Profits are up nine per cent, and the company continues in its relentless expansion mode
Amazon.com remains a glimmering beacon on the grim retail landscape. It just experienced its best holiday season in company history, with profits up nine per cent, and it continues in its relentless expansion mode by hiring and building new distribution centres. Though buoyed in the past year by forays into new businesses such as the e-book reader Kindle (an “Oprah-certified phenomenon”), the company remains focused on its core online retail business, expanding it into digital music, out-of-print books and CDs, fabrics, motorcycles and a new PC video game store launched this week. But the real key to the company’s success is more psychological, notes Slate.com: “It’s the one place that’ll sell you stuff for a bargain without making you feel like you’re slumming.”