Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been often referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", and is often regarded as one of the world's most valuable brands. It is considered to be one of the Big Five American technology companies, alongside Alphabet, Apple, Meta and Microsoft.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of September 2023, the company operates 585 retail stores across all 50 U.S. states.
Waterstones is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Waterstones shop sells a range of approximately 30,000 individual books, as well as stationery and other related products.
Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, on Broad Street, Oxford. The brand now has a chain of 18 shops, and an accounts and library supply service. It employs around 1000 staff in its divisions.
Rakuten Group, Inc. (楽天グループ株式会社) is a Japanese technology conglomerate based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997. Centered around the online retail marketplace Rakuten Ichiba, its businesses include financial services utilizing Fintech, digital content and communications services such as the messaging app Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan's fourth mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten has more than 28,000 employees worldwide, operating in 30 countries and regions, and its revenues totalling US $12.8 billion as of 2021. Rakuten was the official sponsor of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona from 2017 until 2021, and the Golden State Warriors of the NBA as of 2022. It is often referred to as the "Amazon of Japan".
Founded in 1982, Rough Guides Ltd is a British publisher of print and digital guide book, phrasebooks and inspirational travel reference books, and a provider of personalised trips. Since November 2017, Rough Guides has been owned by APA Publications UK Ltd, the parent company of Insight Guides.
Dymocks Booksellers is an Australian-founded privately owned bookstore chain, that also specialise in CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, e-books and related merchandising. As of June 2022, the chain has about 50 stores in Australia.
Gardners’ is an international wholesalers of books, eBooks, music and film. They work with multi-channel retailers worldwide, both online and on the high street, to supply physical and digital products. They offer back to store or direct to consumer on their behalf through a consumer direct fulfilment service.
Axis Bank Limited, formerly known as UTI Bank (1993–2007), is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India's third largest private sector bank by assets and Fourth largest by Market capitalisation.It sells financial services to large and mid-size companies, SMEs and retail businesses.
Andrew Crawford is an Irish entrepreneur and the former founder and CEO of The Book Depository. He was born in Zambia, of Irish heritage. Crawford, was educated at Downside School and then The University of Liverpool studying engineering science and industrial management. After a brief spell working for his family firm, Crawford worked in the 1990s in security and specialist risk management working as a private security contractor throughout EMEA.
Borders (UK) Ltd., also known as Borders & Books etc., was established as a Borders Group subsidiary in 1998, and in 2007 became independent of the US parent company. At its peak after separation from the US parent, it traded from its 41 Borders and 28 BOOKS etc. shops with over one million square feet of retail space, taking around 8% of the retail bookselling market. In 2008 and 2009 the store numbers were reduced before the collapse of the chain. They also operated one single branch in Ireland, but closed this early in 2009. On 26 November 2009 it was announced that Borders (UK) had gone into administration. All stores closed on 24 December 2009.
Klarna Bank AB, commonly referred to as Klarna, is a Swedish fintech company that provides online financial services such as payments for online storefronts and direct payments along with post-purchase payments.
Amazon.com has drawn criticism from multiple sources, with questions raised about the ethics of the company's business practices and policies. Amazon has faced numerous allegations of anti-competitive or monopolistic behavior and criticisms of their treatment of workers and consumers. Concerns have frequently been raised regarding the availability or unavailability of products and services on Amazon platforms, as some consider Amazon a monopoly due to its size. In September 2023, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon for using "a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies".
Wob is a second-hand book retailer, reported to be the United Kingdom's largest. The company buys unsold inventory of used books mostly from UK charity shops. The books are resold either to consumers through Wob's website and various online sites, or wholesale to recyclers, with about 80% of the books going to recycling. It was certified as a B Corporation in 2019.
Booktopia Group Ltd is an Australian online bookstore. Founded in 2004, it now turns over $165 million a year, and was listed in the AFR/BRW's Fast 100 eight times, the only company to ever achieve this feat, from 2009 to 2017. In 2016, 2017 & 2019 Booktopia was voted 'Bookstore of the Year'. In 2018 it won NSW Telstra Business of the Year and the Australian Telstra Business Award People's Choice Award. It has been a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards seven times from 2011 to 2018. Booktopia has stated that Australian authors and titles are a key focus for the company. The company also owns Angus & Robertson, a major Australian online bookseller, publisher, and printer.
Tropic Skincare is a British online and multi-level marketing company which sells skincare and cosmetic products. The company is based in Surrey, South London, where it designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes its products. The business is owned by Apprentice series 7 runner-up Susie Ma.
Amazon is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital streaming. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", and is one of the world's most valuable brands.
Bookshop.org is an online book marketplace launched in January 2020. Its stated mission is "to financially support local, independent bookstores."
