History of E-commerce

History of E-commerce

Amazon may have started out as a book retailer, but founder Jeff Bezos had a far-reaching vision for his company. With the most humble of beginnings, Amazon was born in a garage in Seattle. Initially, many wrote off Amazon.com as just another part of the dot.com bubble that was destined to burst. But, the business has flourished under Bezos' careful management. Reaching its 25th anniversary, Jeff Bezos continues to push Amazon forward with new contracts, new hubs, more employment opportunities, and more retail inventory.

History of Amazon

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos opened their online bookstore in 1994 in their garage. Working on a shoestring, the couple hired a small staff and worked hands-on to fulfill orders as they started to come in. Amazon went public in 1997, initially warning investors that the company expected operating losses at first due to heavy investments and stiff competition in the bookselling industry. In 1998, Amazon expanded its offerings to include music, and in 2002, Amazon started selling clothing. Since this time, Amazon has expanded its retail offerings further, now selling a vast assortment of merchandise both physical and digital. Amazon is forecasted to reach one million employees in 2020.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos was born in 1964 in New Mexico. He was raised by his mother and step-father. He studied electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton and graduated in 1986 with degrees in both. He when went on to work for a few companies before he decided to start his own company in his garage. Bezos was convinced that the evolving Internet was the key to building his successful empire. His vision spurred him to work to engage investors during the first year of Amazon's existence, predicting $74 million in sales in about five years. Jeff Bezos became a millionaire in 1997 and a billionaire in 1999 when he was just 35 years old. Bezos has been an active investor in other companies, including Google. He bought the Washington Post in 2013, and he also invests in traditional real estate holdings on both the west and east coasts of the United States. Bezos' aerospace company Blue Origin was founded in 2000. Blue Origin is an aerospace manufacturing company. In 2015, Bezos was included on the list of top 10 richest people in the world. At that time, his total net worth was estimated to be $50.3 billion.

Ecommerce

Ecommerce involves buying and selling merchandise electronically, generally via the Internet or by mobile applications. The process of buying items online and paying for them with electronic transactions is the basic definition of ecommerce. Companies of any size can engage in ecommerce, and even individuals can use ecommerce to sell items to other individuals. Ecommerce dates back to 1994 with one person selling a CD to another person via a website. Since this time, Ecommerce has grown exponentially to include individuals, freelancers, small businesses, and large corporations, all working to sell either goods or services electronically. Ecommerce can involve sales from business to consumer, from business to business, from consumer to consumer, or from consumer to business. It may also entail retail or wholesale sales, drop-shipping of items from a third party, subscriptions of recurring purchases, sales of both physical and digital products, and sales of services. Amazon has become popular as an online marketplace, enabling both individuals and businesses to display and sell their products on the website. Amazon maintains a storefront website in many different countries, ships worldwide, hosts retail websites for various brands, and owns subsidiary brands as well.