Jeff BezosFounder of Amazonpredicted the rise of online shopping in a 1997 study BBC interviewlong before e-commerce became ubiquitous. This prescient vision was highlighted in a recently resurfaced video from the BBC Archives YouTube channel.
In an interview with “The Money Programme” Bezoswhose company was then just a two-year-old online bookstore, predicted that “over a large number of years … the sale of books over the Internet will be a very big business.” His forecast has been dramatically confirmed: Amazon reported sales of 143.3 billion dollars for the first quarter of 2024 alone.
In an interview with “The Money Programme” Bezoswhose company was then just a two-year-old online bookstore, predicted that “over a large number of years … the sale of books over the Internet will be a very big business.” His forecast has been dramatically confirmed: Amazon reported sales of 143.3 billion dollars for the first quarter of 2024 alone.
1997: Will online shopping ever become popular? | The Money Programme | Retro Tech | BBC Archive
The 27-year-old report, which aired in November 1997, explored the then-fledgling world of e-commerce. Reporter Nils Blythe interviewed a range of retailers, from local bakers to major supermarket chains, about their experiences with online sales.
Bezos emphasized Amazon’s competitive advantage, boasting a catalog of over 2.5 million books – ten times more than the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores carry. This huge selection foreshadowed Amazon’s future as a comprehensive online marketplace.
The video, complete with graphics from the 90s, shows how far e-commerce has come.
