1. How Amazon Works Masato Johoji Kengo Sato

2. Introduction to How Amazon Works Amazon.com sells lots and lots of stuff. The direct Amazon-to-buyer sales approach is really no different from what happens at most other large, online retailers except for its range of products. You can find beauty supplies, clothing, jewelry, gourmet food, sporting goods, pet supplies, books, CDs, DVDs, computers, furniture, toys, garden supplies, bedding and almost anything else you might want to buy.

3. Amazon Technology The massive technology core that keeps Amazon running is entirely Linux-based. As of 2005, Amazon has the world's three largest Linux databases, with a total capacity of 7.8 terabytes (TB), 18.5 TB and 24.7 TB respectively [ref].The central Amazon data warehouse is made up of 28 Hewlett Packard servers, with four CPUs per node, running Oracle 9i database software.

4. Amazon Tools, Marketing and Community The goal is pretty straightforward: "To be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online." The implementation is complex, massive and dynamic. Amazon's marketing structure is a lesson in cost-efficiency and brilliant self-promotion. Amazon's associates link to Amazon products in order to add value to their own Web sites, sending people to Amazon to make their purchases.

5. Amazon E-commerce Amazon.com has always sold goods out of its own warehouses. It started as a bookseller, pure and simple, and over the last decade has branched out into additional product areas and the third-party sales that now represent a good chunk of its revenue (some estimates put it at 25 percent). Both retailers and individual sellers utilize the Amazon.com platform to sell goods.

6. See all Business Profiles articles ●Failed McDonald's Menu Items Now you see it, now you don't. That's usually how new menu items hit the market -- with a thud. McDonald's has had its share of not-so-successful sandwiches. ●How Amazon Works The story of Amazon.com is an e-commerce dream. Find out what Amazon does, what makes it different from other e-commerce Web sites and how its technology infrastructure supports its multi-pronged approach to online sales.