It’s not even Throwback Thursday, but CNET has found a treat: A 1997 video of Jeff Bezos giving a tour of the Seattle Amazon warehouse.
So when you’re done shopping for granny panties on Amazon’s first big Prime Day to celebrate its 20th anniversary, take a look back at when Amazon only sold books that were packed and shipped by real people. The video was filmed about 18 months after Amazon launched in 1995, according to CNET.
You will marvel at the old-school PCs! The beta-looking Amazon site! And the fact that Ron Reagan, yes, Ronnie’s son and then CNET correspondent, is interviewing Bezos.
In the clip, Bezos shares an interesting tip as to how he picks books: “For a novel, one of the ways I pick a novel to read, is I read the first page of the novel and [ask] is this a narrator I want to spend time with?”
A precursor to the Kindle’s try a sample before you buy? Admittedly, I love that feature.
Of course, the online retailer has expanded well beyond bookselling. Amazon is now a powerhouse in cloud computing, entertainment, devices and just about everything else. Basically, if you can think of buying it, and it’s legal, it’s probably there.
As we reported on the announcement of Prime Day, “More than ever before, Amazon is considering Prime the cornerstone of the company’s success, by fostering loyalty and getting people to make repeat purchases.”
Prime is helping fuel Amazon’s revenue, with a reported 41 million U.S. subscribers spending an average of $1,100 per year, according to stats in May. We reported in April that Amazon posted $22.7 billion in revenue in Q1, beating Wall Street expectations.
Check out the original CNET “from the vaults” video below:
