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To fully understand the breadth of the reach Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has into our lives, realize that you can go through your entire day and use virtually nothing but Amazon products and services.
Few companies have ever had such broad contact with our daily lives or the ability to meet so many of our needs. There's a reason Amazon is called the "everything store," and it underscores why this behemoth is able to generate over $200 billion in annual sales and some $9 billion in yearly profits. Maybe it's not all-encompassing, like the Buy and Large Corporation from the movie Wall-E, but it's not so far away, either.
The steel and railroad monopolies of the late 19th century were feared because of their control over the economy. But as the digital world has evolved to shape how we work, live, and play, the old monopolies have nothing on Amazon.com, which accounts for 50% of all internet sales today.
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Amazon all day, every day
Through its list of over 70 private-label brands, Amazon is there for you in every aspect of your home and life.
You can wake up in the morning in an AmazonBasics bed covered in Pinzon sheets, then reach over to your Rivet nightstand and check your phone that's plugged into the wall with an Amazon cable -- hey, are you still using your Amazon Fire phone after all these years?
You pad your way to the bathroom to shower with Mountain Falls body wash, wash your hair with Solimo shampoo, then towel off with a Basics towel. In your medicine cabinet are a variety of Basic Care products including antacids, ointments, allergy meds, and smoking cessation gum.
The list of clothes you can wear with an Amazon label is nearly endless, and it comprises the largest proportion of Amazon brands, covering women, men, and kids, and ranging from casual to office wear. Listing all of them would take too long, but they include Goodthreads, Wild Meadow, Social Graces, Crafted Collar, Buttoned Down, and Rugged Mile Denim. And don't forget Mama Bear diapers for the baby.
The kitchen is, of course, stocked with food from Whole Foods Market, but Amazon also sells Mama Bear baby food, snacks from Happy Belly and Wickedly Prime, and your first coffee of the day is from Solimo. You can even heat it up in an Alexa-enabled Amazon microwave where you can order more popcorn with the touch of a built-in Dash button. And if you run out of other covered items and are in a participating location, you can log on to Amazon Fresh to buy more and have them delivered.
Around the home, you'll find Alexa-enabled clocks, Stone & Beam furniture and lighting, and the full gamut of electronic and accessories, including the ubiquitous Echo devices. Soon to come is a variety of audio equipment such as the Echo Link and Link Amp, which provide multiroom sound capabilities.