AMAZON

Amazon

Amazon

Introduction

Amazon.com is the largest online retailer. Amazon has yet to produce a profit and it has seen its market capitalization drop tremendously over the past year. Without any profits and no cash, Amazon will be doomed for failure. Can Amazon survive an economic downturn by becoming profitable, increasing market share and fighting off competition? Without any profits and cash, Amazon will be doomed for failure.

Started in July 1995, Amazon.com (Amazon) immediately became the largest online retailer. Amazon has a constantly growing database of over 29 million customers in more than 160 countries. The company built a foundation as an online bookstore, but has quickly began selling other items such as CDs, videos, DVDs, etc.

Three Basic Forces Revenue, Market Share and Defense The driving forces behind Amazon s strategic direction are not any different from the driving forces behind most companies. Amazon wants to conduct business indefinitely. Moreover, Amazon wants to increase revenue and market share and fight off competition. Amazon must become profitable in order to remain in business long-term. Investors want to see results! Investors are really getting tired of valuing internet companies on the basis of potential profits and Amazon definitely is no exception to this. Increasing revenue is extremely important for Amazon now considering the current state of the economy. Amazon can no longer put market share ahead of profits.

The Amazon is pretty darn brilliant. It's the size of a book, the width of a pencil, lighter than a magazine and if you don't use it's built in wireless, it has a battery life of about two weeks. Not to mention, it holds over 1,500 books. It's an entire library packed into one little thing. You can get a new book from anywhere at any time at the touch of a button.

So this is great! It's portable, it's easy to use, it's revolutionary. So what's the downside?Well among other things, it's just not the same as a book. There is no feel of the paper between your fingers, no sense of wear and tear on the spine of a well loved tome. You can't dog ear the pages or make notes in the margin. You can't lend it to a friend when you are done. You can't lovingly pick it out of a book store and drop it in the mail because you think your niece would really dig the unicorns on the cover.

So here is the big question, the big debate. Are those who are buying the Amazon (and using it instead of “real” books) sacrificing nostalgia in favor of usability? Are we letting convenience get in the way of a tradition of paper books that has been around for thousands of years? Or is it as black and white as that?

Good Ones

Navigation

Amazon.com popularized the tab navigation metaphor online. Through the years they explored multiple interface design solutions to make their growing product inventory accessible to Web users. As a result, some interesting lessons emerge when one looks at how the site's top-level navigation ...