Originally known as 'Cadabra,' Amazon was doing $20k in sales a week two months after launch
Amazon Early Days Photo
As our readers know, Vator has started a series called When they were young.
72,295 amazon stock photos are available royalty-free. And vegetation - Amazonia - Brazil. Macro of internet browser with amazon website loaded. Amazon.com Store III. Amazon Store in the U Square. Amazon@Cincinnati is Amazon’s first Cincinnati brick-and-mortar store III. You need toothpaste, golf clubs, and batteries—and you need them now. Known for its colossal shopping catalog, Amazon packs virtually all of the features and functions found on its website into this ample app, whether you’re buying gifts, tracking orders, or scanning items in a brick-and-mortar store for an online price comparison.
It's a look back at the modest days of startups, what traction they had in their first few years, and how they evolved. In the end, we hope to provide a glimpse into what great startups looked like in their first three years.
Stories like these are always well received because it reminds us that anyone, regardless of pedigree and environment, can rise above the noise and have great influence. They show us the value of being resilient, persistent, and committed. If we can follow their footsteps, maybe we too can have similar success.
My last segment in this series focused on Square. This segment is on Amazon.
Amazon's First Year ------
Founded: On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos subscribes for 1,700,000 shares of the common stock of Cadabra, Inc., and agrees to pay the sum of $10,000. It initially operates out of Bezo's house in Seattle.
Founders (ages at the time): Bezos (30)
Initial product description: Amazon is originally known as 'Cadabra,' a play on abracadabra, but the name is changed for sounding too much like 'Cadaver.' Bezos renames it Amazon for two reasons: first, because it's the world's biggest river, and, second, at the time websites were often listed alphabetically.
The company's original tagline is, 'Earth's biggest book store.'
'Our timing was good, our choice of product categories -- books -- was a very good choice. And we did a lot of analysis on that to pick that category as the first best category for E-commerce online, but there were no guarantees that that was a good category. At the time we launched this business it wasn't even crystal clear that the technology would improve fast enough that ordinary people -- non-computer people -- would even want to bother with this technology. So, that was good luck,' Bezos said in an interview in 2001.
Traction, at nine months: On April 3, 1995, John Wainwright buys the first book sold on Amazon: 'Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought,' by Douglas Hofstader.
'I was a very close friend of the founding engineer of Amazon, and was working at an Apple/IBM joint venture called Kaleida Labs. Shel Kaphan [widely noted as Amazon’s first employee] worked at Kaleida Labs and in 1994 he decided to leave to work on this crazy idea of an online bookstore. We all thought he was crazy to do that. He kept me up to date on what he was doing. He sent me an email and said, ‘Create an account and order some books.’ I thought I was going to get some free books out of it. But they took my credit card and charged it!' Wainwright said in an interview in 2015.
Amazon's Second Year ------
Launch, at one year after founding: After being in beta for a year, with 300 test users, Amazon goes live on July 16, 1995.
Traction, at one year and two months after founding, two months after launch: In its first two months of business, Amazon sells to all 50 states and over 45 countries. By the end of August, its sales are up to $20,000 a week.
Revenue, at one year and five months after founding, five months after launch: By the end of 1995, Amazon has done $511,000 in sales. Average daily visits are 2,200.
First funding, at one year and 11 months after founding, 11 months after launch: In June 1996, Kleiner Perkins Kaulfield and Beyers invests $8 million in Amazon.
Amazon Early Deals
'There are a lot of VC firms that can add value,' but Kleiner and Doerr 'are the gravitational center of a huge piece of the Internet world,' Bezos tells the Washington Post in October 1996. 'It's the equivalent of prime real estate, and we can get a lot of value from that,'
Amazon's Third Year ------
Revenue, at two years and five months after founding, one year and five months after launch: By the end of 1996, Amazon has done $15.7 million in sales.
Press coverage, at two years and six months from founding, one year and six months from launch: on January 5, 1997, Bezos is interviewed by CNET, where he gives a tour of the company's warehouse, which is not yet automated.
Traction, at two years and eight months from founding, one year and eight months from launch: In March 1997, average daily visits are 80,000.
IPO, at two years and 10 months from founding, one year and 10 months from launch: on May 15,1997 Amazon IPOs at $18.00 per share, raising $54 million.
Revenue, at three years and five months after founding, two years and five months after launch: by the end of 1997, Amazon sees sales grow 838 percent to $147.8 million, according to a shareholder letter from Bezos. Accounts grow 738 percent to 1.5 million.
Amazon's Fourth Year ------
First acquisitions, at three years and 9 months from founding, two years and 9 months from launch: on April 27, 1998, Amazon announces its first three acquisitions.
It buys the Internet Movie Database, a comprehensive repository for movie information on the Internet; Bookpages, one of the largest online bookstores in the United Kingdom; and Telebook, which is Germany's number one online bookstore.
'These acquisitions will enable Amazon.com to quickly offer European consumers the same combination of selection, service, and value that we now provide our U.S. customers,' Bezos says. 'I'm excited about these companies because each has a relentless focus on customer service, an unwavering commitment to Internet commerce, and a smart, innovative management team.'
![Amazon early days photo Amazon early days photo](/uploads/1/3/7/2/137226673/965166126.jpg)
Product, at three years and 11 months from founding, two years and 11 months from launch: In June 1998, Amazon opens its music store, its first product line to expand beyond books.
Amazon's Fifth Year ------
Product, at four years and four months from founding, three years and four months from launch: In November 1998, Amazon opens its third product line with the launch of its video store. It also opens a holiday gift store.
Traction, at four years and six months after founding, three years and six months after launch: Thanks to a strong holiday season, Amazon announces that its fourth quarter sales in 1998 were approximately $250 million, more than three and one-half times 1997's fourth quarter sales of $66 million.
Based on fourth quarter sales, Amazon achieves a $1 billion annualized sales level in 1998.
First investment, at four years and seven months after founding, three years and seven months after launch: In February 1999, Amazon makes its first investment in Drugstore.com, which offers more than 15,000 brand-name personal healthcare products, extensive product information, and a licensed pharmacy.
Amazon takes a 46 percent stake in the company.
Product, at four years and eight months after founding, three years and eight months after launch: In March 1999, Amazon launches Auctions, its online auctions site.
Amazon today
In its most recent quarterly earnings, Amazon saw $32.7 billion in sales.
The company's stock is trading at $740.34 a share, with a $350.22 billion market cap. Earlier this year, it passed Exxon Mobile to become the fourth most valuable company in the world.
Amazon.com sold its first book from Jeff Bezos' Seattle area garage in July of 1995. The book was Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.
During its first month in business, Amazon.com received orders from people in 50 U.S. states and 45 countries across the world.
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Check out our YouTube video showing the history of the Amazon.com website! It has all the images and captions from this page, and is easy on the eyes.
Early Stage Amazon (1994-1995)
In 1994, Jeff Bezos witnessed the exponential growth of the World Wide Web and saw an opportunity to realize online commerce. Initially named Cadabra, Bezos changed the name when his attorney convinced him that it sounded too much like Cadaver. Bezos also considered the name Relentless for a while before opting for Amazon, which reflected the ideas of grandiosity and abundance. The company was founded on July 5th, 1994.
Original Amazon Website (1995)
Amazon.com was launched in July 1995. The logo was an abstract letter 'A' with a winding river flowing through it and the words Amazon.com, Earth’s biggest bookstore at the bottom. The color scheme of the site was typical for 1995 -- lots of gray and not terribly vibrant.
The company offered more than 1 million book titles, vastly outpacing any competition at the time. It featured a simple search engine to help find relevant books. Amazon also offered a free subscription to its personal notification service called 'Eyes and Editors,' enabling clients to proclaim their favorite authors and books. Whenever a new book of interest was added to the catalog, Amazon would automatically send the customer an email announcing the addition. Additionally, Amazon allowed clients to comment on books and exchange ideas with people around the world using review pages.
The original Amazon website (August 1995)
Source: Restored by Taran Van Hemert
Source: Restored by Taran Van Hemert
TV Interview Footage (1997)
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos conducted many interviews in the early years, but this one in 1997 with KIRO 7 Seattle is notable because it had footage of the website at the time. The quality is poor, but still valuable to see Amazon in it's infancy. The computer in the closeup shots of the website appears to be an Apple Powerbook 1400, but the PC brand on Bezos' desk is unclear.
The first image below makes light of Amazon's massive collection of more than one million books. Amazon's Book of the Day link boasts 'a different title every day for the next 3,000 years.'
The first image below makes light of Amazon's massive collection of more than one million books. Amazon's Book of the Day link boasts 'a different title every day for the next 3,000 years.'
Amazon.com Homepage on TV broadcast (1997)
Source: KIRO 7 News
Source: KIRO 7 News
Acronis true image 2020 standard - unlimited in time. Amazon.com Search by Title, Author, or Subject (1997)
Source: KIRO 7 News
Source: KIRO 7 News
Jeff Bezos with Amazon.com (1997)
Source: KIRO 7 News
Source: KIRO 7 News
Logo Experimentation (1997)
The initial Amazon logo underwent several iterations, with changes in color scheme and fonts. With each iteration, the logo slowly came into shape, with the color palette becoming increasingly similar to the modern logo.
Amazon experiments with logo iterations (1997)
Source: fineprintart.com
Source: fineprintart.com
Early Amazon Homepage (1997)
The company went public on May 15th, 1997 and raised $54 million in the process. Amazon's website underwent major changes, reflected in the design and more user-friendly interface. A left sidebar was introduced to enhance navigation, making the website more usable. Book covers and reviews were introduced to the experience to allow users to visualize the bookstore.
Amazon homepage image, restored by Version Museum (1997)
Source: ebaumsworld.com
Source: ebaumsworld.com
Additional Logo Changes (1998)
In 1998, the Amazon logo went through additional iterations. A lowercase serif font served as the main logo for a short time, with the tag line 'Earth's Biggest Bookstore' underneath. But later that year, the company employed a sans serif all-caps logo with a bright yellow letter 'O' in the middle. This was also taken down in a few months; the logo soon morphed into the more familiar lowercase sans-serif logo with a slightly curved yellow line underneath. The motto 'Books, Music and More' floated above. With Amazon's ambitious expansion plans, the slogan was taken out after a couple of months.
Homepage with 'Earth's Biggest Bookstore' slogan (1998)
Source: blog.cake.hr
Source: blog.cake.hr
Introduction of Tabs & International Expansion (1998)
As Amazon's ambitions grew beyond selling books, tabs were introduced to the website. The site itself went through numerous alterations, with the search bar making its first prominent appearance to the top left of the homepage in the latter half of the year.
Furthermore, international expansion began, with acquisitions of online stores in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Product Expansion, Zshops, and Auctions (1999)
The use of tabbed navigation became more practical when toys, games, electronics, and auctions launched to shoppers as part of Amazon's hunger to expand service lines. A right sidebar was also added.
A market for third party sellers to showcase their products on Amazon was created, called zShops. Eventually, this evolved to become the Amazon Marketplace in 2000.
Amazon also experimented with Auctions in this timeframe, which later shut down in 2002.The Modern Amazon Logo With a Smile (2000)
Design agency Turner Duckworth created the now-iconic logo for Amazon in the year 2000 with a custom typeface. Cleverly, designer Anthony Biles devised a smile that connects the letters A and Z. Jeff Bezos wanted something produced quickly, without the typical market research and focus group feedback process. Reportedly, Bezos jokingly claimed 'Anybody who doesn’t like that logo doesn’t like puppies!'
Amazon Letter A Logo (2000)
Source: vmastoryboard.com
Source: vmastoryboard.com
Tab Insanity (2000)
As Amazon's catalog diversified to include categories such as art, kitchen, lawn & patio, tools, and beauty, the tabs expanded in turn -- sometimes to a comical degree. Luke Wroblewski documented this in his excellent piece on the history of Amazon’s tab navigation.
Amazon homepage with 15 tabs (2000)
Source: humanfactorsblog.org
Source: humanfactorsblog.org
Tabs Refined (2001-2003)
Amazon added additional categories such as eBooks, baby items, cell phones, and video games. With the growing number of product categories, the tabs couldn't grow infinitely to keep pace with the limited real estate in the top navigation area. The tabs were reined in and the categories were moved to the left sidebar area. The Amazon logo decreased in size to accommodate the changes.
In 2002 Amazon experimented with a limited number of prominent tabs at the top again, and added some graphic flair in the form of a shirt to announce the arrival of the apparel store. Additionally, Amazon began offering Gold Box deals, showcasing the best deals on the site.
Tabs moved to left sidebar (2001)
Source: the-digital-reader.com
Source: the-digital-reader.com
Streamlined (2005)
The on-again off-again relationship with tabs continued, but this time they were severely curtailed. There were only tabs for the homepage, a personalized page of products called Your Store, and a link to all the product categories.
Amazon Prime began in February 2005, and prominent ads for the service were plastered on the homepage.
Interestingly, the category page that lists 30+ types of products also has some logos, that in retrospect, are fascinating to see. Amazon used to power the websites for Toys-R-Us, Babies-R-Us, and Target. Toys-R-Us and Babies-R-Us ended up going bankrupt, closing all their US and British stores in 2018. Target and Amazon are now fierce competitors in the retail sector. But back in 2005, online retail was a small slice of the pie and wasn't strategic enough for these companies to own themselves.
Amazon product categories with Toys-R-Us and Target (2005)
Source: archive.org
Source: archive.org
Tabs Begone! (2008)
The tab structure was completely discontinued in favor of the left sidebar. The site embraced a blue and orange color scheme, complementing the orange from the smile in the logo.
The Kindle ebook reader launched in 2007, and Amazon used the most valuable space in all of retail -- its own homepage -- to market the product to potential buyers. In the image displayed below, Jeff Bezos celebrates the fact that Kindle is back in stock and invites customers to view the Amazon shareholder letter to understand the product roadmap. This really illustrates the relationship Bezos' attempted to cultivate with Amazon users.
Amazon homepage with Kindle ad (2008)
Source: archive.org
Source: archive.org
iPods and Blackberries (2009)
Design-wise, 2009 didn't see many changes. But in a museum like ours, who doesn't like to see old favorites like iPods and Blackberry phones? These classics were still huge sellers in 2009. The iPhone came out in June 2007 and was still in its infancy. The first Android device, the T-Mobile G1/HTC Dream, was launched in September 2008.
Amazon homepage with iPods and Blackberries (2009)
Source: archive.org
Source: archive.org
Amazon Blackberry Bold 9000 product page (2009)
Source: archive.org
Source: archive.org
Colorless Redesign (2012)
![Amazon Amazon](/uploads/1/3/7/2/137226673/590778857.jpg)
With a totally updated look, Amazon dropped almost all traces of bold colors in the borders and background. Orange fonts were used prominently to show prices and bolded text. A gray background gradient floated behind the top navigation area. Responsive web design elements started making their way into the site to allow phones, tablets, and desktops to all view the same webpage cleanly. Also, the left sidebar was eliminated.
Amazon product page for Lord Of The Rings (2012)
Source: archive.org
Source: archive.org
Minimalist, Responsive Design (2015)
The homepage moved to a modular design while still promoting all of Amazon's own product line.
Amazon selling itself (2016-2019)
Amazon continued to transform into a more spartan look with fewer items for sale on the homepage, but with more and more of those items being its own products and services.
In 2017, the site debuted the new products promotional banner ad at the top of the homepage. Clicking through this ad shows the customer a page full of unique and novel products the user presumably hasn't seen before.
Amazon homepage in August (2019)
Source: Version Museum
Source: Version Museum
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