Why Amazon promotes Its Rivals

While attention lately has been focused on Amazon.com's launch of a tablet PC, the e-commerce giant, led by Jeffrey Bezos, has been quietly taking bolder steps in another part of its business. It is trying to sell more advertisements for competing retailers, even promoting products that Amazon itself sells. This might seem a counterintuitive step in the hyper-competitive retail sector. But by accepting such ads, Amazon is turning itself into the ultimate destination site for online retail of any kind. The same effort has seen Amazon broaden its selection of goods to encompass everything from grocery items to consumer electronics. Already, more shoppers go to retailers' websites than search engines as a first step towards a purchase, according to a survey of electronics and computer shoppers by Comscore.