Attack competitors head-on
Amazon has grown bigger more quickly than any company in retail history. (In inflation-adjusted dollars, it took Wal-Mart 27 years to hit $30 billion in sales; Amazon did it in 16.) It has obviously benefited from a massive shift to online retail -- e-commerce is now 7% of total U.S. retail sales, up from 3% in 2005. But Amazon sees the brick-and-mortar giants as its biggest competitors, and it beats them at their own game: In a Morgan Stanley survey of 50 products, Amazon sold items for 6% less on average than Wal-Mart and 9% less than Best Buy. By acquiring niche sites like Diapers.com in November and expanding into luxury apparel and high-end electronics, Amazon could surpass Sears, Best Buy, and Target in revenue in four years, predicts Morgan Stanley.
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Last updated February 24 2011: 5:40 AM ET
