Amazon.com Quotes

“its 1994–95 version listed 1.5 million titles. Transferring that entire list of titles from the Bowker CD-ROM to the Amazon.com database was a tedious and time-consuming process because only 600 titles could be retrieved at a time. Kaphan compared the process to emptying a swimming pool using a drinking straw. The transfer of Bowker’s weekly update of changes, deletions, and corrections took almost an entire day.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“In those early months, Amazon.com hedged its bets by focusing on being both an e-mail store and a Web store. Under the e-mail system, when a customer e-mailed Amazon.com with a request for a particular book, the company would run a search for the book, and e-mail the results back to the customer, who would then send another e-mail to place the order.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“So in the first six months of working together, Bezos, Kaphan, and Barton-Davis wrestled with trying to find the balance between providing customers with an e-mail catalog and conducting business strictly on the Web.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“PlanetAll,”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“CDNow, N2K’s Music Boulevard, and Tower Records.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“That became a greater concern in January 1997, when Barnes & Noble entered into an agreement to become the exclusive bookseller on America Online, where it would have access to AOL’s more than 8 million subscribers. Like Amazon.com, B&N boasted a database of more than 1 million titles, speedy delivery of about half a million books and 30 percent discounts off the cover price of hardcover books—a steeper discount than it offered to customers who shopped in its stores. B&N also announced that it was going to launch its own website in early spring 1997 after hiring a staff of 50.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“At the end of that year, Bezos appeared on The News Hour, the PBS television news program, to discuss the impact of the Internet, along with Esther Dyson, editor of the computer newsletter Release 1.0, and Clifford Stoll, the astronomer and author of Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Superhighway.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“By the end of 1996, approximately 35 million people were using the Web, according to International Data Corporation, which estimated that the total value of goods and services purchased over the Web grew from $318 million in 1995 to $5.4 billion in 1996. More than half of regular Web users held a college degree or higher, and over 62 percent of the worldwide Internet users made at least $40,000 a year. Proof that Amazon.com was appealing to a particularly sophisticated and computer-savvy audience: the top-selling book on Amazon.com in 1996 was Creating Killer Web Sites: The Art of Third-Generation Site Design by David Siegel.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Amazon.com’s attitude was if you’re having a problem, we will be not only responsive, but we will respond in a manner that shows our commitment to you, the customer, and your shopping experience on Amazon.com.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Amazon.com, on the other hand, knew that the key to the user experience was the convenience of ordering a book online versus having to drive over to a store and buy”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The bulk of the media buy was spent in major mainstream publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Book Review, and USA Today, in order to reach literate, educated adults;”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“After working on the project for about a week, Mahesh Murth walked into Schroeder’s office and said, “163 books on marriage. 798 books on divorce.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Shel was very insistent that all these wires got labeled at both ends.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The Amazon.com system tended not to break down in those early days because of Kaphan’s insistence that things got done in the right way. Some called his attitude “technical pessimism.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Two months after moving into the Dawson Street warehouse, Amazon.com finally hired someone with previous logistics experience (before then, they were just making it up as they went along).”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Bezos would reinforce to the warehouse workers how important they were by reiterating that the only elements that customers knew about Amazon.com was the website and the book they received in the mail.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Doerr told Dell that “Jeff Bezos was the Michael Dell of the Internet.” To which Dell replied: “John, I thought I was the Michael Dell of the Internet.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“keiretsu—”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Kleiner’s most illustrious partner was the lanky, bespectacled L. John Doerr, who has been dubbed “the avatar of the Web” and is considered by many as the person who recognized the potential of the Internet before virtually everyone else.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The overwhelming positive story talked about how Amazon.com had customers in 66 countries, including Bosnia, where orders were placed by more than two dozen homesick American soldiers stationed in that war-torn country. Army Lt. Clyde Cochrane III e-mailed Amazon.com from Bosnia: “This will help make this deployment a little more tolerable.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The article raved that the website “has become an underground sensation for thousands of book-lovers around the world, who spend hours perusing its vast electronic library, reading other customers’ amusing online reviews—and ordering piles of books.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The overwhelming positive story talked about how Amazon.com had customers in 66 countries, including Bosnia, where orders were placed by more than two dozen homesick American soldiers stationed in that war-torn country.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Robert Reid, the author of the 1997 book Architects of the Web, expanded upon that notion:”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“In retrospect, it’s easy to say it was clear how smart, dedicated, and analytical he was,” said Alberg.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“this primitive, infant technology.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The model was spectacularly capital-efficient. On day zero, an ordered book would enter Amazon.com inventory. Eighteen days later (on average) a customer would buy it. Two days after that, the credit card company would transfer the money into the bank account of Amazon.com, which would have 53 days to pay the supplier. That meant that Amazon.com would have a negative operating cycle of 33 days. By comparison, in a physical bookstore, the customer purchases a book, on average, 161 days after the book is in stock. The store gets its money on day 163, and it has to pay its supplier on day 84, giving it a positive operating cycle of 79 days.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“The Web is an infant technology. If you want to be successful in the short-to-medium term, you can only do things that offer incredibly strong value propositions to customers relative to the value of doing things in more traditional ways.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“To that end, he tweaked the Web server code so that every time the company made a sale, a command sent a message to all of the computer screens in the company, which would cause a nice loud BEEP! and an on-screen message flashed the amount of the sale and the number of books sold. Whenever they heard the BEEP, the Amazonians would let go with a rousing cheer.”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Thanks to that extra cushion of time, Amazon.com would look like a hero if the customer received the book sooner than expected—”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance

“Bezos and company soon realized that the problem with using all these sources was that they would often provide conflicting information on the availability of the same title. The Amazonians ultimately figured out that the best way to deal with that dilemma was simply to order a book from a distributor—whether or not the distributor indicated the book was in stock—and then wait for the results. After comparing what they were told they could order—versus what was actually delivered—“We could then say, ‘this company’s information is reliable X percent of the time,’” said”
― Robert Spector, Amazon.com: Get Big Fast – An Unauthorized Revealing Account of Jeff Bezos and Internet Brand Dominance