How Amazon’s Brand And Customer Experience Became Synonymous?

Background to the Company

The report aims at providing an overview of marketing strategy and plan of Amazon Australia (amazon.com.au 2018).Amazon as a tech giant represents one of the largest internet retailer of the world measured in terms of market capitalization and revenue. ThisInternet retailer began as online bookstore that later on diversified into video streaming/downloads, MP3 streaming / download, video games, software, electronics, food, apparel, jewellery and toys (amazon.com.au 2018). Besides, Amazon also produces items related to consumer electronics that includes fire tablets, fire television and Kindle e-readers. It is one of the largest providers of the cloud services. The online retailer also sells various low-end products under its brand nameAmazon Basics. The report commences with background information of Amazon. The report also undertakes a market analysis with focus on marketing strategy or strategies adopted by Amazon its inception. The report also provides an insight on how the described marketing options would be successful throughout the next decade.

Amazons represents the e-commerce giant found by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994. It initially started as bookstore. Presently, Amazon is the fourth ranking public traded company across the world (Mejia 2018). Amazon launched the online retail service in Australia thereby enabling customers in buying everything from the food to the electronics without payment of excessive international prices for shipping.

The Mega Corporation based in United States dominated each market in which it made an entry thereby making the CEO Jeff Bezos richer and satisfying the massive customer base (Pisani and Jay 2018). Australians were able to shop via Amazon.com and the year 2017 witnessed a massive expansion of the retailer’s Australian presence. The retailer has undergone an expansion in its range that now included baby items, clothing, beauty products, music, home wares, books, fitness/sports goods, toys, stationary, video games and electronics. Amazon managed all the customer sales with the help of an account that ensured free set up with no further ongoing charges. This implied that an account was necessary to make a purchase from the site. Initially an Amazon account holder in US or UK could use the same login details from anywhere. However, with the initiation of the newer laws governing the GST on the overseas purchases on July, 2018, there was a change in the policy in regard to the Aussies accessing the international versions of Amazon which is Amazon US. Therefore, since the year July 2018, the Australians making an attempt in accessing the international stores of Amazon has been redirected to the Amazon Australia

The Nature of Amazon Australia’s Marketing Strategy or Strategies since it began

The mission statement of Amazon focuses on the effective and the higher quality service. For instance, the company emphasizes on the convenience of the target customers in determining the best selection of the product in e-commerce market. In other words, the corporate mission guarantees attractive services for satisfying the needs of the target customers. Amazon focuses on the variables that include the lowest price, best selection and the maximum convenience.

According to Piercy (2016), an effective marketing strategy refers to the combination of 4Ps of marketing mix. It is basically designed for meeting the marketing objectives of the company there providing value to the customers. The four Ps of marketing mix possess a relation and combines for establishing the position of the product with target market. The four Ps of the marketing includes:

Product: This refers to the quality, design, variety, packaging and brand name
Price: This refers to the discounts, list price, allowance, credit terms and the payment period
Promotion: This refers to the advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling.
Place: This refers to the personal selling, advertising, public relations and sales promotion (Schwarzl and Grabowska 2015)

However, the report now discusses the nature of marketing strategies of Amazon since it began in terms of 4Ps that are product, price, place and promotion. The elaboration of each of the marketing mix is as follows:

Product:

Ritala, Golnamand Wegmann (2014) stated that Amazon represents an ecommerce company with a global presence. With the help of internet connections from the various gadgets including tablets and phone, it allows the customers in purchasing and browsing the products on an immediate basis. The products then get delivered to customers via the service delivery companies. The company however has a vast product base and it sells everything The online retailer started initially with only the books and until today is known as the highest booksellers across the world that also first brought kindle into the market.

Price:

On the other hand, Borsenberger (2015) said that Amazon puts forward competitive prices. This helped in keeping the company ahead of the contemporaries of the market. For instance, if one is looking forward to buying a book from Amazon, then retailer puts forward options of the new copy as well as the used copy completed with the pricing and the condition. However, to ensure faster deliverables, Amazon puts forward an initiative of a premium account. The prices of Amazon also kept competitive due to the usage of its staffs who are minimum in number but possess good training (Mejia 2018). Amazon also ensures that the customers benefits from lack of overheads through reflection of the online prices.

In fact, the pricing strategy of Amazon is that the prices are fluctuated in a manner in a manner which even the competitors cannot battle. Amazon can undertake a massive alteration in the product prices that keeps it ahead of the competitors. The company is primarily focused on keeping the prices low and also offer a huge collection. The loyal customer base of the company results in Amazon earning huge benefits. Thus, Amazon is innovative and thereby sets their bar higher enough for excelling above its competitors.

Strategic Marketing Options for Amazon Australia moving forward

. Place:

Davis (2016) said that Amazon had a brand image that enabled it in having its presence everywhere. The company’s bottom line however serves sufficient in enabling massive research and development efforts thereby securing the website. The company has its customer bases in various countries across the world. Here Amazon has an online presence with the bases located in different states of the Australia.

Promotion:

According to Kantor and Streitfeld (2015), Amazon undertakes promotion primarily by targeting the Australian market. To begin with the company undertakes promotion through television commercials. Besides, the company also undertakes web based advertising and advertising through billboards for highlighting its products and services. Amazon also makes use of the online advertising networks through the social media so that whenever a product is checked, its advertisement is visible somewhere in some different website. Amazon also undertakes search engine optimization so that the name of the company remains higher up in the results of search engine. This also acts as smart promotional strategy on part of Amazon.

To remain successful throughout the decade, Amazon can adopt certain advanced marketing strategies.

By Adopting Content Marketing: This refers to the process of creation of videos, photos, blog articles, infographics and various other forms of the content by Amazon to attract visitors to its website (Hollimanand Rowley2014). For instance, if Amazon is offering a discount on the handbags then place its offer through a blog post stating ‘The ideal outfit for any party’. To make the post more attractive, it should include photos of the handbag on offer. The end of the blog post should also contain a link that would directly connect to the product page where the customers can opt for the product. Therefore, possessing a content marketing strategy would really be helpful for the company.

However, the key aspect of the strategy remained in the understanding of the target audience based on segmentation that includes geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural. Once known, the next steps involved in planning the posts and thereby keeping a list of the potential headlines ready for posting. The structure of the content should also be predetermined. However, it is important in measuring the content that generated the maximum traffic and leads that ensured maximum amount of sales. This is would ultimately help Amazon Australia in gaining a competitive advantage.

Preparation of Mailing List: Email marketing refers to a powerful tool in marketing (Sahni, Wheeler and Chintagunta 2018) that would determine Amazon in having a sustainable business.If not carried effectively then it leads to missing out on the sales. For instance, if there is a visitor on the website who does not purchase from Amazon then the best thing lies in capturing the email address. One of the best methods for ensuring this lies in using a box with sign up form in exchange of the email address that offers a 10 percent discount on the next orders. Another technique involves incorporating a sign up field at the end of blog post. The email marketing must have a proper plan. However, the charges are affordable ranging from $10 to $150. Email marketing should however align with the federal Privacy Act of 1988. It puts forward a framework for protection of the personal information in Australia’s online context.

Promotion via Social Media: Social media creates a bigger impact on the sales figures (Okazakiand Taylor2013) thereby making Amazon Australia the most sought after company in future.The focus of the game lies in getting the customers to be the brand advocates while ensuring the promotion of the company. The first things lie in choosing the platforms. The commonly used amongst them are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. It is however useful in focusing on specific platform when there is a limitation on the amount of time and resources. The strategy for social media remains closely tied to the strategy of content marketing. To create an appeal the posts should be split where only 20 percent remains promotional and the rest includes the content that creates an appeal for the audience(Okazaki and Taylor 2013). This is because, the followers in addition to be entertained also expects to be informed. In this case, it is also important to engage into interactive conversations with the followers. The cost involved here depends on the budget.

Reliance on Payper Click Advertising: Paid advertising is a great means for generating sales(King, Abrahams and Ragsdale 2015).The adverts of pay-per-click mostly representtargeted ads for audience specifically shown in the social media websites and the search listings. When an ad isclicked,it gets redirected to the company website against a charge. Pay-per-click marketing is however difficult due to its dependency on Google AdWords that operates a complicated and time-consuming process (King, Abrahamsand Ragsdale2015).. This style of marketing leads to the loss of money provided the company is unaware of its whereabouts. Google AdWords allows a company is defining its worth based on the advert (Iveroth et al. 2013)

Increased Reliance on Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing takes place when other people are allowed to market the products in return of charge based on the sales percentage that a company generates due to their efforts (Schwarzland Grabowska2015). Affiliate marketing depends on the ability of tracking the source of a sale. In this case, the company might provide a specific URL that the marketers use for advertising the products. The blogger then posts the URL on the website with an accompanying article about the company. On clicking the URL, they will be redirected to the company’s website where they can make a purchase. The affiliate tracking software however attributes the sale to the blogger(Edelman and Brandi 2015).Affiliate network represents a readymade network of the marketers looking in search of the affiliate schemes (Edelmanand Brandi2015). An alternative to affiliate network lies in self-promotion of the affiliate scheme. This involves contacting the affiliate marketers and selling the scheme. Although this approach involves more effort but it proves to be cost effective. This is because it involves the security of paying the affiliates only with a percentage commission from each of the guaranteed sales. The percentage of commission varies between five percent and fifty percent depending on the type of the product. Therefore, adoption of this approach can prove to be advantageous for Amazon Australia and thereby help it becoming a sustainable business in future.

Thus, Amazon Australia should follow these strategic tools as it would help the company in enhancing their customer base by aiding them in their purchase decisions. The usage of the strategic tools will also help the company in improving their search function. In addition it also helps the company on deciding on the shipping policies and provides estimations for the checkout processes.

Conclusion:

On a concluding note, it can be said that Amazon developed an unparalleled support spanning over last fifteen years with the distinctive business model of its online business. This allows the company in having revolutionary advantages over its competitors along with becoming a cost leader in the business. It surpasses all supply chains in reaching the consumers via an innovative e-commerce method. This helps the company in having control over distribution channels and thereby cut down the product prices. Amazon also has their own brands known as the Amazon Basics and Amazon Elements. Amazon however needs to focus on the development and research for adopting better and enhanced innovative means for serving the customers. The report helps in focusing on some of the advanced marketing strategies for capitalization.

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