Eideard

Despite the stagnation of book, music and DVD sales, Amazon.com is gaining momentum as a retailer of almost every other kind of product.

Like many general retailers, Amazon seeks to forge direct ties with manufacturers wherever it can so that it can keep a larger percentage of the profits. Just as shoppers might find Safeway cereal, RadioShack batteries and Wal-Mart diapers, Amazon has sold such “private label” items since 2004, including Pinzon bath towels and sheets, Strathwood patio furniture, and Denali power tools.

Now, Amazon is expanding its private-label line with AmazonBasics, a new collection of consumer electronics items.

The items are not all that exciting, at least for now. They include HDMI cables, Ethernet cords, and blank CDs and DVDs.

All will be shipped in Amazon’s recycled cardboard frustration-free packaging, which gives people another opportunity to avoid those hermetically sealed plastic clamshell containers from other vendors.

Just being able to open the fracking package makes a difference for me. Hopefully, I will no longer need the old pair of kitchen shears I keep in the study.