In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization.[11] Amazon is the third most valuable public company in the United States (behind Apple and Microsoft),[12] the largest Internet company by revenue in the world, and after Walmart, the second largest employer in the United States.[13] In 2017, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market for $13.4 billion, which vastly increased Amazon's presence as a brick-and-mortar retailer.[14] The acquisition was interpreted by some as a direct attempt to challenge Walmart's traditional retail stores.[15]
Amazon's home page provides three methods to start finding and buying items. The front page itself shows off featured items, and once the site starts learning your tastes, it will display products based on your history. To find a specific item, type in the search bar at the top of the page. Press "Enter" to search the entire catalog, or select from the drop-down menu set automatically to "All" to search a specific category, which also enables the "Refine" capability for more specific results. If you'd rather just window shop, click "Shop by Department," to pick a section to browse.
Bezos selected the name Amazon by looking through the dictionary; he settled on "Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and different", just as he had envisioned for his Internet enterprise. The Amazon River, he noted, was the biggest river in the world, and he planned to make his store the biggest bookstore in the world.[25] Additionally, a name that began with "A" was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of an alphabetized list.[25] Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand and told a reporter, "There's nothing about our model that can't be copied over time. But you know, McDonald's got copied. And it's still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name. Brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world."[26]
The legendary red logo that you’ll see on all of the products in our As Seen On TV shop is now recognizable Worldwide, and was originally designed by A.J. Khubani, CEO of Telebrands, a company that has sold hundreds of millions of ASTV products. The logo is actually unprotected, which turned out to be a good thing as it allowed the industry to explode. This means that anyone can use the AsSeenOnTV logo on packaging and in trade without the risk of infringing on someone else’s trademark.