Hamid Hussain is taking a Computer Application to Business course on Mondays from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. The document discusses Amazon.com's content management strategy and how it uses user-generated content and reviews to personalize the customer experience. It also covers Amazon's international expansion and how it analyzes customer data to automate and optimize merchandising and advertising.

1. Name: Hamid Hussain
Reg; 6831
Class: Monday (9:00 am to 12:00 pm)
Course: Computer Application to Business и
Submitted to: Mr. Syed Hasan Adil

2. BRIEF OVERVIEW
• Amazon.com is the world’s largest e-commerce site
• During the dot-com “boom,” they hired aggressively as investor cash came in
• The site needed to streamline its content development strategy
• This included a shift from an editor-created to a user-generated content model
• Has over 35 e-commerce main product categories and hundreds of sub-categories
o Each category has at least one full-time editor
 Some have several editors
Each editor is responsible for maintaining front page of each “store” and sub-pages,
including product detail pages, Amazon.com has developed separate websites for
Canada, UK, Germany, France, China and Japan. Amazon.com vision is to become•
 The competitive rivalry amongst the e-retailing industry is intense. From
some of the largest to the smallest companies, dotcom businesses are
abundant, making competition intense. Amazon.com competes directly
with big firms such as Barnes and Noble and EBay.
The Value Chain
The value chain analysis undertaken examines the operational effectiveness of activities
that enable Amazon.com to perform better than its competitors; i.e. the distinctive value
chain activities that are difficult to imitate. Where Amazon.com configures its value
chain activities to create unique value for customers, reduce its costs of carrying out these
activities and reduce the cost of its customers’ transactions.

3. Global Internet Trends
Internet Usage
Figure 5 and Appendix 3 show that the five countries with the highest internet usage are
USA, China, Japan, Germany and India. Amazon.com has a presence in all of these
countries except for India. This indicates a potential opportunity for Amazon.com.

4. Amazon Vision
‘‘Earths most customer centric company
Start with customers and work backwards’’
Selection
Wide product range
Books, videos, many more …and they have a category ‘Crazy Things’
under Toys & Games !
Convenience
Selection available on your screen
Various price ranges – New & Used
Delivery in shortest possible time
Prices
Prices revised daily
Many times Free Shipping
‘Goldbox’ – Discounts on new categories
Customers
Effective Process management
Satisfied Customer
Low costs
Competitors
Turn them into collaborators
Superior Technology Platform – value for competitors to use the
platform, advantage for Amazon to offer wider choice
Collaborators
Amazon Marketplace – Customers and retailers can sell their new and
old items
Amazon Merchants – Larger third party Merchants
Amazon.com Categories
• Automotive Parts / Motorcycle & ATV
• Cell Phones and Accessories
• Clothing & Accessories**
• Collectible Books
• Industrial and Scientific

5. • Jewelry
• Shoes
• Toys & Games (holiday approval only)
• Watches
List of Amazon®
Product Categories
Amazon US
Category Name Category Code
Apparel & Accessories apparel
Automotive automotive
Baby baby
Beauty beauty
Books books
Camera & Photo photo
Cell Phones & Service wireless-phones
Classical Music classical
Computers pc-hardware
Computer & Video Games videogames
DVD dvd
Electronics electronics
Gourmet Food gourmet
Grocery grocery
Home & Garden garden
Health & Personal Care hpc
Industrial & Scientific industrial
Jewelry & Watches jewelry
Kitchen & Housewares kitchen

6. Magazine Subscriptions magazines
Miscellaneous universal
Music music
Musical Instruments mi
Software software
Sports & Outdoors sporting
Tools & Hardware tools
Toys & Games toys
Unbox Video Downloads amazontv
VHS vhs
Amazon UK
Category Name Category Code
Books books
Classical Music classical
Computer & Video Games video-games-uk
DVD dvd-uk
Electronics electronics-uk
Home & Garden garden-uk
Health & Personal Care hpc-uk
Jewellery & Watches jewelry-uk
Kitchen & Housewares kitchen-uk
Music music
Sports & Leisure sports-uk
Software software-uk
Tools & Hardware tools-uk
Toys & Games toys-uk

7. VHS vhs-uk
Amazon Canada
Category Name Category Code
Books books-ca
Livres en Français books-ca-fr
Music music-ca
Classical Music classical-ca
DVD dvd-ca
VHS vhs-ca
Software software-ca
Computer & Video Games| video-games-ca
HOW AMAZON.COM FUNCTIONS?
 Amazon.com Content Management
• With millions of products, Amazon.com needs help from the public to keep the
pages up-to-date and filled with useful information
• “ User-generated Content”
Amazon.com Content Features
• Reviews
• List mania
• “ How-to” and Buying Guides
• Product manuals
• Customer Images
• Ref-tags
• Discussion Forums

8. • Wikis
List mania! Examples
• Customers create their own lists to share with others
o Each item in the list is linkable to a product
• Examples:
o Top 15 Movies of 2005 by fattyjoe37
o The Best Albums of 2006 by Volant solo
o “Awesome Books” by fantasy rules
Guide Examples
• Customers create their own guides to share their expertise with others
• Examples:
o How to set up a wireless home network
o Taking a better picture with your digital camera
Visitor Experience
• Customers indicate that they enjoy the “community” aspect of shopping
• They trust the collective opinions of other shoppers more than the manufacturers
• The “Amazon Review” has become a very powerful force in the industry
o Buying decisions are made for purchases both off- and on-line
Customer Reviews
• Amazon.com has thousands of unpaid writers voluntarily submit their reviews
o Top reviewer Harriet Klausner has written over 12,000 reviews without
pay for the site
Personalization at Amazon.com
• Amazon.com developed an infrastructure where each visitor page is personalized
• The homepage displays items that Amazon.com thinks you are likely to buy

9. • Visitors indicate that they like the personalization
Amazon.com Personalization
• Personalization technologies are also easy to manage and popular with visitors
o Previous purchase data collected
o Cross-referenced with other sales data
o A “personalized” store homepage suggests products based on like-minded
customers
 Includes “recommendations” embedded into page
Automation at Amazon.com
• Data is king at Amazon
• Many examples of data driven automation
o Channel management
 Web site real estate management system
 Automated e-mail measurement and optimization
o Merchandising
 Customers who bought X also bought…
 Recommendations
 New releases, top sellers
 Purchase Circles
o Advertising
 Automatic ad generation and bidding
Electronic Media and E-Commerce
• What makes the site attractive to consumers?

10. o Strong reputation for good customer service
o Secure from “hackers”
o Large selection of products
o Easy navigation
 Clean Web design that maximizes click-through and/or sales