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Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Amazon, King of Disruptors

Amazon, King of Disruptors
By Nicklaus Cairns

AN INTRODUCTION
When it comes to disruptive technology, there's one company that reigns supreme. Amazon ($AMZN). Amazon and it's pioneering founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, are responsible for disrupting more industries than I can count on my hands, and they're still going. In this article I'm going to explain what makes Amazon such an efficient machine, and the many industries disrupted.

FIRST BLOOD
When was the last time you walked into a Barnes & Noble ($BKS)? Or any other bookstore for that matter? How about the last time you visited Amazon's website? I'm willing to bet almost everyone reading this has been on the Amazon website in the past few days, and I'm equally willing to bet that almost no one has walked into a physical bookstore in quite a while. The bookstore industry, symbolized by former giant Barnes & Noble, was the first victim of Amazon's disruptive tendencies. Amazon's roots go back to 1994 when the company founded an online bookstore. By design as an online bookstore, Amazon was able to offer a far wider selection than any physical bookstore, along with being able to offer the same selection at a cheaper cost to the consumer. As the free market normally behaves, consumers chose the cheaper option when offered an identical product or service. By 2007, Amazon had surpassed Barnes & Noble in revenue from book sales, the same year they released the first version of the Kindle e-book reader. By 2010, digital book sales surpassed physical book sales through Amazon. Amazon also runs the company and website Audible, one of the biggest players in the audio book game. In 2011, Borders Group, what was just a few years prior the second biggest bookstore chain in the United States filed for bankruptcy, and ceased to exist a few months later. At the time of writing this article, Barnes & Noble has a market cap of approximately $454 million dollars. Amazon has a market cap of approximately $832 billion dollars. By market cap valuation, Amazon is worth nearly 2000 times as much as Barnes & Noble. Amazon's entry into the bookstore industry and it's replacement of companies that were prior cemented in place is the simply the first of many industries the Amazon bull has disrupted.

NO END IN SIGHT
After profit from direct retail sales and fees charged to third party vendors on the Amazon website, Amazon makes the greatest percentage of their revenue from their Amazon Web Services (AWS) division. AWS has a history going back to 2006. Over the course of 2006, Amazon launched in succession, Simple Storage Service (S3), a file storage service as the name would Imply. Simple Queue Service (SQS), a service meant to automate message queues. And to finish off the year, they launched Elastic Cloud Computer (EC2), a service that allowed users to pay for server time to run programs and simulations. Today there are around 100 different services offered under the umbrella of Amazon Web Services that can serve almost every digital need. Nowadays, nearly half all digital cloud computing is operated by Amazon. Similar to the what happened to the bookstore industry, Amazon has taken control. By 2020, cloud computing is projected to be more than a $400 billion dollar industry. And Amazon is set in place to dominate this market for the foreseeable future.

CLAIM TO FAME
The Retail and grocery industry is a perfect example of an industry permanently changed by Amazon, and what they're most known for. However, to start with, Walmart ($WMT) has just about three times the annual revenue of Amazon, so it's not like Bezos and Co. have come to dominate the retail industry, but they have certainly made a dent. One could say that they've disrupted the industry. While they were founded in 1994, for the first four years they were just an online bookstore, but in 1998, the company broadened it's catalog and started to sell more than just books. Ever since then, the company's online sales have grown exponentially year after year, and they have even been accused of driving many traditional retailers out of business. Amazon makes about 85% of their revenue from their retail business, so clearly it's the biggest part of Amazon. By pioneering online retail Amazon was able to establish themselves as one of the biggest retail players despite being entirely online, partially from convenience and lower prices. More recently, in 2017, Whole Foods, a luxury grocery store, was acquired by Amazon to further their market share in the retail and grocery scene. Through their online retail arm and physical grocery arm, Amazon is able to take a sizable market share and hold agency over the space. Oh and just to put the extent of Amazon into perspective, over two thirds of all households have an Amazon Prime subscription.

BUT WHAT ELSE
Up above I've talked about what the Amazon's biggest divisions are, and what they're most known for. But here I'm going to talk about the lesser known parts. Amazon operates their Amazon Video service and is available to all Prime customers. This service acts as competition to traditional TV and media and is popular among cord cutters, it rivals other streaming services like Netflix ($NFLX) and Hulu (Soon to be owned by Disney, ($DIS)) and offers thousands of movies and TV shows. There's Amazon Drive, which offers unlimited file storage for only $59.99 dollars per year. Recently, they also acquired the streaming website twitch, the largest video game live stream site there is giving Amazon market share in the streaming and e-sports industries. One of the first subsidiaries is A9, a highly advanced search engine and marketing company that operates with machine learning. Amazon is also going after self-driving vehicle companies like Tesla ($TSLA) and Google's Waymo ($GOOG, $GOOGL). Although, Tesla is not as advanced as many believe, nor as good of an investment. Getting back on track, they also have Amazon Music, Amazon Tickets, Amazon Home Services, Amazon Inspire, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Amazon Go, Fire TV, Goodreads, Zappos, and countless more. Go ahead and look up Amazon subsidiaries or services offered by Amazon that I haven't talked about, you can probably find at least a few dozen more. A couple days ago Amazon even announced that they were acquiring an online pharmacy in order to offer an online pharmacy, and pharmaceutical delivery service that will disrupt traditional pharmacies.

THE CONCLUSION
Right now, Amazon is the second most valuable company by market cap in the world. The only company that surpasses them is the tech giant Apple ($APPL). Based on Amazon's massive potential for growth, and lack of equivalent competition, I believe that their value will continue to skyrocket. They are in a unique position of disrupting almost every industry thinkable, and succeeding at the same time. Amazon is a remarkable company that will continue to expand indefinitely, and I would advise anyone to invest in the company, despite some people believing they are overvalued.

Check the article out at [https://aseriesoframblings.com/2018/07/04/amazon-king-of-disruptors/]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Nicklaus_Cairns/2567833
http://EzineArticles.com/?Amazon,-King-of-Disruptors&id=9972238

How You Can Share in Amazon's Global Success

and Make Money From Fulfillment by Amazon

How You Can Share in Amazon's Global Success and Make Money From Fulfillment by Amazon
By Katherine M J Mason

Amazon is the sales marketplace that originally started out as a place to sell books. But in the last decade it's graduated to selling anything and everything... and become one of the biggest brands in the world. Not only that but it's a famous brand that allows - in fact encourages - entrepreneurs to share in their success by selling products right there on Amazon itself.

Over the last couple of years Amazon have been working on another way you can make money in partnership with them. It's called Fulfillment by Amazon.

How You Can Share in Amazon's Global Success and Make Money from Fulfillment by Amazon

Now to me Fulfillment by Amazon sounds like a really exciting way of making money in the 21st century Internet age. Because it is a business model whereby you can just focus on marketing and making sales. Then have Amazon do all the "hard" physical work of stocking, storing and shipping your products to your customers for you.

You know, Amazon are always something of a puzzle to me! They come out with the latest, cutting-edge business models and invest millions in making them successful. There's no doubt Amazon's brand image, ordering and distribution systems are absolutely without equal.

Then they let any Tom, Dick or Harriet share them for free. Just why they would let ordinary people take advantage of all this for no up-front cost whatsoever, I don't know! It seems crazy, it doesn't seem to make sense at all, but they do it... and it's almost always a big success.

So I thought it's high time we came back to Amazon and looked at exactly how Fulfillment by Amazon works, whether it is as good as it sounds... and whether it can make some money for you.

Amazon... did you know?

* Amazon attracts 50 million consumers a month worldwide.

* Amazon has been voted the third favourite UK retailer (after John Lewis and IKEA).

* 1.3 million businesses are selling on Amazon.

* Amazon's business grew 18% last year... when most businesses were shrinking.

So, what is Fulfillment by Amazon exactly?

The basic concept of Fulfillment by Amazon, like all Amazon's concepts, is simple... although there are a lot of ins-and-outs which I'll look at later. With this service you send whatever products you want to sell (your inventory as Amazon like to call it) directly to Amazon. Whether it be books, CDs, clothing, computer accessories, toys, or whatever. They store it in their warehouse for you. Then when orders are received Amazon will pick, pack and ship the product directly to your customers for you.

You can use Fulfillment by Amazon whether you just want to sell a few things on Amazon as a sideline or want to sell thousands of products. You can use it if you are starting a new business or have an existing one that you want to change over to Fulfillment by Amazon.

You can use Fulfillment by Amazon to send out things you are selling on Amazon itself or things you are selling elsewhere. This is what Amazon called Multi Channel Fulfillment. One more thing: if you start using Fulfillment by Amazon you don't have to have everything fulfilled by Amazon. You can use it for some products and not others.

Pros and cons

So then, let's have a look at the pros and cons of Fulfillment by Amazon:

Pro. You get to benefit from Amazon's reputation. Amazon is a brand that's trusted by customers worldwide. When they order something that is shipped by Amazon they know they will get it. And fast. And they know they can return it if they want to. This can make a massive difference when they are deciding whether to buy from you.

Pro. You can offer faster service. Amazon has state-of-the-art online order processing and fulfillment operations. Chances are they can get your products to your buyers faster than you can.

Pro. Your products can be ranked higher on Amazon. With an Fulfillment by Amazon item your item shows up at the top of the search more often than not. Products from non- Fulfillment by Amazon sellers are listed by total cost (product price plus shipping) but your items are listed by price only. So often you can price your items close to the lowest total price, maybe be the first item in the list and attract more buyers.

Pro. Your customers can get free delivery. Using Fulfillment by Amazon will mean your customers get free delivery on your products... using Super Saver Delivery or Amazon Prime. That can give you a big advantage over sellers who don't use Fulfillment by Amazon.

Pro. Lower overheads. You'll need to do the figures but, in most cases, there can be good cost savings. With FBA you won't need premises for storage, staff to do picking/shipping and associated admin. It might even mean you can drop your prices, sell more goods and yet still make more profit.

Pro. You can be MUCH more productive. I think this is the biggest potential benefit. When you use FBA you won't need to spend time sorting, warehousing, picking and packing goods. Amazon do it for you. They can also handle customer services, returns, etc.

This means you can spend almost all your time actually marketing and selling - things that make you money. And because you can spend more time doing that you should, at least in theory, be able to make more money.

Now, although Amazon will tell you there aren't any disadvantages to FBA I think there are a few you need to bear in mind:

Con. It's not so good for products that take a long time to sell or which are unproven sellers. Because you have to pay a monthly storage fee for as long as Amazon have your products.

Con. Using FBA might make it difficult to compete with other sellers, especially those also using FBA.

Because how are you going to differentiate your product and your service from theirs?

Con. This is what I think is the main drawback of Fulfillment by Amazon. Your business is almost totally reliant on Amazon.

What if something goes wrong... for example their systems fail and they don't fulfill your orders or lose your stock? Or if they put up their prices?

And what if, after getting your product in an Amazon box, the buyer just decides to go back and buy from Amazon next time?

Getting started with Fulfillment by Amazon

So let's have a look at how you can get started using Fulfillment by Amazon.

At this point I should say that there's tons of detailed information on how it all works at the Amazon website. But that's really hard going and a lot of it is difficult to follow. So here I'm going to try to give you a simple, user-friendly summary of Fulfillment by Amazon.

First of all Fulfillment by Amazon is not separate to the other methods of using Amazon. It is fully integrated with them. You just set up to sell on Amazon Marketplace in the usual way then choose to FBA the products you want to.

It's very easy to get started with Amazon Marketplace. You don't need to register in advance. You can open a seller account when you list your first product. To register as a seller you will need a business name, an address, a display name (which can be your business name or something else), a credit card and a telephone contact number. That's all you need to get started. Go to http://www.amazon.co.uk, scroll down the page to 'Make Money With Us' and then 'Sell On Amazon' to get started.

Amazon offers two ways of selling - informally called 'selling a little' or 'selling a lot'.

Basically 'a little' is for occasional and hobby sellers who expect to sell less than 35 items a month. It costs 86p plus a referral fee for each sale and you can't sell in all the Amazon categories. Selling 'a lot' is for businesses who expect to sell more than 35 items a month. You pay a �28.75 monthly fixed fee and a referral fee. You can sell in all the Amazon product categories. The 'selling a little' option isn't really for use with Fulfillment by Amazon.

To use Fulfillment by Amazon fully you will also really need to become what Amazon call a Pro Merchant Seller. Pro Merchants have access to volume selling and bulk listing tools. There is a web interface that allows you to more easily manage your product descriptions, inventory and orders. You will also be able to export and import information to and from your account. Normally the Pro Merchant option will work out much cheaper and therefore will allow you to work on tighter margins and make money from products and sales those who sell just "a little" can't.

If you are already selling on Amazon all you need to do is convert to a business account and ask them to enrol you in Fulfillment by Amazon. It doesn't cost anything to sign up so you can just try it and see how you get on.

Tip. When you sign up to Fulfilment by Amazon with Amazon.co.uk you can only sell things within the UK. Which strikes me as a bit odd, seeing as how the Internet is supposed to be a global way of doing business. You can sell using Fulfillment by Amazon in some of the other countries Amazon operates in - Germany, France, USA and Japan - but you need to sign up with them separately. Initially you probably wouldn't want to do this but it could be a way of expanding in future.

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Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Katherine_M_J_Mason/1198178
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-You-Can-Share-in-Amazons-Global-Success-and-Make-Money-From-Fulfillment-by-Amazon&id=6680924

Benefits Of Disposable Vapes

By [https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Shalini_M/2609777]Shalini M Vape is a device that allows you to inhale wet and dry ingredients without burning them, essentially nicotine and some flavorings. Vapes come in different shapes and sizes. The users have their preferences for an ideal vape. Ease-of-use and portability are the two main things that a user would look into, and there is a wide range of options available based on the user's preference. A normal vape pen is a rechargeable battery-powered device that is used for heating the vape tank. We have to fill the cartridge and recharge the batteries manually. Disposable Vapes A disposable vape pen reduces the hassle of changing cartridges and recharging batteries. It is pre-charged and has a pre-filled e-liquid liquid cartridge. So there is no need to change the cartridge and it is very convenient for travel. Disposable vapes are growing at a rapid rate as it is a compact and convenient replacement. A few benefits of the disposable vape are as follows: The convenience of the pens: The vaporizer's battery lasts for full use, so the hassle of charging is removed. Another trouble the users face is filling the vape tank that is also made easier by providing a prefilled cartridge. There is no need to clean and maintain the device. It is just thrown away after use. The size of these disposable vapes is also small and convenient. You have to pick the device and go. Cost-efficient: The sales of disposables have spiked up because of this main reason. The price is just about affordable for any person. Even for an impulsive buyer, it is cost-efficient and a good choice. This doesn't compromise with the quality, though. So, the users can get a high-quality vaping experience at a low cost. Use of salt-based nicotine: The e-liquids used in the disposables are made with salt-based nicotine. Salt-based nicotine is stronger than traditional nicotine yet, it is smooth and doesn't give a harsh sensation in the throat while taking a puff. Users will enjoy this vaping style. Environment-friendly: One of the major advantages of the disposables are it comes with a leakproof technology. This feature is beneficial to the user and the environment. The anti-leak feature ensures that the vape juice stays in the cartridge. It also offers a clean burn and efficient energy use. Therefore, it results in less wastage and lowers costs making it environment-friendly. Variety of flavors: Some people would prefer a variety of extraordinary flavors while vaping, and certainly disposable vapes wouldn't leave the user disappointed because it comes in a range of different flavors from fruits to almost every tasty flavor available around the globe. There is a flavor for everybody that you will have difficulty in choosing one. Travel efficient: Disposables are easy to carry and reduce the trouble of storage. This option is recommended for people who like to vape on the go and do not want to undergo the trouble of finding a place to store the vape. You can take this around anytime, anywhere. Low maintenance: The disposable vape pens are maintenance-free. There is no need to clean the device and charge the batteries. It saves a lot of time and makes it easier to maintain. Small and compact: Disposables are compact. It is slim, which makes the portability a lot easier. They aren't just slim but small in size overall. Lightweight: A cool feature of the disposable vape is that they are lightweight. Many people are used to handling a heavy junky-type device. You can carry it in your pockets and still won't feel like you are carrying one around. The lightweight nature makes the vaping experience more comfortable. [https://www.go-liquid.co.uk/disposables]Disposable vapes are worth a try as it is a convenient, pocket-friendly method. There is no requirement to spend a lot as it is cost-effective and, yet this disposable compact device can give you a high-quality vaping experience. [https://www.go-liquid.co.uk/disposables]Disposable vape comes in a lot of different flavors which, makes it intriguing. Also, the inconvenience of recharging batteries and filling the cartridges does not even exist here. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Benefits-Of-Disposable-Vapes&id=10499643] Benefits Of Disposable Vapes

Benefits of Fitbit Bands

By [https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Shalini_M/2609777]Shalini M Fitness is a widespread activity today practiced by individuals and groups of all age categories, ranging from toddlers to senior citizens across the globe. This activity serves as a virtual bridge connecting an individual's physical and mental well-being, thus favoring one to stay focused in their day-to-day activities and reducing health risks drastically. In the current day, fitness trackers and pedometers are being used extensively to track day-to-day fitness regimens, which in turn helps one monitor their physical and mental health balance. Fitbit - An overview Fitbit is a wearable device that can be tightened to one's wrist, and the device will automatically track the rest, and the data gets stored or can be transferred into a smartphone via a fitness application that is paired with the device. Fitbit helps its consumers track all their daily activities, thus pushing them to get on their feet and practice their fitness routine on a more regular basis. The device serves a wide range of purposes, ranging from its primary role of fitness tracking to controlling your smartphones and devices paired with a Fitbit. BENEFITS The Fitbit is a band in the size of a wristwatch and some in the size of a bracelet with a diverse range of features and benefits that no one could imagine a small device could house within itself. The core benefits of a Fitbit are as follows: Fitness and step tracking: The major purpose of the fitness tracker is to help track the daily steps consistently taken by its consumers and serves in tracking specific details of almost every known workout routine in the world, ranging from walking, running, cycling, swimming, yoga, intense training, and a lot more. It helps track the calories burnt, duration, heart rate, and various intricate details that are reliable to a certain extent. Heart rate tracking: The device continuously monitors the heart rate of an individual. A noticeable key element about this feature is that the device sends notifications to the smart device or vibration pulses on the wrist whenever there is a fluctuation in the heart rate, going below or above the standard designated range. Oxygen saturation levels (SpO2) tracking: The blood level oxygen requires regular monitoring, which requires an oximeter, but a Fitbit has the added benefit of serving the purpose of an oximeter, which keeps tabs on the oxygen level in the blood. GPS tracking: The Fitbit houses a built-in GPS tracking device that stores location data during activities involving movement from one location to another, which is helpful later for a personal analysis of a location of a specific route. Sleep tracking: Another beneficial feature of the Fitbit is the capability of the device to track an individual's sleeping patterns. It can track the entire sleep cycle ranging from the different sleep patterns throughout the cycle. It can collect and correlate sleeping patterns and show details on the duration of an individual on a light sleep, deep sleep, and various other related data. Media storage and smart device control: Though this feature would not be available on all the variants of Fitbit, certain high-end variants benefit from storing data such as images that can be viewed on the device and music that can be played directly from the device when paired with Bluetooth music devices. One would also be able to attend and decline calls, send and receive messages and social media notifications, set alarms, and reminders, all of which are possible from this miniature device on the wrist. Payments: One of the most recent features on a Fitbit device would be making payments directly by linking the user's bank account to the fitness band using respective designated applications. Hassle-free payments can be made with the ease of the wrist. Conclusion: A device that started with the sole purpose of serving as a provision to track the day-to-day fitness activities of an individual has shown substantial growth throughout its span with an unstoppable growth in technology everyday across all the categories and fields. Fitbit has been putting untiring effort into their products, resulting in impressive results across all their devices and performances. [https://mobilemob.com.au]Fitbit bands have succeeded in pushing individuals to get on their feet and focus on their physical and mental well-being to a great extent. [https://mobilemob.com.au]Mobile Mob devices will continue to serve their purposes going forward with much more exciting features and modifications down the line. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Benefits-of-Fitbit-Bands&id=10499637] Benefits of Fitbit Bands