Amazon is a major e-commerce player and a brand that is well-known all over the world. But does Jeff Bezos’ Amazon deserve to be crowned as the king of eCommerce? Founded in 1994 by 30-year-old Bezos, Amazon was one of the pioneers of eCommerce and among the first companies to sell items online. In 2024, Amazon became the world’s most successful eCommerce business with more than 3.45 billion monthly visits and a global revenue of USD 138.9 billion in 2023.
Everyone knows that Amazon was created by Jeff Bezos, an American visionary, entrepreneur, and engineer. But not many people know that Bezos created this company in his garage. Amazon was initially called Cadabra and it was an online bookstore that focused on sourcing, packing, and distributing books.
Bezos’ online store became successful quickly, attracting almost 200,000 customers in its first year, from 1995 to 1996 and it kept expanding substantially over the following years. Once it became clear that this eCommerce venture was growing rapidly, Bezos changed its name to Amazon, inspired by the greatest river of South America. The website also diversified its offer and started selling different types of products including video games, software, fashion and beauty products, electronics, home improvement products, etc.
But you might be wondering what made Amazon so special and how it became so successful in a competitive market. Let’s take a look at a few major factors that contributed to Amazon’s success.
Why is Amazon a successful business?
Amazon focuses on the customer
The first and most important factor that contributed to Amazon’s success is its customer-centric philosophy. Jeff Bezos is a strong believer in the idea that a business has more chances to become successful if the customer is put first. Ever since it was launched, Amazon focused on the needs of its customers and this philosophy paid off as Bezos’ venture became the world’s most popular online retailer. Its impressive customer base exceeds 300 million users which proves that Bezos was right and that a satisfied customer will return and purchase more items.
One of the key elements that make the experience of buying from Amazon so great is quick delivery and no-hassle return system. Within minutes of a parcel being wrongly delivered, or not delivered, the customer can expect a full refund.
Amazon constantly expanded and offered a wide variety of items
Another factor that increased the likelihood of a satisfied customer to return and shop on Amazon over and over again was the company’s consistent addition of items. Nowadays, you can find almost anything on Amazon, as it is a one-stop shop which is very convenient and more affordable. Being able to buy everything you need from a single online store saves time, effort, and money.
Amazon has always been an innovative and revolutionary eCommerce venture
Innovation was always a priority at Amazon and this made the company stand out from the crowd. Amazon was a pioneer in the eCommerce world as it was among the first to offer customers 1-hour delivery services and streaming services. It is quite clear that the company makes efforts to always improve customer experience and to offer better and more convenient services than its competitors such as discounts and free shipping.
Amazon is an affordable shopping alternative
As mentioned above, Amazon is always focusing on customer needs and preferences and goes at great lengths to attract and retain its users. One way to ensure that the customers make purchases and return to the website is by offering affordable options. Amazon excels at this because it always offers fair prices, discounts, and affordable or even free shipping.
Amazon is a reliable and convenient online store
We live in the era of speed and convenience and we don’t have a lot of free time to search for new stores and new products all the time. The fact that Amazon is a reliable online store that will always provide a wide range of products makes the lives of customers easier. Knowing exactly where you can find a certain item and how fast you will receive it makes shopping faster and easier. Reliable shipping, good customer support, and a wide selection of products surely contributed to Amazon’s success.
Amazon is an efficient business
Efficiency is another important value for Amazon and the business is built with efficiency in mind. Enabling users to purchase something quickly and without much effort is a key aspect that contributes to the success of the company. Amazon successfully created a streamlined shopping process that made it very easy for customers to browse, select, purchase, and receive items.
Amazon is still growing and enjoying global success
Not all successful companies can scale and continue to expand at a sustainable rate, but Amazon can do it. This growing company is now available in more than 190 countries and it is constantly expanding and growing its customer base. By implementing the Amazon Marketplace, a feature that enables third-party sellers to sell items on Amazon, the platform is now reaching even more customers.
Amazon makes to most of artificial intelligence
We already mentioned that Amazon is a company that values innovation and its use of AI proves it. Amazon utilizes artificial intelligence in many different ways from the development of Alexa to streamlining internal processes. Amazon also uses generative AI to create engaging marketing campaigns and ads, simplify certain operations, make product recommendations filter reviews for customers, etc.
In Conclusion
Amazon’s success can be explained through a series of values and strategies that can be applied to any growing eCommerce business. If you want to grow your chances of success in this competitive domain, it is highly recommended to analyze Amazon’s strategy and draw inspiration from its business model. You don’t have to be Jeff Bezos to run a successful business, but there are many things that you can learn from his experience. Keep in mind that user experience, innovation, and being able to scale the business are key factors that you should pay close attention to.
