This project report summarizes Siddhi Sharma's research project on the growth of e-commerce through Amazon. The report includes an acknowledgement, declaration, and certificate sections. It also includes an abstract, introduction providing background on Amazon, objectives of the research, a literature review, methodology, data analysis sections covering Amazon's lines of business, business models, and e-commerce strategies. The report aims to analyze how Amazon has become one of the most successful e-commerce platforms through its business areas, models adopted, and various intensive growth, user reference, and supply chain management strategies.
This case study report is detail analysis of Amazon.com. The report describes the List of areas that
it has been working, the business models it has adopted and the various strategies that it has
implemented to make it one of the most successful E-commerce platform. This case study reflects
that using the strategies and model adopted by Amazon's can leads any other E-commerce site to get
successful. This case study also shows that how the different models and strategies must be
implemented with respect to the dynamic environment of the E-commerce.
This case study report is detail analysis of Amazon.com. The report describes the List of areas that
it has been working, the business models it has adopted and the various strategies that it has
implemented to make it one of the most successful E-commerce platform. This case study reflects
that using the strategies and model adopted by Amazon's can leads any other E-commerce site to get
successful. This case study also shows that how the different models and strategies must be
implemented with respect to the dynamic environment of the E-commerce.
This was done as part of a coursework for the Business Model class at Heriot-Watt University.
It was used only in educational services.
I hope you enjoy it and learn something form it, because we certainly learned a lot.
Case study on amazon.com's supply chain management practices | MBAtiousaneesh p
The case study provides an overview of Amazon.com's inventory management. Jeffrey Preston Bezos the founder of Amazon.com launched the company when he realized that Internet provided immense scope for online trading. Although the site was originally launched as an online bookstore it eventually offered several other products to keep abreast of the competition. The case study takes a look at the different products and features offered on the site. The case also discusses Amazon's value propositions and its criteria for choosing strategic partners.
Strategies adopted by amazon during the recession along with generic business...Md. Nazmus Sakib
The assignment reflects the generic strategies of Amazon.com. it undertakes to highlights the financial performance of Amazon during the recession and reasons behind the success of that time. Finally, it focuses on the lessons for a manager from its strategies.
This was done as part of a coursework for the Business Model class at Heriot-Watt University.
It was used only in educational services.
I hope you enjoy it and learn something form it, because we certainly learned a lot.
Case study on amazon.com's supply chain management practices | MBAtiousaneesh p
The case study provides an overview of Amazon.com's inventory management. Jeffrey Preston Bezos the founder of Amazon.com launched the company when he realized that Internet provided immense scope for online trading. Although the site was originally launched as an online bookstore it eventually offered several other products to keep abreast of the competition. The case study takes a look at the different products and features offered on the site. The case also discusses Amazon's value propositions and its criteria for choosing strategic partners.
Strategies adopted by amazon during the recession along with generic business...Md. Nazmus Sakib
The assignment reflects the generic strategies of Amazon.com. it undertakes to highlights the financial performance of Amazon during the recession and reasons behind the success of that time. Finally, it focuses on the lessons for a manager from its strategies.
2 0 1 8A N N U A L R E P O R TTo our shareowners.docxlorainedeserre
2 0 1 8
A N N U A L R E P O R T
To our shareowners:
Something strange and remarkable has happened over the last 20 years. Take a look at these numbers:
1999 3%
2000 3%
2001 6%
2002 17%
2003 22%
2004 25%
2005 28%
2006 28%
2007 29%
2008 30%
2009 31%
2010 34%
2011 38%
2012 42%
2013 46%
2014 49%
2015 51%
2016 54%
2017 56%
2018 58%
The percentages represent the share of physical gross merchandise sales sold on Amazon by independent third-
party sellers – mostly small- and medium-sized businesses – as opposed to Amazon retail’s own first party sales.
Third-party sales have grown from 3% of the total to 58%. To put it bluntly:
Third-party sellers are kicking our first party butt. Badly.
And it’s a high bar too because our first-party business has grown dramatically over that period, from $1.6 billion
in 1999 to $117 billion this past year. The compound annual growth rate for our first-party business in that time
period is 25%. But in that same time, third-party sales have grown from $0.1 billion to $160 billion – a
compound annual growth rate of 52%. To provide an external benchmark, eBay’s gross merchandise sales in that
period have grown at a compound rate of 20%, from $2.8 billion to $95 billion.
Why did independent sellers do so much better selling on Amazon than they did on eBay? And why were
independent sellers able to grow so much faster than Amazon’s own highly organized first-party sales
organization? There isn’t one answer, but we do know one extremely important part of the answer:
We helped independent sellers compete against our first-party business by investing in and offering them the very
best selling tools we could imagine and build. There are many such tools, including tools that help sellers manage
inventory, process payments, track shipments, create reports, and sell across borders – and we’re inventing more
every year. But of great importance are Fulfillment by Amazon and the Prime membership program. In
combination, these two programs meaningfully improved the customer experience of buying from independent
sellers. With the success of these two programs now so well established, it’s difficult for most people to fully
appreciate today just how radical those two offerings were at the time we launched them. We invested in both of
these programs at significant financial risk and after much internal debate. We had to continue investing
significantly over time as we experimented with different ideas and iterations. We could not foresee with
certainty what those programs would eventually look like, let alone whether they would succeed, but they were
pushed forward with intuition and heart, and nourished with optimism.
Intuition, curiosity, and the power of wandering
From very early on in Amazon’s life, we knew we wanted to create a culture of builders – people who are curious,
explorers. They like to invent. Even when they’re experts, they are “fresh” with a beginner’s mind. They see the
way we do things as just the way ...
Chapter 6 • Gathering Performance Information 165C A S E .docxketurahhazelhurst
Chapter 6 • Gathering Performance Information 165
C A S E S T U DY 6-4
Minimizing Biases in Performance Evaluation at Expert
Engineering, Inc.
Under various engineer titles, veteran engineer Demetri
worked for Expert Engineering, Inc., for almost 15 years. The
firm’s performance evaluation history is both unique and
long. He has recently been promoted to the position of
Principal at the engineering firm. All principals are involved
in evaluating engineers because the founders of the firm
believed in multiple source evaluation and feedback to prevent
favoritism and promote a merit-based culture. At the same
time, the firm has a long history of using quality performance
appraisal forms and review meetings to better ensure accu-
rate performance evaluations. Several months ago, however,
the firm initiated a big hiring initiative of a dozen new engi-
neers, nine of whom turned out to be graduates from Purdue
University, which is the same university from which Demetri
graduated. Indeed, Demetri was active in moving forward
the hiring initiative. There is tension and discontent among
the other principals, who fear that a time of unchecked
favoritism, biased performance ratings, and unfair promotion
decisions is on the rise.
1. Provide a detailed discussion of the intentional and
unintentional rating distortion factors that may come
into play in this situation.
2. Evaluate the kinds of training programs that could
minimize the factors you have described. What do you
recommend and why? �
End Notes
1. Tannenbaum, S. I. (2006). Applied perform-
ance measurement: Practical issues and
challenges. In W. Bennett, C. E. Lance, &
D. J. Woehr (Eds.), Performance measure-
ment: Current perspectives and future
challenges (pp. 297–318). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
2. Adapted from Grote, D. (1996). The complete
guide to performance appraisal. New York:
AMACOM.
3. Grote, D. (1996). The complete guide to per-
formance appraisal. New York: AMACOM.
4. Adapted from Workforce Research Center
(2003, April). “Busch Performance Evalua-
tions,” Workforce Online. Available online at
http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/
23/42/03.php. Retrieval date: May 1, 2011.
5. Ganzach, Y., Kluger, A. N., & Klayman, N.
(2000). Making decisions from an interview:
Expert measurement and mechanical com-
bination. Personnel Psychology, 53, 1–20.
6. Kraiger, K., & Aguinis, H. (2001). Training
effectiveness: Assessing training needs,
motivation, and accomplishments. In M.
London (Ed.), How people evaluate others in
organizations (pp. 203–220). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
7. Brutus, S. (2010). Words versus numbers:
A theoretical exploration of giving and
receiving narrative comments in perform-
ance appraisal. Human Resource Management
Review, 20, 144–157.
8. Short, J. C., Broberg, J. C., Cogliser, C. C., &
Brigham, K. (2010). Construct validation using
computer-aided text analysis (CATA): An
illustration using entrepreneurial orientation.
Organizational Research Meth ...
Chapter 6 • Gathering Performance Information 165C A S E .docxrobertad6
Chapter 6 • Gathering Performance Information 165
C A S E S T U DY 6-4
Minimizing Biases in Performance Evaluation at Expert
Engineering, Inc.
Under various engineer titles, veteran engineer Demetri
worked for Expert Engineering, Inc., for almost 15 years. The
firm’s performance evaluation history is both unique and
long. He has recently been promoted to the position of
Principal at the engineering firm. All principals are involved
in evaluating engineers because the founders of the firm
believed in multiple source evaluation and feedback to prevent
favoritism and promote a merit-based culture. At the same
time, the firm has a long history of using quality performance
appraisal forms and review meetings to better ensure accu-
rate performance evaluations. Several months ago, however,
the firm initiated a big hiring initiative of a dozen new engi-
neers, nine of whom turned out to be graduates from Purdue
University, which is the same university from which Demetri
graduated. Indeed, Demetri was active in moving forward
the hiring initiative. There is tension and discontent among
the other principals, who fear that a time of unchecked
favoritism, biased performance ratings, and unfair promotion
decisions is on the rise.
1. Provide a detailed discussion of the intentional and
unintentional rating distortion factors that may come
into play in this situation.
2. Evaluate the kinds of training programs that could
minimize the factors you have described. What do you
recommend and why? �
End Notes
1. Tannenbaum, S. I. (2006). Applied perform-
ance measurement: Practical issues and
challenges. In W. Bennett, C. E. Lance, &
D. J. Woehr (Eds.), Performance measure-
ment: Current perspectives and future
challenges (pp. 297–318). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
2. Adapted from Grote, D. (1996). The complete
guide to performance appraisal. New York:
AMACOM.
3. Grote, D. (1996). The complete guide to per-
formance appraisal. New York: AMACOM.
4. Adapted from Workforce Research Center
(2003, April). “Busch Performance Evalua-
tions,” Workforce Online. Available online at
http://www.workforce.com/archive/article/
23/42/03.php. Retrieval date: May 1, 2011.
5. Ganzach, Y., Kluger, A. N., & Klayman, N.
(2000). Making decisions from an interview:
Expert measurement and mechanical com-
bination. Personnel Psychology, 53, 1–20.
6. Kraiger, K., & Aguinis, H. (2001). Training
effectiveness: Assessing training needs,
motivation, and accomplishments. In M.
London (Ed.), How people evaluate others in
organizations (pp. 203–220). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.
7. Brutus, S. (2010). Words versus numbers:
A theoretical exploration of giving and
receiving narrative comments in perform-
ance appraisal. Human Resource Management
Review, 20, 144–157.
8. Short, J. C., Broberg, J. C., Cogliser, C. C., &
Brigham, K. (2010). Construct validation using
computer-aided text analysis (CATA): An
illustration using entrepreneurial orientation.
Organizational Research Meth.
Amazon.com - Company Analysis (OD & HRM)Nikhil Saraf
Amazon.com - Company Analysis
Answers the following:
- How did the organization start and evolve
-What were important organizational points of change?
-How did these changes impact the organization?
-What were the organizational responses to these important points of change?
-How did these responses change the organization?
Running Head Strategic management Apple Company .docxtoltonkendal
Running Head: Strategic management: Apple Company 1
Strategic management: Apple Company 2
Abdulaziz Alroumi
Institutional affiliations
Course title
Instructor
Date of submission
Strategic management: Apple Company
Apple Inc is a company that has been successful in the field of technology especially from its manufacture of high quality computers. The company also has been successful due to the market grip by iPhones and iPads (Carlton, & Kawasaki, 2013). The company has been making huge profits in the recent past. Recently, the market share of the company has really reduced due to the entry of so many companies making cheaper phones and computers. Strategic management is therefore important to restore the profit level of the company.
The market for mobile phones, pads and computers is a competition where there are no restrictions to entry and exit. There has therefore been an influx of companies selling their own brands of mobile phones and computers. The prices offered by these companies are lower than the price of apple products. As a result, it is important for the company to strategize on how to reclaim its market share. The main competitors of Apple include dell, Samsung, Toshiba, Compaq, Acer, Asus, among others phone and computers manufacturers (Carlton, & Kawasaki, 2013).
The company’s strategic management has identified intensive marketing and promotions as the step the company will make to reclaim the market share. The management of the company believes that, intensive advertising would solve the company’s decreased market share nightmare. The company’s management has identified several modes of advertising that will be utilized to implement this strategy.
The company will for instance put advertisements in the media. The media advertisements will be centered at making the public understand the products that the company offers (Lavidge, & Steiner, 2012). In televisions, there will be exhibit of the real products that the company offers. The will be display of mobile phones, iPhones and iPads on the television screen. The adverts will be a minimum of one minute long to increase the time that prospective consumers see the adverts. As a result, the company is likely to attract more customers.
The company will also utilize billboards to achieve its new marketing strategy. Billboards are large pictorials that are placed mostly on road sides and also across walls of tall buildings. The aim of billboard advertising is to ensure that, the adverts are seen by as many customers as possible (Rossiter, & Percy, 2011). The billboard pictorials will have pictures of the company’s products, which include the mobile phones, iPads, iPhones and laptops. The pictorials will exhibit the quality of the products. Alongside the pictures of these products will be the description of the features t ...
PRINTED BY J Kingston [email protected]. Printing is for pe.docxsleeperharwell
PRINTED BY: J Kingston <[email protected]>. Printing is for personal, private use only. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without publisher's
prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.
CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Content
Opening Case: Zappos WOWs Their
1.1 Electronic Commerce: Definitions and Concepts
1.2 The Electronic Commerce Field: Classification, Content, and History
1.3 E-Commerce 2.0: From Web 2.0 to Enterprise Social Networking and Virtual Worlds
1.4 The Digital World: Economy, Enterprises, and Society
1.5 Electronic Commerce Drivers and the Changing Business Environment
1.6 Electronic Commerce Business Models
1.7 Benefits, Limitations, and Impacts of Electronic Commerce
1.8 Overview of This Book
Managerial Issues
Closing Case: Beijing 2008: A Digital Olympics
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Define electronic commerce (EC) and describe its various categories.
2. Describe and discuss the content and framework of EC.
3. Describe the major types of EC transactions.
4. Discuss e-commerce 2.0.
5. Understand the elements of the digital world.
6. Describe the drivers of EC as they relate to business pressures and organizational responses.
7. Describe some EC business models.
8. Describe the benefits and limitations of EC to organizations, consumers, and society.
Opening Case: ZAPPOS WOWs THEIR CUSTOMERS
Zappos.com Inc. (“Zappos.com”; zappos.com) is an online retailer with one of the largest selection of
shoes anywhere—online or offline.
2
Introduction to Electronic Commerce for Ashford University, 3rd Edition Page 1 of 4
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prior permission. Violators will be prosecuted.
The Opportunity
Nick Swinmurn founded the company in 1999 after spending a day at a San Francisco mall looking
for a pair of shoes and returning home empty-handed. If one store had the right style, it did not have
the right color; the next store had the right color, but it did not have the correct size. Nick tried to
locate the shoes he wanted online, but after a frustrating day of browsing, he discovered that he was
unable to find what he wanted online.
Swinmurn discovered that there was no major online retailer that specialized in shoes. So, he decided
to create a Web site that offered the very best selection in shoes in terms of brands, styles, colors,
sizes, and widths.
The
Solution
The company’s strategy was to offer such a huge selection that the customers would say WOW! And
by 2009 this selection exceeded 3.3 million items (from 1,200 vendors)—unmatchable by any online
or offline store.
The company’s initial business model was to sell only online, and only shoes. This model has
evolved to also sell several related products ranging from jewelry to.
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3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I express my sincere gratitude to my faculty guide
Prof. V.P.Kakkar, for his able guidance, continuous
support and cooperation throughout my project,
without which the present work would not been
possible. My endeavour stands incomplete without
dedicating my gratitude to him; he has contributed a
lot towards successful completion of my project
work.
I would also like to thank him for giving me such
interesting and challenging topic to carry out my
secondary research project.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my
family and friends for their unending support and
tireless effort that kept me motivated throughout
the completion of this project.
4. DECLERATION BY THE STUDENT
I hereby declare that the matter in the project report
entitled “Growthof E-Commerce: Amazon” submitted to
Prof. V. P. Kakkar, AmityInternational Business School,
AmityUniversity,Noida, is a bonafide and genuine
secondary research project. The work done in report is
original and has not been submitted earlier for the award
of any degree, diploma etc of any other university or
institution.
DATE: 8 August, 2018
SIDDHI SHARMA
5. CERTIFICATE BY THE GUIDE
This is to certify that the term paper entitled
“Growth of E-Commerce: Amazon”submitted to
Amity International Business School, Amity
University, has been carried out under my guidance.
All help received by her from different sources have
been duly acknowledged.
Date: 8th
August 2018
Place: Noida
Prof. V.P.Kakkar
AIBS
6. TABLEOFCONTENTS
1.ABSTRACT
2.INTRODUCTION
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
3.REVIEW OF LITERATURE
4.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5.DATA ANALYSIS
5.1 Lines of Business
5.2 Business Models
5.3 E-Commerce Strategies
Intensive Growth Strategies
User Reference Strategies
Supply Chain Management Strategies
6.DISCUSSION
7.RECOMMENDATIONS
8.CONCLUSION
9.REFERENCES
7. ABSTRACT
Amazon, is an American electronic commerceand cloud computing
company and the largest Internet- based retailer in the world by total sales
and marketcapitalization which has been serving worldwidefrom last two
decades. Amazon became a platform for the retailer and individuals in
2000. Amazon offers their services towards four types of customers,
consumers, sellers, enterprises and content creators.
This research paper describes the list of areas that it has been working, the
business models it has adopted and the various strategies that it has
implemented to makeit one of the mostsuccessfulE-Commerce
platforms.
Amazon totally rely on the customer and customer satisfaction is its
primary goal. Amazon grows partly by developing new products over time.
8. INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPANY
BACKGROUND
For the last two decades, Amazon has been serving customers worldwide.
Amazon is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing
company. Founded on July 5, 1994 by Jeff Bezos and based in Seattle,
Washington. Itis the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total
sales and market capitalization. Amazon started as an online bookstore,
later diversifying to sell DVD’s, Blu-rays, CD’s, video downloads/streaming,
MP3 downloads/streaming, audio book downloads/streaming, software,
video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewelry. The
company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Amazon Kindlee-
readers, Firetablets and Fire TV—and is the world’s largestprovider of
cloud infrastructureservices (IaaS).
9. In 2005, Amazon surpassed Walmartas the most valuable retailer in the
United States by market capitalization, and is, as of 2016 Q3, the fourth
most valuable public company.
10. OBJECTIVES
Identify the Line of Business of Amazon.
Identifying the types of Business models used by
Amazon for expandingits E-Commerce Business.
Identifying the list of E-commerce strategies
developedby the company regarding its intensive
growth, generic strategies and user referenced.
Identifying Supply ChainManagement strategies.
Identifying what are the more steps to be taken by
the company in coming future.
11. REVIEW OF LITERARTURE
Amazon.comis perhaps the company that is mostclosely tied with the E-
Commerce phenomenon. The Seattle, WA based company has grown from
a book seller to a virtual Wal-Martof the Web selling products as diverse
as Music CDs, Cookware, Toys and Games and Tools and Hardware. (e.g.,
Eisenhardtand Schoonhoven 1996; Rothaermel2001, 2002; Gulatiand
Higgins 2003; Gulati et al. 2009). Thecompany has also grown at a
tremendous rate with revenues rising from about $150 million in 1997 to
$3.1 billion in 2001. Jeff Bezos was one of the few people to understand
the special natureof InternetRetailing and E-Commerce. This is how he
compares E-Tailing to traditional retailing. (Ozcan and Eisenhardt2009).
Look at e-retailing. The key trade that wemake is that wetrade real estate
for technology. Real estate is the key costof physicalretailers. That's why
there's the old saw: location, location, location. Real estate gets more
expensive every year, and technology gets cheaper every year. And it gets
cheaper fast.
There were really two elements to his vision-
1. He wanted to build the world’s mostcustomer-centric company.
12. 2. He wanted to establish a place where customers could buy anything.
Scholars haveexamined platform owners’ pricing decisions on
different sides of the market (e.g., Rochet and Tirole 2003; Parker
and Van Alstyne 2005; Hagiu 2006;Chen etal. 2012; Seamans and
Zhu 2014; Hao and Fan forthcoming), interactions between
competing platforms (e.g., Armstrong 2006; Economides and
Katsamakas 2006; Casadesus Masanelland Llanes 2011), thevalue
of installed bases to platform owners seeking to diversify
into other markets (e.g., Eisenmann et al. 2011; Edelman
forthcoming) or to introduce next generation platforms (e.g.,
Claussen et al. 2015; Kretschmer and Claussen 2015), platform
owners’ managementof complementors (e.g., Yoffie and Kwak
2006; Parker and Van Alstyne 2014; Cennamo and Panico 2015;
Cennamo and Santalo 2015), timing of new platform
owners’ entry into platform-based markets (e.g., Zhu and Iansiti
2012), optimalinformation disclosure(e.g., Dai et al. 2014; Nosko
and Tadelis 2015), and platform governancechoices such as those
regarding exclusivity and limiting the variety of applications
13. (Cennamo and Santalo 2013; Casadesus-Masanelland Halaburda
2014). Studies of complementors tend to
focus on positiveoutcomes of affiliating with platform owners, given
that platforms provide complementors access to their installed
bases (e.g., Venkatraman and Lee 2004; Ceccagnoli et al. 2012;
Claussen et al. 2013). Thefew studies that acknowledgepotential
expropriation threats from platform owners lack evidence of
platformowners’ entry patterns (Farrell and Katz 2000; Jiang et al.
2011; Huang et al. 2013).
When it firstlaunched, Amazon’s had a clear and ambitious mission.
Earth’sbiggest selection and to be Earth’smost customer-centric
company.
Today, with business users of its Amazon Web Service representing a
new type of customer, Amazon says:
This goal continuestoday, butAmazon’scustomersare worldwide
now and have grown to include millions of Consumers, Sellers,
ContentCreators, Developers, and Enterprises. Each of these groups
has differentneeds, and we alwayswork to meet those needs, by
innovating new solutions to make things easier, faster, better, and
more cost-effective.
14. "When we think about how we're going to grow our company, we
focus on price, selection, and availability," says Jeffrey Wilke, senior
VP of worldwideoperations at Amazon.comInc. "Allthree depend
critically on the supply chain."
Amazon has one of the most-sophisticated supply-chain systems in
the world, and it was all built from scratch. Homemade applications
handle nearly every aspect of its supply chain: warehouse
management, transportation management, inbound and outbound
shipping, demand forecasts, inventory planning, and more. "We
don't have any legacy systems," Wilkesays. "That's a clear
advantage."
15. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Since Amazon is an international E-commerce website for selling and
buying goods and products, so it is not possibleto interview the developer.
So, I basically used informal way for carrying outour research with the
following steps to gather the information:
a) Firstof all, we read the available paper and documents of research
on Amazon done by others and noted somekey points such as areas
of business, adopted strategies, adopted business models etc.
b) I also watched some videos based on customer and merchant
reviews as well as videos explaining the working of Amazon and its
strategies.
c) Finally, I cross checked the gathered information from the Amazon
website and also target for getting more information regarding the
services it provides currently, how it maintains its supply chain, etc.
16. DATA ANALYSIS
Known best as the largestretailer in the world, Amazon is not simple to
understand in one go in terms of business modelanalysis. Even if we begin
by looking at it’s consumer retail business, it quickly becomes clear that
the company is anything but a traditional retailer. While Amazon does sell
products at a standard mark-up, it has also pioneered alternate retail
strategies by acting as the gateway for other retailers and a very robust
marketplace for used goods. But retail is only part of the picture when it
comes to Amazon.
LINES OF BUSINESS
The company itself defines its lines of business in terms of products sales,
servicesales, AWS, fulfilment, publishing, digital consent subscriptions,
advertising and co-branded credit cards. I’lldefine Amazon’s lines of
businesses as:
Online Retail: The online retail line of business includes those
products sold by Amazon as a traditional retailer, mostcommonly as
a low-costretailer. Amazon claims to have “Earth’s Biggest
17. Selection” of products available through its family of websites, sold
at the lowest costat a small profit. The company started as an online
book seller, rapidly expanding into music and movies, and ultimately
into electronics and household goods. But Amazon doesn’tstock
everything that is sold through its website. Another part of its retail
strategy is to serveas the channel for other retailers to sell their
products and taking a cut of every purchase. Amazon maintains its
status as a destination website, but does not have to maintain
inventory on slower-selling products. This strategy has made
Amazon introduced the sale of used products through it seller
marketplace. Originally developed to compete with eBay, the seller
marketplace provides another retail revenue stream for the
company without the need to stock products in its warehouses.
Advertising and shipping are handled exclusively by sellers, with
Amazon taking a cut of every sale simply for providing the channel.
Internet Services:Amazon’s Internetservices cannoteasily be
discussed as a standaloneline of business because it is deeply
intertwined with both its retail business and the Kindle ecosystem.
Fromthe consumer’s perspective, Amazon has begun to provide
18. services like Amazon Prime, which provides free two-day shipping on
retail purchases, on demand video streaming and free access to
kindle library, all of an annual fee. Amazon Prime overlays the
subscription and all you can eat business models with the retail
model to provideadditional customer value. Unknown to most
Amazon customers, however, arethe other Internetservices
provided by Amazon, referred to as AWS (Amazon Web Services).
Originally developed as a side business, Amazon decided to lease out
its own server spaceto other companies and individuals. While not a
core part of the company’s strategy, Amazon found itself managing a
large number of servers and internet services, and it was a fairly
small effortto manage thoseservices for others.
Kindle Ecosystem: Amazon has expanded its business into
manufacturing and distributing the family of kindle tablets. Originally
designed as an electronic book reader (supplementing its online
book seller business), thekindle has become a fully functional tablet
and media device. With the kindle, amazon serves as both
manufacturer and traditional retailer (and also wholesaler by selling
the device through other retailer).
19. While the company does not admit as much, it assumed that the
kindle devices are sold at a loss, which would correctly put this line
of business into the razor &
BUSINESS MODELS:
Amazon has three distinct businesses, plus a slew of nascent enterprises
and developing opportunities:
a) AmazonRetail
Starting in books and then expanding into electrical and other goods,
Amazon built an online retail business around threeaims:
1. Best Prices: Amazon products are generally offered at a
discount, a steep discount in the case of books.
2. Unrivalled selection: Amazon often has the largest
selection of goods in a particular category, especially
books.
3. Convenience: Amazon focus on the consumer and try
purchasing an enjoyable experience, offering:
An attractive, easy-to-usecustomer interface.
20. Fastand reliable delivery from vast, fully automated
warehouses, firstlocated in strategic spots in the US
but increasingly worldwide.
A no-nonsensereturns policy.
Reviews by customers of the product.
Purchasesuggestions based on previous purchases
and web page viewing.
b) AmazonMarketplace
Amazon also offers a third-party selling platform, Amazon
marketplace, that allows merchants to offer goods and services
through an online shopping mall. Amazon charges a commission
based on a formula involving the sale price of the item, a shipping
credit, a referralfee of 6-25% of the sale price, a variableclosing fee
and a Rs.70 fixed closing fee. This has now been augmented or
replaced by four comparableservices:
Sell on Amazon: Merchants pay Rs 2810 per month, plus a
commission varying aboveand generally between 15% and Rs
93 per item.
Amazon Webstore: More complete service. Merchants pay Rs.
1685 per month plus 2% of sales.
21. Fulfilment by Amazon: Allows merchants to use Amazon’s
advanced fulfilment technology.
The services are being expanded from USA, Canada, UK and Germany to
other countries. Amazon does not release information on these
businesses, either revenues or usagelevels.
c) AmazonWeb Services:
Amazon leveraged the technology it developed in retails to offer an
increasing number of web services:
1. Computer Related
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
Amazon Elastic Map Reduce
Auto Scaling
2. Content Delivery
Amazon Cloud Front
3. Database
Amazon Simple DB
Amazon Relational DatabaseServices
4. Deployment & Management
AWS Elastic Beal Stalk
23. 11. Support
AWS Premium SupportWeb
Traffic Alexa Web Information Services.
Alexa Top Sites
12. Workforce
Amazon Mechanical Turk
24. Amazon’s E-Commerce Strategies:
1.Intensive Growth Strategies:
A. Market development.
Amazon uses market development as its currentprimary
intensive growth strategy. Entry and growth in new markets is
the main objective in this intensive strategy. Amazon Inc. adds
new. Countries whereit offers its services. For example, the
company initially provided its online retail services to
consumers in the united states. Amazon now operates e-
commerce websites in more than 10 countries, including
Canada, the United Kingdom, china and India each new
country is considered a new marketthat creates growth
opportunities for the firm. Amazon’s generic strategy builds
competitive advantagethat allows the company to implement
this intensive strategy of marketdevelopment. A strategic
objective related to this intensive growth strategy is for
amazon.comto establish new online retail websites that
correspond to new countries added to the company’s global
market reach.
25. B. Market penetration:
Market penetration is a secondary intensivegrowth strategy
in amazon’s online retail business. Theobjective of this
intensive strategy is to generate morerevenue from the
market wherethe company currently operates. Amazon .com
grows with increasing consumerism. For example, as
consumers develop increasing interest in online retail, the
company benefits from higher sales revenue especially when
considering the popularity of the amazon brand. Market
penetration is responsiblefor the initial rapid growth of
amazon.comInc. in the united states. the company’s generic
strategy creates the competitive advantage necessary to
penetrate markets based on low costand prices. A strategic
objective on this intensive growth strategy is to implement an
aggressivemarketing campaign to attract more consumers to
amazon’s e-commercewebsite.
26. C. Product Development:
Amazon applies productdevelopment as a supporting
intensive strategy for business growth. Developing and
offering new products to gain higher revenues is the goal of
this intensive growth strategy. Amazon grows partly by
developing new products over time. The company’s cost
leadership generic strategy supports this intensivestrategy by
providing the company with low-costbusiness processes to
introduce research and development investmentfor rapid
productdevelopment and release to the online retail market.
D.Diversification
Diversification is the least significantamong Amazon’s
intensive growth strategies. Growth based on new business is
the objectivein applying this intensive strategy. For example,
Amazon grew through its acquisition of audible, which is a
producer of audio books and related products. In this regard,
the company partly uses acquisition to implement this
intensive growth strategy. Amazon Inc.’s costleadership
generic strategy enables the organisation to grow in
diversification by applying the sameapproaches to minimize
27. operating costs and selling prices. A strategic objective
associated with this intensive strategy is to grow the e-
commerce business through an aggressiveacquisition
strategy.
E. Customer Relation Management Strategy
When a customer first enters into Amazon.com he or sheis
provided “featured product” by the website, but when the
customer visit for the second time the recommender system
automatically provides products by studying customer’s
interest and personality. Customer acquisition and retention
has been the most priority to Amazon’s strategy. Through web
site Amazon maintain sophisticated communication that
automates the process of creating value for the customer.
F. Associate Program:
To boostthe customer traffic and rate of sale Amazon started
an associateprogram with customers and small businessman.
Approximately, 200000 websites haveenrolled in the program.
28. 2.User Reference Strategies
A.Personalise the Shopping Experience
One thing that Amazon does very well is personalizing the
shopping experience to each user. Going to Amazon’s home
page you’ll see different sections such as “Related to items
you’veviewed”, “Inspired by your browsing history”,
“Recommendations for you” etc. Amazon knows that the
more relevant the product is to the user the more likely users
will purchase.
B. Make Searching a Breeze
The search bar can havea significantimpact on the user
experience, especially for larger online retailers with many
products. The faster a user can find their desired productthe
29. more likely it is that the user will purchase. Amazon makes
searching a breeze by automatically suggesting popular
products and categories.
C. Onsite Product Reviews
Extensive online productresearch has become a crucial part of
the buying process for customers; a whopping 88% of
consumers reportedly research products onlinebefore
purchasing. Theonline shopper’s attention span is short, and
if they go off-siteto search for productreview there’s a good
chance they won’treturn.
Clearly displaying productreviews can significantly improve
the conversation rateof a productpage.
30. D.Free or Minimum shipping charge
Reducing the costof shipping can boostup the customer. It’s
not always easy or cheap to offer free shipping to customers,
but ultimately it can be a financially effective decision.
E. One Click Purchase
Customer with previously activated functionality can order
items by clicking only one button without fulfilling the order
form. Amazon’s secured server automatically providethe
information required for the registered customer.
F. Secure Credit/Debit card payments
For securetransaction Amazon usesecured server software.
Customer’s personalinformation, credit/debit card numbers
31. and everything are encrypted in order to secureinformation
over internet.
G.Customer Care
“If you do build a greatexperience, customer tells each other
aboutthat. Word to mouth is very powerful”- Jeffry P. Bezos
One of the success factors of Amazon is word of mouth.
Because of excellent customer service customers trusted
Amazon. They talked about it to each other, thus creating
huge traffic on the website.
32. 3.Supply Chain Management Strategies
For the huge success by 2004 the“Supply Chain System” played a
huge role. In 2000 amazon spentgood amount in order to build
automated warehouseand automated supply chain management.
All the supply chain activities are controlled by CRM system.
a) Enterprise ResourceManagement: Amazon uses oracleas the
ERP. Ithas huge database which hold information related to
customers. Customer’s ordering processis automated as the
order is taken as it automatically finds the nearest distributing
centre for the delivery. This system fastens the order fulfilment
process with the order tracking and reduces any distribution
mistakes. By this system the company reduced 50% of its
customer servicecontacts since 1999 becauseof fewer mistakes.
b) Customer RelationManagement: In order to gain customer
satisfaction and loyalty Amazon useCustomer Relationship
Management system. CRM system follows the following
application to collect information of the customer. All personal
information of customer their credit card records, transaction
record, order record, profile, their pastpurchasehistory is
collected in the database. The order processing system takes care
33. of the transaction record with secured transaction method and it
delivers instructions to the delivery system for the execution of
shipment. Through customer feedback, customer interest, wish
list, productreviews web page system collects customer
information. Automated communication is ensured with
customer through e-mail and messagesystems and order
information systems. With the CRM system Amazon successfully
integrates customer sales, services and communication.
34. DISCUSSION
After doing the sortof analysis, wetend to find that Amazon totally uses
the business to customer model. Amazon totally rely on the customer and
customer satisfaction is it primary goal. Amazon handle its better
relationship with customers by using CRM such as collecting information of
the customer like as all personalinformation of customers their credit card
record, transaction record, purchasehistory etc.
Using CRM, Amazon provides sortof advantages to the customer like as
Personalization, User ratings and reviews, 1 click purchaseetc.
Not only this Amazon carries out some of Associateprograms to boostthe
customer traffic and rate of sale Amazon with customers and small
business man. Developing and offering new products to gain higher
revenues is the goal of this intensive growth strategy. Amazon grows partly
by developing new products over time.
35. RECOMMENDATIONS
Amazon is the ultimate online retailer around the world. Its nearestbut
not even close competitors are e-bay and best buy. But the competition is
growing day by day.
a. Competing in the market;
Like past, Amazon in futurewill haveto come up with something
special. The global marketis changing day by day. Business
competitors are investing large to take Amazon down. There is no
roomfor relaxation. Itis very challenging and has to be consistentin
the marketto be number one retailer shop.
b. Innovationof new product;
Itis essential for Amazon to think out of the box and bring new
products to satisfy and retain customers to be loyal to them.
Amazon always offered its customer better quality and better
service. But in futureit may not be the samebecause of increasing
competition. Now, Amazon has to play smartby understanding the
customer’s need before even customers know aboutit.
c. Integrationof New Technology;
36. Technology is making process likethe speed of light. Company like
Amazon needs to be adaptive and technology friendly to retain its
domination in the market. Amazon’s new technology of drone
delivery is the proof that it is planning and investing significant
amount of money in technology for near future.
d. Customer Loyalty;
For any business to grow customer loyalty is important. Amazon’s
most of the buyers areits repeat customers who areloyal to the
company. But growing competition can be a risk, they’ll haveto be
very focused upon their customer retention policies.
e. Global Expansion;
Amazon is now expanding its business around the world. But this
may causesignificant strain in number of sectors like management,
inventory, supply system and more over to Amazon’s marketplace.
Internationalmarket is very challenging becauseof political and
economical conditions. Upgrading e-CRM and investing more
towards customer information for better understanding the
customer’s need and behaviour is essential.
37. CONCLUSION
On the part of conclusion, I conclude that Amazon uses business
according to customer models for its better growth. Amazon mainly
focuses on customer satisfaction by providing various ways to
ensurethat like as personalization, user ratings and reviews etc.
which act as the key ingredients for the success of the company. But
still Amazon haveto do some changes on their systems to keep up
with the ever-changing dynamic e-business world.