Has Amazon ever seen a market it didn’t want to enter? The internet behemoth started by selling books, before becoming a retailer for everything from art supplies to zombie survival kits. It has branched out into e-readers, cloud computing and tablet computers, and even makes its own nappies. Today it is expected to announce Amazon Home Services, a marketplace to connect customers with nearby plumbers, gardeners and babysitters in several American cities. (Amazon has been testing a version of the service since late 2014.) The company’s willingness to enter unexpected new markets is one of its greatest strengths: it refuses to be constrained by internal or external perceptions of what industry it is in. Some critics worry that it has over-diversified. But Amazon, whose technology chief, Werner Vogels, was recently mocked when he described the firm as “a 20-year-old startup”, is still in land-grab mode—as today’s move demonstrates.