How Jeff Bezos Creates a Website to Sell Stuff and Became a Billionaire

Creator of a website to sell stuff – Jeff Bezos is considered one of the pioneers of e-commerce. He decided to start his own company in Seattle after working on Wall Street for a long period of time. As a person with business knowledge, he started to develop the idea of Amazon. After analyzing the market, he compiled a list of items to sell on the platform: CDs, books, videos, computers, software, and hardware.

And as each of us knows, Mr. Bezos picked books as the main product to sell via Amazon. The books don’t cost much and there are plenty of items to choose from. And this is how the world got its biggest bookstore in 1995.

Amazon was launched on July 16, 1995. And it happened just in time – the Internet became accessible for most citizens. Contrary to its competitors, Amazon got a clear design that attracted users.

The first to sell things in Seattle

development a website to sell stuff

Seattle has lots of technicians and neighboring Oregon has a huge book distribution market. This was a match made in heaven. So, after setting a business plan and picking the city to start Amazon, Bezos started looking for investors.

Why the Idea of Website to Sell Stuff Appeared?

Amazon got the idea to be the biggest and the best online book store that can provide every person in the world with the desired book. Everyone who has Internet access and a credit card could get a book. This website to sell stuff became one of the most popular ones in the American and world market. Most items the publishers put on the platform themselves, so Amazon got a book as soon as the client purchased it. This allowed them to omit the stage of creating the warehouse.

The website to sell stuff was located at Jeff’s garage at first but then they had to search for an actual office due to the inconveniences that business calls added to Bezos family life. Jeff Bezos created standards for online commerce and it seems like most online entrepreneurs try to follow his steps.

In 1996 Amazon launched an affiliate program so companies could promote Amazon books on their websites and receive 3-8% off each purchase that was made via the ad.

AOL and Yahoo became the partners of Amazon

popular website to sell stuff

In 1997 AOL and Yahoo became the partners of Amazon. This brought so many advertising opportunities for the website to sell stuff via others. Later, such websites as Netscape, Excite, AltaVista, and others also joined Amazon as partners.

By the end of 1997 more than a million people became Amazon customers. And it took only 27 months to get one million users! In such a way Bezos became the third bookseller in the United States!

Later, the website to sell stuff added more products to their list, such as sports equipment, jewelry, shoes, bags, etc. Amazon improved the payment system so it became more secure and easier.

In the 2010s Amazon releases its app that increased the store traffic and led to new deals. It brought $10 billion to Jeff Bezos! And in 2012, 1% of all Internet traffic in North America went to the website to sell stuff Amazon!

Kindle era

In 2007 Kindle books were released. And it changed the book business once and for all. It became easier and faster to sell books for cheaper. No printing is needed from now on!

Nowadays

Now Jeff Bezos owns 16% of Amazon and the number of the website to sell stuff employees is more than half a million people! For several times Bezos appeared on Fortune magazine cover that put him on a list of “50 great leaders of the world”. And since 2018, Jeff Bezos is considered as the richest person in the world.

In 2018 his fortune was estimated at nearly $160 billion! So if you ever wonder how much is much money – this is the number.

For now, Jeff Bezos still runs Amazon and is also involved in charity. He donates huge amounts of money regularly and also enjoys answering people on Twitter giving them some life or business advice.