It was launched nearly 20 years ago. The predictions of the richest man in the world are true

"We want to try to create a place where people can find and discover anything they might want to buy online," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

In a report published by the American "Business Insider" website, the author, Big Lyskin, said that Bezos' vision - which he participated in during a 1999 appearance on the Charlie Rose talk show - became a reality.

Specialized surveys in 2018 revealed that online shoppers are more likely to start searching on Amazon, even before entering a search engine like Google.

Shopping malls from the past
The writer mentioned that thousands of shops have closed in shopping centers across the United States, marking the end of the retail world.

According to a report by Credit Suisse in 2017, it will close between 20% and 25% of shopping centers during the next five years, indicating that Bezos was right about what he said to the American magazine Wired.

Instant entertainment and comfort
Bezos predicts that shops will only stay in place if they can provide at least one of two essential features: entertainment value or immediate comfort.

During an interview with Wired magazine, Bezos said that the value of entertainment will contribute to maintaining the continuity of places such as cinemas, adding that this experience will be fought when you go to the cinemas, although you can always rent movies.

The writer pointed out that many shopping malls and retailers follow these two paths to be able to maintain their importance, as some offer high-tech expertise to attract customers to their sites.

In contrast, Bezos wanted to provide immediate convenience to consumers by creating an Amazon website.

smart phones
"I am a firm believer in the concept of this type of device, and that there will be a lot of little things connected to the Internet, there will be a whole bunch of things connected to the network." Bezos adds as if he expected to "automate" the house during his 1999 interview with Charlie Rose.

Currently, Amazon offers many smart home devices that are controlled by its Alexa virtual assistant, such as Echo amplifiers, sockets, watches, microwaves, and home security systems.

E-books
In 1999, Amazon, Barnes & Noble were seen as direct competitors to bookstores, and Bezos said in his interview with Wired, "I bet that a year from now they won't see us as direct competitors, and that's clearly what they're doing today." , But we are going in different ways, while we are trying to shape the future of e-commerce, they only defend their sector.

The writer explained that while the library series Barnes & Noble has remained, to a large extent, a bookstore, Amazon is one of its products in its growing market.

It is possible that during the early days of the release of electronic readers, the two brands were considered direct competitors, but the Amazon Kindle system outperformed its competitor, Knock.

Internet ads
"Advertising is also a valid model on the Internet, where they will be able to make ads more visible to customers by targeting them better, which is difficult to do during broadcasts," Bezos said.

Here the author said that personalized ads - which use user data with reference to search and shopping history - are popular today.

With the continued decline in demand for live TV broadcasts, money has been increasingly invested in digital advertising, and since late 2018, Amazon has been on the right path to becoming the third largest digital advertising company in the United States after Google and Facebook.

Instant operation of devices
The writer says Bezos complained - in several interviews in 1999 - of the long wait for his computer to run. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Bezos said that computers will soon be equipped with the "hot run" feature.

For the time being, with smartphones providing fast answers and laptops that don't need to be turned off after each use, Bezos seems to be right about that, even though the technology has never been so easy.

Electronic shopping
In 1999, Wired Magazine provided an overview of the Amazon CEO’s vision for 2020 “In the future, the bulk of merchandise purchased from stores, such as basic foodstuffs, paper products, cleaning supplies, and the like, will be ordered using electronic means” .

Here, the author mentioned that online shopping recorded a significant increase to become a trend in 2020, and Amazon became a favorite destination for the acquisition of daily needs and household products, especially in light of offers designed to simplify the demand for these products, such as subscriptions and shopping through the use of audio programs, similar to Alexa And Prime Bantry.

However, not all Bezos' expectations were correct, he touched on Amazon's customer data usage on CBS "60 Minutes", and reporter Bob Simon said Bezos refused to rule out the possibility of selling valuable information to other companies in the future, but he did not believe This will be an inconvenience to customers.