Amazon.com Inc.

(AMZN) went live in 1995, and ever since, the Seattle-

based company has systematically revolutionized the way people
consume. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, decided in 1994 that he would start the
company so he never had to look back with regret over not capitalizing on
the dotcom boom.
Multi-segment positioning. Amazon offers a wide range of products and services, successfully
exploiting more than one segment at the same time. Specifically, the online retail giant sells
almost 120 million products, appealing to the needs and wants of a wide range of customer
segments.[1]

Adaptive positioning. The online retail giant closely monitors changes in external marketplace
and addresses increasing customer expectations by periodically repositioning of products and
services according to changes in the segment.

Anticipatory positioning. This refers to positioning to a market segment that has low turnover
with the anticipation that the turnover will increase in the future. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is
a stark example for anticipatory positioning.

Type of segmentation Segmentation criteria Amazon target customer segment

 
  Region More than 100 countries
Geographic Density Urban and rural
  Age 14 and older
Demographic Gender Males & Females
Life-cycle stage Bachelor Stage young, single people not living at home
Newly Married Couples young, no children

Full Nest I youngest child under six

Full Nest II youngest child six or over

Full Nest III older married couples with dependent children

Empty Nest I older married couples, no children living with them

Empty Nest II older married couples, retired, no children living a

Solitary Survivor I in labour force

Solitary Survivor II retired

Occupation Students, employees and professionals
Behavioural Degree of loyalty ‘Hard core loyals’
‘Soft core loyals’

‘Switchers’
Benefits sought Widest range of products
Convenience of online purchasing

Competitive prices
Personality Easygoing, determined and ambitious
User status non-users, potential users, first-time users, regular users, or ex-
Psychographic Social class All social classes: lower class, working class, middle class and
Lifestyle[3] Resigned, Struggler, Mainstreamer, Aspirer, Succeeder, Explor
Reformer

PRIME AIR
Still in development, Prime Air could be a real game changer—enabling
customers to get their orders delivered in 30 minutes or less via drones
who drop them at your doorstep. That’s right, flying robots will deliver
your packages immediately after you place your order. The future is
coming quick.

 ALEXA
While the voice-assisted technology isn’t entirely there yet, Amazon’s
voice-responding virtual assistant is helping to propel it forward. With
the Amazon Echo, Tap, and Dot, Amazon is getting people accustomed
to using this technology—and trying to grab their share of the market
(versus competitors like Google and Apple). Amazon’s voice assistant,
Alexa, is amazing at doing Amazon things (placing orders, finding music,
etc.). And she can hear and respond to voice commands at a normal
volume from across a noisy room, which is pretty impressive

7. KINDLE
Before the Kindle, e-books were stalling. Readers and content existed,
but they weren’t breaking through. Then Amazon gave people a quick,
convenient and affordable way to get books and the medium surged
forward. By working to put a Kindle in the hands of as many people as
possible with a low price tag, Amazon took control of the e-book market
—becoming the destination for purchasing content. It harkens back to
an age-old business tactic: You don’t make money on the razor, you
make money on the blades
Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos with the vision of enabling a future
where millions of people are living and working in space for the benefit of
Earth. In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes that humanity will
need to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move
industries that stress Earth into space. Blue is working on this today by
developing partially and fully reusable launch vehicles that are safe, low
cost and serve the needs of all civil, commercial and defense customers.
1) INNOVATION
Amazon’s success largely stems from its innovative technologies and practices,
many of which were championed by its CEO, Jeff Bezos. Consider the Echo,
Amazon’s impressive voice command device. Echo can be used to play songs,
research your favorite sports teams, and even check the weather with a few spoken
words. This innovative technology was a huge investment for the e-commerce
giant—one that fostered exceptional results. Over 22 million Echo units were sold
in 2017 alone.
Amazon’s progressive mindset doesn’t always bear fruit, but accomplishments like
the Echo prove that innovation can yield impressive results for e-commerce
companies.

2) CUSTOMER SERVICE
Because of its commitment to world-class customer service, Amazon has
developed a range of helpful tools users can employ to track packages and quickly
return or exchange ordered items, bringing simplicity and convenience to their
online shopping experiences. Amazon’s Customer Service team has won multiple
awards for its dedication to preventing and swiftly addressing problems for
customers. One of Amazon’s overarching missions is to become the planet’s most
customer-centric company—and the brand’s dedication to this goal has paid
dividends.
Social media is another powerful tool that Amazon employs to engage with
shoppers and enhance the quality of its customer service. When done right, social
media channels can help your e-commerce business address customer concerns and
build a solid foundation of loyal and passionate followers who advocate your
brand. That’s why many e-commerce companies work with Snap’s Social Media
Team to refine and grow their social presence.

3) EXECUTION
Amazon gets everything right when executing customer orders. They select
products and services that customers want and need—and leverage distribution
centers across the globe that allow them to quickly ship products. Amazon also has
excellent vendor relationships that allow them to offer customers discounted
pricing. The world’s largest online retailer is also ramping up plans to invest more
across Europe this year, employing thousands of more employees. They’re also
looking to implement brick-and-mortar stores that will have the capability of same-
day-delivery via drones!

4) DIVERSIFICATION
Starting off as an online bookstore, Amazon now offers everything from soup to
nuts. Literally. A search of the site reveals over 3,000 listings for vegetable soup.
Search the term “nuts” and you’ll see over 37,000 results. Amazon now carries
products in music, books, electronics, health and beauty, automotive, grocery and
clothing. Business owners can contract with Amazon’s network of pros to get IT
support, furniture assembly and even A/V services. By diversifying its offerings,
Amazon is continuously driving reach and relevance.
Regardless of your industry, you should be fearless in the pursuit of diversification.
Expanding into new markets and product categories will help you attract new
business opportunities to grow your organization. You should even diversify your
digital growth initiatives when possible. For example, Amazon currently boasts an
impressive 3.6 billion backlinks and 3.8 million referring domains. A highly
diversified link portfolio plays a pivotal role to any successful SEO campaign.
That’s why many e-commerce companies partner with us to optimize their link
building strategies.

6) MERGING DESIGN
WITH CONTENT
It’s no secret that long-tail content is a huge component of e-commerce SEO. You
need large amounts of keyword-rich copy to increase the visibility of a page on
search engines—which is why Amazon uses lengthy product descriptions and
FAQs on its product pages. However, take a look at any product page on Amazon,
and you’ll notice that this long-tail content doesn’t adversely affect its flow or UX.
Amazon’s product copy is given less priority than important CTAs (such as the
“Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons). This seamless merging of design and
content ensures that Amazon pages attract and convert relevant web traffic.
If you’re looking to optimize your site’s content without sacrificing its UX, then
consider partnering with a digital marketing partner like Snap. We provide
robust content marketing solutions for our e-commerce clients to maximize the
performance of their product pages on leading search engines. Our SEO Team can
create impactful long-tail content that aligns seamlessly with your site’s design to
drive traffic and conversions.
7) AN “IN IT TO WIN IT”
MINDSET
Does anybody really remember when Amazon was unprofitable? If you’ve been
around for awhile, you might remember Bezos’ warning to investors that it would
be a long time before they would see a return. Back in 1997, he told Inc.
Magazine that Amazon would be unprofitable for a very long time. His “in it to win
it” mindset kept the company pushing through new strategies until 2003—when
the company posted its first profit. No matter how you look at it, Amazon has
grown up from a little online bookstore to an industry giant. You could even say
Amazon created the industry for total domination.
4P’S
Amazon.com Inc.’s Products (Product Mix)
In this component of the marketing mix, Amazon’s products or product mix is considered. As
the top player in the online retail industry, the company offers a wide selection of products.
Such a product mix supports Amazon.com Inc.’s mission statement and vision statement.
Through continued expansion and diversification, the company’s products now include not
just online retail, but also a variety of other products that address market needs:

1. Retail service
2. Retail goods
3. Amazon Prime
4. Consumer electronics
5. Digital content distribution service
6. Amazon Video
7. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
8. Amazon Publishing
9. AmazonFresh
10. Amazon Prime Pantry
11. Amazon Dash
12. Video Direct

Amazon is primarily an online retail business. As such, its main product is retail service. The
company provides such service through its e-commerce website. Some of the retail goods
available on the website are also the company’s, such as those sold under the AmazonBasics
brand. In addition, the firm offers Amazon Prime, which is a membership product that
includes shipping service for purchases on Amazon’s online retail website. The company has
also expanded its product mix to include consumer electronics like the Amazon Kindle e-
book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet. Such expansion led to an improvement of the
effectiveness of the company’s marketing mix in getting a bigger share of the e-commerce
market. Further broadening of the firm’s product mix involved the distribution of digital
content, including music and e-books. Amazon Video is an on-demand video streaming
service offered to customers in some locations in the United States, Europe and Japan. On the
other hand, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a set of online services, including cloud storage.
Amazon Publishing offers book-publishing service using a number of imprints. Moreover,
AmazonFresh and Amazon Prime Pantry are the company’s services for orders and delivery
of grocery items. Furthermore, the company has integrated additional technology in the
purchasing process. For example, Amazon Dash involves a device that enables customers to
purchase household items by simply clicking a button that connects to the Internet. Video
Direct enables sale or ad-supported free viewing of user-generated videos. These product
lines indicate the company’s efforts in continually broadening its product mix. Amazon.com
Inc.’s marketing mix increases in effectiveness as more products are added to these e-
commerce offerings.

Place/Distribution in Amazon’s Marketing Mix

The venues used to reach target customers are identified in this component of the marketing
mix. Amazon.com Inc. is a mainly online business organization. Nonetheless, the company
uses the following places to reach its e-commerce customers:

1. Official e-commerce websites

2. Amazon Books
3. Others

Amazon uses its official e-commerce websites as its primary places for transacting with
customers. These websites include Amazon.com, Audible.com (a subsidiary), and a number
of other sites with specific target markets. In addition, the company operates a physical
bookstore named Amazon Books in Seattle. This location enables the company to reach out
to customers who want to physically evaluate products before purchase. Moreover, the firm
uses other venues to temporarily transact with customers. For example, the annual Amazon
Web Services (AWS) Summit held in various locations enable the company to reach potential
customers and persuade them to pay for its e-commerce services. In this regard, Amazon’s
marketing mix significantly relies on the strong online presence of the organization in
reaching its target customers.

Amazon’s Promotion (Promotional Mix)

This component of the marketing mix involves the strategies and tactics that a company uses
to communicate with its target market. Amazon.com Inc. aims to persuade its customers to
visit its websites and pay for its online services. The following strategies and tactics are used
in such promotional mix, arranged according to importance in the company’s e-commerce
business:

1. Advertising (most important)

2. Sales promotions
3. Public relations
4. Direct marketing

Advertising functions as the primary means for Amazon to communicate with its target
market. For example, the company has an affiliate program for website owners or online
publishers to earn revenues by displaying advertisements and corresponding links to products
sold on the Amazon.com website. This strategy widens the company’s market reach. Also,
Amazon.com Inc. applies sales promotion as a secondary strategy to attract customers and
persuade them to purchase goods and services on the website. For example, the company
occasionally uses discounts and special offers to generate more sales. On the other hand, the
firm strengthens its brand image through public relations programs, such as Amazon Smile,
which donates a percentage of sales to charitable organizations. These programs enhance
consumer perception about the corporation [Read: Amazon’s Stakeholders & Corporate
Social Responsibility Strategy]. Moreover, in using direct marketing, the company directly
communicates with businesses to offer its online services, such as publishing and digital
content distribution. In this component of Amazon.com Inc.’s marketing mix, advertising is
the main determinant of the organization’s marketing communication effectiveness.

Amazon’s Prices and Pricing Strategies

This component of the marketing mix focuses on the price levels and pricing strategies a firm
uses in selling its products. Amazon.com Inc. uses low prices as a way of attracting
customers to its e-commerce website and product offerings. Nonetheless, given the variety of
the company’s products, the following pricing strategies are used:

1. Market-oriented pricing strategy

2. Price discrimination strategy
3. Value-based pricing strategy

Amazon uses market-oriented pricing as its primary pricing strategy. For example, the
company evaluates competitors’ prices as basis for pricing AmazonBasics products. The
advantage of this pricing strategy is that it makes selling prices more competitive, affordable
and attractive to target consumers. On the other hand, the price discrimination strategy
involves setting different prices for the same product. Amazon applies this pricing strategy
through its different websites. For instance, the company’s prices for the same products are
different between the United States and the United Kingdom, which has its own Amazon
website (amazon.co.uk). This strategy is advantageous because it enables the company to
adjust its prices based on national market conditions, perceived value of products, and
consumer preferences and expectations. In relation, Amazon.com Inc. uses the value-based
pricing strategy, which involves price levels based on product value, considering consumers’
perception of value. Thus, the company’s marketing mix reflects flexibility in adjusting to
current market prices.

Amazon Company
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company. It
started as a site to sell books; however, it moved on, and made its portfolio
enormous. It now has millions of products in its inventory across a wide
range of categories. It accounts for 38.7% of the U.S. retail e-commerce
sales (Sabanoglu, 2020).
Amazon has a number of subsidiaries e.g. Alexa, Zappos, Whole Foods
Market, AbeBooks.com, Audible, Twitch, and Woot. It is also one of the
largest companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation. However,
it has been criticised for some of its business practices e.g. poor treatment
of employees, and  unsafe working conditions at its warehouses
Amazon’s Collaborators
Amazon works with a number of knowledgeable, and innovative industry
partners (Amazon, 2021). Surely, collaborative initiatives have been useful
to deal with its sustainability issues and enhance product development and
distribution process. It has millions of sellers across all its marketplaces
and a massive number of them are based in China or Hong Kong.
However, many sellers complain that the company charges them too much
in fees. Likewise, their accounts are often suspended because of
unsubstantiated complaints by customers.
Amazon’s Customers
Amazon delivers nearly 400 million packages a month. From, this figure,
it can be easily imagined how many customers buy a variety of items from
the company a month.
Amazon has been named the company with the best customer service
score in the UK for the past decade by the Institute of Customer Service.
However, an Amazon driver claimed that he/she had to deliver up to 300
parcels a day with no time for toilet breaks (Carter and Kitching, 2019).
This shows the challenges for the company to maintain a high customer
satisfaction rate.
Amazon’s Competitors
Amazon’s main competitors in the e-commerce industry are eBay and
Alibaba. In web service industry, it competes with Google Cloud Platform
(GCP), IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and many more. Likewise, its Prime
Video service faces stiff competition from Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and
many more
Amazon’s Climate
The last factor to assess in the 5C analysis of Amazon is the climate (also
called context). Amazon is affected by a number of macro-environmental
factors. Its operations may be significantly affected by economic crisis,
technological disruption, and legal restrictions.