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Amazons Marketing Audit: Strengths and Weaknesses, Marketing Objective
Background
Amazon is one of the worlds most successful technology companies which uses artificial intelligence for practical eCommerce. Amazon was founded in July 1995 by Jeff Bezos in Washington DC (Sheth, 2021). The primary strategy Amazon uses is customer obsession which depends on Research and Development (R&D) to tailor its functional design to customer needs. The company offers over two hundred services, including cloud computing, retail of goods in cyberspace, and offers customers to shop from the comfort of their homes. Though Amazon has adequate logistical operations and stores worldwide, it faces significant competition from Alibaba, Walmart, International Business Machines (IBM), and Google, offering specialized services to the customer (Sadq et al. 2018). Amazons main objective is to improve customer experience and increase sales and thrive.
Situational Analysis
A marketing audit is a crucial tool organization can leverage for success. The corporate domain is a dynamic landscape that keeps shifting, and organizations must strive to maintain customer loyalty. Amazons key competitors offer more specialized services, which may drive more clients to them. Alibaba, for example, has a more diverse advertisement model which keeps pulling customers to its end. While Amazon provides numerous services to the people, companies like Apple, Walmart, and Microsoft of highly specialized services in technology, retail, and cloud computing, respectively (Sadq et al. 2018). Amazons management has focused on technology investment so that most customers may get better and more up-to-date services.
Online retail becomes a successful venture when the customer promptly receives the goods they order online. As Amazon expands, its crucial strategy is to consolidate its logistical capacity further while offering its clients the best services. Investment in R&D is an antidote because it seeks to understand what the clients want and incorporate customer feedback into the designs, ensuring increased customer loyalty. Mergers and Acquisitions are a competitive strategy that allows Amazon to invest in local companies and brands with a substantial local following, making it better to thrive. Since different parts of the world have different cultures, cultural competence is critical for success (Sheth, 2021). Mergers and Acquisitions make it possible to provide the highest level of cultural competence in the goods offered, courtesy of the acquired organizations competence and connection to the needs of the local customers.
Amazons Internal Strengths and Weaknesses
Amazon is a household name for most online retail experiences courtesy of its customer obsession strategy, which incorporates customer opinion and feedback in its service and product delivery. Amazon stems its internal advantage from three prongs in its operation, differentiation, cost leadership, and customer focus. The company operates a wide range of products and buys in bulk, leveraging economies of scale. When it receives economies of scale, the operation cost is lowered, and the price of the final product is considerably reduced. Offering high-quality goods at a lower price gives Amazon a competitive advantage. The company has differentiated its goods and services based on skilled human resource management and technology, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customer focus is an internal strength that makes the organization receive positive comments from the customers (Sadq et al., 2018). The visionary leadership in the organization hires the most competent research and development, which understands the needs of the dynamic customer needs and revise the designs periodically to incorporate the changes in the production of goods and services.
Amazon has significant weaknesses that hinder it from penetrating faster-growing economies. The major flaw is its imitable business model, as any other person can develop a website and start an eCommerce business. Developed markets can easily imitate the model and start operations, making it difficult for Amazon to penetrate. Amazon lacks a brick-and-mortar presence, making it impossible for customers to associate with the brand locally (Sheth, 2021). Customers prefer buying items such as clothes and foodstuff from physical stores, and the failure of the company to have a physical presence in its customers strongholds serves as a limiting factor for the company. Therefore, the company must focus more on its expansion of logistical and physical presence to maintain its vast pool of customers.
Amazons Marketing Objective
Amazons top management is keen to navigate the competitive business landscape to increase customer satisfaction, improve customer loyalty, and encourage repeat purchases. In line with the key objective, the company wishes to expand the scope of the goods, lower the price and offer customer-focused products using the research and development wing of the organization. Therefore, the top marketing objective is to create effective communication that will have a ripple effect on the customer traffic to the company website (Sadq et al., 2018). As the customers communicate effectively with the organization, their opinion and concerns are likely to be incorporated into the design, and the key objective of expanding becomes feasible. The actionable target that Amazon must focus on is improving customer communication and opening more physical stores for customers to purchase from their local regions and have fast delivery. Some customers prefer shopping from physical stores, and since Amazon has a brand name that sells worldwide, opening physical stores will triple the sales.
Marketing Activities
Amazons marketing should focus on the 7Ps of marketing to develop a strategy that will enable it to meet its goal of improving its sales and thriving in the corporate domain. Price, product, place, promotion, packaging, people, and positioning are critical aspects that the company must focus on to meet its goal. As the market is constantly changing, Amazon must take advantage of its brand name to increase popularity and leverage the seven Ps to improve its sales.
Price and Place
Price is one of the most significant determinants of business success, and any company must leverage it to attract customers. Since Amazon gets economies of scale and can lead in the price leadership, it must use its R&D to determine a price that resonates with customers. In a time of economic hardship, the company must lower the costs of goods and services to enable customers to access the goods at friendly prices. Leveraging on the economies of scale to lower prices increases Amazons sales (Jindal et al., 2021). The company must further invest in building physical stores worldwide to give customers a chance to shop physically for their goods. Building the offline stores will solve the internal weakness of absence in the offline domain.
Product and Promotion
Amazon provides a wide range of products to the customers and must therefore look at the product as an external consultant to improve the quality. As the customer needs to keep changing, the company must invest more in its research and development to use disruptive technology to appeal to the customer. All products offered by Amazon must meet the customers needs and give them a window to issue their concerns, view, and opinion. The Amazon brand is famous worldwide, but the company must never ride on the assumptions of its popularity to stop advertisement. It must incorporate new strategies of awarding customers who recommend new people to shop with Amazon (Singh & Pathak, 2021). The referrals awards will motivate the customers to refer the products to their family, friends, and colleagues. In the long run, it will multiply its customer base and achieve its goals of increasing sales.
Positioning, People, and Package
Positioning is an essential concept within the marketing framework, and it ensures that the company takes a special place in the customers hearts. The way an organization positions itself in peoples minds determines the sales. Brand activism is an example of how an organization takes a position to support a social issue of social importance (Moorman, 2020). Problems affecting the people, such as discrimination, must be addressed by the organization. Investing in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on environmental importance is likely to increase the chances of the organization obtaining popularity. Further, Amazon must understand the peoples culture and package their products according to the customers cultural orientation.
Planning Timetable
Conclusion
New entrants in the eCommerce business are a threat to Amazon, and its operations may be affected by the growing competition. As the competitors thrive, the company is likely to shrink and lower its sales. Amazon management has a choice of implementing the marketing plan for success. Applying the provided marketing matrix will ensure that Amazons customers are connected to the organization and enable them to navigate the competitive market and thrive.
References
Jindal, R. P., Gauri, D. K., Li, W., & Ma, Y. (2021). Omnichannel battle between Amazon and Walmart: Is the focus on delivery the best strategy? Journal of business research, 122, 270-280. Web.
Moorman, C. (2020). Commentary: Brand activism in a political world. Journal of public policy & marketing, 39(4), 388-392. Web.
Sadq, Z. M., Sabir, H. N., & Saeed, V. S. H. (2018). Analyzing the Amazon success strategies. Journal of process management and new technologies, 6(4). Web.
Sheth, J. (2021). New research areas in marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and marketing analytics: the future is bright. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 29(1), 3-12. Web.
Singh, A., & Pathak, G. S. (2021). Revisiting marketing strategy in emerging markets: a study of Amazon. com Inc. International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 22(2-3), 113-126. Web.
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