Happy 20th Birthday to Amazon

Happy 20th Birthday to Amazon

 
The world’s largest e-commerce site, Amazon, turned twenty this month. What started off as simply an online bookstore has gone on to become a titan of retail, changing the game for many industries.

At the core of Amazon’s strategy is innovation and change, led by a management team that does not fear challenging the status quo. Who would of thought a book retailer would create a technology that stores thousands of books in your hands? Amazon knows its strengths and it applies it to industries and product categories that it can implement its best practices to. If it had played the safe route and been a one trick pony, Amazon would have been an afterthought by now.

However…

Amazon might be going too far with this strategy and spreading itself too thin. Last year, Amazon had revenues of $74.45 billion and netted only $274 million, a profit margin of just 3.7%. Last quarter, it posted a loss of over $100 million, off of $20 billion revenue. Amazon has never been a huge profit generator, and some are questioning its business model. Heavy investments into every new opportunity you can imagine dampens the likelihood that the company will post a profit, and this has been a criticism of CEO, Jeff Bezos.

Time will tell if Amazon will be celebrating another 20 years. On the bright side, it’s selling customizable 3D printed bobble heads!

Original infographic from: dpfoc.com