[ProtectOurFreedom]

Really? One word...Amazon.

Bigger than Wal-Mart now.

I love it. I almost never have to stop at any stores any more. Just bought a bunch of socks last week. Fantastic selection, great prices, no crowds or mall rats, fast delivery, and excellent return policies. What’s not to like?

[Fungi]

Jeff Bezos.

[ptsal]

What’s not to like?

<>Jeff Bezos may not be likeable.

[WVNan]

Yes, I believe it’s Amazon. It’s the automatic default for everything we buy except groceries. However, I am uncomfortable with the idea of only one retail source. Things can happen to any business or country. So where do you buy when the big one hits the atmosphere and all the power goes down? Better keep our grocery stores, especially the ones you can walk to.

[Salamander]

I really miss Borders and Circuit City, though

:(

[BunnySlippers]

I can always find my size and color selection online too.

[RayChuang88]

But Amazon is NOT making its money as an online shopping site, given the very low margins for online shopping. Their big money maker--and they very well know it--is Amazon Web Services. In short, Amazon understood "cloud computing" long before everyone else did. Today, a huge fraction of the web sites owned by US-based companies are run off Amazon servers.