Before we go deep into the topic of determining the marketing and branding strategies of Amazon & Flipkart in the highly unsaturated ecommerce market let’s focus on where does the American giant and the world’s one of the most ambitious startup lies.
So, let’s see what the market share of both the ecommerce giants in the Indian market looks like
The market shares are based on the volume of transactions clocked by e-commerce firms in more than 60 cities. Amazon is breathing down Flipkart’s neck on other key parameters such as gross monthly sales: currently, Flipkart’s monthly gross sales, on average, are Rs2,800-3,000 crore, while its monthly burn rate is around Rs300 crore. Amazon currently lags Flipkart on monthly gross sales, but it is
…show more content…
Amazon’s $3-billion investment in India last year was widely seen as a blow to Flipkart—possibly it’s only competitor in the country, as Snapdeal’s numbers have only been falling.
Snapdeal’s downfall has created a vacuum in the Indian e commerce market and the restructuring of snapdeal in the form of Snapdeal 2.0, and its success is still an uncertainty thus we can state that struggle for market shares is prominently in between the two major players who are amazon and Flipkart.
To determining the appropriate marketing strategy of both the e commerce players in the Indian market lets at first determine how strong the both brands are and to do that we have used the BRAND ASSET VALUATOR MODEL (B.A.V).
We circulated a google form in the vicinity of our campus and gathered the responses of the campus students, their responses were structured in a way, by which we could measure the degree of –
- Energized Differentiation
- Relevance
-
…show more content…
a) Look to the real India – both the ecommerce players need to focus on the rural and semi-rural domains in the present market scenario to expand their reach. Let’s talk about the cell phone industry online sales constitutes for 33% of gross cell phone sales in India, this can be taken into account, Flipkart has started to target tier – 2 cities with faster delivery services, while Amazon has initiated various demonstration sessions run by retailers, on various smartphones functions in semi urban areas to promote the concept of “Showrooming”.
b) Go Indian – Flipkart is launching a new brand under its name called “Billion”, it’s focusing on tying up with various small scale retailers and small scale manufacturers in India, which is focused at providing market offerings such as locally manufactured utensils, electrical and other categories which includes consumer goods all of whom are at a very economical pricing and all are sourced locally involving thousands of Indian manufacturers, this is focused at leveraging the make in India movement which is very prominent now. Amazon too should look at Inidanizing its image while being relevant in the present Socio – economic
Although it is the most established because of its long history and early start, competitors such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, AutoZone Inc., eBay Inc., Rakutenchi Inc., Netflix Inc., Jet.Com, Wal-Mart and Time Warner Cable among others exist (Yahoo Finance, 2015). Notably, apart from Jet.com, Amazon’s competitors are segmented according to products and services offered; for instance, Wal-Mart stores Inc. offers competition in general merchandise and electronics segment while eBay, Time Warner Cable and Apple offers competition in the media segment. Among the competitors, Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have the highest market capitalization; however, the Amazon’s dwarfs all other competitors. Amazon has a high market capitalization at $254.82 billion (Nassauer, 2015). The table below shows Amazon’s major competitors based on their market capitalization and 52-week share price range
In the other operating segment, Amazon competes with several of the world's largest companies including CDW, PC Connection, Insight Enterprises, Google, Oracle; salesforce.com, Accenture and Citrix Systems, among others.
To begin with, Amazon is an American electronic commerce company that was founded in 1995 by Jeff Bezos. Amazon is considered as one of the largest online shopping websites in the world, it has changed the industry by setting high standards. Amazon was first known for having a wide selection of books, later the company expanded into new ventures which has now widen their customer base. Amazon later started to sell Blu-rays, DVDs, CDs, software’s, video games, electronics, furniture, clothing wear, food, toys, and jewellery. Through their reputation, they were able to produce their own line of products such as Fire tablets, Amazon Kindle and Fire TV which allows them to dominate the ecommerce market. Amazon is known for selling products at low prices, which allows amazon to compete with retail companies. The company works with over 2 million retail companies, displaying a wide range of products to choose from. Amazon analyses the seller’s patterns to buy out the same products directly from the manufactures and sells them for a lower cost, as of this retailing companies cannot price match with Amazon.
Amazon.com is one of the biggest companies worldwide due to its strengths (See Appendix A for the SWOT Analysis). First, as an e-commerce retailer, it has a low-cost structure. It lacks the infrastructure and labor costs associated with maintaining and opening new physical stores. Second, Amazon has high brand equity due to its variety of products and low prices. Third, Amazon has a rapid revenue growth rate. To illustrate, Wal-Mart has increased its revenues by 77% for the past ten years, whereas Amazon.com has jumped by more than 1,000% for the same duration (Shaw, 2014). Fourth, two competitive advantages of Amazon.com are its information technology (IT) and supply chain management systems that work together in both determining what customers
Amazon, Inc. is considered to be the leading online retailer in the world today with a platform of sale for over 40 different goods categories ranging from machine/motor auto parts, books, groceries and electronics. Apart from this, the large organization also has a platform for internet technology and ecommerce, a platform for internet advertising, a platform for logistics and fulfilment, an internet incubator for startups, and a search technology. The company was started in Seattle, America back in the year 1994 in July by Jeff Bezos, who was a former New York investment banker. Before Amazon achieved its great success, it was the original idea of Jeff to start a bookstore to sell books online. The company has tremendously advanced from an online bookstore to a globally known online Wal-Mart where many products are sold such as Hardware and Tools, games and toys, Cookware and Music CDs. Amazon gross sales over the years have shown the company’s incredible growth with revenues back in 1997 being $150 million growing over $100 billion today (Kargar, 2004; Mellahi & Johnson, 2000).
The threat of substitutes for Amazon is high. With the exception of its patented technology, there are quite a lot of alternatives to Amazon’s products and services. In addition to physical presence, most companies have an online store as well. Amazon’s products can be purchased all over the internet and they are just spread out among different web sites. The companies operate in brick-and-click mode providing the similar product categories and competitive prices have become the biggest threat for Amazon. However it is extremely difficult for Amazon to establish physical stores or launch price
In the era of globalization, understanding of international business culture is the key in expanding ones job prospects and it also equips with the required skill set to face the challenges of the intricate global settings. Amazon is a perfect example to learn from as it ventured from national to international stage and went through all the challenges faced during global expansion in terms of politics, governance, taxation, international policy and laws. Marketing and sales strategies coupled with innovation has been the driving force behind Amazon’s growth and success. This paper reflects on some of Amazon’s strengths after a brief overview of company’s history and background. Through shifting business models, its competitors have been trying to catch up with Amazon and could provide stiff competition in future. In face of the challenges ahead, Amazon weaknesses are discussed in regards to international business issues. In the end recommendations are provided for Amazon’s growth and sustainability as an international leader in innovation and technology.
Amazon.com, also known as Amazon, is American company that deals in electronic commerce, along with cloud computing. In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded the company and was based in Seattle in Washington (Jopson 2011). Amazon is the biggest online retailer in the world by market capitalization and total sales turnover. First, the company began its operation as an online bookstore, but later decided to diversify into selling CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, MP3 streaming/downloading, video streaming/downloading, audiobook streaming/downloading, videogames, software, electronics, furniture, toys, food, apparel, and jewelry (Synergy Research Group, n.d). It is also important to note that the company is also involved in producing consumer electronics, such as Fire Tablets, Fire TV, and Amazon Kindle e-readers – and is the global leader in providing cloud infrastructure services (Infrastructure as a service –IaaS). Under its AmazonBasics, an in-house brand, the company also sells particularly low-end products such as USB cables. The company has a separate retail website for the United Kingdom, the United States and Ireland, including several countries such as China, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Italy, India, Brazil, and Australia. It is also significant to note that the company provides international shipping to some countries for its physical products.
The company has many strengths. First, Amazon is the world’s leading online retailer. According to the 2016 Annual Report, Amazon had total net sales of US $135, 987 million in 2016. These total net sales include three segments which are North America, International, and AWS. Second, in comparison to many companies, Amazon has a superior logistics and distribution system, which allows the company to actualize improved customer fulfillment. Third, with its prolonged strategic drive on low-cost, differentiation, and focus, Amazon offers a wide range of product at low prices to customers. Fourth, Amazon enjoys global recognition from its customers. As stated earlier, Amazon built a strong brand in very little time. Finally, the
Nowadays the behavior of consumers is changing at a high speed, there are more options available to the consumers as ever before, therefore it is of up most importance for a company to stay up to date on all of these changes (Floor, 2006, p.11). The company this research will be focusing on is Amazon.com Inc. This company was chosen because of the recent developments with e-books and e-readers compared to the decline in hard cover books, also looking at Amazons own private labels and their own product known as the Kindle (Amazon, 2012). In this research the specific topic being researched is about the brand positioning of Amazon and how this can influence or alter the brand identity in a positive way. Amazon is a company that was founded in 1994 in the USA it has gotten its name from the Amazon River, their first online retail products they offered were books, but closely after they also offered different products such as computer electronics, toys and jewelry. Currently Amazon is a multinational electronic commerce and the largest online retailer. Recently it has also begun to produce products of its own such as, the Kindle e-book reader. Amazon is almost available in every European country, China and Japan. (Amazon, 2012) Amazon at the moment has a strong positioning in the USA and the North American continent but in Europe they have a more leveled competition such as Bol.com in The Netherlands. Therefore it is becoming more
India’s Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce market is expected to reach US$ 700 billion by 2020. Online retail is expected to be at par with the physical stores in the next five years.
Electronic commerce, commonly written as e-commerce is buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Consumers take advantage of lower prices offer by wholesalers retailing their products. This trend is set to strengthen as web sites address consumer security and privacy concerns. Due to the popularity of e-commerce there is a tremendous increase exchange of goods and services both regionally and globally. Now-a-daysit has become the virtual main street of the world. This online business refers to the E-commerce which is recently moved in to developing countries like India. Today, e-commerce has grown into a huge industry. This paper is outcome of a review of various research studies carried out on E-commerce. The present study has been undertaken to analyze the present trends of e-commerce in India & examine the challenges & opportunities of e-commerce in India. Keywords: E-commerce, recent trends, opportunities and challenges
Amazon strives in a rapidly evolving and intensely competitive industry. Amazon competitors include publishers, vendors, distributors, manufacturers, physical world retailers and producers. Other competitors include media companies, web portals, shopping websites, online and mobile e-commerce sites, web search engines, and social networks, either directly or in collaboration with other retailers. Any company that provides e-commerce services, including website development, fulfillment, customer service, and payment processing is considered as a competitor by Amazon. Even Yahoo Inc. is also part of these services now with its new framework for providing easy e-commerce website development and payment processing services. Additional competitors include companies that provide information storage or computing services or products, services related to Cloud Computing, including infrastructure and other web services, companies that design, develop, market, or sell consumer electronics, telecommunication, and electronic devices. The competitive factors in retail businesses include selection, price, convenience, fast and reliable fulfillment. Additional competitive factors for Amazon seller and enterprise services include the quality, speed, and reliability of our services and tools. Many of the current
Low internet penetration is a major challenge for the e commerce industry in a developing country like India. This restricts the reach of these internet based companies.
Lastly, a country with the 2nd largest population of the world remains unranked and this is because of the low levels of infrastructure. There are a mere 39 million online buyers in India, which is a tiny fraction compared to a population of 1.2 billion in the country. However in 2014, ecommerce in India increased 27% and I expected to grow