When it comes to e-commerce websites, Amazon is probably the first name that comes to your mind. From books to electronics, you will find any product you wish for at their website. They provide services all around the world and have served about a billion customers since starting business.

If you are awed by the success and efficiency of Amazon, there are some things that you should definitely know about their journey. Whether you are a simple customer or a prospective entrepreneur, this success story will surely inspire you and give your pointers about your own journey.

Check out these cool top eight facts and stats about Amazon, since its inception until today.

1. Amazon: Creation

Amazon.com began as an internet store on July 5, 1994 in founder Jeff Bezos’ garage, when he moved from New York City to Seattle. It started as a book-selling business and the first book that was ever sold was Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies by Douglas Hofstadte, on April 3, 1995. It went on to include many more categories of products, reaching out to millions of customers and having thousands of employees all over the world.

In the initial stages, the limited workers had to put in a lot of effort and hours into building up the business, up to 60 hours per week. Every time a purchase was made, a bell was rung in the office. From those small numbers, Amazon has emerged to a scale where it serves more than a hundred customers daily.

2. The Name Game

Jeff Bezos originally wanted to name this company Cadabra, short for the magical word Abracadabra. Then, he pondered upon the name Relentless. But that did not work out and he finally settles on Amazon. It has been said that he chose Amazon because it is the largest river on earth in terms of water volume and because he wanted his company to begin with A.

The Amazon logo has an arrow pointing from A to Z, signifying that you can get any and all products on the website, from the most basic to the most advanced stuff.

3. Know the Founder: Jeff Bezos

Founder Jeff Bezos was born in New Mexico and raised in Houston, Texas.After graduating from Princeton University in 1986, he worked on Wall Street for some years, after which he set up Amazon as a business. He has climbed the ladder of success very well and was named Person of the Year by TIME magazine as well in 1999.

Rumors say that Jeff Bezos is a very tough boss, who expects complete dedication and best work from his employees. With his hard work, he has turned this company into a multinational corporation, with more than 20,000 employees and an annual turnover of $20 billion.

4. Growth and Innovation

After selling books and other items for a few years, Amazon entered the innovation game with the first digital book reader, the Amazon Kindle. It was released in 2007 and single-handedly increased the number of readers all over the world.

You all must have heard the name Alexa. Amazon’s new AI assistant has brought about a revolution in the area of electronics, home appliances and sound systems. They have made a variety of products that have cutting-edge technology and innovation.

5. Shares and Market Value

Amazon has internet stores in many countries like US, Japan, Canada, all over Europe and many more. One-third of the world’s goods is sold by Amazon. In the share market, Amazon leads the chart and has occupied a position among the four companies who have crossed $1000 in terms of share price on the American stock exchange. The price of Amazon shares ranges up to about $1200 dollars.

6. Unique Practices

Amazon has some unique practices among its employees. Every two years, all the employees spend two days working at the customer service desk, including the CEO. This ensures they understand the customer service process and have a real idea of the users. For each project, they divide the teams by keeping a number of people that can be fed by two pizzas.

Conventional Powerpoint presentations are not encouraged here. Instead employees take half an hour at the start of the meeting to read about the issue at hand and form their own ideas and opinions about the project.

7. Does Amazon pay taxes?

Amazon has skyrocketed into profits ever since its inception and especially after the advent of Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is a cloud services that lets businesses use it for data storage and IT resources. It is used by companies like Netflix, Spotify and Airbnb. AWS alone secured a revenue of $7.3 billion in the year 2018, making it the most profitable venture for Amazon.

For a company that makes so much earnings, you would expect their taxes to be a substantial amount as well. However, Amazon has not paid any federal taxes in the last two years. And no, they are not committing tax evasion. The US Government gives tax exemption to growing companies for research and development.

8. New Developments

Amazon has started a new program called Amazon FBA, through which small or private manufacturers and sellers can list their products on Amazon. When the products are sold, they get the profits in American currency, making it a profitable venture. The Amazon export hub also helps customers sell products on this website, along with organizing training programs in Georgia.

Another unique venture is their Pay to Quit program, that was started in 2014.Any employee handing in their resignation gets $3,000, which has been reportedly increased to about $5,000 by 2017. Their video streaming service Amazon Prime Video is an immensely successful venture, with one in every 10 Americans having a Prime membership.

9. What happens to things you don’t buy?

For a huge multinational corporation like Amazon, it is obvious that they have numerous warehouses stuffed full of your favorite products in large quantities. It often happens that at the end of a season or year, many goods are left unsold. Then, Amazon proceeds to liquidate the goods with major wholesale liquidation businesses, one of the best of which is Quicklotz. Goods are sold by truckloads, pallets, and cases at a reduced price, from where you can buy for your own business as well.