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Introduction
The successful promotion and sale of items that are the ultimate result of the production line in authors’ publishers, labels and studios are of crucial importance for the purpose of completion of these lines of production. A successful mediation between these potential producers to the final consumer is a cause of gratitude from producers to the mediator. Amazon.com has qualified for this prize by offering a simple direct and profitable way towards this goal. Amazon.com Inc. an American e-commerce company was the number one of all the companies to sell goods over the Internet. Its inception was an online bookstore, but later the range of their products online has diversified to incorporate many other products. The company relationships on selected products. (Hawkins, Best, & Coney, 1995).
At the time when Jeff Bezos decided to sell books using the online mode, he first explored through a feasibility study the possibility of selling some other items through the world web. The items displayed at his disposal for possible consideration for sale included; music CDs, PC software, and hardware and magazines apart from books. At the time of his policy formulation, about 1.3 million books had already been successfully printed. This allowed the business on books sale online to offer to customers any book required and at a discounted price. In comparison, he also found that at the time only 250,000 music CDs were available at any one time as compared to about 1.5 million English titles and if accounting for all languages the figure rose to 3 million titles.
This is the biggest advantage that led to successful book sales online. CDs have also successfully sold online after the struggle of the company’s establishment. These items when physically displayed for sale considering the diversity of each particular item required by the consumers are bulky. To have a physical bookstore or CDs copies to the tune of 1 million titles is bulky. When they are consolidated into a catalog the contribution of nationwide warehouse distribution centers has condensed the bulky physical stores and necessitated the great diversity of book titles and CDs at any one time.
Amazon.com reserved a 4-5 years non-operational working period to build up its business. Any customer may visit any website for books and CDs but after analysis, only Amazon.com can be a seller of choice. Among the challenges it offers to other competitors include; comfortable coaches, music, and gourmet coffee for customers as they page through a book of choice prior to ‘purchasing it, savoring the crisp new pages and the creaking of the binding when first opened’ (p.512); they also offer customer-customer interactions as well as customer-author interactions; they also facilitate the customers to log on to the site, post a review on any book they have read and have it permanently associated with that book’s entry in the online catalog. (p.512). They also facilitate the answering of interview questions from customers or any other member of the public to the authors; the results of which are posted to a site dealing with all varieties of their books. The e-mail connection between authors and readers is facilitated in a mutual reciprocative environment through Amazon.com. This facilitates the readers to e-mail their ideas, opinions, and comments at convenient access to the authors. This makes Amazon.com qualify as the number one company that is ‘customer-centric’ oriented. (p.512). Another unique advantage over a possible competitor is offering opportunities to readers who have their own websites to set up their specialized bookstores. This enhances the company, an advantage of tracking down books sold to individual customers and use it for purposes of advancing commissions to the respective client on the clients overall sales.
Discounts are also offered at Amazon.com. A 10-30% discount is offered on an estimated 30% of the overall book titles. The rest are then sold at the list price. Customers are given a sense of community within Amazon.com websites. All these advantages over other competitor companies have led to the downfall of many and survival for others.
Amazon.com came up with an unusual business plan with long-term rather than short-term visions as opposed to other similar companies, which grew in at an overwhelmingly fast rate, but in a blind vision, Amazon.com exhibited a steady mature pace. The target was four-five years of non-profit growth, which even became questionable to the majority of its stockholders who wanted to realize profits of their investments. It is only in the fourth quarter of 2002, eight years since it was founded that the first profit was realized and this was specially orchestrated by departure from business of companies such as Dot.com bubble and many other e-companies. The first profit was the meager US $5m on revenues of over US $ 1 billion, which was symbolically insignificant. Since then the company has been profitable with a net income of US$ 35.3m in 2003, US$ 588.5m in 2004, US$ 359m in 2005, and US$ 190m in 2006 (including US$662 million charges on R & D in 2006). However the firms’ cumulative profits remain negative since the positive performance of recent years is not yet sufficient to wipe out the losses of the past, as of 2005 the accumulated deficit stood at US$ 2.03 billion.
Having thoroughly explored the purchasing experience at Amazon.com, it is worthwhile to compare the purchasing experience with another company of equal magnitude. Let us explore, for this purpose the Barnes and Noble brick-and-mortar store as a potential competitor. Barnes and Noble brick and motor stores have prices that border on extreme. (Hawkins, Best, & Coney, 1995). Their prices are high and offer new releases. They argue that books at Amazon.com are relatively cheap because they have been left to age and their discounts for one to get them must work for. For discount advantages, a client can use the readers’ advantage membership or their gift card. They also have a pin number on the back of the card. Barnes and Noble also offer many great gift ideas, offer calendars as gifts, DVDs, music-related items, online courses, and audiobooks, all as gifts depending on the tastes of the client. A client at Barnes and Noble store shops less frequently. Discounts on books at Barnes and Noble extend to e-mailings and snail mail advantages. Barnes and Noble provide for purchase return back to their on-line or in a case where a brick and mortar Barnes and Noble Bookseller’s Store is near the online purchase can be returned there. (Peter, Olson, 2004).
Amazon.com has diversified its product lines to cover apart from music CDs, videotapes and DVDs and software, electronics, kitchen items, lawn and garden items, toys and games, baby products, apparel, sporting gouts, gourmet food, jewelry, watches, health, and personal care items, beauty, musical instruments, industrial and scientific supplies, groceries and more. The opinion of Jeff Bezos is that Amazon.com is genetically pioneers while Simon Murdoch, the former company’s UK managing director adds that Amazon.com is untied to any product category, but rather the brand is extendible and it stands for delivery.
However the company, after this diversification is posed with competition from traditional retailers and e-commerce setups. There is also a possibility of the company’s diluting its brand name while the diversification of products is so broad and very quickly. All in all, it will be a matter of time to proof, which is the right orientation and whether Amazon.com will perpetuate its activities. Perhaps Amazon.com is right since at the current it is one of the few Internet brands among those recognized worldwide. It is one of the top few in France, Britain, Germany, and Japan and the number in America in terms of customer frequency.
Conclusion
Amazon.com has made great strides since its inception way back in 1994. The magnitude of its growth and progress is far greater in its comparison to the current achievements. The company has displayed an admirable and attractive marketing strategy in action towards its clients while at the same time attracting an appreciable customer behavior as has been the provision of a customer with a sense of community within its website.
Greater achievements can also be attributed to the company’s diligence in the initial set up which is seen to be the course of its mature growth. By all standards, it cannot compare with sister companies of equal magnitude and orientation.
References
Del I. Hawkins, Robert J. Best, Kenneth A. Coney. 1995. Consumer Behaviour: Implications for Marketing Strategy (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Marketing. Publisher Richard D. Irwin: 6th Ed.
J. Paul Peter, Olson. 2004. Consumer Behaviour (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Marketing. Publisher McGraw-hill/Irwin; 7th Ed.
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