'The world's most secretive company': 5 Amazon takeaways from IRCE 2016

No brand in retail generates more questions, opinions and fascination than Amazon. So each year the Internet Retailer Conference Exposition hosts Amazon & Me, a day-long pre-conference workshop designed for retailers and branded manufacturers alike. Described by moderator/organizer Scot Wingo as "a curated mix of Amazon strategies and tactics that both beginners and advanced as well as retailers and brands can utilize," Amazon & Me 2016, held earlier this week, drilled deep into the Amazon mystique in an effort to better understand the company's business model, its core philosophies and its ultimate goals. Here are five major takeaways from this year's event. According to Wingo, the co-founder and executive chairman of e-commerce solutions provider ChannelAdvisor, Amazon's revenues are growing 26% year over year, and it now serves 310 million active buyers, a customer segment increasing 13% annually.