Amazon is a US based e-commerce company and America’s leading merchant in electronic business (Wood, 2011). The business was founded by Jeffrey Bezes who was the company’s chairman, President and C.E.O. He named the company Amazon to associate it with the world’s largest river, River Amazon.
By naming it Amazon, Bezes had managed to achieve two objectives with one name. First, he had been able to associate the company with the greatness and command that is associated with River Amazon. Secondly, he used letter “A” as the first letter of the company’s name; thereby, making internet search for his company much faster than several other organizations.
Though the company was formed 1994 with its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, its website was launched a year after in 1995 (Byers, 2006). Amazon has centers in different countries, which falls among the exceptionality in its history and growth.
In fact in its diversity to reach a global audience, the company can be accessed in seven different languages namely; English, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese. Though all of these languages share a common business plan, they are accessible in different languages.
In 1997, three years after its formation, Amazon launched its first IPO. On the down side, this year was also a year that the company faced a key lawsuit that threatened its growth. The suit accused the company of making false claims of being the leading bookstore in the whole world.
However, Amazon managed to maintain its house in order and settled the case outside the court system and simultaneously maintained its slogan of being the world leader in book selling. Another downside that the company faced in its growth was the slow rate of growth since its initial launch of the IPO in 1997.
However, in 2008, the company managed to calm its unease investors through its acquisition by the Bank of America. One of the strong pillars in Amazon’s background is its ability to offer more internet searches for book titles than traditional bookstores could offer.
Over the years, Amazon has evolved from a stage of dealing with online bookselling and matured into the CDS and DVDs dealer. Later it grew into diversified e-commerce commerce that was not only limited to household equipments but also into a merchant in the field of offering paints and downloads. The organization engaged in other subsequent acquisition with the most recent being its acquisition in 2012 of kiva systems.
In addressing customers’ needs, Amazon has not been limited by geographical boundaries. Being an online business, Amazon targets a worldwide customer base and has gone to the extent of opening individual website for different countries and languages. On the base, there are physical centers that help keep in touch with customer needs that cannot be fulfilled in an online means such as customer feedback.
In terms of individual customers for its products, the organization’s initial customers were online book readers. The customers have diversified to include food products, which include both perishable and non-perishable.
This are delivered to the individual customers in the morning hours, at daytime or on the customer specified time. The organization fulfills the needs of the working class who have little time for shopping by offering these fresh products. Though the customers for fresh products were limited geographically, the services have expanded to various states other than Washington (Junnarkar, 1998).
In addition, Amazon has managed to clinch a share of the market of the film release industry. Entertainment in the modern society has become a key aspect of globalization.
The entertainment industry is growing massively across borders, and the needs of audiences continue to increase by the day. In 2008, Amazon ventured into film production through a partnership that enhanced its customers (Beckett, 1998).
Through the advancement in technology, Amazon has managed to grab and fulfill the needs of customers by offering data storage services. Hence, these services target customers with varying amount of data from 5MB with charges being made on a monthly basis.
The technological advancement has initiated the company’s diversification across different platforms such as web hosting services, messaging using queues that are distributed and a clinch of the online music industry mainly through offering downloads in MP3format.
Key customers for home appliances also constitute a key share of Amazon market. This initially started as kitchen utensils through Amazon trademark. After two years, the line expanded to industry goods such as paints (Rivlin, 2005).
While the company offers these services online, there is an option of delivery of most products in that the company has ventured into the shipping industry in order to fulfill the needs of the online customers better.
The strategy that companies strive to adopt becomes is a crucial determinant of its success. The success of Amazon is vested in its ability to utilize the internet, which puts it ahead of its competitions in a field faced by continuous growth and change.
There has been a strategic planning that enhances the company’s reach and access to its customers with every decision that is settled upon. In so doing, Amazon has strategically designed its website to display all of its products. Just after opening the website, the tabs easily lead customers to the key products.
As such, a single button and click of the tabs makes all its customers easily reachable. There is a tab dealing with books, a tab to lead customers into Accessories and Apparel, that of electronics, DVDs, online magazines and that of toys and games.
In addition, the company deals with goods, which are light and can be transported easily among its unique strategy in utilizing the internet. The company helps to ease the transportation and affordability of internet purchased goods and services by dealing with light products.
The online products become affordable to anyone anywhere. While Knowledge management helps a company to keep up with change and preserve its current resources, Amazon has played a significant role in knowledge management.
This has mainly occurred through software development centers that are mainly located in Seattle, and have its presence in several parts across the globe. These software development centers have kept Amazon ahead in dealing with change and innovation.
Knowledge management is also done through a service where consumers can trade their used books, CDs DVDs. The books offered by Amazon are a form of Knowledge management.
In utilizing ICT strategically, Amazon has enhanced its channels of communication among all of its affiliates. There is quick and fast feedback in Amazon’s website that enhances provision of services. The company uses Linux based technology in enhancing its output.
The EC metric strategy of the company has helped heavily in brand engagement and promoting interaction with customers. This strategy is realized through creativity dialogue and analysis through a forum where authors can make comments on book pages to their readers through the Amazon remark.
Also, as its EC metric strategy, customers are able to submit reviews to the web pages of each of the Amazon products. Physical call and fulfillment centers are available to promote customer relation management.
In its EC strategy, the company promotes vigorous commercial activities through its websites. Almost anybody from a customer-customer, to business to business, to business to customer level can sell almost anything through its website.
The company offers a commission for its products to people for posting a link of its website. In its commercial strategy, the company charges a smaller commission compared to its customers such as ebay (Oswald, 2008).
As an online company, security is a key concern for Amazon Company. In its EC security policy, Amazon uses Netscape’s secure Commerce Server through the secure socket film procedure to isolate people’s credit card information from the internet catalog.
This procedure prevents hackers from accessing sensitive credit card information of the users. Matters of copyright are core to the security system of any online company. Amazon highly bars copyright infringement by granting admission to a limited number of pages in a book and providing access to pictures.
Internet regulation has become a key issue of concern with the modern evolution of e-business. Governments are continuously enacting legislations that are continuously become a barrier in the industry and barring the freedom of E-commerce.
This legislation has severally barred the electronic marketing of e-commerce companies through regulations such as regulation promotion emails and regulated information. Many governments are continuously regulating e-commerce through censorship and control making the industry unpredictable and unreliable.
Competitive advantage refers to that aspect of being in command in a selected area or the provision of identified products. One of the competitive advantage technologies can offer Amazon Company is the ability to be easily accessible.
Through the internet, Amazon will gain access to search engines; hence, reach people regardless of their geographical location. Strategically, technology has an ability to convert more customers into consumers through the click-and-mortal instead of a brick-and-mortar button.
Technology has also an ability to offer competitive advantage in matters of security. When consumers are assured of their security, they can make online purchases in a comfortable manner than in systems that are prone to hackers.
IT has an ability to increase the competitive advantage of Amazon through increased output and reduction of costs through a system of networking. Automation software has an extraordinary ability in increasing the competitive advantage of the company.
While many companies continue to venture into e-commerce, the barriers to this industry cannot be ignored. At one hand, insecurity has become a prevalent issue with leakages of private information leading to massive damages of individuals and organizations.
People have little trust in online business, which poses a key challenge to the e-commerce business. In addition, many companies do not give the full cost of their products making consumers hesitant while making purchases due to the notion of hidden prices. As mentioned earlier, internet restrictions are also posing a key barrier to this industry.
In conclusion, Amazon Company has continued to thrive in the midst of competition due to the combination of business strategies. The company has proved to be fit enough to survive in times of change and evolution.
Though the company proves that the e-commerce business has an enormous potential, anyone one who ventures into this field must first choose to learn the tactics and the creativity of success.
References
Beckett, J. (1998). Amazon to Purchase. San Franscisco Gate: Cengange Learning.
Byers, A. (2006). The founder of Amazon.com. New York, NY: The Rosen publishing group.
Junnarkar, S. (1998). Amazon to buy two companies. CNET News. Web.
Oswald, D. (2008). Borders Returns to Online Saeles, Drops Amazon. International Business Times. Web.
Rivlin, G. (2005). A Retail Revolution. South Melbourne, Australia: Thomson Learning.
Wood, D.B. (2011). Amazon pushes California toward referendum on online sales tax. The Christian Science Monitor. Web.