City
Epaper

Why Jeff Bezos picked books to be Amazon's first product

By IANS | Published: November 14, 2019 10:46 AM

Do you know why Jeff Bezos decided to sell books, and not CDs, online 22 years ago? A rediscovered 1997 video has revealed why the richest man of Earth chose books over CDs to be Amazon's first product.

Open in App

Rediscovered by analyst Brian Roemmele and shared on Twitter, the video shows a young Bezos speaking during a 1997 "Special Libraries Conference".

"I picked books as the first best product to sell online, making a list of like 20 different products that you might be able to sell.

"Books were great as the first best because books are incredibly unusual in one respect, that is that there are more items in the book category than there are items in any other category by far.

"Music is number two, there are about 200,000 active music CDs at any given time. But in the book space there are over 3 million different books worldwide active in print at any given time across all languages, more than 1.5 million in English alone. So when you have that many items you can literally build a store online that couldn't exist any other way," Bezos says in the video.

The Amazon Founder and CEO who is worth $110 billion today said Amazon was able to capture people's attention by giving them something that had real value - an online marketplace that made shopping easy.

"The June 1997 video is notable too because just a month earlier, Amazon went public for only $18 a share. As of yesterday's close, Amazon was worth $1,778 per share," TechRepublic reported on Wednesday.

Not just selling books online, Amazon has 526 physical retail locations globally, including 19 Amazon Books stores.

The company opened its first physical book store in Seattle's University shopping centre in 2015.

The first location in Seattle had approximately 5,000 titles stocked on its bookshelves, using shelf space to display the covers of books facing outwards instead of spines.

According to Amazon, the decision was made to showcase the authors and their work, rather than efficient use of space.

The store also sells Amazon electronics, including the Amazon Kindle e-book reader, Kindle Fire tablet series, the Amazon Echo, and the Amazon Fire TV.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: amazonBezosSeattleUniversity
Open in App

Related Stories

EntertainmentAmazon miniTV Launches Tamil and Telugu Content For Regional Audience With Over 200 Dubbed Movies and Shows

National'Alexa, Bark': UP Teen Fends Off Monkey Attack, Saves Her 15-Month-Old Niece (Watch Video)

EntertainmentA Tale of Valor, Sacrifice and Valor: 5 Reasons Why Amazon miniTV’s Rakshak- India’s Braves: Chapter 2 Should Be On Your Watchlist!

Social ViralWatch: Amazon Delivery Truck Split in Half by Train, Driver Walks Away Without a Scratch

BusinessMukesh Ambani and Tata will join forces to compete with Netflix, Hotstar, and Amazon

टेकमेनिया Realted Stories

TechnologyApple announces new accessibility features for iPhone, iPad

TechnologyCentre takes up surge in online fake reviews with e-com giants, issues draft quality control order

TechnologyDoT selects 144 participants for its 'Sangam: Digital Twin' initiative

TechnologyMakeMyTrip logs 23 per cent growth in gross bookings, profit at $172 million in Q4

TechnologyExercise can rejuvenate brain, delay cognitive decline: Study