Marketing Strategy

Introduction

By definition, marketing is the process employed by a company to stimulate demands for and purchase of services or goods produced. Today, the success of any company largely depends on the marketing strategies used to penetrate the market. Amazon has become a leading company in the globe due to its effective marketing strategy. The paper reviews the marketing strategies adopted by Amazon in comparison to its competitors.

Positioning

An organization must understand and learn about its targeted market or niche. In so doing, a company will be able to operate more efficiently using existing resources to divide and penetrate the market. Brand positing is an important component of marketing because it enable a firm to identify and target a niche in the market. Amazon relies on its enormous economic and technological resources to segment the needs of its consumers. Hence, enabling the company to market directly to a defined group or niche in the market. Overall, Amazon targets upper and middle-class consumers with the capability to shop online (Singh & Pathak, 2021). Amazon employs a consumer-centric strategy that helps the company position itself as a low-cost, convenient, and comprehensive selection of products and services to target its consumers. In contrast, Amazon’s competitor Walmart positions itself as a low-cost producer focusing on bulk sales to maximize sales.

Distribution channels

The ability to move consumer goods within a defined supply chain process effectively enables a company like Amazon to strengthen its market positively. The effectiveness of Amazon’s brand positioning in the market depends on its ability to offer convenience to online shoppers. This is achieved by ensuring orders placed by consumers are proceeded and distributed within the required timeframe. To achieve this, Amazon has developed a reliable chain of intermediaries that enable the company to transport its goods and services to the consumers within the shorted time possible. Amazon uses extensive logistical facilities (warehouses) as distribution centers that control the movement of consumer orders to their final destination (Rodrigue, 2020). The warehouses are referred to as fulfillment centers. They act as a warehouse for storing products from manufacturers and distribution centers for processed orders. Amazon’s distribution channel is effective since it enables prime customers to receive their product within twenty-four hours after ordering anywhere in the United States. This approach has enabled the company to outperform its competitors, such as eBay, to offer convenience and reliability of online shopping.

Advertising and promotion

Advertising play a vital role in creating consumer awareness in the market. The rise of technology over the last few decades has transformed how businesses use advertising and promotional activities to research consumers. There are a variety of methods and techniques, which have been used by established organizations to advertise. Over the last few years, the growth and development of amazon are largely credited to its ability to integrate advertising and promotions in the marketing strategy. The company employs a wide variety of advertising platforms and promotions to target its consumers. The use of endorsement is perceived as among the main method amazon use to reach its consumers. Hollywood celebrities have been endorsed by amazon to assist the company in advertising and reach a wide audience in the market.

Furthermore, the company uses its vast corporate social responsibility to appeal to its consumers. This is achieved by the fact that Amazon support core community projects such as funding advocacy groups. Such strategic moves create a positive image regarding the company, which increases consumer population and loyalty in the long run. In comparison, Walmart is increasing its global advertisement on online platforms. However, Walmart still uses traditional media such as billboards and television for advertising and creating consumer awareness.

Social media marketing

Today, social media is perceived as the most dominant marketing platform. Social media enables producers and sellers to interact with consumers directly. Furthermore, social media is considered among the cheapest but effective methods of marketing in the contemporary era. Amazon, like other online retailers, largely utilizes social media marketing to reach its consumers. The company is driven by the need to understand the needs of the consumers. Therefore, to garner buyers’ reviews and sentiments regarding a given product, amazon uses social media as a tool to drive consumer engagement levels. The company has established social media user accounts with every major social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among others, to collect the reviews and perceptions of consumers based on Amazon products and services. Before a consumer can purchase or test a product, they typically use multiple social media platforms to check reviews or experiences of previous buyers. For a company “obsessed” with the need to enhance the consumer experience, such information is critical in the marketing processes in the long run. Therefore, Amazon uses multiple social media platforms to engage and nature consumer interactions through content marketing.

Amazon is increasingly adopting the concept of social media influencers to undertake niche marketing. Influencers are individual or originations that use social media to generate followers by developing digitized content. This has enabled the company to segment its marketing tactic by advertising specific products and services based on demographic characteristics. Nonetheless, Amazon competitors such as Walmart and eBay are increasingly using social media platforms to intensify competition. Walmart and eBay are adopting similar social media techniques used by amazon to increase sales and consumer presence on their platforms.

Trends

The future of marketing will not be limited to posting content. The need for transparent and trustworthy content is critical for Amazon’s brand growth. A recent study indicated that a third of online shoppers are likely to swift to a competing brand if there are transparency and accountability issues. Thus, Amazon is focused on ensuring part of its future marketing strategy is focused on facilitating consumer awareness as a way to enhance consumer experiences. The company plans to enhance consumer experiences in the future by educating the consumer on the authenticity and reliability of their product and services.

Additionally, social equity and sustainability have become central issues in the current society. Online retailers such as Amazon have re-evaluated their marketing strategies to factor in the concept of equity and sustainability when engaging the market.  For instance, Amazon is increasingly providing information to the public regarding ending work-based discrimination and sustainability efforts to protect the environment. Such strategies play a central role in creating a positive and lasting image on the consumer in the future, which improves the value of Amazon as a brand. 

Overall

Amazon’s marketing strategies is centrally focused on satisfying the needs and desire of the consumers. The company utilizes its vast resources to target the consumer using various marketing/ advertising strategies and platforms to ensure the needs of the consumers are met. Maximizing consumer needs has enabled Amazon to become a market leader by intensifying competition through its core marketing values centered on low cost, convenience, and variety. Nevertheless, for Amazon to effectively achieve its marketing goal, it has to ensure the concerns of the stakeholders are satisfied. The obsession of consumers has diverged the interest of amazon in catering to the needs of other key players in the distribution and supply chain, such as suppliers (distributors) and employees. For instance, Amazon has been criticized for failing to address issues raised by its employee. Most workers have been engaged in strikes and walkouts to protest against an unfavorable work environment characterized by a poor and toxic work environment. Similarly, there is growing concern among Amazon on the increasing adoption of “black hat” approaches, which allows labeling of Amazon products as “private.” If such trends are not addressed effectively managed or solved by Amazon, its ability to satisfy the needs of the consumers may be hampered in the long run. Therefore, Amazon needs to focus on delivering consumer experience while varying to the needs of its key stakeholder who are critical of the overall functionality and performance of the company in the future.

Conclusion

Amazon continues to establish itself as the global leader in the retailing sector. Much of its success is attributed to Amazon’s obsession to fulfill consumer needs while posing as a low-cost, reliable, and diverse company. The company uses various marketing options and platforms such as social media to intensify competition while dominating the online retail market in the long run.

Reference

Rodrigue, J. P. (2020). The distribution network of Amazon and the footprint of freight digitalization. Journal of transport geography, 88, 102825.

Singh, A., & Pathak, G. S. (2021). Revisiting marketing strategy in emerging markets: a study of Amazon. com Inc. International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 22(2-3), 113-126.