Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is one of the largest e-commerce companies worldwide [1]. The company is also known for its product line of Amazon Kindle e-book readers, Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, Amazon Web Services cloud computing services, and Amazon Mechanical Turk online marketplace for work. Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1995 in Seattle, Washington [[2]]. Originally, Amazon.com sold a wide array of books, but it has expanded its inventory to products, including CD's, DVD's, electronics, apparel, and almost any other good from A-Z [[3]].

History

Jeff Bezos conceptualized Amazon.com in 1994 while working at D.E. Shaw, a global investment management corporation. After weighing the pros and cons through a process he described as "regret minimization" he decided to leave D.E. Shaw in order to pursue his urge to found an online book selling company. Bezos believed e-commerce would become a very profitable business because the Supreme Court had recently decided online sales are not taxable. In addition, he believed online sales would follow a long-tail distribution, allowing Amazon.com to sell and carry books that would not be economical for a physical store to carry. Bezos sold his first book from his garage in 1995. [[4]]

Website

Reviews

Amazon.com allows consumers to review sellers and products listed on the company's website. Amazon Seller Reviews are a review of a third-party seller's performance in selling the good the consumer purchased. Customers who are intending to purchase a product on Amazon browse through a list of third-party sellers to choose from whom they would like to purchase the product. The review system displays the sellers' aggregate rating along with the total number of people who have reviewed the seller. This can be useful information for a potential buyer of a good and is key in establishing trust between the consumer and the third-party seller.

Amazon Product Reviews allow consumers to review the products they have purchased. First, they are asked to give a 1-5 star overall rating of the product. Second, they require a title for the review. Finally, they ask for a detailed written review or a video review of the product. In addition, to the seller rating, this can be a useful tool to prospective customers of a product.