Amazon: the journey from bookstore to the world’s largest company

From history to innovation! Today we want to tell you about Amazon. Founded in 1994, the company started as a small online bookstore. But in just a few years it turned into a global e-commerce giant. We have collected some interesting facts for you.

Startup in a garage
Back in 1994, founder Jeff Bezos started Cadabra in his garage. He gave his company the name Cadabra, which sounded like part of a spell. However, because of the similarity to “cadaver”  the name was abandoned. In the end, Bezos chose the name Amazon – in honor of the largest full-flowing river in the world. It is the one that can be replaced on the first logo.

Corporation
Amazon has grown quickly from a garage startup selling books through the mail, penetrating many different markets. 
Amazon’s core products and services:
1. Amazon.com — the company’s main product. The site offers products from the world’s leading manufacturers, as well as AmazonBasics’ own-brand products;
2. Amazon Prime — gives users access to free shipping of goods, watching videos, listening to music and reading e-books;
3. Amazon Kindle — an e-book reader;
4. Amazon Web Services (AWS) — а cloud computing platform that provides data storage, information processing and other services;
5. Amazon Music — а music service that provides access to millions of tracks and albums. 

Message with a single character — «?»
If a disgruntled customer sends a message to Jeff Bezos’ personal e-mail address, he will forward the message to the right person using a single “?” in the subject line. When Amazon technicians receive a message from Bezos with a question, they have a few hours to troubleshoot the issue and provide a detailed explanation. 

DC COMICS
In 2011, Amazon announced a partnership with DC Comics. Under the terms of the agreement, Amazon received exclusive rights to the electronic versions of the comic books: «Superman», «Batman», «Green Lantern», «Sandman» and «Watchmen».The new partnership suggests that Amazon’s main competitor, Barnes & Noble, will be forced to remove all of these electronic versions of comic books from the shelves of its online store.

Concept – “team for two pizzas”
In early 2002, Jeff Bezos proposed the concept of a “team for two pizzas”. He believes that employees should work in small groups of up to 10 people – that’s how many people can fill up on two pizzas. 

“Communication is a sign of malfunctioning. If teams communicate a lot with each other, they don’t have a natural cohesion within their group.” – Jeff Bezos