Such is Amazon’s impact that industry players and observers use the term “Amazoned” to describe their business model and operations being disrupted by Amazon.
Associated Press
February 03, 2021 / 10:48 PM IST
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Amazon announced Jeff Bezosis stepping downas CEO almost 27 years after he founded the company to sell books to customers overdial-up modems.
Amazon wasn’t thefirst bookstoreto sell online, but it wanted to be “Earth’s biggest.” When it first launched, a bell would ring in the company’s Seattle headquartersevery time an order was placed. Within weeks, the bell was ringing so frequently employees had to turn it off.
But Bezos – who will remain at the company –set his sightson making it an “everything store.” After achieving dominance in retail, the company would go on to become asprawling and powerful global conglomeratein numerous lines of business.
Today, Amazon isthe third-most valuable U.S. company– behind Apple and Microsoft – with a market capitalization ofaround US$1.7 trillion,greater than the gross domestic productof all but a dozen or so countries.
Here’s how Bezos reshaped retailing.
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Redefining retail
Amazon – named after the world’s largest river – continually took shopping convenience to newer levels.
Before Amazon’s founding on July 5, 1994, shoppers had to travel to stores to discover and buy things. Shopping used to be hard work – wandering down multiple aisles in search of a desired item, dealing with crying and nagging kids, and waiting in long checkout lines. Today, stores try to reach out to shoppers anywhere, anytime and through multiple channels and devices.
After first experiencing two-day free shipping from Amazon’s Prime membership program, shoppers started expecting no less from every online retailer. An estimated 142 million shoppers in the U.S.have Amazon Prime.
The company made shopping more convenient through features likeone-click ordering; personalized recommendations;package pickup at Amazon hubs and lockers; ordering productswith the single touch of a Dash button; andin-home delivery with Amazon Key.
Shoppers can also search for and order items through a simple voice command to an Echo or by clicking anInstagramorPinterestimage. Amazon even has acashier-less “Go” storein Seattle.
Amazon has also been a factor in the rising closures of brick-and-mortar stores that can’t keep pace with the changes in retail. Even before the pandemic, stores were closing at a phenomenal rate, with analysts predicting a coming “retail apocalypse.” Amazon benefited enormously last year as much of the U.S. went into lockdown and more consumers preferred ordering goods online rather than risking their health by going to physical stores.
Amazon’s share pricehas almost doubledsince the lockdown began in March 2020, even asover 11,000 retail stores closed their doors.
A major employer
Amazon’s impactextends to other industries, including smart consumer devices like Alexa, cloud services like Amazon Web Services and technology products like drones.
Such is Amazon’s impact that industry players and observers usethe term “Amazoned”to describe their business model and operations being disrupted by Amazon.
Today, Amazon is thesecond-largest U.S.-based publicly listed employerand thefifth biggest in the world. It employs 1.2 million people, havinghired 427,000 during the pandemic. No wonder Amazon created such a buzz in 2018 when it held a competition to select alocation for its second headquarters. Iteventually pickedArlington, Virginia.
Amazon’s work culture is intense. It has a reputation asa cutthroat environment with a high employee burnout rate. It isautomating as many jobs as possible, mostly in warehousing.
At the same time, after criticism from policymakers, Amazon stepped up in 2018 and raised the minimum wage for its U.S. employees to$15 per hour.
Faced with growing criticisms about the mounting impact of Amazon’s boxes and other packaging material on the environment, Amazon has also pledged todisclose more information about its environmental impact.
The next generation
What’s in store for Amazon as Bezos steps down from his CEO role later this year?
Bezos, whowill stay on as Amazon’s executive chairman, has previously said his focusis on preventing Amazon from dying. As he noted at a 2018 all-hands meeting, “Amazon is not too big to fail.”
Associated Press
Tags: #Amazon #Business #Jeff Bezos #World News
first published: Feb 3, 2021 10:48 pm
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