Business Information System

Amazon.com Evolution

BIS/219 Business Information Systems

January 4, 2010

Amazon.com Evolution

Amazon.com started as the world’s largest bookstore and rapidly became the most substantial variety store. Expansion and success thrust Amazon.com in many directions. This paper will discuss Amazon.com and how they use E-commerce. The company faces scrutiny yet doesnot move away from its core competency as an online retailer.Competition proves a wise strategy between Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft. Database applications handle relationships among information, knowledge, anddata management resolution. Amazon.com applies e-business and e-commerce for business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) needs.

Core Competency

A pioneerof e-commerce was Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. Bezos left his job as vice-president of the Wall Street firm D.E. Shaw, moved to Seattle, WA, and worked out a business plan for what would become Amazon.com (Wikipedia [Wikipedia is not an authoritative source--it is a compilation of information submitted by Internet users (who may not be correct). Using it is allowed in lower-division courses as a way of introducing new students to online research, but with progress in the academic experience, cease to use this source--it is not acceptable in upper-division or postgraduate classes] , 2010). The websitedebuted in July 1995 and quickly became the number one book-related site on the Web. Amazon.com found quick notoriety and overnight success, thus such swift ascent left people wondering if Amazon.com lost focus from its core competency leading online book retail.

The mission of Amazon.com is “to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online” (Amazon Investor Relations, 2010) [The citation for a direct quote needs the page number] . Amazon.com is like no other Internetretailer in the world. The site is customer friendly and relates to all consumer types offering powerful search capabilities of its 1.5 million-title database. The company then offers 10 to 30% discounts on merchandise that which makes it affordable. Amazon.com provides other user-friendly touches such as alerts when new books by a favorite author or subject come into stock, optional gift wrap, and the ability for customers to write product feedback. Finally, Amazon.com provides an alert and tracking number so customers can follow packages upon arrival.

The competitive strategy challenging Google and Microsoft

Consider the historic rises of companies like Amazon.com, Google, and Microsoft, which all outpaced