What was the original name of Amazon? 

Google was Backrub, Twitter was ‘twttr, Sony was Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, Amazon was? Amazon was Cadabra! 

Yes, the magical-sounding name ‘Cadabra’ (from Abracadabra) was the first choice of its founder Jeff Bezos as the company’s name. But he soon understood that it was not the best name for his venture. His lawyer misheard Cadabra as ‘cadaver’ on phone and Bezos started his hunt for a new name began.  

Born out of a dictionary and as a bookstore! 
Bezos picked up a dictionary and settled for the name ‘Amazon’.  But why Amazon? Because it represented a place that was ‘exotic’ and ‘different’, just as he had dreamt for his e-commerce company. It was also the name of the world’s largest river and as he was just starting, he wanted to make his online store, the biggest bookstore in the world.  

Wait, bookstore? But isn’t Amazon an online store that sells almost everything on this Earth? Yes, it is, but Amazon started as an online bookstore. Bezos thought that books were the most demanded item at the time and therefore they would sell really fast.  

From a bookstore to ‘The Everything Store’  
Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos' rented home in Washington. His parents funded a big amount of the company’s initial investment. In 1995, Amazon opened its online bookshop, selling the largest collections of books in the world to anyone with internet access. The business was instantly a hit. By 1997, Amazon had made enormous strides in selling CDs and DVDs apart from books. Bezos now wanted to see how else he could expand his online storefront. From a small survey he did with his customers to find out what items they would want to buy online, he understood that he could sell almost anything and everything. Accordingly, by the early 2000s, Amazon had moved far beyond books, videos and music — offering apparel, electronics, toys, kitchenware and even magazine subscriptions. 

Eventually, Amazon expanded into a range of product categories earning it the moniker ‘The Everything Store’ because there is almost nothing that is not available on Amazon!  

What made Amazon so popular? 
Amazon owes its huge success almost entirely to the service that it offered – ease of convenience by ordering from the comfort of your home and the same getting delivered quickly. This was an amazing innovation back then and it helped Amazon gain significant customer loyalty. As the company added more products under different categories, the customer base also widened getting attracted to this unique idea. This brought huge profits in the long run.  

Another innovation Amazon made for its customers was its recommended product function. By offering other products to upsell, based on the customer's previous purchases, Amazon was able to increase its revenue even more.