Well we couldn’t believe our eyes on reading of the giant who we called an omnivore has actually adopted the name for its new blog site! In Brave New World we alikened some of the activities of the search engines and Amazon to omnivores – they devour all before them and Amazon must have thought the cap fitted. Their new book blog new home is www.omnivoracious.com.
Why did they choose Omnivoracious? They say that their editors are ‘always foraging hungrily for that next great book, wherever it comes from, whatever it's about’. They take after their parent and wake up hungry every day! They also admit that ‘before long, we expect, in the spirit of our name, to expand our appetite to the newest movies and music too.’
Today we also read of Amazon.com's international significant sales rise of 40% in the third-quarter. The company's UK, German, Japanese, French and Chinese sites saw turnover rise 33% to $1.5bn with its operating profit almost doubling over the period, from $50m to $98m. The parent Amazon net sales increased 41% to $3.26bn in the same quarter, compared with $2.31bn in third quarter 2006 with net sales growth of 38% compared with third quarter 2006.
Sales for 2007 are expected to be between $14.3bn and $14.6bn, 33% and 36% comparative growth on 2006 with operating income expected to be between $605m and $675m, or 56% and 74% comparative growth.
Amazon is now much more than books or even entertainment and in just over a decade has built a sustainable business, a global brand and a turnover far beyond anyone’s expectations. In publishing they cover all the based across the value chain from author to reader and have changed consumer attitudes. It is interesting to see the size of the overall publishing market compared to Amazon and to realise that it is now not just a publishing omnivore but a big retail gorilla too.
