Here are a series of questions that Amazon answered over the years:

1. Why do you want to go to the bookstore when you can find a book online?
[convenience]

2. Why do you want to search among a few thousand books when you can search among a few million books?
[long tail]

3. Your bookstore does not sell used books?
[used book marketplace]

4. Why don’t you want to save on taxes for the books?
[savings]

5. Do you want to know what other books did other buyers of this book purchase?
[cross-sell and upsell]

6. What are others saying about this book?
[comments, user-generated content]

7. What are others saying about what others are saying about this book?
[comments on comments, user-generated content on user-generated content]

8. What is the author of the book saying?
[author connect, engagement]

9. Do you want to carry a 1000 books along with you?
[amazon kindle]

10. Oh..you want to get the book instantly? No problem
[whispernet technology]

11. Do you want to add your own documents along with this book collection?
[amazon storage for books]

It is amazing to watch the evolution over the years. If you think about it, in the initial days Amazon had a clear disadvantage as there was no “instant gratification” for book buyers online. However, the additional benefits far exceeded this disadvantage. Now, with Kindle and whispernet technology, Amazon offers “instant gratification” along with all other benefits.

Hats off to them!

It makes me think about all the questions we are answering at the various businesses I am involved with. What are we answering today? What should we be answering tomorrow?