Figure 2.2    The flywheel: the key to Amazon’s success

The flywheel: the key to Amazon’s success

1. Every new service is another spoke on the wheel. Amazon’s success cannot be measured by looking at one business unit in isolation.
2. The one thing linking all of Amazon’s seemingly irrational moves is the opportunity to improve the customer experience, further embedding itself with shoppers in the process.

In 2018, Bain & Company predicted that a banking service from Amazon could attract more than 70 million customer accounts within five years – which would make Amazon the size of the third-largest American bank, Wells Fargo.⁴ Trust and loyalty to the Amazon brand is now well established and can be translated across other sectors, although this will not come without greater scrutiny.

Now let’s take a closer look at how Amazon’s values have shaped their strategy to become one of the most disruptive and influential retail businesses of the 21st century.