Earlier this year, Amazon reported $143.3 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2024. But 27 years ago, the BBC wondered when predictions that the internet revolutionizing shopping would come true, speaking to local bakers, booksellers, and even Jeff Bezos to find out.

The Money Programme report, which originally aired in November of 1997, was recently added to the BBC Archive YouTube Channel. In it, reporter Nils Blythe takes a simulated journey on the information superhighway —…