Review: The Amazon Economy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2013
I received a complimentary copy of this book for my review. This is based on a series of articles that were published in the Financial Times. The authors focus on various aspects of this incredibly successful online retailer. The company was started by Jeff Bezos as primarily an entertainment store with books, CDs and DVDs. Now it is the virtual store for every product imaginable. The success of the Kindle ereader in 2007 has grown to the point that retailers Walmart and Target have decided to stop selling Kindles. It has effected their bottom line. Amazon has introduced their own publishing business, signing exclusive deals with authors. They have started Amazon cloud storage, and are now adding high fashion to to their clothing offerings. The philosophy of its founder has made this work. Amazon focuses on dull but difficult tasks like management of product listings and delivering boxes. Their brilliant organization includes fixing root causes of any problems by continual improvement. They prize quality control, efficiency and the elimination of waste. One author states that Toyota has been Amazon's model for continual improvement. Current problems include eroding of their tax advantage and dissenting suppliers. Amazon's low prices are coming under attack from suppliers. Sonny and Samsung are going with universal pricing. Can it maintain sales growth? Amazon has successfully balanced risk and reward. Their belief that eliminating cost and waste to offer consumers lower prices seems too intelligent to fail.