Jeff Bezos is a fascinating man in so many different ways. In the past 15 years or so, Bezos set up the ultimate store. It sells both physical and digital goods all around the world.

Amazon is able to get incredibly valuable data on what is being sold, by who and where it’s shipped and then can adapt by getting more involved when it makes sense.

Now that Amazon is dominant in so many categories and now launching media consumption products such as tablets, phones, and tv consoles and expanding its app store to other platforms such as Blackberry. The goal of course remains to get dominant market share which it has achieved in several product categories. Then, it’s able to negotiate with suppliers in a position of power and bully them if needed (see Hachette’s very public battle with Amazon for a good example).

Among other things, Amazon now produces or sells:

–Digital content (storage, music, ebooks, audiobooks, video (some of it leased from HBO and other studios and other produced itself)
–Its own media devices (tablets, ebook readers, tv consoles, smartphones, etc)

–Physical stuff:
-dvd’s, cd’s, etc
-electronics and computers
-home, gardent and tools
-beauty, health and grocery
-toys, kids and baby items
-clothing, shoes and jewelry
-sports and outdoor stuff
-automative stuff

Amazon also owns several brands such as Zappos which have very strong brands.

So yes, Amazon is taking over the world. It is taking its lead in some areas and taking that edge to extend it into new products. I just don’t see anyone able to successfully compete with the Bezos empire, no matter if they’re called Google or Walmart. It’s too late for that. Yes, at some point Amazon will need to produce some profits but in the meantime it’s been able to spend a decade of profits into building the top distribution and technoloy in order to manage such a franchise where having a “local” presence takes a whole new meaning.

Will I buy Amazon? Probably at some point, I’m just looking for the right entry point as I continue to believe the downside vs upside risk remains poor.