I wrote an essay for Real Life earlier this week about Amazon's "customer obsession" and the company's efforts to turn the world itself into an immersive customer environment. Just a few days later, Jeff Bezos announced his plan to open a network of preschools in which "the child will be the customer." I wish I'd had that example available when I wrote the piece, as it perfectly exemplifies the consumerization of life that's happening with and without Amazon (but increasingly with it). One idea I addressed at various points in the essay is that Amazon, unlike the other major digital platforms, particularly Google and Facebook, traffics heavily in physical *stuff* and must grapple with the offline world in a way the others don't (Facebook just wants us to spend more time online). A corollary to that, which could be an essay of its own, is that Amazon benefits operationally from making the world itself more like a digital platform. And Amazon, of course, is big enough to do that. The more efficient the company's supply chain gets, the more its shipping will approach the high speed and low cost that characterizes digital packets.
#64: The Canonical Snow Shovel
#64: The Canonical Snow Shovel
#64: The Canonical Snow Shovel
I wrote an essay for Real Life earlier this week about Amazon's "customer obsession" and the company's efforts to turn the world itself into an immersive customer environment. Just a few days later, Jeff Bezos announced his plan to open a network of preschools in which "the child will be the customer." I wish I'd had that example available when I wrote the piece, as it perfectly exemplifies the consumerization of life that's happening with and without Amazon (but increasingly with it). One idea I addressed at various points in the essay is that Amazon, unlike the other major digital platforms, particularly Google and Facebook, traffics heavily in physical *stuff* and must grapple with the offline world in a way the others don't (Facebook just wants us to spend more time online). A corollary to that, which could be an essay of its own, is that Amazon benefits operationally from making the world itself more like a digital platform. And Amazon, of course, is big enough to do that. The more efficient the company's supply chain gets, the more its shipping will approach the high speed and low cost that characterizes digital packets.