What's is your
ecommerce success story?

Jeff Bezos incorporated the company as "Cadabra" on July 5, 1994 and the site went online as Amazon.com in 1995.[18] Bezos changed the name cadabra.com to amazon.com because it sounded too much like cadaver. Additionally, a name beginning with "A" was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized.

Amazon's initial business plan was unusual; it did not expect to make a profit for four to five years. This "slow" growth caused stockholders to complain about the company not reaching profitability fast enough to justify investing in, or to even survive in the long-term. When the dot-com bubble burst at the start of the 21st century, destroying many e-companies in the process, Amazon survived, and grew on past the bubble burst to become a huge player in online sales. It finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million (i.e., 1¢ per share), on revenues of more than $1 billion. This profit margin, though extremely modest, proved to skeptics that Bezos' unconventional business model could succeed. In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos the Person of the Year, recognizing the company's success in popularizing online shopping.

Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of the company in early 1996. In November 1996, eBay entered into its first third-party licensing deal, with a company called Electronic Travel Auction to use SmartMarket Technology to sell plane tickets and other travel products. Growth was phenomenal; in January 1997 the site hosted 2,000,000 auctions, compared with 250,000 during the whole of 1996. The company officially changed the name of its service from AuctionWeb to eBay in September 1997. Originally, the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar's consulting firm. Omidyar had tried to register the domain name echobay.com, but found it already taken by the Echo Bay Mines, a gold mining company, so he shortened it to his second choice, eBay.com.

n 1997, the company received $6.7 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital.

Meg Whitman was hired as eBay President and CEO in March 1998. At the time, the company had 30 employees, half a million users and revenues of $4.7 million in the United States.[citation needed]

eBay went public on September 21, 1998, and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. eBay's target share price of $18 was all but ignored as the price went to $53.50 on the first day of trading.

"BagItToday.com is one of the first flash sale sites launched in India and is run by media house India Today’s digital arm. The group is betting big on e-commerce this year and also planning acquisitions in this space.

Salil Kumar, CEO, BagItToday, offers Techcircle.in a wealth of prudent and prodigal opinions on the inevitable consolidation in the e-commerce industry, the flux in the ecosystem, various challenges being faced and how BagItToday is poised for change.

The founder says,""I see the market heating up and it will get overcrowded very soon. After which, we can expect consolidation and one or two clear leaders in the long run. The key differentiation will be intent, because a lot of the new smaller players and those with a ‘me too’ offering mostly, have come up to make a quick buck through VC funding or a merger/acquisition. This is quite apparent when you read that, in the month of May alone, India saw $40 million worth of funding in this space. We are open to acquisitions but will wait for the right opportunity and time."""

"Ex-VP, Shopperstop, Vivek Mathur is all set for his new venture giftease.com. The company is in the space of offering merchandise and experiences in the gifting space offered via offline and online mode. It has started its operation a while ago and is based in Pune.

On contacted by iamwire, enquiring about the venture a month ago, Vivek said, “We are currently working to start up a gifting-focused online retail business, and plan to launch in the next few weeks.”

Giftease is also expected to open gifting stores in the malls in all Metro cities of India and will enrich customer experience in the gifting space in the country. Its first store would be launched in the Phoenix Market City Pune shortly. The website has gifts under different categories including occasions, men, women, kids, Home & family. It also has gift finder where user can find gifts based on occasion, Recipient, and Price range."

"BigBasket.com (Innovative Retail Concepts Private Limited) is India’s largest online food and grocery store. With over 10,000 products and over a 1000 brands in our catalogue you will find everything you are looking for. Right from fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Rice and Dals, Spices and Seasonings to Packaged products, Beverages, Personal care products, Meats – we have it all.

Choose from a wide range of options in every category, exclusively handpicked to help you find the best quality available at the lowest prices. Select a time slot for delivery and your order will be delivered right to your doorstep, anywhere in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune & Chennai. You can pay online using your debit / credit card or by cash / sodexo on delivery. We guarantee on time delivery, and the best quality!"

"BlueStone is an online jewellery store that houses high quality jewellery and accessories with strikingly exquisite designs. With its affordable rates and unique shopping experience, BlueStone is your one stop destination for making any given day an occasion. That's precisely what you can expect at BlueStone.com. An online jewellery store that's positioned to cater to stylish men and women, BlueStone houses exquisite pieces of jewellery, designed to appeal to people with unique tastes.

One of the first companies to serve the online elite, BlueStone aims at revolutionizing the Jewellery and Lifestyle Ecommerce scene in India with its firm focus on affordability, quality and user experience. Walking in and out of stores is impossible in today's world, where every second matters. Thanks to our online collection, all you have to do is click and choose. Don't wait for an occasion, as our portal is designed to make your shopping experience a tad easier. Show your beloved that you care, and put a smile on her face!"

"It all started with the typical ‘in-a-bar’, ‘on-the-tissue-paper’ evening. Both of us were frustrated with the fact that every time that we traveled and needed a taxi, we had to call two or three operators, for the glimmer of hope that we’d receive a taxi sometime in a two or three hour time frame.

We actually kept discussing on whether to become a meta-search engine that would provide a list of different taxi operators. Then one thought led to another and voila, we stumbled across the idea to be an aggregator for the radio taxi industry in India. What we call to be pure ‘Serendipity’. Now you know where the name of the company comes from. Since that point, our idea to become a taxi aggregator has become a reality, we call ourselves TaxiForSure, and we strive to be the idyllic service for anyone who needs transportation. This has not been an easy feat by any means and our vision has gone through many iterations to become what we are today.

As the ideas, thoughts and product designs began to accumulate our main objective to provide you, the customer, with a safe, reliable and easy taxi service, still proved to be the focal point. We believe that in today’s day and age, one should have confidence that their taxi will arrive on time and that you will not be over charged, and for these reasons, we introduced the much needed transparency.

Going along with the theme of empowering our customers, we have introduced various ways you can book a taxi. You can call our infamous phone number (60601010), tap twice on your smartphone using our application (for Android, iOS and Windows), or you can use our website (TaxiForSure.com).

So next time you need a taxi to/from the airport or when you need to make sure you reach home safe after an awesome Saturday night, or you’re just planning a weekend road trip with your dearest friends or any other reason, trust us to help you get the right taxi!"