To take the book industry as an example, Amazon took on every part of the supply chain, not just retail. The whole company began, not with an idea, but a data-driven decision. Let’s take inventory of its major moves over the last decade or so. One-click shopping Free shipping over $25 Being first to market with a meaningful and usable, but predatory, offering for self-publishers Creating a used-book marketplace Fighting a supply-chain battle with on-demand printers Undercutting Lulu, the pioneering self-publishing operation catering to authors Booting up the Amazon Affiliate program Making it brain-dead simple to publish on the Kindle Creating a margin option structure fr Kindle publishers Once the … Continue reading Venkatesh Rao