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If you're interested in Amazon's story you should check out the book The Everything Store. Bezos started by selling books but his long-term plan was an online s
by Regardsyjc 8y ago
If you're interested in Amazon's story you should check out the book The Everything Store. Bezos started by selling books but his long-term plan was an online store that sells everything. He started with books because they were easy to ship, catalog, and that there were two major book distributors at the time that made creating an online bookstore easy. Not only that but he figured out how to game the system of one distributor so he could always order one book he needed, and 11 obscure books that were out of print, to avoid the 12 book minimum order requirement.
- grigjd3 8y agoBooks are also easy to choose to buy online at a time when online shopping wasn't fully trusted (or indeed, trustworthy). While I can see the condition of an item in a physical store, books basically just require not being completely soaked and keeping away from toddlers who might destroy the pages. Back in the 90's, it was a good step to establish trust with the customer.
- macintux 8y agoEspecially since there were (and are) vastly more available books than available shelf space. Online is the only way to get some books.