🛒 July 16, 1995 – Amazon.com Goes Live as an Online Bookstore
Jeff Bezos’ fledgling e-commerce company, Amazon, opened its virtual doors to the public on July 16, 1995, offering an online catalog of millions of books from a simple website. Bezos ran Amazon out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington, having founded the company the year before with a vision of creating an “everything store.” The immediate impact was modest – Amazon sold its first book in July 1995 – but the concept of buying books (and eventually anything) online was groundbreaking. Customers could suddenly browse and order books 24/7, an experience impossible in the physical retail world.
Amazon’s early success with books quickly led it to expand into music, DVDs, toys, electronics, and beyond. By relentlessly reinvesting in growth and technology, Amazon pioneered innovations like user reviews, personalized recommendations, and ultra-efficient warehouses. Over the next decade, it transformed into the world’s largest online retailer and marketplace. By 2021, Amazon even surpassed Walmart to become the biggest retailer in the world outside of China, fundamentally reshaping how shopping and supply chains work.
Interesting Fact: Amazon’s very first non-employee customer was so important that the company immortalized him. In July 1995, computer scientist John Wainwright ordered a book titled Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies, marking Amazon’s first-ever sale. Years later, Amazon named one of its office buildings the “Wainwright Building” in honor of that inaugural customer