Amazon launches, pioneering large-scale e-commerce
- Date
- 16 July 1995
- Category
- Economy & trade
- Region
- United States
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
On 16 July 1995 Amazon.com opened to the public as an online bookstore, founded a year earlier by Jeff Bezos, who had left a Wall Street firm to capitalise on the rapid growth of internet use.
Operating initially from a garage in the Seattle area, Amazon sold books across all fifty US states and dozens of countries within its first two months. Bezos chose books as a starting product because of the enormous catalogue that a physical store could never stock, then steadily expanded into music, electronics and eventually almost every consumer category, alongside cloud computing, logistics and media. Amazon helped define the template for modern e-commerce: vast selection, customer reviews, personalised recommendations and aggressive reinvestment of profits into growth. Its rise reshaped retail worldwide, pressuring traditional bookshops and department stores, transforming consumer expectations around price, convenience and delivery speed, and demonstrating that internet companies could build durable global businesses. The company became one of the most valuable in the world and a symbol of the broader shift of commerce online.
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Empires active in 16 July 1995
Related economy & trade events
- The dot-com bubble burstsMarch 2000
- Apple's App Store launches the app economy10 July 2008
- The global financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers15 September 2008
- China's Reform and Opening-Up Begins Under Deng XiaopingDecember 18, 1978
- Founding of the World Trade Organization1 January 1995
- The North American Free Trade Agreement takes effect1 January 1994
Further reading
The wider story
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Best-selling world history told through the trade routes that moved goods, faiths and ideas.
Get it on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.