If we mention “shopping on the Internet,” what comes to mind? Do not worry if your first thought was about Amazon, for we cannot blame you. Today, it is the largest reference for buying and selling on the Internet due to its global presence and the offering of a wide range of products on its website. Therefore, we have decided to share a bit about the beginnings and history of what is today the largest eCommerce in the world.
Jeff Bezos is the creator of Amazon, founder of Blue Origin, and owner of The Washington Post. Still, today we will focus on sharing a bit about his personal history and how it led him to create the world’s leading eCommerce, which by 1994 was merely a small online bookstore with a capital of $11,000.
Bezos was born in January 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During his childhood, he spent summers at the ranch of his maternal grandparents in Cotulla, Texas, where he learned to care for cattle. However, he enjoyed engaging in calculation games and probability exercises; he was a brilliant, ingenious, and non-conformist child, passionate about electrical gadgets.
On February 2, 2021, through a letter, Bezos announced he would be stepping down as the CEO of Amazon to focus his attention on Blue Origin, his aerospace firm dedicated to developing rockets for affordable commercial space travel. He achieved this in 2021 by participating in the first crewed suborbital flight without a pilot. Today, he is among the wealthiest individuals worldwide, having an net worth of $279.400 billion (2025).
Do you remember that we mentioned a small online bookstore? That project was initially called Cadabra and then evolved into what we know today as Amazon. The website was meant to reference the word “abracadabra” commonly used in magic, but Bezos’s lawyer pointed out that it was a reference with a dark connotation and that it could be mistaken for the word “cadaver” over phone calls. Consequently, the eCommerce creator and his then-wife, MacKenzie Tuttle, began searching for new potential names.
Considering that the name Cadabra was not working out and that website directories were primarily organized alphabetically, Bezos decided to think of something starting with the letter A. He began browsing a dictionary until he stumbled upon the ideal name for his project, aimed at becoming the world’s largest and most successful bookstore.
During his quest for a new name, Jeff Bezos came across the word “Amazon”, referring to the largest river on the planet. Upon realizing its significance, he knew it was the perfect name for his project. So, when did Amazon start? He registered the domain on November 1, 1994, although it was only officially on July 5, 1995, that Amazon replaced Cadabra.
Before settling on this new name, both he and his wife explored different alternatives and registered domains like Awake.com, Browse.com, Bookmall.com, and Relentless.com, which still redirect to Amazon’s website today.
As you might expect, the first item ever sold by Amazon (then called Cadabra) was a book, titled “Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought” by Douglas Hofstadter. It was purchased by John Wainwright on April 3, 1995, for a total of $30.74.
Today, there is the Wainwright Building on the South Lake Union Amazon campus, honoring the first eCommerce customer. It houses an exhibit detailing the story of that initial web sale.
Wainwright, originally from Australia, is a software engineer who became the first customer outside the company by purchasing the book on artificial intelligence and modeling human cognition. In an interview with Market Watch, he recounted that Bezos asked him to create an account on what was then Cadabra and order some books.
“He emailed me and said, ‘Create an account and order some books.’ I thought I was going to get some free books. But they took my credit card and charged it!“, said John. Today, the Australian engineer continues using Amazon and claims that his purchase history still shows the book he ordered in 1995 from a T1 computer link in an office in Mountain View, California.
From its beginnings, Amazon has showcased itself as a company with an impressive scale of evolution. After starting as an online book-selling project, it gradually pivoted to selling various product categories. Today, it aims to encompass all existing services under its umbrella. Below are all the businesses initiated or brought under the giant internet company:
As you can see, Amazon’s list of projects is quite extensive, but some became so successful and popular that they have established themselves as the company’s most important. One of them is Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud storage provider that offers its clients computing power and database storage, allowing their business to scale up by having all their information available at any time.
Currently, AWS is present in nearly 200 countries worldwide, and by the end of 2022, it opened a new AWS Region in Spain. Millions of companies around the world have opted to contract its services, such as Netflix, Spotify, or Pinterest.
On another note, we also have Amazon Logistics, a package management and delivery service offered to merchants and companies selling their products through eCommerce. Essentially, businesses hire this service, and Amazon manages the collection, packing, and shipping of orders while also offering customer service and processing returns.
And another tool worth mentioning is Amazon Prime Video, a content streaming platform competing with Netflix and Disney+. It features exclusive content, including series, movies, shows, and documentaries owned by the company.
Amazon experienced a revenue increase in 2024, with a total of $701.800 billion (around 613.800M€) in net sales (+11%), of which $65.120 billion (56.960M€) were net incomes. These figures represent an improvement compared to the fiscal year of 2023 when Amazon recorded net income valued at $33.440 billion.
It is essential to consider that when we talk about Amazon’s total sales, we are not only referring to the products within its eCommerce but also to the services it offers across its different tools, marketplace seller fees, advertising fees, and revenues from its software, Amazon Web Services.
According to Amazon data, its primary revenue comes from the online store, representing 40.2%, followed by external service providers with 25.3%. Subsequently, there is Amazon Web Services with 15.3%, advertising services (9.2%), subscription services (6.1%), physical stores sales (3%), and others (0.8%).
Amazon understands that its users love acquiring products at low cost, which led to the creation of Prime Day, a global event during which Amazon Prime account holders can access discounts and offers. Although initially, it was a one-day event, in recent years, the company decided to expand its reach, both in duration and frequency, by holding two annual campaigns.
Photo: Depositphotos
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