Opinion: Etail’s transformation may have only just begun

The answer is Amazon and the stat is eloquent testimony to the way that founder Jeff Bezos has transformed the world of retail and why he tops our annual Etail Power List.

The online Goliath has pushed the boundaries ever since launch.

From its days as a bookseller it became the proverbial shop without walls, driving into new categories and raising consumers’ expectations of the possible to unprecedented levels.

But no matter how dramatically Amazon has changed, and how radically it has transformed retail, some things have not changed.

Every year, Bezos includes his original letter to shareholders, written in 1997, in the annual report alongside his latest missive.

It’s a reminder of Amazon’s original sense of purpose, such as “obsession” with customers and investment for the long term. “This is Day 1 for the Internet,” Bezos wrote.

He also flagged how quickly the competitive landscape was changing and how many other businesses were bidding for a slice of the ecommerce pie.

If a retail titan such as Bezos thinks that such is the scale of opportunity he’s hardly started, it’s a reminder to others that the market remains open to new thinking and entrepreneurs

That’s still the case. In Amazon’s most recent annual report, the first item listed in the risk factors section is the intensity of competition.

It states: “Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and/or greater brand recognition.

“They may secure better terms from vendors, adopt more aggressive pricing, and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure, fulfilment, and marketing.”

Risk statements are a standard feature of annual reports but perhaps it’s too easily forgotten, such is Amazon’s power and scale, that it faces uncertainties too. You can take it for granted though that the driven Bezos never forgets it.

His most recent letter to shareholders closes with this sentence: “Our approach remains the same, and it’s still Day 1.”

If a retail titan such as Bezos thinks that such is the scale of opportunity he’s hardly started, it’s a reminder to others that the market remains open to new thinking and entrepreneurs.

Perhaps they will feature in our Etail Power Lists of the future.

Tesco makes progress

Talking of first days, how different Tesco looks now compared with when boss Dave Lewis was parachuted in.

Then Tesco, formerly the Amazon of bricks and mortar, was ailing badly. Today, while it has not recovered past glories, it looks much healthier.

What’s striking is the deceptively simple changes that seem to have made a difference – lower prices, better service, reinvigorated ranges.

What a great example of putting flesh on the bones of what could easily have been standard retail platitudes. Like Amazon, Tesco has “obsessed” about shoppers and acted on fundamentals.

Tesco’s recovery may still be in the early days but its days are not numbered, as some might have feared just a few years ago.