Report writing help on Amazon.com

1. Executive SummaryThis report majorly takes into consideration a strategic analysis of Amazon.com. Amazon refers to one of the leading online retailers & serves its customers to the best of its ability. This report majorly focuses upon the current status of Amazon.com, the strategies that have been used by the organization now & the three new strategies which the organization i.e. Amazon.com should take into consideration.

The strategies mentioned would help them to expand & mainly focus upon the retention of the customers which are the major sources of revenue i.e. more the number of clicks by the customers depicts the amount of the revenue or profit earned by the enterprise.

1. Introduction

2.1 About the Company:

Amazon came into place in the year 1995 by Jeffrey Preston Bezos, the founder of the enterprise. The enterprise majorly takes into consideration selling of books online & post or mail the catalogs regarding the books available in the store. On an average Amazon comprises of 2, 00,000 books of different subjects or topics for their customers as well as clients.

The founder of the company i.e. Jeffery Bezos named the organization as Amazon after the longest river “Amazon”. The logo of the enterprise consists of an arrow which states that the organization wants to go beyond & expand its presence.  There major aim or goal is to have a product or a book starting from A to Z. This would help in the satisfying the need of the customer & keep them happy all the time (Spector, 2000).Amazon refers to one the leading online retailers who have been making profits for the past nine consecutive years by selling books online. Various research & strategies have been formulated & implemented at Amazon in order to make it one of the leading organizations which earn a reasonable amount of profit by selling products online.

Apart from storing books form different alphabets i.e. A to Z, Amazon also comprises of bundle of other things such as Software, clothing, CD’s, tools, DVD’s, kitchen items, toys & games, watches, accessories,, beauty products & many more (Spector, 2000).

Amazon also makes its presence felt by the software services it provides to its customers or clients in order to expand itself into the various operating systems such as Linux, Open Solaris, etc.

Amazon refers to an organization which has expanded its service from a small online book trader to a huge or one of the leading book sellers online. Amazon has faced various types of challenges such as cutting costs & attains maximum levels of profitability in order to have a competitive advantage as compared to the other competitors readily available (Spector, 2000).

The report takes into consideration the various strategies which have been currently adopted by Amazon & various future related strategies which should be adopted by Amazon in order to perform a fair strategic analysis.

2.2 Mission & Goals of the Company:The company’s mission & goals could be seen with the help of the annual report which is being published every year for the shareholders, stakeholders, customers, staff members, etc. Various tactics have been used by the organization i.e. Amazon in order to take up different elements all together in the same enterprise:

Þ    Long Term Approach: Whenever an organization takes up a business it takes into consideration the long term perspective of an organization. Same was the case with Amazon. When Amazon came into being, it also had the same picture in their mind. Customer satisfaction & retention refers to the two key points which were taken into consideration while moving on with their online business (Adams, Murrieta & Neves, 2008).

Þ    Growth – A Key to success: The key to success for Amazon refers to Growth. Amazon refers to one of the organization which majorly provides online books, CD’s, DVD’s, Computer Software’s, etc at a reasonable price as compared to the rivals already existing in the similar market. In order to be success in their domain, Amazon takes into consideration as well as applies the market leadership strategy which would help them in order to earn more profits (Hitt, Duane & Hokisson, 2009). Another approach which was taking up by the organization refers to the Customer retention strategy. This approach helped the enterprise in order to retain more number of customers & thereby increase the amount of profits & revenues generated (Adams, Murrieta & Neves, 2008).

Þ    Ongoing expansion as well as a high learning graph: One of the major reasons as to why Amazon has been referred to a leading organization in online selling of books, etc is due to the ongoing learning which takes place in the business enterprise. This could be seen with the minimum levels of innovation, novel ideas, adding on the experience, reduction in the costs as well as elimination of the mistakes (Vasquez-Pinedo, Ruffino & Padoch, 2011).Þ    Recruitment: One of the major reasons in order to achieve great heights refers to fair recruitment. This means that Amazon has a pure professional attitude & hires, retains the best possible employee which suits the requirements of the enterprise.

1. Current Situation of Amazon & Strategies already in Place[A1] :

In order to attain & reach a certain level Amazon has used various strategies. Some of the strategies which have been used by the organization have been listed as under:

3.1  Innovation

One of the major strategies which the organization i.e. Amazon takes into consideration refers to the different techniques of innovation. Amazon refers to one of the leading organizations which have been using the e-commerce strategy for a quite long time. They are the first e – retailers which have been upgraded their systems by using an online retailing system.

Some of the innovations made by Amazon in order to attract the customers & rely upon them are as under:

Þ    Augment the search facilities: Amazon refers to one of the leading online retailers which assist its customers & clients in order find the vaguest as well as doubtful books in struck of seconds.

Þ    Joint filtering: Amazon uses software known as collaborative or joint filter which helps the organization in order to keep a formal as well as all the necessary present, past details regarding their customers in the most structured manner. This would be very useful for the organization in order to suggest their other clients regarding the same & increase the amount of sales (Hitt, Duane & Hokisson, 2009).

Þ    Shopping by a click: Amazon is an organization which has been using the one click shopping. This refers to techniques which has helped the organization in order to decrease the time in order to fill up a detailed form consisting of the address, credit card numbers, etc at the time of purchase.

Þ    Fair reminders & tracking of the dispatched orders: Amazon refers to the first organization which takes into consideration proper tracking of the dispatched orders & time to time reminders to their clients or customers regarding any upcoming book fair, any discount etc (Vasquez-Pinedo, Ruffino & Padoch, 2011).

3.2  Leadership in terms of CostAnother strategy which has been used by the organization refers to the leadership in terms of cost. Initially, Amazon used to majorly focus upon the varied product range offered as well as the enhancement of the online shopping experience being felt by their customers. They were forced to adopt the cost leadership strategy (Hill & Jones, 2008). The founder of the company Bezos states that there are two types of strategies under the cost strategy model. Amazon focuses upon a cost strategy model wherein the organization reduces the cost of products being offered so as to increase the number of sales. Adopting this cost strategy has led to an increase in the revenues & profits earned by the organization by an approximate figure of $99 (Hitt, Duane & Hokisson, 2009).

3.3  Customer Retention & Focus

At Amazon, the major focus is upon customer retention which would help the organization in order to grow & increase its profitability. Many surveys state that under an online purchasing the switching cost is quite high. Hence, it is really important to retain the customers in order to grow in near the future. This could be seen with the help of sales figures generated every month.

3.4  Advancements in the operational efficiency

Another strategy being adopted by Amazon refers to fair advancements in the operational efficiency. The organization has made various types of discounting strategies so as to act & become sustainable. The organization has led to various improvements which have to lead to a decrease in the ordering cost of the product (Hill & Jones, 2008).With an improved operational efficiency, at Amazon it leads to an improved satisfaction of the customers & also gives a good word of mouth regarding the same. The company has been recorded as an organization with high ratings in a survey conducted by the University of Michigan (Hitt, Duane & Hokisson, 2009).

3.5  Strategic Coalition

Another strategy which the organization has been using refers to a strategic coalition. Amazon does strategic coalition with small retailers. The organization has an online retail store which consists of variety of books.

Amazon has quite a lot of strategic coalition which has been referred to as quite effective. The latest strategic coalition or venture has been established between Amazon & Toys ‘R’ i.e. US Site. This has led to an establishment of the retail brands for example circuit city & virgin wines. But, it must be noted that all the alliances are not smooth. Somewhere down the lane there occurs some problem or an issue in the middle. Strategic coalition refers to one of the major reasons due to which Amazon has come up all the way & achieved future growth (Hill & Jones, 2008).

1. Recommended future strategies[A2] :

Though the above mentioned innovations could be copied or imitated by the competitors of Amazon, hence certain first advantage moves should be taken up by Amazon in order to have an added advantage as compared to the competitors (Dess, Lumpkin & Eisner, 2009). The three strategies which the organization i.e. Amazon should take into consideration to be implemented in future are as under:

4.1  Product Selection

The second strategy which Amazon should take into consideration refers to a fair product selection. One of the major strengths of Amazon would be covered under this category. It should provide a better as well as an easy way to shop in the most convenient manner. The organization should be well accustomed with the buying behaviors of the customers who generally visit the site to buy a particular product. Hence, the company would be recommended to make huge investments so as to make it an easy task for its customers to choose the most unpredictable book as well (Adams, Murrieta & Neves, 2008[A3] ).

            4.2 Remarketing Approach

The last strategy which the organization should take into consideration refers to the remarketing approach. Amazon should practice the same kind of a strategy so as to expand its presence & make it more popular amongst the people. Amazon should send reminder mails so as to make the customers well informed about the new collection, special discount offers, etc. in the days to come (Dess, Lumpkin & Eisner, 2009).

Such type of remarketing strategies would help the organization to make a good impact in front of the customers & spread a good word of mouth amongst others as well. With the help of the remarketing strategies one would be able to attract highly qualified customers (Adams, Murrieta & Neves, 2008).

            4.3 Make customers for long term perspective:

One of the major concerns for any organization in order to grow & carry forward its business would be applicable only when it has handsome number of customers to deal with. The strategy which Amazon should focus refers to a simple one (Bedi, 2010). It means that when a visitor makes its first purchase, it should get converted into a repetitive one. The customer should log on the site & repurchase the books from there. The organization should not majorly take into consideration search engine optimization but should have a huge list of customers who log in time & again. The organization should have a reasonable amount of information about them for future reference (Dess, Lumpkin & Eisner, 2009).Amazon[A4]  should try to satisfy their current or present customers rather than inviting more people to be a part of it. This does not mean that the organization do not invite new ones but believe in the concept of serving their loyal customers first as compared to the newer ones. The other reason as to why people prefer to buy from Amazon is due to the one click scheme. Before the one click scheme, on an average six clicks used to be involved in order to make a purchase but with the new concept people find it easier & less time consuming (Bedi, 2010).

Retaining customers refer to one of the major strategies which would help Amazon to go a long way with the existing as well as new customers or clients (Adams, Murrieta & Neves, 2008).

1. Conclusion[A5]

Hence, it could be by saying that this report majorly comprises of what Amazon is, its current status, mission & values, the strategies the organization has been implementing & the three future strategies which should be adopted by the organization i.e. Amazon.

The three future strategies mentioned above in this report would help in widening its scope, retain more customers, attract more number of customers and select the products from the variety of books available.