Question 1
One unique thing about Amazon that other retailers can borrow and implement is the personalization of services offered to customers. By collecting information about a customer through successful interactions, the company can tailor-make products and services to suit them. Through personalization, customers can review and recommend books and other services offered at Amazon to other customers following the search trail. The use of technology resources to customize and personalize products and services is a strength other companies can learn.
Another major factor that makes Amazon a strong e-commerce giant is diversification. Diversification involves the allocation of resources to different products so that a company reduces risk related to individual items ( Ottman, 2017) . While the company started as a marketplace for selling books, it later expanded to videos, DVDs, consumer products and anything that a customer may need. The company hence become a one-stop-shop for all the needs of the customer. Diversification help retailers increase the variety and number of customer visiting their stores. It accordingly acts as a marketing strategy that increases the ability of companies to survive in competition.
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Thirdly, Amazon has been quick to adopt new technologies that are useful in the improvement of the effectiveness of its services. Technology is the primary driver of Amazon’s growth and has created a unique position for the company in the online marketplace. Amazon has a high willingness to invest in new technologies that make shopping easier, faster and personally rewarding. These include technologies in warehousing and human resources management that ensure rapid delivery of products to owners (Haider et al., 2019) . Such ideas as express shipping increase customer satisfaction and royalty.
There is also competitive pricing and the use of cost leadership strategy in Amazon's basic structure. To drive large volumes of products, Amazon keeps prices lower than most of its competitors. The low price strategy includes the use of discounts to attract customers.
Question 2
While the cost leadership strategy may be beneficial to Amazon for a time, it may be detrimental in the long run. Cost leadership tend to attract price wars from competitors ( Ottman, 2017) . In the long term, Amazon may start operating at prices lower than production and other costs. The negative consequences of the low price strategy can be seen in the factor that the company upset some of its publishing partners. The cost leadership strategy at Amazon should be changed for a differentiation strategy. Through differentiation of products and services, Amazon can be able to attract and retain customers without causing price wars.
The differentiation strategy for Amazon should involve the improvement of already existing products rather than the addition of others. At the moment, Amazon offers quite a large variety of products for its customers. This makes the organization overstretched and hence, unable to adequately provide quality services and products. I think the company should now focus on improving the quality of services it offers by capitalizing on the advertisement.
Advertisement is one of the most effective methods of expanding markets and increasing sales for a company. Through publication, Amazon could explore new markets, including those remote areas where major competitors have not reached. The increasing advertisement also increases goodwill from customers as people get concerned by a company (Haider et al., 2019) . Amazon could take advertising campaigns as educational avenues where the reputation of its brand can be improved. Consequently, through advertisement, Amazon will get the opportunity to create a better relationship with potential customers.
References
Haider, A. A., Zafar, A., Khalid, A., Majid, A., Abdullah, M. A., & Sarwar, M. B. (2019). Marketing Management.
Ottman, J. (2017). The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for sustainable branding . Routledge.
