Case Study On Amazon

Amazon.com operates in the Online Retail Industry. The sector is one of the fastest growing globally and is outperforming the ordinary retail marketplace. It was created after 1995 and it was only the Internet that made it possible for such an industry not only to be established but to become one of the most flourishing sectors in the business environment. What is interesting is that Amazon.com, together with eBay is the pioneer in the field. Both companies were launched in 1995 and are still extremely successful. The creation of e-mail in 1996 had a huge impact on the development of online retail by introducing a fast and easy way to communicate with customers. For this two-year period Internet usage

Amazon understood firsthand that the competitive advantage of a company originates immediately from how distinctive the organization's resources and competencies are. Amazon is able to both engage in production at a lower cost and generate a superior product at a standard cost. This is accomplished mostly via Amazon's strategy of having a wide variety of goods and competitive pricing. Customers know they can find basic products at slashed prices or high quality goods at standard prices and this is all achieved via the enormous range of products and product brands and types available on their massive marketplace. For example, the depiction displayed in the case study which shows how growth was related directly to: lower cost structure- lower prices customer experience traffic sellers -selection and convenience. While this is a grave oversimplification of the Amazon business model, it demonstrates how many aspects of the strategy reinforced one another.

1. This strategy can provide customer with more choices and attract new customers to Amazon’s online retailing, through which Amazon’s customer base is spreading. Amazon originally only sold books, but now it also sells Kindle, MP3 and so on.

Also, Amazon has emphasized on building “several distribution centers around the world to hasten deliveries”(Hof and Himelstein, 1999). Coupled with its software it provides a “laser-like focus on the buying experience”(IT Business Edge, 2012). Such a system and service is what draws customers towards Amazon and subsequently retains them.

What do all these sites have in common? They are all multi-channel bricks and clicks meaning that in addition to an online shopping experience, they also offer a traditional retailing experience as well in the form of physical stores. Yet the site above all of them and most popular in terms of internet traffic is Amazon.com. So how has Amazon achieved its current level of success without a physical manifestation of itself? Success at its core is often a case of being good and lucky. Amazon was no exception to the rule. From the start Jeff Bezos and his team did a lot of things well. A well-conceived business plan and an innovative business model that immediately set them apart from other online e-tailers and put them on the road to success. The ability to improve on its supply chain and distribution model, to take advantage of advancements in information management, to brand, market, and advertise itself correctly, and to execute all these initiatives successfully enabled Amazon to rise above its initial competitors and establish an enduring foothold in the market. An emphasis on customer service and relations ensured that a large percentage of new customers would turn into repeat clientele. Amazon successfully took the artificial and inhuman component of online shopping and put a caring human element into the act of clicking a button.

As of January 2010, Amazon.com has three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples. By offering a large amount of varied categories through its website and other international ones (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.fr, and so on), it has managed to grow to a customer based company with over 30 million people. In addition, the online retail format enables the company to reduce costs of managing inventory (Amazon.com; online bookstore, 2008).

Amazon.com is a customer centric company. They put more effort in improving their system to make the experience of customer more comfortable so that he keeps on returning to the website. Jeffery Bezos who is the founder of the Amazon.com started this company after seeing the use of internet increasing rapidly.

How did the Amazon.com business model evolve from the company’s launch in 1995 to early 2001?

Amazon.com is a worldwide American-based electronic company founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, the actual chairman and CEO. At the beginning, Amazon was just a small online book retailer, but thanks to the development of Internet at the end of the 90s, it grew quickly into a huge online retail store. Today, in the United States, one out of three online sales are made through Amazon’s website.

Amazon stated its marketing approach in its 2011 annual report as “we direct customers to our websites primarily through a number of targeted online marketing channels, such as our associated program, sponsored search, portal advertising, email marketing campaigns, and other initiatives.”(Petro, 2017). Being the leader of the ecommerce industry, Amazon maintains that

As discussed in the case study, the advertising and marketing strategy of Amazon have been focusing on how the products would gain interest from their target market and how they can be able to generate sales with their products. This is Amazon’s stronghold where it continues to yield strong sales revenue by leveraging off its excellent online shop in different locations, such as in UK and other country, strong brand name and excellent reputation among customers. Amazon has also been continuing to create affiliate websites to expand their business market among various consumers.

Amazon’s core competencies are in its ability to effectively use and develop technology to drive site traffic and enhance the customer experience. Their distinctive use of website real estate coupled with their ability to leverage their brand and effectively use that leverage to deliver low prices and high quality products, makes them a leader in online retailing. Their partner brands and their ability to adapt and recognize deficiencies enable them to effectively cut out the middle man, or at the very least, partner with them.

The first recommended strategic action is to focus on increasing Amazon’s brand products. The company can gradually start offering its customers more of their brand products. Amazon has already built a loyal customer base from all over the world and they must take advantage of this. According to Statista (2016), the company had over 31

Amazon is a relatively small player in the bookstore industry, and its main competitors are Barnes & Noble and Borders. Despite the difference in scale, the company shows great promise, because its business model overcomes many of the competitors’ drawbacks.

Amazon has grown rapidly since their inception. The company experienced a surge is sales of 313% until 1998, supported by 8.4 million customer accounts in over 150 countries, of