It is hard to imagine the Internet without Amazon.com. One of the Web’s first major e-tailers, Amazon has become almost synonymous with online shopping. Since its early days of just selling books, Amazon has ballooned into a multi-product, multibillion-dollar company. Along the way, it has survived the ups and downs of the Internet’s growth, which has seen many competitors come and go.
e-tailer：電子小売
synonymous：同義の
balloon into X：Xにふくらむ、Xへ急進する
multi-product：多品目の
along the way：ここに至るまでに
ups and downs：起伏
Amazon opened its doors online in 1995. It was truly a “garage business”; the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, started by packaging and shipping books from his home garage. The concept of shopping for books online was very exciting to people. At last, they could locate almost any book without having to make phone calls to several bookstores. People could also save money by shopping on Amazon, which offered discount prices that traditional bookstores couldn’t match.
locate：場所を突き止める
As Amazon’s reputation grew, it made many aggressive moves. The company grew its market by launching international websites, starting with sites for England and Germany in 1998. With a goal of becoming a one-stop shopping site, Amazon is expanded its product lines to include DVDs, CDs, and countless other items. And the company formed partnerships with many e-tailers and individuals to help sell their products using Amazon’s technology and services.
aggressive：攻撃的な
launch：(プログラムを)立ち上げる
one-stop：1つで全てをみなす
Despite all the hard work, the road to success has been a bumpy one. For years, Amazon lost huge amounts of money. Some of its partnerships, such as its relationship with Toys “R”Us, have not worked out. After the dot-com bust of 2000, when many Internet businesses went under, Amazon’s future was not at all clear.
bumpy：でこぼこの
work out：うまくいく
bust：失敗、破滅
go under：(会社などが)破産する
During the long storm, Amazon kept flying the flag and pushing on, investing millions each year to improve its technology. The hard work paid off. From 2001 to 2007, the resilient company grew by an average of almost 30 percent per year. In 2003, Amazon achieved its first profit, and it continued to deliver impressive sales figures and profits in the years that followed. Not bad for a company that started in someone’s garage.
fly the flag：旗を揚げる
(ref.) keep the flag flying：降参しない、信念を貫く
(ref.) show the flag：姿を見せる
pay off：利益を生む
resilient：回復の早い
figure：数字