eco550 week 4 discussion 1 and 2 3

Amazon believes in keeping its marketing plan simple in order to be effective. Consequently, their marketing plan is based upon the 4 P’s (product, price, place, and promotion). Amazon’s product is to provide an unparalleled selection of any item that exists on the planet. Its prices are extremely competitive and often lower than traditional stores and it is more convenient for people to shop on the internet (place) than it is in a physical location. Finally, its promotion emphasizes big ideas, innovation, technology, and customer centricity, enabling it to market itself as the most convenient place for consumers to shop and satisfy their needs (Kerin & Hartley, 2015). This strategy targets

Amazon has earned a great reputation in customer service for allowing customers to shop without face to face, avoiding talking to a customer’s service representative agent on the phone, everything it done online. Sales clerk does not exist, everything is ordered with a click of the mouse, and arrives extremenely quick in the mail (Cohen, 2009). Amazon at interval has gotten involved with the customers when they can have too. According to Green, H. (2009), “Amazon stands out most markedly from other companies, and helps explain how the company earned the No. 1 spot on Business Week’s customer service ranking this year”( para. 1).

Amazon.com has successfully managed to make its customers to feel that anything they could possibly want could be found on their website. Additionally, its products are marketed at a competitive price. Another important factor is their speedy delivery with their usage of UPS and FedEx (United States) and Royal Mail (United Kingdom). The company also caters for people that prefer online shopping with extra services such as Amazon Prime - a service with a yearly payment, customers are eligible for free next day delivery. Even though Amazon.com is known to be an online seller of most things, it still excels in its original market of book selling. Evidence of such is

Luckily for Amazon.com, this company is one the largest retail sellers in the online world. Amazon is a company with a single enterprise that has risen to the top of the Most Innovative Companies List. It has been increased to this fortitude due to this company’s innovative ideas and the ideas for growth for their consumers as well. As technology had changed, so did Amazon by offering Prime which was a membership that could be purchased to allow the consumer to acquire items faster and receive the products more quickly.

3. For each of the individual overhead accounts at Bridgeton, do you believe the given cost is variable, fixed, or something else? Why? (Use information or evidence from the case to support your evaluation, if possible. For most of these costs, there is no single right answer from the case information, so the goal is to come up with a reasonable estimate.)

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.

‘We believe that the principal competitive factors in our retail businesses include selection, price, and convenience, including fast and reliable fulfilment. Additional competitive factors for our seller and enterprise services include the quality, speed, and reliability of our services and tools, as well as customers’ ability and willingness to change business practices’ (Amazon10-K report 2015).

Amazon, a powerful company, has challenged many of its competitors and nearly causing them to go bankrupt. Jeff Bezos has taken amazon through changes and seemingly all for the better.

It would be virtually impossible for a new company to reach the magnitude of inventory and status that Amazon maintains. When visiting Amazon, the number of products and services it offers is mind-blowing. Amazon has been in the internet marketplace for about thirteen years now; it would be extremely difficult for a start-up company in the industry to raise enough capital to even compete with Amazon on a lower level. The experience of enjoying low pressures from new entrants make Amazon believe that their absolute competitive advantages in patented technology, such as 1-Click ordering, operational model and “sell anything” mission could be directly copied and even leveraged in the foreign markets where the online retail industry have not developed or matured.

Amazon is an American commerce company based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company used to be only a bookstore, but now it diversified into difference type of products. The goal of Amazon is to provide one stop shop experience where the customer can find everything on Amazon as earth’s biggest selection (Warman 2012). Amazon operates as a pure internet retailers that does not have retail store at all while the delivery will be done through Amazon’s networks of distribution centres. This operation makes the company is able to provide wider range of goods and lower cost of products with high quality. Moreover, it is also increase customer satisfaction as it supports customer convenience.

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 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

Third party merchants. Amazon has a huge number of merchants selling their goods using their platform. Amazon provides fulfillment services for many of these companies and receives high gross margins from these merchant units.

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.com, Inc. (Amazon.com), incorporated on May 28, 1996, is an American electronic commerce company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington and is the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States (Ungar, 2014). Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, video downloads/ streaming, MP3 downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewelry (Ungar, 2014). The company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Amazon Kindle e-book readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV and Fire Phone — and is a major provider of cloud computing services (Ungar, 2014).