英文原文
A Recap of 1999
During 1999, our relentless focus on customers worked:
• Sales grew from $610 million in 1998 to $1.64 billion -a 169 percent increase.
• We added 10.7 million new customers, increasing cumulative customer accounts from 6.2 million to 16.9 million.
• The percentage of orders placed by repeat customers grew from over 64 percent in the fourth quarter of 1998 to greater than 73 percent in the same period in 1999.
• Customers around the world are now choosing Amazon.com for a wide array of products. Only two years ago, Amazon.com's U.S. Books business represented 100 percent of our sales. Today, despite strong growth in U.S. Books, other areas account for more than half our sales. Major 1999 initiatives included Auctions, zShops, Toys, Consumer Electronics, Home Improvement, Software, Video Games, Payments and our wireless initiative, Amazon Anywhere.
• We've continued to be recognized as best-of-breed not only in our more established areas such as books, but in our newer stores as well. Just to focus on one area, Amazon Toys has received multiple awards, including being rated the best online toy store in an MSNBC survey, a ranking as the No. 1 on-line toy store by Forrester Research, and the top e-Rating from Consumer Reports in the toys category, in each case beating out a number of longer-established players.
• Sales outside of the US accounted for 22 percent of our business, totaling $358 million. In the U.K. and Germany, we added Music, Auctions and zShops. In fact, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.com are now the #1, #2, and #3 most popular online retail domains in Europe.
• We grew worldwide distribution capacity from roughly 300,000 square feet to over 5 million square feet in less than 12 months.
• In part because of this infrastructure, we were able to grow revenues 90 percent in just three months, while shipping well over 99 percent of our holiday orders in time for the holidays. As far as we can determine, no other company has ever grown 90 percent in three months on a sales base of over $1 billion.
I'm incredibly proud of everyone at Amazon.com for their tireless efforts to deliver what has become the standard-setting, Amazon.com-class customer experience while simultaneously handling such extraordinary growth rates. If any of you shareholders would like to thank this incredible worldwide team of Amazonians, please feel free to send an email to jeff@amazon.com. With help from my astounding office staff, I'll compile them and send them to the company. I know it would be appreciated. (As a side benefit I'll get to see if anyone reads these letters!)
In 1999, we continued to benefit from a business model that is inherently capital efficient. We don't need to build physical stores or stock those stores with inventory, and our centralized distribution model has allowed us to build a business with over $2 billion in annualized sales but requiring just $220 million in inventory and $318 million in fixed assets. Over the last five years, we've cumulatively used just $62 million in operating cash.
中文大意
回顾1999年
1999年，我们对客户的不懈关注：
• 销售额从1998年的6.1亿美元增长到16.4亿美元 - 增长169％。
• 我们增加了1,070万新客户，累计客户账户从620万增加到1690万。
• 重复客户的订单百分比从1998年第四季度的64％以上增长到1999年同期的73％以上。
• 全球客户现在都在选择Amazon.com来购买各种产品。仅在两年前，Amazon.com的美国图书业务占我们销售额的100％。今天，尽管美国书籍增长强劲，但其他领域占我们销售额的一半以上。 1999年的主要举措包括拍卖，zShops，玩具，消费电子产品，家居装修，软件，视频游戏，支付以及无线计划，Amazon Anywhere。
• 不仅在书籍等更为成熟的领域，而且在新开发的业务领域中，一直被认为是最佳品种。为了专注于一个领域，亚马逊玩具获得了多个奖项，包括在MSNBC调查中被评为最佳在线玩具商店，被Forrester Research评为排名第一的在线玩具商店，以及来自顶级电子评级玩具类别的消费者报告，在每种情况下击败了一些较长期的竞争对手。
• 美国以外的销售额占我们业务的22％，总计3.58亿美元。在英国和德国，我们添加了音乐，拍卖和zShops。事实上，在欧洲最受欢迎的在线零售网站中，Amazon.co.uk，Amazon.de和Amazon.com排名前三。
• 在不到12个月的时间内将全球分销能力从大约30万平方英尺增加到超过500万平方英尺。
• 部分原因在于这种基础设施，我们能够在短短三个月内将收入增长90％，同时在假日期间及时运送99％以上的假期订单。据我们所知，没有其他公司在三个月内以超过10亿美元的销售额增长90％。
我非常自豪，亚马逊的每个人做出了不懈的努力，他们不断努力提供亚马逊风格的客户体验，同时处理这种非凡的增长率。如果您有任何股东要感谢这个令人难以置信的全球亚马逊团队，请随时发送电子邮件至jeff@amazon.com。在惊人的办公室工作人员的帮助下，我将翻译它们并将它们发送给公司。我知道会很感激。 （作为附带好处，我会看到是否有人读这些信件！）
1999年，我们继续受益于具有资本效率的商业模式。我们不需要建立实体店或库存这些商店，我们的集中分销模式使我们能够建立一个年销售额超过20亿美元的企业，但只需2.2亿美元的库存和3.18亿美元的固定资产。在过去五年中，我们累计仅使用了6200万美元的运营现金。
一点说明及感悟：
zshops项目，允许个人和各行各业的零售商都可以在亚马逊平台上销售商品。
Forrester Research公司是一家独立的技术和市场调研公司。在过去的25年当中，Forrester公司已经被公认为思想的领导者和可信赖的咨询商。
对比1998年，增加业务：zshops项目、Amazon Anywhere。还有未分类的更多的更多商品。
这里，我们稍微回顾一下2家公司：
电子商务巨头eBay和在线零售巨头亚马逊。
1997年亚马逊上市，1998年eBay上市。
亚马逊 2010年第四季度市值：812亿美元
eBay 2010年第四季度市值：367亿美元
如今：
亚马逊 2019年第2季度市值： 9900亿
eBay 2019年第2季度市值： 349.13亿（+1411.33亿，PayPal拆分单独上市）
为什么？简单的看法：
公司都会宣称，客户至上。什么是客户至上？
eBay提供了一个市场；而亚马逊提供了一个有效率的市场。
eBay关注生意，亚马逊关注消费者。
说实话，亚马逊做的这些事：低价、物流、投递、仓储、最后一公里，感觉上并不容易赚到钱。确实消费者关注这些事。
亚马逊Prime会员更是一个不赚钱的业务，Amazon Prime将在各个方面产生巨大且痛苦的改变，包括上级对经理的评价、公司完成订单的方式以及货物运输等。有人担心亚马逊的客户会滥用该计划，并最终以高昂的运输成本使公司破产。
要关注消费者，要面对消费者，困难随时可能就出现在面前。
只有两个选择，避开和挑战，哪一个会更好?真是不知道。
在国内，医药工业板块，“4+7”的影响下，会出现直面困难挑战成功的公司吗？
---------------------------------------------------------