Part 1

Amazon.com Launches New Lawn & Patio Store in Time for Spring; Eliminates Shopping Hassle for Customers Who Can Now Spend More Time Enjoying the Outdoors

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 5, 2000–Leading online retailer Amazon.com today launched a new Lawn & Patio store, with thousands of popular and hard-to-find products for lawn and patio decoration, care, and enjoyment.

The store features an extensive selection of outdoor grills, patio furniture, birdfeeders, lawn mowers, garden tools and decorative ornaments from more than 50 leading brands, including Weber, Fiskars, Rubbermaid, Rain Bird, Melnor/Gardena, Gilmour, Ryobi, Echo, Weed Eater, Corona and Miracle-Gro.

“Shopping at the Amazon.com Lawn & Patio store is convenient because we carry a vast selection of the many brands that consumers want,” said Joe Galli, Amazon.com president and COO. “Shoppers can now spend more time outdoors doing the things they enjoy and less time fighting store crowds for their lawn and patio needs.”


Part 2

The Scotts Company 72420 Miracle-Gro 20-Pound All Purpose Potting Soil

List Price: $0.85
Our Price: $0.60
You Save: $0.25

Subtotal of Items:  $0.60
Shipping & Handling:  $14.79
Total:  $15.39

Part 3

Amazon Trims Offerings

NEW YORK–February 2, 2001–Online retailer Amazon.com confirmed reports Friday that it will eliminate unprofitable items from its large selection of offerings.

The move, first reported in Friday’s edition of the Wall Street Journal, is being made as part of Amazon’s effort to post an operating profit by the fourth quarter of this year, according to Bill Curry, a company spokesman.

“We are absolutely committed to being profitable by the end of this year, and one way to do this is to make sure that every item contributes to profitability.”

The program — which CEO Jeff Bezos dubbed “Get the Crap Out,” in an internal memo, according to the Journal report — is a detraction from the company’s previous strategy of selling nearly anything people want to buy, including patio furniture and beauty products.