Book review: Bezonomics, by Brian Dumaine

This look at Amazon’s rapidly expanding empire was written before the Covid-19 pandemic really took hold, but headlines that the company’s boss – and the world’s richest man –Jeff Bezos has seen his fortune grow by at least $24 billion (£19bn) during the crisis as consumers flock to Amazon’s convenient embrace only makes this highly engaging study all the more relevant.

Brian Dumaine

Bezonomics is the work of journalist Brian Dumaine, who looks at how Amazon and its imitators are significantly affecting how we live and do business, and what we can learn from them.

Dumaine outlines how Bezos has created a 21st century algorithm for business and societal disruption, shaken retail to its foundations, is rapidly dominating cloud computing, media and advertising, and now has his sights trained on a wealth of new areas – including healthcare and financial services. It’s an addictive read – one of the most compelling business books I’ve ever read.

It also illustrates just how all-pervasive Amazon has become – few of us can claim never to have shopped at Amazon, but Dumaine points out how its presence in, say, cloud computing means we are often using its services without realising. Meanwhile, Dumaine notes the eyebrow-raising finding that more American households have Amazon Prime memberships than go to church.

This book is meticulously researched, and features many interviews with characters who have been part of the online behemoth’s journey, yet it never veers too far into dry details and is written engagingly, with the occasional, welcome wry comment.

Dumaine notes that Amazon’s pillars of customer obsession, extreme innovation and long-term management, all supported by artificial intelligence, turn a virtuous-cycle “flywheel” – a concept that gets several mentions.

According to Dumaine, Bezos has “created a new turbocharged way of thinking that will change the way successful businesses are run in the 21st century.” That said, this is no hagiography. As well as pivotal moves into areas like Prime and Alexa, the author also flags mis-fires such as the Fire Phone.

Nor does he shy away from shining a spotlight on other headline-grabbing negative aspects of what he calls the “most formidable capitalist machine in history”. These include the well-known concerns over treatment of workers, aversion to unions and lack of corporate tax paid, as well as the concerning privacy implications over the audio files Alexa is collecting.

Bezonomics also tells the cautionary tale of a marketplace seller who proved a victim of his own success due to Amazon’s beady eye scrutinising his sales.

Bezos’ model, says Dumaine, “is going to change the world in a way that’s more profound than most of us can imagine”. Having read this book, it’s hard to disagree.

Bezonomics, by Brian Dumaine, Simon & Schuster, £20