Amazon launched its online bookstore, Amazon.com, in July 1995.
Jeff Bezos founded the company as Cadabra, Inc. in 1994, then changed the name to Amazon before the website opened. The original business sold books online because books offered a huge catalog and were relatively easy to describe and ship. Amazon’s first headquarters operated from a house in Bellevue, Washington, while Bezos worked to build the site and fulfillment system.
The company soon expanded beyond books into music, video, electronics, household goods, and many other categories. Amazon Web Services, introduced in the 2000s, became a major cloud-computing business, while advertising, subscriptions, logistics, and devices added further revenue streams. This diversification helped Amazon become one of the largest companies by market capitalization.
Amazon is often confused with Alibaba because both are global e-commerce giants. Amazon primarily developed around its own retail platform and logistics network, whereas Alibaba’s core marketplace model connects buyers and sellers through platforms such as Taobao and Tmall.