Essay Example on the Rise of Amazon: From Online Bookshop to World's Largest Retailer

Introduction

In 1994 Amazon was established as an online bookshop. For about twenty-five, the company has been in the business, and in the contemporary world of business, it is the largest world's retailer. Amazon has well-established customer service, inventory together with shipping territory Centre that enables the site to deal with clothes, janitorial supplies, and lawn furniture, among others. The company as well sells the content of digital, including apps, music along with movies. The company's arm of Amazon web services remains a multibillion-dollar supplier of the cloud-based services regarding many business clients across the globe comprising of universities and governments (Amazon. n.d.). This paper discusses in details branding strategy and marketing communication plan of Amazon. The paper takes into account elements of situational Analysis, product, place, promotion, and price strategies, among others as part of the marketing plan. The paper also includes measurement of customer loyalty along with retention concerning the involved approach.

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Situational Analysis

As noted by Ju (2018), over the two decades, Amazon has been in operation. The company has done all it could in ensuring that its services, together with customers' experience, are enhanced. A case in point is that development of the product Amazon Alexa steered the new era about virtual assistants to improve inclusivity policy of the company. Not long ago that other company, including Roomba robots vacuum, GE lambs, and Bose headphones that as well integrated the same technology. Following a detailed analysis, it is imperative to take into account the real opportunities along with potential threats in the company's future branding strategy as well as marketing communication plan. Amazon provides easy-to-use functionality, the fulfillment that is reliable and fast along with timely customer service. Additionally, the company uses the branding strategy by offering Amazon Prime, which brings about the program of an annual membership that comprises of unlimited free shipping concerning tens of millions of items. There is also accessibility to unlimited streaming of instant TV episodes and movies, among other benefits.

Vision, Mission, Strategic objectives, Values

Amazon stand guided by four principles of customer obsession instead of competitor focus, long-term thinking, and obligation to operational excellence as well as a passion for invention. In all the above segments, the essential customer sets comprise of content creators, enterprises, developers, sellers, and consumers. Consumers served via the retail website as well as physical stores, thereby focusing on selection, price, together with convenience. It is the philosophy of Amazon that principal competing factors in retail business comprises of selection, convenient and price, including reliable and fast fulfillment. Additional competing elements regarding enterprise services include quality, speed together with the reliability of the company's tools and services and ability as well as the willingness of changing the practices of the business. It is the mission and vision of the company to be customer-centric, thereby building a place where everyone can find and discover one's want online.

Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price StrategiesAmazon company design its websites to facilitates hundreds of million regarding unique products sold across various categories. Customers access the offerings of the company via its websites, Alexa, mobile apps, and physically visiting the company's stores. The company also manufactures and sells devices of electronics that includes Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Echo devices, Fire TVs besides developing and producing content of the media. When it comes to pricing, the company strives to offer its clients the lowest possible pricing via low shipping offers and everyday product pricing. In that way enhancing the company's operating efficiencies to continue lowering prices for their customers. All these factors result in faster Amazon's growth of the business, as demonstrated below:

Strengths

As one of the global e-commerce giant, the reality of the matter is that Amazon tends to be having a strong position in the market as well as a successful brand image. The company also has a large number of customers concerning their day to day needs and friendly prices. Hence the company has become a customer-oriented brand. In terms of cost leadership, Amazon does not incur a cost in the maintenance of the physical retail stores since everything is sold online using economies of scale (Wheeler, 2017). The company also has the strength of differentiation and innovation hence bringing creative ideas and innovativeness to its service offerings and product lines.

Weaknesses

According to Wheeler (2017), one of the Amazon's fault includes its easily imitable business model. The reality is that online retail business is typical in the digital world and imitating business model for Amazon is not difficult. Tax avoidance controversy has been one of the negative publicity for Amazon as it has been witnessed recently in the US, UK, and Japan.

Customer loyalty and Retention

Concerning the involved strategy, it is apparent that a low-cost strategy results in lower prices and when combined with the enormous range of the products leads to a better experience of the customer. Satisfied clients usually return to the website of Amazon, thereby creating ever-growing traffic that later attracts 3rd party seller to the market place of Amazon (Steenkamp, 2017).

Recommendation

Amazons should consolidate its market dominance in that way boosting its competitive advantages, promotional activities and marketing effort. The company should strategically deal with global issues, in particular, resolving tax issues. It is critical to improve the popularity of the brand along with market research; also, it is paramount of the company to open physical stores outside the United States. Furthermore, the Amazon Company should enhance strategic entry in developing countries, strengthen network security, and address counterfeit issues via effective communication.

References

Amazon. (n.d.). Fast Company. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/company/amazonForm-10K. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000101872419000004/amzn-20181231x10k.htm

Ju, I. (2018). Marketing Communication. The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, 1-14. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119010722.iesc0102

Wheeler, A. (2017). Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team. John Wiley & Sons.

Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). Global Brand Building in the Digital Age. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 111-147). Palgrave Macmillan, London. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-349-94994-6_5