Amazon Turns 10 Years Old

[CubaTBird]

remember when they were just selling books ten years ago? and everyone said they would never make it.. well they survived the .com bursting of the bubble didn't they? in that ten years it seems they have overtaken cdnow.com because that music cd sale site basically links to them now...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/b...02bad9926f2830&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

[PlaceofDis]

cdnow is amazon these days, one and the same really. Amazon has grown amazingly well in the last decade, and i can only see them getting bigger, sure they will hit a plateau at some point, but they will still keep bringing in the business and making profits.

 

[wordmunger]

cdnow is amazon these days, one and the same really. Amazon has grown amazingly well in the last decade, and i can only see them getting bigger, sure they will hit a plateau at some point, but they will still keep bringing in the business and making profits.

They've actually still got a lot more growth potential. Wal-Mart's annual revenue is $242 billion, whereas Amazon's is only $7 billion.

 

[asif786]

i love amazon..it's now my first choice for shopping online..in fact, it's a very very successful brand name..my mum doesn't use her credit card online, except for amazon. it's associated with trust now.

here's to another 10 years!

 

[ham_man]

Ahhh...Amazon. Only a few years younger than me, it is cool to see such a profound company celebrating its 10th birthday. And even I find it cool to go back and look at Amazon when it was young...

 

[mkrishnan]

They have done some amazing work! I always prefer to use them if given the chance, online. Although in some things eBay is another perennial favorite...eBay has its ups and its downs. The only downside to Amazon is when they don't have what you want!

I've been very impressed with their inclusion of used products over the past few years. Used CDs with Amazon has become my de facto #2 option if I can't get a song I want on iTunes, and they always arrive promptly for great prices.

I am kind of surprised, though at what their total cumulative net revenue picture looks like, though. I would have thought they would have broken even. Hopefully they can stay in the black and achieve that in a few years, though.

 

[wdlove]

Congratulations and Happy 10th B-Day to Amazon.com. Not at all surprised at there staying power. My wife loves the company. Uses the wish list extensively and they notify her of specials. There prices are usually less and have free shipping. Books was how my wife got started, it was with "Harry Potter." Now it's CD's and DVD's also.

 

[MattG]

Wow...hard to believe they've been around so long. Doesn't seem like it.

Amazon is almost always the first place I look when I want to buy something. Out of all the online vendors I've purchased from, they've easily got the best system. Very user friendly, I like the customer reviews, and their customer service is excellent. I'd say I order from them on average once a month. Their Marketplace is awesome for buying used CDs.

On a side note, I ordered my first Apple laptop from them (a 700mhz iBook G3). Got it, tried to put the Airport Express card in, and it wouldn't fit. I looked inside and the pins were bent. Not sure if I did it or if it came like that, but regardless, Amazon quickly issued me an RMA. The woman on the phone told me that they were out of iBooks now, and that it could be a while before I got a replacement. I asked for a refund and I had my money back before they even got the defective iBook back from me.

 

[mkrishnan]

Hmmm, yeah, Matt, I have a story sort of like yours too. When bluetooth headsets were pretty new, a few years ago, I bought one from Amazon right after getting my new cell. It didn't pair. Ultimately, this turned out to be Nokia's fault more than Jabra's -- the Nokia needed a non-standard profile to work, and Jabra had to modify their firmware. But Amazon was very nice about RMA'ing it and refunding me, and even paid for shipping. After Jabra resolved the issue, I bought a new one from Amazon.

 

[Applespider]

In the early days of Amazon (probably up to about 98), I used them a lot. Their service was amazing - I recall ordering something on the Sunday morning before Christmas for it to turn up in the Monday afternoon post!

But in the past years, I've had more and more items fail to turn up when expected (or when promised) culminating in last Christmas where an order placed in early December didn't get delivered until early January despite everything supposedly being in stock. Their customer service has also gone downhill as they got larger.

They do still have good deals on books (music I get from iTMS now) but I don't use them any longer unless there's no deadline for when I want it.

 

[wide]

I love amazon.com. they typically have the best prices, and they even tell you what other top-name retailers charge for their products. i can't see how so many analysts do not recommend buying amazon.com stock...everyone loves amazon! it's also helpful that they don't have warehouses in many states, so it does not automatically charge tax. right now they're offering the low end ibook (12inch) for $899.99 after the mail in rebate, with free shipping. that's even better than apple's EDU offering.

 

[mkrishnan]

i can't see how so many analysts do not recommend buying amazon.com stock...everyone loves amazon!

Did you look at the chart that was attached to Cuba's post?

I think analysts don't recommend them because for all the growth of their brand, they have show incredibly limited capability to generate profits over a *long* period of time. In their best year (this last one), their Earnings to Debt ratio was something like 0.3. And still their P/E is about 26....

I think profit will come, but their stock has honestly already been valuated for pretty much any promise of earnings they achieve in the next five years or so....