Abstract

The Web technology has changed our lives, allowing us not just to buy life’s necessities online but also opening entire realms of knowledge, as well as completely new shopping experience. In addition, the Web technology has also changed the way marketers approach marketing. Historically, marketers built brands slowly, over time by investing in mass-media advertising, e.g., TV, print, radio, and transit advertisements such as billboards and bus shelter posters, etc. But the internet is changing the meaning of a brand, the nature of brand loyalty and the effectiveness of traditional branding investments made by marketers. It has ushered the concept of borderless markets. Bookseller Amazon.com, Inc., a Seattle-based company, introduced to the world as the first well-known Web retailer, offering educational and informative products, and book selling business, was first established in July 1995 with a mission to use the Internet to transform book buying and shopping an enjoyable experience, as merchandizes are conveniently available at our fingertips. Amazon.com, one of the premier merchants on the Internet, first started with around 400 square feet of space, and today has a floor of 3 million square feet (in both United States and Europe). Amazon.com devised a multimedia marketing push that became overnight the blueprint for internet retailing, first it was books, then music and video, and followed by gifts. Amazon.com has established a everywhere presence on Web sites, both big and small to attract Web shoppers, and give consumers a satisfying, convenient shopping experience, unparalleled online or off. In fact, Amazon.com offers a selection of over 9 million titles, which are currently in print, as well as everything listed in the “Books Out of Print”. That is about more than 450 times the 20,000 to 40,000 titles one might expect at a typical neighborhood bookstore. This paper attempts to analyze the online book-buying experience and the secrets behind Amazon.com’s success.