E-Commerce Company Project: Amazon.com By: Allison White
History of the business Amazon.com is considered a pioneer in online retailing. It expanded during the late 1990s to offer the "Earth's Biggest Selection" of books, CDs, videos, DVDs, electronics, toys, tools, home furnishings and housewares, apparel, and kitchen gadgets. Through third-party agreements, Amazon.com also sells products from well-known retailers including Toysrus.com Inc., Target Corporation, Circuit City Stores Inc., and more!
Owner Jeff Preston Bezos born January 12, 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen.. He is an American business magnate and investor. After he graduated Princeton in 1986, Mr. Bezos worked on Wall Street in the computer science field. Jeff founded Amazon.com in 1994 after making a cross-country drive from New York to Seattle, writing up the Amazon business plan on the way. He initially set up the company in his garage.
Advantages of being solely online ●Worldwide Presence ●Cost-effective Marketing and Promotions ●Developed a Competitive Strategy ●Better Customer Service ●Limited Transaction Cost ●Reduced overhead costs
Disadvantages of being solely online ●Sectoral Limitations ●Costly E-business Solutions for Optimization ●Question of Safety ●Data Security
Design of the Website
Ease of Use The home page is a company's first, and most important, opportunity to serve the customer. Ease-of-use must start on the home page. Some websites are just plain hard to figure out. Amazon.com is done right, the ease of use can not only increase sales, but also impacts Amazon’s performance in search engines. Amazon.com is an easy to understand and easy to use website, which is a pleasure. You can find what you need, and can do what you went there to do.
How do they attract customers - Price leadership. Their prices are consistently lower and, as important, shoppers believe it. - Choice leadership. Amazon offers seven times as many SKUs as the Top 5 retailers - Customer satisfaction. People love shopping at Amazon. It's easy.
SWOT analysis Strengths 1.Cost leadership strategy 2.Superior quality services and products 3.Strategic acquisitions 4.Efficient distribution chain and logistics Weaknesses 1.Only online presence 2.Selling at zero margins 3.Negative publicity Opportunities 1.Online payment system 2.Release more its own brand products and services 3.Increase services and product portfolio through acquisitions 4.Physical presence Threats 1.Online security 2.Lawsuits 3.Strategic alliances 4.Legislation against tax avoidance 5.Regional low cost online retailers
What makes Amazon so successful? Amazon is obsessed with making its customers happy. Unlike many other companies, Amazon will instantly trade off short-term profits for the chance to engender long- term customer loyalty. Amazon does this despite how much money this philosophy costs the company in the short term. It does this despite being a public company, with impatient public shareholders who generally insist that companies "maximize profits" quarter in and quarter out.
What is the company’s business model The company itself defines its lines of business in terms of product sales, service sales, AWS, fulfillment, publishing, digital content subscriptions, advertising, and co-branded credit cards. Online Retail: The online retail line of business includes those products sold by Amazon as a traditional retailer, most commonly as a low-cost retailer. Internet Services: Amazon's internet services cannot easily be discussed as a standalone line of business because it is deeply intertwined with both its retail business and the Kindle ecosystem. Kindle Ecosystem: Amazon has expanded its business into manufacturing and distributing the family of Kindle tablets.