????如果確實存在企業基因這種東西，那么過去10年間全球最成功的科技公司之所以能夠崛起，一定是拜企業基因所賜。谷歌（Google）執著地關注數據；而蘋果（Apple）則對簡約的風格有著一種參禪一般的著迷；Facebook的特點是匯聚遍布全球的社會關系；亞馬遜（Amazon）的特點更為簡單實際，那就是：節儉。

????這家總部位于西雅圖的在線書店成功轉型為電子商務巨人靠的是節儉的理念，它體現在運營、品牌定位、以及Kindle Fire平板電腦等新產品等各個方面。“降低成本是亞馬遜成功的基石，”晨星公司（Morningstar）股票研究總監RJ?賀托維表示。亞馬遜無需承擔維護實體店所需的巨額成本，所以它能以低價向客戶提供同樣的商品。

????總部位于芝加哥的投資銀行William Blair & Company公司的數據顯示，與在線和實體競爭對手相比，亞馬遜銷售的產品價格最多可低上13%。目前，該公司擁有1.6億名活躍用戶，銷售額占美國在線零售總額的20%。分析師們預計其銷售還會進一步增長，年客戶增長率將達到20%。在線零售業務目前總體而言占美國商品銷售總額的10%，預計這一份額還會繼續呈現增長之勢，盡管有些分析師估計其年增長速度或許只有1%左右。市場研究機構弗林斯特研究公司（Forrester Research）預計，今年，美國在線零售總額將超過2,260億美元。

????上述數據形成了亞馬遜在消費者心中的品牌形象。亞馬遜正在對競爭對手構成越來越強勁的挑戰。比如，零售商電路城（Circuit City）和博德思（Borders）的倒閉多少與亞馬遜的崛起有些關系。

????去年，該公司的市場策略更加咄咄逼人。去年12月的某個周六，亞馬遜向買家提供了極為誘人的優惠價格。用戶如果使用該網站提供的免費“價格查詢”手機應用，將實體店物品價格與亞馬遜價格進行比較，在購買該產品時即可獲得5%的價格優惠。（每件商品的最大折扣為5美元。）據報道，僅僅在亞馬遜公布該優惠政策的那一個周末，“價格查詢”應用的使用量翻了3倍，但同時也引發了媒體連篇累牘的聲討。《紐約時報》（New York Times）就刊發社論，指責這種促銷戰術無異于“焦土資本主義”（scorched-earth capitalism）。亞馬遜反駁說：“推出‘價格查詢’應用的目的在于讓用戶能像在互聯網上一樣方便地獲取產品信息、定價信息、以及客戶評論等信息。”

????If such a thing as corporate DNA exists, it has animated the rise of the last decade's most successful technology companies. Google had a relentless focus on data, Apple a Zen-like obsession with simplicity, and Facebook a world of social connections to mine. Amazon has relied on an altogether more prosaic trait: thriftiness.

????The Seattle-based online book store transformed itself into an e-commerce giant by developing a gospel of saving that informs everything from its operations to its brand identity and new products like the Kindle Fire tablet. "Cost-cutting is the corner-stone of Amazon (AMZN)," says RJ Hottovy, director of equity research at Morningstar (MORN). Because the firm doesn't suffer the costs of maintaining real-world stores, it has been able to charge consumers less.

????According to the Chicago-based investment banking firm William Blair & Company, the prices of goods sold by Amazon are up to 13% lower than its online and brick and mortar competitors. With more than 160 million active users, the company currently accounts for 20% of all U.S. online retail sales. Analysts expect it to grow further, picking up new customers at a clip of 20% year-over-year. Meanwhile, overall online retail, which accounts for 10% of all U.S. sales is expected to also grow, albeit more slowly at approximately 1% a year by some estimates. Online retail is expected to be worth some $226 billion this year, according to Forrester Research (FORR).

????That has shaped the firm's brand in the minds of consumers. To competitors, Amazon has increasingly become a challenger, and in some cases like the defunct Circuit City and Borders, played a hand however small in their doom.

????In the last year, the company has become even more aggressive. One Saturday last December, it made shoppers a compelling offer. Those who used its free Price Check mobile app to compare the price of an item at a physical store with Amazon.com's price received 5% off the same product. (The maximum discount was $5 for each item.) This reportedly tripled usage of the Price Check app that particular weekend but also generated heavy criticism, with one New York Times op-ed describing the tactic as "scorched-earth capitalism." The company countered that, "the goal of the Price Check app is to make it as easy as possible for customers to access product information, pricing information and customer reviews, just as they would on the Web."