From Abra’Cadabra’ to Amazon and Beyond

Cadabra was how Amazon came to being in 1994. Headquartered in Seattle as Jeff Bezos wanted the company to  be much closer to the IT infrastructure. However, with the name sounding like a magic trick, the company registered with relentless.com, and eventually was named  as Amazon after the River Amazon ( the largest river by way of discharge volume), as Jeff Bezos wanted to build the largest online bookstore.

The company began to grow, as it ventured into several products and eventually became one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world. Amazon has redefined  selling  and has been the pioneer of E-Commerce, which is now being taught as a full fledged subject across colleges and universities in the world.

There is absolutely no doubt that Amazon is an E- Commerce, e- retailing behemoth, similar to the great Amazon river, selling almost any conceivable item which can be used by mankind and the other living and non living species on Earth. Amazon has powered E-Commerce which in turn has very effectively led to 3 major successes in my opinion.

1. It has given a massive boost to Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

If you have a product and you want a platform to showcase it and sell then Amazon ( and similar companies ) is the place to be. You do not require a brick and mortar outlet to sell a product. This considerably reduces investments in a fledgling business and in a way helps the entrepreneur to invest more in product development and brand building. This is the reason why we find several good brands selling on Amazon who are not to be seen in brick and mortar retail outlets. The e-retailing platform gives space to everyone to have atleast a toehold  in the market. It gives equal opportunities and therefore has been a catalyst for Entrepreneurship and  Innovation. Similar companies have evolved across the globe thus further expanding the market. Competition is always good and allowing competition to grow may be even better at times.

2. A huge range and diversity of products to choose at reasonable prices.

The consumer is the King. We have all read this in Management books and therefore, with a wide range of products and within each product several available options at absolutely challenging prices, the consumer has truly been taken care of. Whatever is your pocket,  big or small, you have a variety to choose from. This opportunity for consumers was rarely available earlier and that too while being in the comforts of your home. Trust me getting to buy something of your choice at reasonable rates brings lot of satisfaction and happiness. And of course if you don’t like the product, you can return without any serious verbal clashes. The consumer thus remains  happy any which way.

3. Employment Generation.

Employment generation  has been a major gain . Right from the developing population of entrepreneurial businesses employing people, to handling critical information technology infrastructure  and eventually to operating and maintaining  logistics  of gigantic proportions, people have been at the centre of it. Undoubtedly, lot of space has been created for people to work and this is only growing.

These three factors take a nation forward and this is precisely what Amazon and the others players in this business space have done.

Of course, some may say that the brick and mortar retailers have suffered because of e-retailing, however in my opinion, this is an opportunity for them to rethink and reinvent themselves, rather than abandon their business. Markets still remain crowded as they used to be earlier. Its just that the retailers  too have to come up with matching products at competitive prices. This will just make things better for the consumer.

Jeff Bezos’ dream of opening the largest online retail bookstore has lead to a multi million dollar business  worldwide and  not just Amazon and Alibaba, we have several players like Flipkart, Snapdeal, eBay, Kijiji, Noon, Souq, Gumtree, Kmart, Mercado, Redmart etc etc, across the world. Just imagine what love for books and reading has in due course led to, for Jeff Bezos.

Its never too late to start reading….So read quick and read better at rizkhan.in, the quick reads portal.