Amazon.com 2000 Annual Report Download - page 11

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individuals and businesses to offer popular as well as hard-to-find items to Amazon.com’s customers.
The participants in Amazon Auctions and zShops can use our Amazon Payments service, which
allows individuals and small businesses to accept credit card payments through Amazon.com’s
1-Click payment feature, thus eliminating the inconveniences associated with checks and money
orders.
•Other Services. Services other than Amazon Auctions and zShops result from agreements with
strategic partners to promote their products and services to our customers. In September of 2000, we
launched a co-branded toy and video game store with Toysrus.com to bring customers the best toy-
buying experience available online. Other strategic partners include drugstore.com, an online retail
and information source for health, beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy; Audible, which
delivers spoken audio over the Internet; Ashford.com, an online retailer of luxury and premium
products; NextCard, an online issuer of consumer credit cards; Sotheby’s.com, an online auction site
devoted to art, antiques, jewelry and collectibles; Ofoto.com, an online photography service; and
CarsDirect.com (a company that acquired Greenlight.com), an online source for auto purchasing in
partnership with local dealerships.
International Segment. Amazon.com operates four internationally-focused sites: www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr and www.amazon.co.jp. Net sales for the International segment (from all
internationally-focused sites, including export sales to the U.S.) were $381 million, $168 million, and
$22 million in 2000, 1999 and 1998, respectively. According to Media Metrix data released in November 2000,
based on the number of unique Web site hits, www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.de are the number one
online retailers in the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively, while www.amazon.fr is among the top
three online retailers in France and www.amazon.co.jp, launched November 1, 2000, is the leading online
bookseller in Japan. These international sites share the universal Amazon experience of great selection,
convenience, ease of use, service, editorial content, and competitive prices. However, each one is localized in
terms of language, products, customer service and fulfillment. In 2000, we managed international customer
service out of four international customer service facilities in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany,
and Japan, with additional support from our customer service centers in the U.S. Recently, we announced a
consolidation of our European customer service centers to serve our European customers better and more cost-
effectively out of two expanded centers in the United Kingdom and Germany. We have fulfillment centers in
the United Kingdom, Germany and France as well as in Japan, where we jointly manage fulfillment with
Nippon Express, a leading courier company. We intend to expand the product and service offerings of our
internationally-focused Web sites in the coming year.
Amazon.com Web Sites
Our Web sites promote brand loyalty and repeat purchases by providing an inviting and satisfying
experience that encourages customers to return frequently and to interact with other customers. The key
features of our Web sites include broad selection, useful product information, reviews, recommendations, low
prices, 1-Click technology, secure payment systems, availability, fulfillment, browsing and searching. Other key
features include instant and personalized recommendations, personal notification services, and Web pages
tailored to individual customer’s preferences. Our Wish List feature allows users to create an online wish list of
desired products and services that others can reference for gift-giving purposes, and our listmania feature
allows users to publish lists with accompanying commentary regarding their favorite products on the
Amazon.com Web site.
Marketing and Promotion
Amazon.com’s marketing strategy is designed to strengthen and broaden the Amazon.com brand name,
increase customer traffic to the Amazon.com Web sites, build customer loyalty, encourage repeat purchases and
develop incremental product and service revenue opportunities. We deliver personalized pages and services and
employ a variety of media, business development activities and promotional methods to achieve these goals.
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