Humble Beginnings as a Bookstore

Amazon started as a bookstore. There is an interview with Jeff Bezos from the mid-1990s in which the CEO describes how he first started the company. “I was in New York City working for a quantitative hedge fund when I came across the startling statistic the web usage was growing at 2,300% a year, so I decided I would try and find a business plan that made sense in the context of that growth and I picked books as the first best product I saw online.” Lots of notes can be taken from the audacious move. The importance of recognizing early trends being perhaps the biggest lesson.

It also presents an important question about Amazon’s beginnings: did Bezo’s intend to take over anything, or did it just start as a simple bookstore? Given the swift action across the latter part of the 1990’s and earlier 2000’s, it seems as though Bezos had his eyes on something more than books.

Early Obsession with Consumer Data

Even before beginning to move beyond books, Amazon began tracking consumer data in 1996. It started with who was buying the books. Simple information was taken like what books people were buying, which books are bestsellers, people’s specific interests, lesser-known titles, etc. Then, the consumer data insights continually expanded from there.

Simultaneously, as Amazon gained more insight into the consumers who were shopping, they also expanded their business to offer more products online. The expansion beyond books came during the same year that now-retired Jack Ma began Alibaba. If this did not happen, Amazon might have been able to gain ground quickly in China. If Alibaba did not open when it did, Amazon might have a larger presence in China beyond the 15 operation centers that they currently do have.

Does Expansion Equal Efficacy

Now, over 20 years later, Amazon has stretched its roots far beyond a bookstore in the United States. Just recently, it had opened operations in Turkey. Now, on the other side of 20 years of strong horizontal and vertical expansion, Amazon is at the beginning of its physical era. Over the last 2 years, Amazon has gone away from being just virtual.

Does the fact that even Amazon thinks that products can be sold offline leave hope for a digitally detoxed future? Probably not. In fact, it might just mean that Amazon is planting its roots into one too many things, without people. No, that wasn’t my first hint to be scared of Amazon, but it’s another huge warning sign. People want an alternative.

Can it be stopped?

There is a growing movement within the tech world to make eCommerce more competitive. Buying.com is tipping the scale back in the favor of the consumer. Through the Buying.com platform, millions of individual consumers are placing buying power into the palm of their hands. The platform allows consumers to combine purchasing power so that they can together unlock wholesale deals that require a minimum order quantity to be met.

This will allow an alternative system to develop within eCommerce. Online retailers and brick and mortar stores alike can upload deals on Buying.com. Once uploaded, the deals are pushed out to our peer-led network. Once enough customers on our network select the deal, the minimum order quantity will be met. This works around the current system put in play by Amazon.com.

In Closing

Amazon’s developing approach to commerce is quickly moving in both vertical and horizontal directions at a rapid pace. The eCommerce market is a 5-trillion-dollar market which can be interrupted because people realize how Amazon is impacting the world. Buying.com is providing an alternative solution by tipping the power back in the direction of individuals.