Unlike some Internet zealots, Bezos never claimed that traditional retailing would go away. He knew that human beings were active and gregarious creatures that liked to go out and shop. But he believed about fifteen percent of retail spending—more than $500 billion—would eventually go online, and he wanted to grab a large part of that for Amazon.com. Bezos insisted that his strategy was based not on a Napoleonic ego, but on increasing returns to scale. As Amazon.com expanded into new areas, its revenues would grow faster than its costs, he argued. Unlike regular retailers, it didn’t have to
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