Market Strategy of Amazon

Market Strategy of Amazon

Introduction

Marketing is an integral business function which aims at increasing sales and creating competitive advantage (Ferrell, 2010). A marketing strategy underpins a marketing plan designed to achieve marketing objectives (Sterne, 2002). Businesses operate in different regions and different sectors. A marketing strategy might perfectly suit one type business but not the other. A manufacturing concern might design a marketing strategy which is completely different to that designed by a service oriented organization.

Discussion

Amazon.com was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezoz and made it online in 1995. It initially started as an online bookstore but soon diversified by selling CDs, DVDs, video games, computer software, toys, food, furniture and electrical appliances. The company was incorporated in 1997 and has around 7800 employees. It is believed to be the largest online retailer. The company has been pretty immune to the recent recession and dot com bust. The mission statement of the company is ““We seek to be Earth's most customer-centric company for three primary customer sets: consumer customers, seller customers and developer customers.” The consumer oriented attitude has been the major reason for the success of the company.

Myriads of Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy of Amazon.com rests on the following six pillars (Customerinsightgroup, 2013):

A customer friendly interface is used

Products and services are offered freely without any registration or sign up costs

It scales easily from small to large

Exploitation of affiliate products and resources

It uses current communication systems

Utilizes universal mentalities and behaviour

Indirect or subliminal marketing is commonly used. It does not use conventional advertising methods but relies on strong partner relations.

Continual website improvement

In order to attract maximum internet traffic a website needs to be simple, engaging and easy to use. Amazon dedicates millions of dollars into identifying problems and coming up with solutions to make the customer online experience better. Amazon has particularly been concerned in finding ways to increase the website traffic and making necessary adjustments when needed. Amazon.com has excellent mobile device availability and uploads way faster than any of its competitors. During one time, Amazon.com introduced price differentiation strategy which resulted in several law suits from alienated loyal customers. Amazon apologized and discontinued differentiation pricing strategy, but it still continues to experiment their website and gather more priceless information (Marketingplan, 2013).

Pay per click advertising

Pay per click advertising has been a source of disrepute for Amazon's marketing campaign. PPC ads can be purchased by any web merchant ...