Yet its unique content, peerless brand, proprietary technologies and obsessive customer oriented corporate culture keeps millions faithful to its web site. Three months after Amazon decided to sell music online, it was the world's biggest music retailer and had wiped out its competitors. Domination of the video retailing space took even less time, barely a month. The Amazon juggernaut is going to move next into sports, fitness equipment, health food, pharmaceuticals, travel, autos, software, office supplies and dozens of other vertical categories. Six, Amazon Auctions is going to lead to a revolution in digital personal to personal auctions.
Auctions are a beautiful Internet retail model.
Watch out, Ubid, Ebay and Onsale. Jeff Bezos will eat you all alive. Every time Bezos floated a billion dollar convertible bond or bought an Internet private equity firm, his critics pooh-poohed his business model, said it was mathematically impossible for him to ever turn a profit. Amazon's book retailing business is profitable now. Its operating margins are poised to shoot up with scale, as Yahoo's'did in 1997-98.