If you are one of the approximately 200 million Amazon users (Amazon) Premium subscribers, you’ve most likely purchased at least a few products from this online giant.
Back in its early days, Amazon’s ambitions were much smaller than they are now. Instead of starting out as a humble bookseller, Amazon set out to become a leader in logistics, cloud computing, groceries, fast delivery, and an all-in-one provider of pretty much everything you didn’t know you needed.
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Maybe modesty isn’t the best way to put it.
Many of us can’t live without Amazon, which was founded in 1994 under a different name, Cadabra, and a year later began offering delivery to all 50 U.S. states. But it didn’t ship shoes, clothes and skin care products in little brown boxes and white bags like today.
Amazon began as a bookstore because Bezos ambitiously upended the old bookstore model, which had a limited selection of titles but still had the power to consume readers’ time and money.
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Books, he points out, are relatively easy to obtain and even easier to transport. They are lightweight, easily available, and almost always in demand. Plus, Amazon pioneered the online shopping trend early on, so by the time it was up and running, almost everyone was already eager to try buying something as simple as a book online. It saves the reader a trip to the corner store and maybe a few bucks.
Image source&col;Amazon/TheStreet
Amazon’s far-reaching influence inspires other giants
Soon after, Amazon began selling other products that were easy to distribute. Music and movies were a natural next step for the growing tech company. Then, in 2006, it opened Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud computing platform that still generates the majority of its revenue today.
Amazon’s path to success serves as a North Star for other aspiring giants. Particularly during the pandemic, this diversity darling has been able to make seemingly impossible strides because it offers such a broad range of products.
While people stay at home, Amazon’s streaming service Amazon Prime Video is happy to entertain its subscribers. Toilet paper and toothpaste were delivered lightning fast when local stores ran out of stock. When things reopen, Amazon is excited to provide people with enjoyable shopping experiences at its physical stores, including Whole Foods (which it acquired in 2017) and Amazon Fresh.
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Today, diversification of retail merchandise has become a success criterion for corporate giants. Walmart has since launched Walmart+, its version of Amazon Prime, which offers subscribers similar benefits but at a lower cost ($98 per year compared to Prime’s $139 annual fee). Target is also starting to get into similar territory with its Circle 360 program.
Top retail execs point to Amazon’s weaknesses
But not all retailers want to become another Amazon. Some people like to stick completely to their roots.
That’s the case with James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, a bookseller that has had its share of ups and downs over the years. Unlike now-shuttered Barnes & Noble rival Borders, which has weathered multiple rounds of disruption, including the retail apocalypse of the early 2010s and COVID-19, which forced brick-and-mortar stores to close for extended periods of time. But Dante said this differentiating factor makes it a formidable competitor to Amazon. He claims the retail giant is just a means to an end and “doesn’t care about books.”
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Daunt’s statement is quite bold, considering that Amazon accounts for about half of all book sales, selling about 700 million copies annually.
Daunt told the PBS Newshour that Amazon’s book sales “are a huge positive in terms of being a great bookseller.”
That’s because Amazon is “pushing all boring books out of our store” to let Barnes & Noble focus on best-sellers.
Rather than watching textbooks or irrelevant material gather dust on shelves, Barnes & Noble has eliminated unprofitable products and now stocks the most popular titles, even offering some exclusives for die-hard fans of bestsellers . These editions frequently sell out and sell for higher than average prices because they contain content and cover art that customers can’t get elsewhere.
“You have an experience when you walk out of the store [a book] It cheers you up when you put it in your bag. “It’s the same book, but I promise you it’s a better book and it’s more enjoyable to read it because you bought it in a bookstore.”
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