Amazon's Dirty Little Secrets: How to Use the Power of Others to Market and Sell for You - Softcover

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Greg Jameson is a Colorado Small Business of the year and Inc 500 Award-Winning Entrepreneur. He has created 3 commercial software programs – all of which remain on the market today – and spoken to audiences around the world about software solutions. Over the past 15 years, he has implemented numerous Internet projects ranging from websites, eCommerce, business Facebook pages, YouTube channels and more, as well as running his own online businesses. He continues to be the creative force at WebStores Ltd, developing applications that are now used by thousands of businesses all over the world. In addition to a weekly blog, he also authored “Grow Your Online Sales”. GregJameson.com.

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The first book Amazon.com ever sold was from Jeff Bezos' garage in July 1995. The book was Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.

Since 1995, Amazon has established itself as the world’s leader in eCommerce. Its success is not a fluke, nor is it merely the result of being in the right place at the right time.

Amazon owns 80 enormous warehouses or fulfillment centers around the globe to serve the 30 million customers that buy stuff through the portal. These warehouses are massive, with a single building taking up 1.2 million-square-feet and containing miles of conveyor belts. The logistics of running a single warehouse with millions of items are mind-boggling. On top of that, Amazon doesn’t use any robots. Everything is tagged, placed and moved around by human hands. Even more amazing is the fact that Amazon doesn’t store items in an organized way. Everything is stored at random, but their location tagged with barcodes. Amazon calls the system 'chaotic storage,' and this is one of the key factors to Amazon.com's success in online retail.

Essentially, a product is stored wherever there is free space, much like data is stored on a hard disk in your computer. For instance, a computer might not be with other electronics and CDs might not be with other music or media. Items are organized by barcodes and shelved by code, instead. The result is that soap may be stored next to books. It seems crazy, but it actually increases accuracy, reducing possible delivery mix-ups.

The chaotic storage system allows Amazon to utilize more shelf space and doesn’t force employees to waste time organizing products. Locating items is a breeze thanks to computer-generated product lists, which help warehouse workers easily locate the specific products and prepare them for shipment.

The real advantage to chaotic storage is that it's significantly more flexible than conventional storage systems. If there are big changes in a product range, the company doesn't need to plan for more space, because the products or their sales volumes don't need to be known or planned in advance if they're simply being stored at random. Free space is also better utilized in a chaotic storage system. In a conventional system, free space may go unused for quite a while simply because stock is low or there aren't enough products. Without any kind of fixed positions, available shelf space is always being used. It’s also a major time saver to not organize products as they come in. Your business may not be ready for such a storage system, but don’t worry—that isn’t Amazon’s Dirty Little Secret.