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What are the chief elements of Amazon’s overall competitive strategy? How well do the pieces fit together? Is the strategy evolving
What are the chief elements of Amazon’s overall competitive strategy? How well do the pieces fit together? Is the strategy evolving
Situational analysis of amazon
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Amazons Fulfilment
Is Amazon a bubble waiting to burst? The following discussions in this research paper will explore several key issues from its birth to its debatable future. Amazon is not a stranger to arguments revolving around questions of its longevity and success. When the systemic bubble of 1999 arrived Amazon’s corporate goal was to get big, to do it fast, and to establish a hold of new markets before any other competitor. During this time frame Amazon began branching out and selling anything and everything. With the burst of the internet bubble in 2000 and 2001, Amazon changed its goal from growth to aggressively making profits in all areas of their business. In 2001, Amazon’s founder and CEO stated in a Wall Street Journal article “We’ll ferociously manage the products we carry so that we sell only products that are profitable. The thirty-pound box of nails isn’t long for our world” (Elmer-DeWitt, 2001).
Amazon is remaining steady to its model and is still providing goods at a low price, and providing their deliveries in the shortest amount of time. Amazon maintains the practice of making sure that every product it sells turns a profit. However, the debate lingers especially with investors who are expecting a return on their investments. The chief executive of Forrester Research George Colony stated in a New York Times article that “At some point, the piper must be paid.” How? “By raising prices. I don’t see any other way” (Streitfeld, 2013).
Almost twenty years ago, an individual named Jeff Bezos had a vision. He saw financial potential with the growth of the internet. He wanted to change the ways of retail commerce in a way that had never been done before. Amazon began as a vision and was born in Jef...
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Streitfeld, D. (2013, October 22). Monstrous sales and roaring stock, but no profit amazon’s dilemma: Company’s stock at a record high, but no significant profit made. The Tech Online Edition, 133(47), 1. Retrieved from http://tech.mit.edu/V133/N47/wire1.html
Tam, D. (2013, November 18). Faulty ps4 consoles spark new amazon exchange process: Hundreds of new ps4 owners discover their consoles broken straight out of the box. Amazon responds with a special replacement deal, according to customers. CNET. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57612847-93/faulty-ps4-consoles-spark-new-amazon-exchange-process/
Warsia, Noor. (Designer). (2013, June 7). The Fulfilment by Amazon distribution model [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.digitalmarket.asia/2013/06/amazon-flows-into-india-ebay-snaps-a-us50-mln-deal-e-commerce-in-apac-to-get-fillip/
History”, n.d.). But the unbelievable pace at which Amazon added new products and new customers proved to be a formidable barrier for any competitors. Within the first 10 years Amazon accomplished an unbelievable feat; it had 49 million customers and 6.9 billion dollars in revenue, and it had done so by selling some products at a loss to build market share (Rivlin, 2005). At times it was difficult leveraging so much capital to grow market share, but Jeff Bezos’ focus on the customer and long term growth of the company proved to be the real reason Amazon didn’t fall prey to the .com bust like so many other internet
Amazon was founded in 1995 by Jeff Bezos and became one of the first major companies to sell goods over the internet
Amazon is best known for their kindle, fast shipping, and selling various products (Smith). With Amazon being such a large corporation, professionalism, academics, character, and engagement are crucial parts of the success of the company. Professionalism: Amazon has grown to become the largest internet-based retailer in the world by total sales. It began as primarily an online bookstore and soon began to sell more and more electronics and then over time began to sell pretty much anything. In 1998, Amazon earned about $0.6 billion, which held steady growth from 1998-2006 (“Amazon.com”).
Jeff Bezo’s began Amazon in his garage in July 1995 with three Sun workstations setting on wooden doors for tables and extension cords running from everywhere (Academy of Achievement, 2010). Right from the beginning he was a visionary leaving his well paying job as a senior vice president with D. E. Shaw to begin Amazon.com (Academy of Achievement, 2010). Being the visionary that he is he saw an opportunity prompted by the huge growth rate of internet use in a single year and ran with it never looking back. Jeff realized that the internet had “no real commerce to speak of” so he began researching possible businesses (Academy of Achievement, 2010). “After reviewing 20 mail order businesses and deciding which could be conducted more efficiently over the internet than by traditional means he decided on books” (Academy of Achievement, 2010). He thought books were perfect because attempting to send huge catalogs for all the available books would be expensive and cumbersome, but an online resource database that was easy to navigate would provide customers with easy access and a single point from which to shop. “In 30 days, with no press, Amazon had sold books in all 50 states and 45 foreign countries, obviously by the success of Amazon he was right (Academy of Achievement, 2010). In a case study written by Javad Kargar called “Amazon.com in 2003” he stated that “Amazon's online store was a big hit, with about $5 million in the first year of operations” (2004). This huge success so quickly would have confirmed for Jeff that his idea was viable and drove him to continue to strive for more. Jeff Bezo’s charismatic-visionary leadership is the key to his and Amazon’s success.
Launched by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com website started in 1995 and is today considered as one of the most prominent retail website on the internet with a record turnover of US$ 14.87 billion in 2007. Jeff Bezos’s intention was to create an internet based company with the most dedicated product portfolio on the internet where customers could find anything they might want. Amazon’s success is based on technology, services and products (Jens et al., 2003).
It was 1995 when Amazon opened its virtual doors for business. Since its inception Amazon has become the world’s largest e-commerce retailer by diversifying its portfolio. Amazon operates retail sites for twelve different countries. (Amazon.com, 2014) Amazon consists of over fifteen lines of business such as AmazonPrime, AmazonSupply and AmazonWarehouse Deals. Amazon reports their income in American and International segments. The segments are split into media, electronics and “other” which is described as “non-retail activities”. (Amazon.com, 2014) This paper will evaluate Amazon’s strategic planning.
Amazon has been able to maintain sustainable competitive advantage based on three operational strategies. These are low cost-leadership, customer differentiation and focus strategies. Low cost-leadership is pursued by Amazon by differentiating itself primarily on the basis of price. By offering low prices to customers Amazon ensures its future success. Partially modifying the costs of lowering prices over time through achieving higher sales volumes, negotiating better terms with suppliers, and achieving better operating efficiencies. Amazon makes sure that it offers the same quality products as other companies at a considerably cheaper price. Another strategy that Amazon has is its fast delivery service and there are many delivery services that one can choose from. With Amazon Prime, there are certain, but many products that have free two-day shipping. Also, with Amazon Prime, there are many offers specifically for people that have Amazon Prime. For example,
Amazon has recorded a magnificent success in its business throughout the years that it has been in operation. It has attracted almost all people to use it when necessary. Amazon has built its success in business methodically and slowly. Amazon has made much success because of its ability to read market trends and diversify its operations. It started as an online book selling company. However, it changed its operations and started selling other products. Currently, many large retail shops use Amazon to host and power their websites, for instance, sears and virgin megastores. Amazon now attracts over fifty million visitors in a period of one month. Amazon has tried to make their services fit each individual user. It has based its services on the end user. It has shipping discounts, customer product reviews and a credit card with bonuses. It also has prime membership, product forums and 1-click ordering system among other services. The company has tried to make a remarkable experience for customers and visitors (Thomas, 2006).
Amazon.com was a venture into an emerging market of internet and had to face hidden and unexpected hurdles in order to survive and excel in the market. Therefore, Amazon.com kept modifying its strategies with their focus on enhancing customer experience of online shopping and to delivery exceptional services with complete convenience to their customers. One of the major strategic decisions was to compromise on cost saving stragegy when Amazon.com started to maintain its own warehouses in different countries in order to ensure timely and accurate delivery to their customers
During early days of its establishment, Amazon appeared as an online retailer of books only. However, with the passage of time, the company expanded its operations rapidly in music and movies. Market reputation and popularity ultimately made Amazon the biggest online retailer of electronics and household goods. This rapid expansion has made Amazon "Earth's Biggest Selection" of cost-effective products (Dennis and Harris). As an online marketplace, Amazon is enjoying a revenue stream without needing any warehouse to keep the product stock.
Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and current CEO of Amazon.com, initially started the company as an online bookstore in 1994. Within several months, Amazon spread its operation to all 50 states and abroad. Presently, customers from over 45 countries buy at Amazon. Over a short period of time, the company expanded sales to electronics, video games, software, CDs, DVDs, MP3 downloads, food, furniture, apparel, jewelry, and toys. Today, the company even produces its own products such as the Kindle series. Also, Amazon.com is one of the major providers of cloud computing services. Currently, the company is the largest global online retailer responsible for 20% of online retail market share.
When Amazon.com first began in 1995, as strictly a book retailer, Bezos knew he had discovered an excellent company. After all, a physical bookstore cannot stock anywhere close to the number of books Amazon can offer online. Within a year, the company had a customer base of approximately 340,000 consumers and daily site visits were huge as well. But Bezos wanted to expand the company to offer music and DVDs, because he realized there was little or no barrier of entry. In the next years Amazon would emerge as a marketplace, expanding the company globally offering products from toys to kitchenware. Because of the relatively cheap prices Amazon was offering and also the growing number of online shoppers, the company was doing tremendous amounts of sales and creating profits.
Another part of Amazon’s retail strategy is to serve as the channel for other retailers to sell their products and take a percentage of cut of every purchase. Amazon does not have to maintain inventory on slower-selling products. This strategy has made Amazon a ‘long tail’ leading retailer, expanding its available selection without a corresponding increase in overhead costs.
Amazon is a growing and trending brand, giving consumers the unique shopping experience they have always wanted. The company that was started by 1999 man of the year, Jeff Bezos, has taken 44 percent market share in online sales and purchases. (http://bloomreach.com/2015/10/survey-amazon-is-burying-the-competiton-in-search/) That makes consumers more inclined to search for products through Amazon, before the well-known search engine powerhouse, Google. The Seattle, Washington based company was started in 1995. During the well-anticipated start-up, the company’s focus was on book sales online. Over time, Amazon has set many trends in Consumer Behavior, expanding products across every product pool imaginable. "Amazon.com puts the customer
Amazon’s also tried to spearhead the industry by introducing the customer-pleasing traits in terms of the technology, order fulfillment and retailing strategies categori...