Amazon is an multinational electronic commerce company which is based in the United States. Their headquarters are in Seattle, Washington although they have international sites available for potential customers in Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom. Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and was initially created as an online bookstore. As Amazon became more successful they branched out with the different products they sold. From starting out just selling books they now sell items such as DVD’s, VHS, CD’s, MP3′s computer software, video games, electronics, furniture, beauty products, toys, clothing etc.
Below is a screenshot of the amazon.co.uk website along with an image showing the different international websites Amazon now caters to.
Amazon International Sites
Question 2
Quantitative Information
By searching online the following data is available from www.wikipedia.com
- Amazon Data
Number of Employees:
From this information from wikipedia we can see that in 2008 there were 20,500 employees currently working for Amazon.
Amazon By the Numbers
A recent breakdown of the money involved within Amazon shows the following:
$11.1 billion: Media group sales, 2008
$19.1 billion: Total Amazon sales, 2008
$1.36 billion: Free cash flow, 2008
$630 million: Loss on shipping, 2008
This information is available from http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6635629.html
Financial Times Information
The following information was collected by carrying out a search on the Financial Times website (www.FT.com).
Amazon first quarter sales data (2009):
Amazon underlined its ability to thrive amid the global consumer slump on Thursday, announcing an 18 per cent increase in first-quarter revenues to $4.89bn, and a 24 per cent increase in earnings to $177m.
Excluding the impact of the stronger dollar on the overseas businesses, which account for almost half of its sales, Amazon’s net sales would have grown 25 per cent against the same period last year.
The company’s robust performance is being sustained by its ability to offer prices on goods that compete with conventional discount retailers, combined with free shipping, and the comparatively prosperous demographics of online customers.
The quarter also saw a dramatic 38 per cent increase in Amazon’s sales of non-media products such as electronics, clothing and food, which now account for 42 per cent of worldwide net sales, compared with 36 per cent last year.
Second Quarter Data(2009) :
Amazon saw its sales increase 14 per cent to $4.65bn during its second quarter. The company’s North American sales rose 13 per cent to $2.45bn, while international sales in the UK, France, Germany, Japan and China rose 16 per cent to $2.2bn.
The sales growth was driven by a 35 per cent increase in consumer electronics and other general merchandise sales, rather than the books and media sales upon which the internet retailer built its reputation.
Question 3
Is the web the only channel to market for this business?
Amazon currently does not have any other methods of business other than sales made via their website.
A short history on amazon.com
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994. Originally the business was based out of his garage in his Bellevue, Washington home. A businessman by the name of Nick Hanauer believed in Bezos’ idea and decided to invest $40,000 in the venture. When Amazon first decided to go online, its layout was not as flashy as it is today. In fact, the site looked very plain and unattractive to most visitors, causing the business to start out on shaky ground. A man by the name of Tom Alburg decided to invest $100,000 in Amazon in 1995, which helped the company fund a better looking website and hosting capabilities. When people began purchasing books from Amazon, Bezos was in awe that he had customers from all over the country, not just Washington State, purchasing books.
The complete history on amzon.com is available at http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/historyamazonc_ttas.htm
Channel Chain Map
