Amazon's evolution from online bookstore to retail powerhouse

Amazon associate, Miah Searcy, works in the Auto Divert To Aisle (ADTA) department at the Amazon Delivery Station on 120th Avenue in Kenosha on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. It's the center's busiest day of the year, sorting, scanning, and delivering some 120,000 packages ordered on Cyber Monday.

Amazon workers prepare packaged orders to be shipped out from a new same day delivery center on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in Ankeny, Ia.

Amazon employees take a lunch break on an outdoor terrace at the new Amazon headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on September 20, 2023.

Washington Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan (12) walks onto the field before the game against Angel City FC at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Sep 27, 2024.

A general view of the Amazon Black Friday logo displayed on the scoreboard prior to a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Nov 29, 2024.

Construction work takes place on a portion of land between Walnut and Larrison Road and north of Early Road on an $11 billion Amazon Web Services data center campus is photographed using a drone on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in New Carlisle. Ind.

A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket and capsule launch from Texas on Tuesday, July 20, 2021 on the company's first crewed flight. The mission included Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, aviator Wally Funk, and student Oliver Daemen.

Tour of Amazon Canton, Oh. Fulfillment Center, 2023.

Floor robots move shelves of products throughout the warehouse at Amazon's new same day delivery center in Ankeny, Ia.

A view of the waterfront of Long Island City in the Queens borough of New York, along the East River, is seen Nov. 7, 2018. Amazon has decided to split its new headquarters between New York City and a Washington suburb in Northern Virginia, The Wall Street Journal reported, Nov. 12, 2018. After a year-long search in which more than 200 cities wooed the web giant for the project Amazon opted to divvy up its so-called HQ2 between the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York and the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington.

This is a screen-shot from Amazon.com the month after the site launched.

Amazon.com founder and chief executive officer Jeff Bezos and Sotheby's president and chief executive officer Diana Brooks pose in "The Shagmobile," a 1998 customized Volkswagen Beetle from the film, "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," in a showroom at Sotheby's in New York on Nov. 18, 1999. Sotheby's and Amazon.com today launched sothebys.amazon.com, an online auction site which will offer a broad range of objects, including this car, expected to fetch 30,000-50,000 USD.

An Amazon.com employee uses a a forklift to reach merchandise on the top racks at the Amazon.com Fernley, Nv. plant on Jan. 4, 2000.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Inc., appears on the cover of the December 1999, issue of Time magazine as the magazine's "Person of the Year" for 1999. "There were two great themes of the year, online shopping and dot-com mania, and the minute we thought of Bezos it was obvious that he embodied both" the magazine wrote.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, speaks to reporters at USA TODAY on Dec. 6, 2001 in McLean, Va.

Online retail giant Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos unveils the Kindle DX, a large-screen version of its popular Kindle electronic reader designed for newspapers, magazines and textbooks, during a press conference in New York, May 06, 2009. The Kindle DX costs 489 dollars and features a screen which at 9.7 inches is 2.5 times larger than the six-inch screen on the earlier versions of the Kindle, which cost 359 dollars.

This December 9, 2010 photo shows the internet site of Amazon.com. Amazon shares were down more than 11 percent Oct. 26, 2011 on Wall Street after the US online retail giant released quarterly earnings that saw heavy spending on expansion drag down its net profit. Online retail giant Amazon said on May 26, 2015 it has started declaring sales made in major European markets in the respective countries instead of Luxembourg, meaning it will pay taxes on the sales in the nations. Amazon's tax agreement in Luxembourg, under which it recorded European sales and paid taxes on them in the tiny country instead of at the source, had attracted howls of criticism that the giant was trying to evade taxes, and had sparked an EU probe.

Kindle reading devices are seen at a press conference on Sept. 6, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. Amazon unveiled the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kindle Fire HD in 7 and 8.9-inch sizes, as well as a new price of the basic Kindle at $69.

President Barack Obama makes a speech about the economy and jobs at an Amazon.com Fulfillment Center July 30, 2013 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Obama proposed a corporate tax reform that will use billions of dollars in revenues generated by a business tax to create jobs. Amazon announced this week that it expects to have 7,000 job openings across the country.

The front page of the Washington Post newspaper as seen in a newsstand, August 6, 2013 in Washington, DC, the day after it was announced that Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos had agreed to purchase the newspaper for USD 250 million from the Graham family. Multi-billionaire Bezos, who created Amazon, which has soared in a few years to a dominant position in online retailing, said he was buying the Post in his personal capacity and hoped to shepherd it through the evolution away from traditional newsprint.

This undated handout photo released by Amazon shows a flying "octocopter" mini-drone that would be used to fly small packages to consumers. Amazon said December 14, 2016 it completed its first delivery by drone, in what the global online giant hopes will be a trend in automated shipments by air. The delivery to an unidentified customer near Cambridge, England, was announced in a tweet by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.

Books and other media at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in south Phoenix on March 4, 2015.

Gerardo Ruiz Ramos rides a tricycle at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in south Phoenix on March 4, 2015.

A "six pack" of Amazon Fire 7" tablets. Available for pre-order beginning Sept. 17, 2015, they will retail for $49.99 each, or $249.95 for a package of six.

Customer Anu Garg of Seattle, Washington uses a Kindle table device at the newly-opened Amazon Books store on Nov. 4, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. The online retailer opened its first brick-and-mortar book store on Nov. 3, 2015.

(L-R) Actor David Menkin, production designer Ben Milsom, head writer Rob Hoegee, executive producer Giles Ridge, actors Rasmus Hardiker and Andres Williams of "Thunderbirds are Go" attend the Amazon Village at San Diego Comic-Con at San Diego Convention Center on July 21, 2016 in San Diego, Calif.

Packages are stored at the Amazon electronic commerce company's logistics center in San Fernando de Henares, near Madrid, on the eve of "Black Friday", on Nov. 24, 2016.

People enter the newly opened Amazon Books on May 25, 2017 in New York City. Amazon.com Inc.'s first New York City bookstore occupies 4,000 square feet in The Shops at Columbus Circle in Manhattan and stocks upwards of 3,000 books. Amazon Books, like the Amazon Go store, does not accept cash and instead lets Prime members use the Amazon app on their smartphone to pay for purchases. Non-members can use a credit or debit card.

The Whole Foods Market in Midtown New York is seen on June 16, 2017. Amazon is once again shaking up the retail sector, with the announcement Friday it will acquire upscale US grocer Whole Foods Market, known for its pricey organic options, in a deal that underscores the online giant's growing influence in the economy.

An AmazonFresh Pickup storefront is pictured on March 28, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. The store is one of two in Seattle, only open to Amazon employee beta participants, allows customers to order groceries online and pick them in a drive through.

Customers shop at a Sears store in Woodfield Mall on July 20, 2017 in Schaumburg, Ill. Sears announced today that it had agreed to sell Kenmore appliances on Amazon.com. The news sent Sears' stock price climbing and triggered heavy selling of stock in other appliance retailers including, Home Depot, Best Buy and Lowes.

Employees work at the Amazon Fulfillment Center on August 1, 2017 in Robbinsville, New Jersey. The more than 1 million square feet facility holds tens of millions of products, features more than 14 miles of conveyor belts, and employs more than 4,000 workers who pick, pack, and ship orders. Tomorrow Amazon will host a jobs fair to hire 50,000 positions in their fulfillment centers nationwide.

Job seekers wait in line before an Amazon jobs fair at the Amazon Fulfillment Center on Aug. 2, 2017 in Robbinsville, New Jersey. The American commerce company is hosting 'Amazon Jobs Day' with job fairs across the country to hire 50,000 positions for their fulfillment centers nationwide. The more than 1 million square foot facility holds tens of millions of products and features more than 14 miles of conveyor belts, employing more than 4,000 workers who pick, pack, and ship orders.

A worker makes repairs to a wall at a new Amazon fulfillment center on August 10, 2017 in Sacramento, Calif. Amazon is preparing to open a new 855,000-square-foot warehouse, the tenth in Calif., by early October and is expected to hire nearly 1,500 people.

Workers view a conveyor belt system that is under construction at a new Amazon fulfillment center on August 10, 2017 in Sacramento, Calif. Amazon is preparing to open a new 855,000-square-foot warehouse, the tenth in Calif., by early October and is expected to hire nearly 1,500 people.

People walk past the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Wash. on Jan. 29, 2018, during the grand opening of the company's new office space. Amazon opened its new Seattle office space which looks more like a rainforest. The company created the Spheres Complex to help spark employee creativity.

Garth Brooks, left, and Jason Aldean performs onstage for The Amazon Music & CRS 2018 day 1 monday night showcase featuring Radio PD Ink Awards on February 5, 2018 in Nashville, Tenn.

The Ring offices in Santa Monica, Calif. on Feb. 27, 2018. Amazon reportedly acquired the electronic door bell company Ring for more then $1 billion dollars.