Overview and estimated traffic of Amazon in the United States, Canada and Mexico Founded 1994, Amazon started as an online bookstore that later diversified to products including media, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. Having expanded to many countries, Amazon has become the uncontested global leader of e-commerce. It develops further into brick-and-mortar retail with the acquisition of Whole Foods Market, as well as publishing, electronics, cloud computing, video streaming and production.