Amazon.com is being mentioned along with the retail behemoth Walmart in the same sentence. Very impressive!
Amazon.com, in the recent past, is making the headlines with all kinds of initiatives ranging from engaging in price wars to Amazon Web Services to Kindle. Its efforts seem to be paying off quite well. The company's free cash flow increased by 98% over the past year. The online retail sales are growing despite the recession.
Amazon.com was the first to make it much easier and comfortable for shoppers to purchase merchandise online. It has decent recommendation engine which sometimes entice shoppers to purchase additional items. It's expertise in delivering the the merchandise to the customers directly is enviable. It doesn't necessarily carry the whole inventory but optimally leverages that of it's partners like Target, Toys R US. Customer service was a big advantage for the brick and mortar stores, but Amazon is stepping up their service by offering free return shipping at times.
The brick and mortar stores are trying to enhance their online stores, but Google seems to be closing in on Amazon's lead. Google recently launched the Commerce Search and made it obvious that it wants to be the ecommerce driver.
Meanwhile, Black Friday is next week. Bring on the deals, yeah!
