TAG

# E-commerce

2026-10-31

Tobi Lütke: From a Frustrated Snowboard Shop Owner to the Man Arming Millions of Rebels Against Amazon

[DO AI PM Top 100 Product Managers · #45 Tobi Lütke] In 2004, 24-year-old German programmer Tobi Lütke just wanted to sell snowboards online from Canada—only to find existing e-commerce software so awful that he wrote his own store engine in Ruby on Rails. Two years later, he realized other merchants wanted his software far more than his snowboards. Here is how a 87.2-point master PM (VIS 90 · BIZ 90) built a $230B+ GMV commerce infrastructure by refusing to steal his merchants' customers.

2026-10-22

Taobao: Free Storefronts, IM Haggling, and Escrow—How a SARS Quarantine Startup Flipped eBay's 72% China Monopoly in 24 Months

Ranked #28 in '100 Products That Changed the World': Taobao (OVR 89.35: Impact 93, Business 92, Scale 91, Durability 91, Originality 85, Experience 85). Built in 30 days by seven engineers quarantined inside a Hangzhou apartment during the 2003 SARS outbreak, Taobao dismantled eBay's 72.4% Chinese market share with three localization masterstrokes: zero listing fees, live instant-messaging bargaining (AliWangwang), and Alipay escrow trust.

2026-10-08

100 Product Managers Who Changed the World · #24: Colin Huang

In 2015 Alibaba and JD had already divided China's e-commerce market, and almost nobody thought there was room for one more. Colin Huang built an app where you send a product link to friends and the price drops once enough people join. Five years later Pinduoduo had more annual active buyers than Alibaba. #24 of the 100 product managers who changed the world, scores 93/96/82/95/93/86.

2026-09-09

The product history of the Amazon store, and why it ranks 6th

Book Stacks Unlimited was selling books over a dial-up BBS in Cleveland in 1992, three years before Amazon. Amazon opened on 16 July 1995 and sold $12,000 of books in week one. In 2025 third-party sellers accounted for 61% of units sold and net sales reached $716.9 billion. It ranks 6th at 94.20, with originality at just 90 — its lowest of the six.