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Amazon.com, the e-commerce pioneer which once basked in the warm glow of the Internet boom, is now shivering in the chill wind blowing across the bombed-out new media economy.
Amazon.com's decision to shift its pound 35m global advertising account into Wieden & Kennedy is part of the e-commerce giant's desire to grow into an international company.
Amazon has revealed its strategy of building outside its core markets in the US, UK, Germany and France and has dropped HHCL & Partners because of its lack of a global network. Wieden's task will be to bolster Amazon as it tries to expand, following a dismal series of financial results.
After hitting on the novel idea of selling books on the Web in the mid-Nineties, the US giant went from strength to strength. But Amazon couldn't escape last year's implosion of technology stocks, which sent its shares plummeting. Now Amazon is hoping for a resurgent year to rescue its falling share price.
The company's British arm, Amazon.co.uk, last month bolstered its retail presence by introducing electronic goods. Unlike its US parent, the UK division has stuck to selling core products - books, videos and CDs - since its launch in 1998. It was the most visited UK retail website in April this year, according to data analyst Jupiter MMXI, with 1.7 million users. Its nearest rival in the UK is Amazon.com, its parent, with...