Critical Reflection On Marketing Strategy Of Amazon - Essay.

A strong Assignment Critical Reflection Requires addressing to the following issues:

High personal effectiveness:

- Critical self-awareness,

- Self-reflection and self-management;

- Time management;

- Sensitivity to diversity in people and different situations and

- The ability to continue to learn through reflection on practice and experience. Guidelines for completion:

1. The word limit is 1,200 words, +/- 10% inclusive of appendices. Bear in mind that the appendices count towards the word limit so avoid including organisational material such as annual reports in any appendices.
2. Where you quote directly or take ideas from something you have read you must reference these correctly using the Harvard referencing system, not numbered footnotes.
3. Assignments should be word-processed in Times New Roman 12 point type.
4. As this is a self reflective practice within your writing you can use of the first person such as ‘I’ or ‘we’.

The primary purpose of assessment 1 was to demonstrate and analyse the marketing strategy of Amazon company. The report had started by giving an overview of the company history, its members and industry, the strengths it has gathered through these years and also few weaknesses which might prove as hurdles in the path of success. The report has outlined the organisational structure of the company and its core competencies. The market performance has also been scrutinised by the help of Porter’s five forces and even the value chain analysis. The financial perspective of the company, as well as the business perspectives, also have been well explained. While working on assessment 1, I was the most interested in the marketing strategy of the company that solely values the customer demands and necessities. According to Barlan-Espino (2017), customer needs and satisfaction are the most critical aspects of a successful business. It is a must concerning part for every company to know what their customers think about them; why do they like or dislike their products to keep engaging in a long-term relationship with them as opined by Berman (2016). In other words, a company must know how to retain them because they are the second useful component for a business to sustain in future.

As well-known from assessment 1, Amazon is a famous American electronic platform for commerce where different companies sell their products and the customers easily buy them. The Amazon company also sells its products online. Began in the year 1994 holding the hands of Jeff Bezos, it served a worldwide and earned revenues of more than US$3.033 billion as per the financial report of 2017. Since the company is trying to design a long-term strategy, it has been suggested to follow a growth-oriented strategy. However, after going through much research regarding the leadership quality, company missions and values since its beginning, I have found that the company is well aware that by focusing on customer expectation and their satisfaction, the Amazon company can easily reach up to the status of one of the best online commerce platforms. The company management is well –aware that the best marketing strategies aren’t top down; they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants. As per the views of Erevelles, Fukawa and Swayne (2016), the customers are the most significant source of generating revenues and the only way to earn their favour is by staying loyal to the promises kept to them, by sticking to the ethics and CSR values so that other companies do not get the competitive advantage.

Having gone through the case of Amazon company, I have learned that a customer is valuable because a customer is a person who serve the purpose of the company to sell its products. The customers buy the goods and services and should be considered as the most critical asset of a particular organisation. The best marketing strategies aren’t top down; they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants.  Usually, they expect to be delivered the accurate information about the products and services. The customer service of an organisation determines their ability to recognise the customer demands and work satisfying their preferences.  The power of the customer should never be underestimated. A customer can fire everybody including the chairman of the company just by spending their money elsewhere.  The purpose of a business must be to create the customer and also keep the customer.

Answer

The Amazon company is focusing on its internet-based marketing strategy to market the brand name in a general manner. Erevelles, Fukawa and Swayne (2016), further suggest that although few hurdles can force the company to change their marketing strategy, a firm relationship and bond with the customers can save the company from many declines and perils. I have come to know from the customer responses that the customer demands can change at any time and for any reason. It is the duty of the monitoring management of a company to keep track of the market condition, trends, changing fashion, interests of people and even season which play essential roles in shaping the customer preferences and demands. Amazon has their methods of observing the changing patterns of customer demands so that it can ensure that their marketing has the desired effect the most. While working on assessment 1, I have realised that time to time evaluation of the effectiveness of their marketing strategy on the customers' needs to be analysed. The clients might change their preferences; hence the marketing managers of a company must keep track of the changes. The trick is to evaluate the specific time when the demands change the most.

I have further realised that just like the Amazon company, every company should ensure that their customers are receiving high-value services. It has been found after exploring the marketing strategy of a few emerging companies that the pricing strategy is one of the most effective approach to retain the customers. Lindgren (2017), argues that it enables a particular firm to get the best out of the market and also receive a competitive advantage from the market giants. Another important fact is to keep a regular connection with the customers. In order to get a sketch of their views and wants, companies need to stay connected utilising the contributions of the social media and other internet-based platforms which connect people.

According to my views based on the scholarly articles on the topic, it is highly essential for a company to communicate their vision, mission and values as well as learn the queries of the customers and promptly respond to them. It is the critical factor by which strong relationship can be built between the organisation and the customers. The organisations must conduct online surveys or direct surveys by questionnaires to get an idea regarding how much they have been able to satisfy the customers and how much they have to put effort. The fact is that, since customers are the foundation on which a company stands firmly, they must be treated well and dealt with well. According to Khosravi (2014), it does not matter whatever be the issue; a company has to consider and improve the facilities, services, employee performance and also the distribution channels.

On a concluding note, I would like to say that before researching assessment 1, on the Amazon company, I had expected to get a better view of what is strategic marketing, what are its importance, why the Amazon company must follow a strategic approach to get the best outcomes. However, I had no idea that the task would be such vital to me and compel me to go through various scholarly articles, reviews on the topics and also exploring the marketing strategies of successful companies. The process of completing the assessment has enabled me to achieve a good deal of knowledge regarding the use and values of a customer for an organization. It has been of great use and enhanced my learning abilities for sure. In future, if I ever plan to work as an entrepreneur of a start-up business, I would surely follow my learning and implement whatever I have learnt in due course. I am also planning to arrange for a campaign about the importance of customer expectations and customer satisfaction especially for the young entrepreneurs who are on the verge of beginning a new start-up business. The campaign would educate them a lot and make them aware of using only the right strategy for their businesses.

Reference

Barlan-Espino, A.G., 2017. Operational efficiency and customer satisfaction of restaurants: Basis for business operational enhancement. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 5(1), pp.122-132.

Berman, B., 2016. Planning and implementing effective mobile marketing programs. Business Horizons, 59(4), pp.431-439.

Erevelles, S., Fukawa, N. and Swayne, L., 2016. Big Data consumer analytics and the transformation of marketing. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), pp.897-904.

Khosravi, A., 2014. A Review of Customer Knowledge Management Importance. Journal of Soft Computing and Decision Support Systems, 1(1), pp.45-52.

Lindgren, P., 2017. Advanced business model innovation. Wireless Personal Communications, 95(1), pp.127-144.

Venkatesh, R. and Singhal, T.K., 2017. Innovating Managed Services Business Models. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 10(29).