Essay on Introducing a New Service to Amazon Inc.

Introduction

Amazon Inc. is electronic commerce and a cloud computing company which uses the internet to conduct business. Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who is also the CEO and the president up to date. The original name for Amazon was Cadabra but was later changed after a lawyer misheard it for the corpse, 'remains of a dead person' The company's headquarters is based in Seattle, Washington. Amazon is the largest internet retailer in the world regarding revenue and market capitalization. It is also the second largest from Alibaba group regarding product sales. Amazon was initially started as an online bookstore but was later broadened for selling video downloads and streaming, audio music streaming and downloading, audio books. Amazon also sells products such as electronics, apparel, and clothing, kitchenware, toys food and jewelry. Amazon sells many products as the CEO had the vision of the company as 'everything store.'

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Initially, Bezos created a list of twenty products that could be sold in the online platform and then narrowed the products to five which were more critical including books, Compact disks (CDs), computer software, hardware, and videos. Bezos later decided on starting with books because there was high demand for literature, there were many books available in print and also low price for the books. In 2011, Amazon had 30,000 employees in the US, and the number rose to 180,000 by 2016. Currently, Amazon employs 306,800 people worldwide both part time and full time.

Amazon allows its customers to submit reviews in an attempt to help other customers in making their purchase decisions, and the reviews are rated to a star scale of 1-5 with a reviewer's name from the credit card. Amazon also has an affiliate program for third-party sellers. The Associated receive a commission from purchases made through his/her referral.There are over 900,000 members in Amazon's affiliate program making it the second advertising network from Google Ads.

Adding a new product or service to Amazon requires a lot of considerations concerning the demand for the product, its market and also the cost of designing or incorporating the new product into Amazon store. Other factors for Amazon to consider include shipping, seasonality, demand, and competition for the product. Currently, Amazon has a hub where customers can compare and research on new cars called Amazon Vehicle. There is a wide range of vehicles which customers can check reviews and specs including Convertibles, SUVs and also trucks.

According to Adam Goetsch, Amazon's automotive head, Amazon is aimed at supporting its customers in making the best purchase decisions based on research. The automotive store provides car spare parts for different car models. The spare parts include: performance parts such as brakes, suspensions, filters and exhaust system; replacement parts such as wipers, seat covers, lighting, shocks $ struts, and screens; Interior and exterior accessories; car electronics, and many more car parts. However, Amazon does not offer car/ vehicle repair and maintenance services. As an operational manager at Amazon, I aim to introduce a new hub for vehicle repair and maintenance in all countries where Amazon has offices and also add online support for car repair.

With the continued need and demand for used and new cars in the world today, the e-commerce site like Amazon would leap a lot through introducing car repair and maintenance services. The number of vehicles sold worldwide has continued to increase with figures from statistics showing a rising trend in demand for cars worldwide. With the recovering automobile industries in Germany, Sweden, UK, Poland and other European countries, the need for cars in Asia and, America and African countries will increase the sales which are forecast to be 81 million vehicle sales by the end of 2018 from 79 million in 2017.

Figure1.1 Statistics on a sale of cars from 1990 to 2018.

With increased sales of vehicles, there is the increased need for their repair and maintenance making Amazon the best company to introduce an online based car repair and maintenance support center. Amazon has the capacity regarding capital and also trust among its customers, and therefore this gives the company competitive advantage.

The Aim and Objectives of the Service and How They Contribute to the Organization’s Performance

The aim of the service on car repair and maintain ace by Amazon is to provide the best care for customers regarding giving professional mechanics and world-class garage that ensures customers who take their cars to Amazon garage receives the best services. Better services will ensure Amazon becomes the best regarding repair and maintenance of vehicles.

The objectives of this service will involve ensuring the company. Amazon survives in the business. Most the businesses fail in the first 12 months, and therefore the goals are aimed at ensuring the survival of the repair and maintenance business.

Profit maximization is the primary objective of any business or private organization like Amazon. Creating an Amazon garage that repairs and maintains cars will ensure the company maximizes its profit which could be used to reinvest in other business undertakings and this helps the business to grow. Profits will increase by guaranteeing the garage provide the best services to the customers, and therefore more customers will want to benefit from the service.

A service involving repair and maintenance will ensure the company increases its sales on car spare parts and accessories. The aim to provide growth is only achieved by making more deals, and therefore more profit is attained. Amazon already has a vehicle spare parts garage hub that sells car spare parts online. Starting a car repair hub will ensure mechanics use spare parts from Amazon and this will increase the sales which are a plus for Amazon. This will improve the company's performance.

Another objective for the repair garage would be maintaining professional service. To ensure the perfect job is done, the certified technician should be employed to work on repair in different car parts. Various professionals are specialized in multiple automotive services, for example, engine technician is dedicated to maintaining the engine, electrician specialized in car wiring, etc. Specialization will ensure perfection of the job issued. This, in turn, improves people's trust in the company. Therefore, more people will want to have their cars checked by Amazon professionals.

The Relationship Between, and Significance Of, the Aspects of Process Design for Car Repair and Maintenance Project

Prototyping is the critical aspect of product development. This helps in getting early feedback on how the product feels and other aspects of the product that might need change. Since service cannot be researched concerning testing and prototyping due to their intangible nature, different ways of testing services can be applied. (Hertog, 2009) Argued that it is impossible to test services before those in production. Therefore, service design needs to involve potential customers to ensure their opinions are incorporated in designing the facility.

Service design is more than shaping the design of the service. Service design involves coming up with a method that is customer oriented and customer-centric. Service design is combined with the customers and also the service providers to create customer value. Service design gives tools for observing all the service situations and entities to ensure that all cases that may arise are covered in the plan. Therefore, a service designer needs to put themselves in the position of a customer to feel the value and attitude a customer would have on the service (Hamalainen et al., 2009 pg 65-67.)

Customer value is not created while the customer is using the service, it is designed as a result of the benefits, consequences, and influences got from using the service. Customer value is formed in the interaction between the customer and the service provider during their relationship. Both the customer and service provider in service providing companies take part in the creation of the value. The service provider needs to understand the actions of the customer to ensure they know value creation process. The customer also has a role to play to ensure the service provider fulfills its mission. This could involve providing the service provider with the necessary information they might need. For example, Telling the mechanics what happened to the car so that it can be in the condition it is, e.g., the vehicle hit a tree or a pavement.

Customer needs are usually at the center of any company. The company needs to adjust in its design with the aim of satisfying or fulfilling customer needs. When customer's needs are identified, the service providers are left competing in an attempt to fulfill these needs. This, in turn, leads to competition on quality and price of the service. The company has to be the first to provide a service, or else it has to have some competitive advantage on the service to gain profits from the service.

Feasibility study on the development of the service would be essential to determine the applicability of the project. A feasibility study was analyzing the possibility of a project succeeding or being completed given different factors that surround it such as technical, economic, or legal factors. For example, Amazon which aims to open a car repair and maintenance hub could conduct feasibility study to see if the project will go through the underlying factors such as materials and labor requirement, if the project will disrupt other Amazon services, the public or rather customer opinion on the same and also legal processes that come with such an undertaking.

In our case, a feasibility study would include: market feasibility that describes the market potential and also customers who might need the service currently and in the future; technical feasibility that explains how the service will be delivered in terms of transport requirements, e.g., break down functions, any technology needed in the service bays, all materials, equipment and also labor requirements; financial feasibility involves the financial requirements for the project in terms of how much money (capital) is needed or will be used to start the business and also the return that should be expected from the market; organizational feasibility that describes the company (Amazon), its founder(s) and their skills that would ensure the new store is kept operational.

Amazon is an internet-based business where almost all activities are carried out online. Starting an amazon repair shop in different locations in the world is not expected to stop online use. Customers who need the services will need to have a way of communicating with the company to manage the customers' needs and sort them following a type of repair service, location, skills required, etc. This, therefore, requires an interface where the customer can book for the services. The interface needs to be usable and accessible just like the e-commerce site. Usability testing will ensure customers are satisfied with the design of the user interface and ensure it is easy to learn. There is also the need to have a place or forum where users can ask for help or make inquiries.

Marketing strategy is also an important aspect to consider in design and development of a proposed service project. This involves how the company aims at letting people know about the new service on offer. In our case Amazon is one of the largest digital marketing company and therefore marketing the new repair and maintenance service would not be a problem for Amazon. Any company's concern in the creation of a new product or se...