful startup like Amazon, an entrepreneur must have the patience to deal with every situation. Only then success knocks on the door of a person. Even the founder, Jeff Bezos once said that he has earned millions of dollars even from the failures of Amazon.com.
“This clearly indicates that if you know the tactics your business will never fall into losses. According to Bezos, “Companies that don’t embrace failure and continue to experiment eventually get in the desperate position where the only thing they can do is make a Hail Mary bet at the end of their corporate existence.”
Less Known Facts About Amazon
There are some less known facts about Amazon, which will not fail to amaze you. Or you might find some of these as very funny. Some of the facts are given below and we hope you enjoy reading them –
- In the early days, there was a bell in Amazon’s office which used to ring every time a buyer bought something from it. But very soon, the number of buyers was increased at such an amount that they had to dispose of the bell.
- The very first meeting spot was the garage of Amazon’s founder, Bezos. Later he used to call meetings at a store named “Barnes and Noble”.
- Within only one month of the launching of Amazon, people from 45 different countries bought books from them.
- Amazon was going to be bankrupt when a common book on “Lichen” saved them.
- The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos wanted that his employees would work almost 60 hours per week. But this weird idea didn’t last as employees didn’t agree.
- Once there was a shortage of laborers in Amazon and so they used to have a shortage of holidays. But that resulted in a drastic change in this company. Now they hire many seasonal workers just to offer holidays timely.
- Amazon at Golden Awards 2017, which is a Hollywood function, had won two awards.
- Bezos introduced the idea of “Two Pizza Teams” to the employees. That idea meant maintaining strict goals and following fitness functions by getting divided into groups.
- Initiating the “Block View” option in 2004 even before Google initiated the “Street View” option.
Products of Amazon
Amazon produces and delivers products like baby toys, electronics, software, magazines, books, furniture, housewares, jewelry and accessories, shoes, movies, digital media, and different kinds of consumer goods or you can say, almost everything a person needs in daily life.
They have developed the largest shipping empire while delivering various kinds of products.
Recent Activities of Amazon
Amazon tries to keep up to date with the moving world. They feel they have responsibilities towards humanity and try contributing. That’s why during this pandemic of COVID-19, it has launched a blog to show viewers how they are responding and fulfilling their responsibilities.
Recently they have started “Camp Prime” to keep children engaged in at-home family activities and distribute happiness among them. Also, it has contributed 1 Million dollars for the COVID-19 affected community members.
Anybody interested in startups can take inspiration from Jeff Bezos and his Amazon. He started it as a bookseller and now it is one of the largest e-commerce companies.
Because of Bezos’s vision, the world has seen such an amazing company like Amazon. Now anyone can visit their official website www.amazon.com anytime and find or discover anything they want and buy online. Amazon has just built an era in the ecosystem which is more glowing lately.
Learn more: BetterStories: Amazing Startup Eco System Builder