Failures that moulded Amazon's online marketplace into a successful model

The idea behind zShops, was the same idea that had led Amazon to build an auction platform that emulated eBay - to bring all sorts of sellers online

In September 1999, Amazon launched zShops (zee shops) through which an individual to mega-conglomerate to small manufacturer could set up a shop to sell products online, just as Amazon had been doing for a few years then. The project failed so miserably that Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon, joked that only his parents and him had ever visited a zShop.

The idea behind zShops was the same that had led Amazon to build an auction platform that emulated eBay — to bring all sorts of sellers online. Both the ideas failed, but Amazon kept at it and