The Amazon online commerce giant celebrates its 30th anniversary. The American firm has reached heights, establishing itself as a quasi-monopoly in online commerce in the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Italy or Germany. But Switzerland remains a special case, with only 8% market share.
What started 30 years ago as a simple American bookstore on the web is today the largest online retail empire, delivering in some 100 countries. And Amazon is much more than that: the pioneer of the Internet dominates eight sectors, explains Dana Mattioli, author and journalist at the Wall Street Journal, in A video interview for the Bloomberg media.
For example, in the cloud sector, Amazon, the world’s largest supplier, generated $ 108 billion in revenues in 2024. On the online advertising market, Amazon ranks third behind Google and Facebook. Its internal film studios, themselves, serve up to 240 million subscribers to streaming worldwide.
Amazon’s success raises questions. In his book “Amazon confidential: investigation into the secrets of world domination”, Dana Mattioli describes how the company mercilessly exploits its position on the market. She accuses him of systematically copying or stealing the ideas of his competitors: “Amazon rose to the top thanks to lying, fraud and copying.”
In a Report of the American television channel PBSpublisher Dennis Johnson tells how Amazon has exerted pressures and required higher margins. As he did not give in, the books of his publisher, Melville House Publishing, quickly disappeared from the Amazon store.
An original idea of someone else …
In the early 1990s, only 3% of Americans used the Internet. However, at the time already, the former hedgerow fund manager – now a billionaire – David E. Shaw was certain of the importance of web use for sale. He predicted that one day, people would order online watering pipes. Convinced of his vision, he instructed one of his employees to carry out a market analysis. The computer scientist was called Jeff Bezos.
And the more Jeff Bezos deepened the subject, the more his enthusiasm grew: the growth of the Internet seemed overwhelming, his unlimited potential.
Advantages on advantages
In early summer 1994, Jeff Bezos therefore left his job at Wall Street and founded the first online bookstore. Amazon sent its first delivery on July 16, 1995. Two years later, the start-up was already valued $ 700 million on the stock market.
At the time, Amazon already benefited from many advantages: the location of the seat in Seattle allowed an exemption from the sales tax for years; Online trade does not require a network of expensive stores; The past of Jeff Bezos to Wall Street ensures the entry of capital, even if it has announced years without profit; By analyzing the enormous amounts of data on sales behavior, Amazon can optimize its offers and advertising.
Thanks to this data, Jeff Bezos then starts an ascending spiral. “More, more. More products, more customers, which in turn leads to more sales,” explains Oliver Gassmann, researcher in platform economics at the University of Saint-Gall. “Smaller competitors have practically no chance.”
Switzerland, Amazon’s dead angle
While Amazon dominates online retail trade in the United States (40%market share), Germany (45%), Canada and Japan, the company only has a small market share in Switzerland (8%).
“The small Swiss market, with its multilingualism, is complex,” explains Oliver Gassmann. Amazon is struggling to position itself on niches, because its economic model focuses on standards. Despite its strong purchasing power, Amazon therefore decided not to open its own Swiss online store, because the effort would be too important.
Article original: Peter Buchmann (SRF)
French adaptation: Julien Furrer (RTS)