By now, no one is really a stranger to the massive e-commerce website known as Amazon. The Seattle-based company was founded in 1994 but didn’t see itself take off until the 2010s. Amazon is considered one of the Big Four tech companies in the world, employing over 750,000 people.
With such a massive scale comes several moving parts beneath its umbrella. As Amazon has grown, the company has bought out other companies or created smaller companies that are known as subsidiaries, which it owns and manages.
Companies create subsidiaries to keep their brand identities separate. This allows each brand to maintain its established goodwill with customers and vendor relationships. A subsidiary under Amazon operates as a separate and distinct corporation, but behind the scenes, Amazon runs the show.
In this blog, we’re taking a look at a few of the most well-known subsidiaries of Amazon, including how they came to be and what their functions are.
1.Amazon Web Services
One lesser-known feature offered by the e-commerce mogul is Amazon Web Services, also known as AWS. This web hosting service is part of the IoT, is highly dependable, and has earned top reviews and feedback thus far. Users applaud AWS’s scalability, flexibility, and wide range of features.
Amazon Web Services has over 90 capabilities, including computing, storage (Amazon Simple Storage Service – Amazon S3) (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud – EC2), networking, and analytics.
Amazon Web Services also offers application services, deployment, management, and mobile options. Even developers can get in on the action with developer tools.
The list goes on.
For those who are interested in learning how to work within this highly useful and exiting platform, there are several AWS training courses available online to equip you with the proper knowledge and skills.
2.Amazon Fresh
On top of the tech and computing space, Amazon has already infiltrated the food space, such as with its acquisition of the massive health-focused grocery chain, Whole Foods. Amazon Fresh is a U.S. grocery delivery and pickup service that operates mainly with Whole Foods. If you’re outside the country, Amazon Fresh is also available with other grocery chains.
Amazon Fresh was founded in 2007 and currently serves the United States, Berlin (including Potsdam), Hamburg, London, Munich, and Tokyo.
The company operates as an online supermarket, offering:
- Food: Whole Foods products, dairy, meat, seafood, produce, prepared foods, meal kits, beverages, breads, snacks, etc.
- Personal Care, Health & Beauty: Items related to skincare, cosmetics, hygiene, baby products, etc.
- Local & Seasonal: Locally-sourced products like honey and vegetables as well as favorites from the region.
Users can choose to have their food delivered at their doorstep or to pick it up at the local supermarket of their choice. They can also decide whether or not they want to be present if they choose delivery.
3.Audible
Did you know that the world’s largest producer of audiobooks is owned and run by Amazon? This makes sense, given Amazon was first meant to be a book company during its early days. Audible is the United States’ largest audiobook producer and retailer. It even has a production arm, Audible Studios, that makes it highly scalable and on a global stage.
Amazon bought Audible in 2008 for $300 million and the rest is history. The company is based in Newark, New Jersey, and is expanding its presence in the city with the creation of a new technology center, called the Innovation Cathedral, located in a former church.
Audible’s content includes more than 200,000 audio programs from leading publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazines newspapers, and business information providers.
It offers books of all genres, as well as radio shows (classic and current), speeches, interviews, stand-up comedy, and audio versions of newspapers such as The New York Times.
The beauty about Audible is that it makes reading portable and accessible through any electronic device, whether it be a phone, tablet, or computer. The books stay stored in your cloud-bases account forever.
4.Woot
Based in Dallas, Texas, Woot was acquired by Amazon in 2010. It is an internet retailer whose main website generally offers only one discounted product each day, often a piece of computer hardware or an electronic gadget. Other Woot sites offer daily deals for T-shirts, wine, children’s items, household goods; two other sites offer various items.
Today, Woot continues to operate like this and has been highly successful thanks to the attention and marketing associated with Amazon.
Although Amazon’s bread and butter will always be its online retail space with Prime membership options, it is interesting to see just how far-reaching Amazon’s influence is in terms of other markets and industries.
