An example of an electronic business that I have used religiously for years is Amazon.com, Inc. Now, an interesting aspect of a company like Amazon is how they actually operate. This e-business was opened for business on July 16th of 1995. Amazon’s founder and CEO, John Bezos, didn’t start with much. This future success started off with nothing more than a few people packing and shipping boxes of books from a two-car garage in Bellevue, Washington (1). A company which started as an online bookstore soon turned into the largest online retailer in the world; selling anything from books to golf carts. But, there is a main difference when using Amazon opposed to any other online retailer. This difference is the customization of your online shopping experience. The embedded marketing techniques that Amazon employs to personalize your experience are probably the best example of the company's overall approach to sales: Know your customer very, very well (1).
Customer tracking (1) is a main aspect that separates Amazon from the competition. This aspect causes Amazon to have a big advantage over its rival online retailers: It knows things about you that you may not know yourself (2). By allowing Amazon to “stick cookies in your hard drive”, you'll find yourself on the receiving end of all sorts of useful features that make your shopping experience pretty cool, like recommendations based on past purchases and lists of reviews and guides written by users who purchased the products you're looking at (1). By obtaining all this information a relationship has been established. Amazon keeps all customers happy, which in turn creates loyalty between the customer and merchant.
The other main aspect that separates the company from the rest is Multi-Leveled E-Commerce (1). This strategy, allows almost anyone to sell anything using Amazon’s website. Aside from individual sellers, we also see some other large e-commerce sellers who use Amazon to sell their products in addition to selling them through their own websites (3). Companies lease spaces with Amazon so they are able to sell their product on the platform. This strategy is another reason for Amazon’s success. By having such a large amount of online foot traffic and a wide selection of products, Amazon acts as a one-stop shop for the consumer. Reviews, which are found on every product page, actually have a lot of value for the customer. I myself can honestly say before I buy a product on Amazon, I usually read the reviews. It has been made a habit over the years.
These two aspects are what contributed to Amazon’s success over the last seventeen years of business. The company’s platform has been so successful that they even offer a new program that lets those affiliates (Amazon calls them "associates") build entire Web sites based on Amazon's platform (1). You almost have the ability to create a mini Amazon website for your personal selling needs. This site would operate just as Amazon.com does. As long as any purchases go through Amazon, you can build a site called Amazonish.com, pull products directly from Amazon's servers, write your own guides and recommendations and earn a cut of any sales. Amazon has become a software developer's playground (1). Because of the company’s great business decisions and success, I would not be surprised if they are around for another seventeen years.
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