Despite Glitches, Amazon Prime Day 2018 Sets New Records

Amazon signs up more Prime members on this year’s Prime Day than ever before

Amazon Prime Day 2018 blew away past years for Amazon.com and set a new sales record for their company. This isn’t particularly surprising given the event’s extended hours and the availability to access through four markets. It’s also not surprising the anger and frustration that customers felt when the servers were immediately overwhelmed and gave up under pressure. The standards that consumers hold Amazon to are high, but those standards are set by Jeff Bezos himself.

Back in 2001 on a corporate retreat Jeff Bezos developed a concept referred to as a “flywheel effect”, which is essentially a self-reinforcing loop creating motivation in businesses to grow from good to great. Bezos jumped on the idea and soon realized that this was the secret ingredient to their recipe for success. He started by reducing prices to bring customers in and to encourage multiple visits. This then attracted third party sellers, which in turn led to Amazon Prime.