My name is Juliet Sneddon.

Here is a link to my Research Proposal Topic Online Retail.

I am 23 years old & I live in Redcliffe.

I am a first year QUT student studying Bachelor of Mass Communications (Majoring in Public Relations & Media and Communication).

I work as an Office Administration Assistant 2 days a week at a firm called A.i. Scientific.

Send me an email

---

Annotated Bibliography

Why Amazon.com has become one of the most successful online shopping companies.

Allen, S. (2004) "How to Really Make Money on the Internet with an Amazon.com Affiliate Site" About.com, Retrieved August 8, 2004, from http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/homebasedbusiness/ht/amazonaffiliate.htm

This website provides simple, step by step guidance to citizens wanting to make product reviews over the internet. The site recommends becoming an Amazon Associate as the best way to do this, and even credits Amazon Associates as the cheapest, and most time efficient way. The site also informs readers that participants who join this associates program will see profits over time. The website contains only 15 steps in total and a few added tips. The site is relevant to the topic as it looks at the methods people can take to make money from Amazon.com, as opposed to conventionally buying from the company. The website shows that Amazon.com is a company that not only provides favorable services for its customers, but also to those who want to be part of the business as well.

Davis, S. and Meyer, C. (1998) Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy, New York: Perseus Books, ISBN 0-201-33987-0.

Chapter 3 (The Exchange) in this book focuses on one specific aspect of Amazon.com, that is the site’s ability to provide additional services and benefits for its shoppers. This chapter attributes these benefits as one of the underlying reasons behind the popularity of the site. The author explains one main benefit that Amazon.com possesses, and that is its ability to provide reader recommendations. Overall, these recommendations are not only useful to those interested in purchasing books, but also to the citizens who are submitting their recommendations. This is because Amazon pays $1,000 in book vouchers for the best reader review. The author discusses more benefits on the site, for example, the service that allows visitors to choose and receive notification when an item that they are waiting for becomes available. The most fascinating aspect involved the process which takes place after people make their purchases. For example, after a person purchases a book, the sites virtual tracking looks at others who have bought that same book. This virtual tracking then continues to advise the buyer which books these other people have also purchased. It is interesting to discover new ways in which the company builds relationships with their customers.

Dot Coms amazon.com and etoys.com dominate electronic commerce toy sales voer brick-and-mortar like toysrus.com and walmart.com (2000) Retrieved August 8, 2004, from http://retailindustry.about.com/library/weekly/aa000526a.htm

This website reports the toy retailer giant Toys ‘R’ Us is failing to match sales compared to their online competitors such as Amazon.com. The site refers to Amazon as the “best online seller of toys and games� and credits their popularity to their ability to provide outstanding customer service, 24 online access, personalised product recommendations, wish lists, and customer reviews. This article is of importance because it investigates some of the main reasons why online shopping is soaring in popularity compared to traditional shopping methods.

Freehill, L. (2004, Jul. 6) "Arizonia Companies Rely on eBay, Amazon.com for Online Selling," Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, retrieved August 3, 2004, from http://gateway.proquest.com [1]

This journal article discusses the benefits smaller business can obtain by teaming with Amazon.com to sell their products. The article stated that Amazon spokesperson Drew Herdener had found an increase of 10% for products being sold by a third party on Amazon since 2002. The resource proceeded to establish that a variety of businesses were realising that customers are less willing to make purchases from companies that they have never heard of. However, by teaming with Amazon.com, these businesses have found more people make purchases from them when it is done through the Amazon website. It was noted that not only do these small companies benefit from this third party selling, but Amazon was benefiting from the agreement as well. This is because Amazon can now offer customers a wider variety of online goods. The article explores these issues in greater detail while providing examples of the many companies who have experienced more success selling in affiliation with Amazon.com.

Milliot, J. (2004) "Amazon.com Book Unit Sales Up 13%," Publishers Weekly, vol.251, no.5, retrieved August 4, 2004, from http://gateway.proquest.com [2]

This journal article reported the increase in sales and growing customer count that Amazon.com enjoyed in 2003. It details the net income and total revenue of the company and also lists the CEO Jeff Bezos’s own views regarding the success of his company. The article is valuable because it presents solid evidence that the company is profiting, while Bezos’s input indicates that the company will continue to see these profits rise in 2004.

Saunders, Rebecca. (2001) Business the Amazon.com Way: Secrets of the World's Most Astonishing Web Business, Oxford, United Kingdom: Capstone Publishing Limited, ISBN 1-84112-155-X.

This book provides an in-depth analysis regarding what it takes to launch and run a successful online business. The book concentrates on the time period from when Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994, until 2001. It attributes Amazon’s success on ten specific business strategies and explores each strategy in detail in each of its ten chapters. The book also tracked the business as it expanded from solely being an online book store, into an online shopping haven. The author explains ways that the company gradually teamed with other firms, allowing the site to offer customer’s incredible variety, allowing almost everything to be purchased online, including pet needs, groceries, music, gifts, and much more. This book is useful because it gives advice, examples, and thoroughly outlines the measures that Amazon took to adapt to its customers’ needs in a competitive and constantly changing business environment. It is a resource that provides information that readers themselves can utilise.

Spector, Robert. (2000) Amazon.com: Get Big Fast, New York: HarperBusiness, ISBN 0-06-662041-4.

Robert Spector started writing this book by providing the life story of the company’s creator Jeffrey Bezos. The author then followed the journey that led Jeffrey Bezos to be the owner of one of the world’s most successful companies and continued by presenting a thorough recount of the initial set up stages of the company, right through to Amazon’s rise to success. The book detailed the vital planning and decision making processes that were made in the early business stages, and repeatedly emphasised the importance of selecting the right staff to make a business a success. The book also looked at the actions that the company later took to expand, and stay at the top of the online shopping market. The author even went into great detail discussing Jeffrey’s parents, early childhood, school life, and personal achievements. It is relevant to the topic because it interesting to observe how the life which he led as a child, contributed to him being the successful entrepreneur that he is today. The book showed that from a very young age he displayed many qualities and abilities which greatly contributed to his success later in life. One key component that was repeated throughout the book was the company’s strong commitment towards customer satisfaction. This is an element that still highly contributes to the success of the company today. The author was able to obtain his information accurately by speaking with people who initially helped create the company. Overall, this resource provides readers with a greater understanding towards the elements which have contributed to the growth, and eventual success of Amazon.com.

Tedeschi, B. (2004, Jul. 12) "As Online Sales Soar for Used Books, the Publishing Industry's Fears May Sound Hauntingly Familiar to the Music Industry," The New York Times, retrieved August 4, 2004, from http://gateway.proquest.com [3]

This journal article discussed another new way that Amazon has taken to broaden its appeal to online shoppers. The article found that in addition to its online shopping service, it now gives customers the choice to purchase cheap used books as well as the brand new copies that the company initially started selling. The article expressed that the decision to make this option available was wise because the company found used-book sales were rising steadily. The article also discovered an added benefit for the company was that customers were more willing to experiment with different authors and titles in the used book department, and would consequently purchase more books as a result. This particular article is valuable because it looks at Amazon’s ability to continuously seek new ways to offer increased variety and options to consumers.

Wingfield, N. (2004, Jun. 3) "Amazon's eBay Challenge; Retailer Opens Up Its Shelves to Legions of New Sellers; Will Existing Merchants Balk?" Wall Street Journal, retrieved August 4, 2004, from http://gateway.proquest.com [4]

This article is important because it addresses the company’s ability to keep abreast with their competitors. It was reported that Amazon had noticed the online auctioneer company eBay was enjoying large profits by selling used goods. As a result, Amazon also sought to expand its selection and is now selling an increasing amount of used items. The article looks at the differences between eBay and Amazon and notes the ways Amazon has begun to compete with eBay by attempting to draw more people to sell their second-hand items through the Amazon site, similar to eBay’s concept.

Wolf, A. (2004) "Amazon Tops 52 Cyber Stores in Customer Respect," TWICE. New York vol.19, no.12, p. 16, retrieved August 3, 2004 from http://gateway.proquest.com [5]

This journal article addressed one of the most imperative issues relating to all businesses, customer respect. The article established that Amazon.com scored the highest customer respect rating out of the 52 stores surveyed. The article reported details, such as the organisation that conducted the study, and the seven categories that shoppers were required to rate from. Companies that came close to Amazon’s top score and the firms that rated poorly were also named. This article is relevant to the topic as this study provides evidence to readers that one of the key reasons for Amazon’s continued popularity is due to its high level of customer satisfaction.

Julietsneddon 20:39, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)