Competitor Analysis Of Amazon

From the beginning Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has found it important to make a lot of money. Bezos started his company on the internet because he realized the internet was growing and he could start to make a profit from it. Amazon originally just started by selling a very wide variety of books. Bezos proved to be profitable from this because many small book stores and Borders went out of business. Barnes & Noble also took a major hit from Amazon’s growing profits but was able to stay open. As the business started to grow, Bezos started allowing other objects to be sold on Amazon. People can basically find anything they need on Bezos’ website. Bezos’ growing profits have translated into Amazon having a revenue over $60 billion in December

“Amazon, not surprisingly, is keen to sharpen its competitive edge, to use every means at its disposal to confound, stymie and overpower its rivals. It is well positioned to do so…” (https://www.thenation.com/article/amazon-effect/). Meaning, Amazon is a very strong competitor with other businesses and they make sure they stay in that game. Amazon even goes out of their way to buy other companies, such as whole foods. For Amazon to stay in the game they ensure they remain a top competitor. Bezos also ensures to maintain a higher level of efficiency. Amazon has its employees work long and hard hours to make sure all their customers are happy and items are shipped out in time. Workers have reported that Amazon is “a very tough place to work. Employees work long hours, on weekends, and are expected to be on email 24-7” (http://fortune.com/2015/08/17/amazon-new-york-times-workers/). Amazon does this to make sure they have high efficiency in operating and succeed in this

Amazon has over 800 employees in the legal department with approximately 400 attorneys and follow the regulations and laws to maintain a successful business. Some of these laws include minimum wage, benefits, safety and health, working conditions, equal opportunity employment, and privacy regulations. The Federal government does not regulate sales tax, that is governed by each state. Prior to April 2017, Amazon collected sales tax in the five states where they had offices and/or warehouses. Since sales taxes vary by state, collecting ecommerce sales tax is a challenge.
Amazon makes sales on the Internet and are required to pay the same amount as brick and mortar stores. Amazon disagreed with both New York and California. Since Amazon did not have a warehouse in New York, it filed a lawsuit in 2008 arguing that it did not have a physical presence, and should not have to collect NY taxes. Quill Corporation versus North Dakota case determined that only companies with a concrete building within the state is obligated to solicit sales tax. The court ruled against them because they have affiliates in New York and were obligated to collect state sales