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Corporate and Business Level Strategy


In the “Overview” section of Amazon’s website, one can see their mission statement. Their mission statement is:

 

“Amazon.com strives to be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online. By giving customers more of what they want - low prices, vast selection, and convenience - Amazon.com continues to grow and evolve as a world-class e-commerce platform.”

 

Amazon keeps many customers in the long term because they constantly focus on the customer. They try to make everything faster, cheaper and convenient; the exact thing that customers are always looking for when they are shopping. Amazon Prime memberships encourage loyal customers.  Other incentives to encourage buying include one-click ordering and free shipping. Customers can also ensure they find the exact product that will fit their needs through customer reviews. Amazon uses their promotions to keep them above the competition. Amazon lures the customer with competitive pricing, free shipping. This way, a customer can go to one store for all their needs.

 

One quote from Forbes exemplifies why Amazon is such a positive shopping experience for each customer.

 

“Amazon is so confident of its ability to personalize the site for each user that the company hardly ever creates classic customer-segment personas, such as ‘soccer moms’ or ‘gearheads.’”

 

Amazon focuses on the customer experience, as the process of buying and selling products itself is a service. Customers would go back to Amazon if they had a positive shopping experience.

 

Amazon knows that some of its practices such as free super saver shipping can cut into profit, and may not please shareholders. Amazon is also willing to refund purchases if they fail to meet customer expectations. The company is also willing to keep prices as low as possible, refunding the difference to customers who find cheaper prices.  However, this works out for Amazon in the long run because these practices keep customers loyal to Amazon. Cutting profits in the short term ensures Amazon always has a large market share.

 

Economies of scale allow Amazon to keep costs cheap, and they can get products to their customers faster since they have centers all across the world. This makes Amazon such a difficult company to compete with, because they have efficient supply chains, providing superior product availability.

 

Amazon’s choice to expand to different products shows how they are adaptable. For example, Amazon started selling music and videos to meet new demands in e-commerce. Amazon, which was a company that was originally meant to sell books, innovated the process further with the release of the Kindle. Amazon acknowledged that e-books are high in demand allowed them to take their old business model and adapt to it using new technologies. While they are still selling books, they are selling it in a different medium.

 

Finally, Amazon has start partnering with various companies that specialize in different products. Examples of these would include zappos.com, a shoe company or drugstore.com, which is an online pharmacy. This only expands the number of products that one can buy on Amazon. In addition to this, Amazon would be partnered with a company that has expertise with certain products, guaranteeing the customer that the products are high quality.

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