January 23, 2012

Amazon.com started in the 1990s as an online retailer catering to consumer needs for music CDs and books. In those days, sales of books and music CDs represented about 80 percent of total revenue for the company. Since then, Amazon has skillfully transformed its business model from a simple online retailer to a far more complex distributor for hundreds of online retailers.

Their status as a retailer, of course, is now unassailable. Amazon is at the absolute leading edge of the online sales revolution that is transforming the retail industry and the transport and logistics operations that serve the industry…