Amazon may be the next ruler of the world! Seriously, they are now larger than all the major publicly traded department stores in the United States. According to Visual Capitalist (VisualCapitalist_Amazon) Amazon’s market value as of December 30, 2016 is $355.6Billion which is larger than the collective value of Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, JCPenney and Sears which is $297.8B. Ten years ago, Amazon was only valued at $17.5B compared to the collective group at $400B. Whether you make goods, sell goods or buy goods, you should think about how Amazon’s scale fits into your future. Many smaller businesses have started to use Amazon as their distribution model. Those who want to sell outside of this model need something tangibly different, such as Etsy’s network of handcrafted appeal.
What will this model look like in three years? Will you be ready?