7 Predictions On The Next Era Of Digital Retail

When Amazon launched in 1995, only 3% of Americans had ever been on the Internet, let alone purchased anything online. Both the concept of the web and e-commerce were startlingly new. Just a year earlier in fact, the New York Times had run a story with the headline: "Attention Shoppers: Internet Is Open", breathlessly reporting the first online transaction, the sale of a Sting CD. Also in 1995, Auction Web went live, which was to become eBay. A broken laser pointer – to a collector of broken laser pointers no less – for $14.83.