Amazon is one of the largest online retailers worldwide and originated in the USA. The company was founded in 1994 as an online bookstore, but has since become a comprehensive marketplace that also offers many other products. The headquarters are located in Seattle, Washington. Amazon now employs over one million people and is also active in many other countries. The business model of Amazon is based on selling products on the internet - and it is extremely successful at that. The company is known for providing its customers with a huge selection of products and often having particularly low prices. Around 95% of the products on Amazon are sold by third-party sellers. However, Amazon also operates its own production and sales departments. One of Amazon's largest divisions is online shopping, where customers can buy products from numerous categories. In addition to books, Amazon also offers clothing, electronics, household appliances, cosmetics, toys, groceries, and many other products. There are both well-known brand-name products and products from less well-known manufacturers. Another business area of Amazon is video streaming, which offers customers a wide selection of movies and series. Music streaming is also part of the company's portfolio now. Music can be streamed on demand and live broadcasts of concerts and other events are also offered. Another product of Amazon is the voice control assistant Alexa, which is built into some of the company's own devices such as the Amazon Echo or Amazon Fire TV. Users can make requests or perform other actions by voice command. Alexa can, for example, provide weather forecasts or play music. In addition, Amazon has its own technology branches that deal with artificial intelligence, robotics, and cloud computing. This enables the company to be innovative in other areas as well, such as realizing deliveries by drones or self-driving delivery vans. A development that Amazon has strongly advanced in recent years is cloud computing. In this process, IT infrastructure and applications are no longer installed locally on one's own computer, but are centrally provided in the network. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has now become a leader in the cloud market and is also used by large companies and public institutions, for example. Another topic that Amazon has pushed forward in recent years is sustainability. The company announced that it aims to be carbon neutral by 2040. It also plans to develop more climate-friendly shipping options, such as the use of electric transporters and the possibility of delivering packages in bundles. Overall, Amazon has developed into one of the largest online retailers worldwide in recent years and is no longer just a pure book distributor. The company constantly drives new developments and also shows innovation in other areas. Despite some critical voices regarding working conditions and market dominance, Amazon remains an important marketplace for many people due to its wide range of products at low prices.