Amazon - A Company Analysis

1447 Words3 Pages

Introduction Historical Perspective Jeffrey Bezos, the founder and current CEO of Amazon.com, initially started the company as an online bookstore in 1994. Within several months, Amazon spread its operation to all 50 states and abroad. Presently, customers from over 45 countries buy at Amazon. Over a short period of time, the company expanded sales to electronics, video games, software, CDs, DVDs, MP3 downloads, food, furniture, apparel, jewelry, and toys. Today, the company even produces its own products such as the Kindle series. Also, Amazon.com is one of the major providers of cloud computing services. Currently, the company is the largest global online retailer responsible for 20% of online retail market share. Key Success Factors and Strategies The key strategies and distinctive competencies that have led the company to success and its present position of a world leader in the Internet sales can be identified as follows. Firstly, Amazon.com employed the cost leadership strategy by offering products and services at lower costs than competitors. The key to making this strategy successful were the economies of scale that allowed the company to offer the largest range of products to its customers. Secondly, Amazon.com expanded internationally, pursued strategic acquisition and bought new firms to bring new services, assets, capabilities, services, and skills. Thirdly, the company is committed to delivering superior quality of products and services. It earned a reputation of a convenient and reliable brand that offers the lowest prices, one of the fastest and lowest shipping, widest selection of goods, and many additional features with its services. The fourth key factor was efficient logistics and distribution that allowed sprea... ... middle of paper ... ...viding convenience, innovations, and low prices. References Amazon.com. (n.d.). About Amazon. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node=239364011 Chaffey, D. (2012). Amazon.com case study. Smart Insights. Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenue-models/amazon-case-study/ Eule, A. (2013). It’s time for Amazon to open its black box. Barron’s, 93(42), 37. Forsyth, W.R. (2013). Citizen Bezos? Barron’s, 93(32), 7-8. Mirov, M. (2005). Seminar paper on strategies to achieve market leadership: The example of Amazon [PDF file]. (Unpublished paper). Technical University, Berlin. Retrieved from http://preibusch.de/documents/PreibuschS_FleckensteinM_Amazon.pdf Tsuruoka, D. (2014, January 9). Amazon’s third-party retailers sold over 1 billion items in 2013. Investor’s Business Daily.

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