Essay: Marketing Plan For Amazon In Australian Market.

In an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace, brands cannot easily afford to stand still (see the articles below). Taking any consumer product or service (not B2B) of your choice that you believe could benefit from a new product development/brand extension/innovation opportunity, prepare a marketing plan which comprehensively covers all of the aspects detailed below, ensuring a balance of (referenced) theory to practice.

You will need to develop a full marketing plan covering all of the aspects detailed below task including both appropriate (referenced) marketing theory as well as practical application. It should be structured as follows:

a)  Front cover

b)  Executive Summary (summarising the main findings of the report).

c)  Contents page

d)  An introduction and rationale to your product/service proposal. Include here also a critical overview of the value of strategic marketing planning to the organisation in aiding the achievement of competitive advantage.

e)  A critical analysis and evaluation of the PESTLE factors affecting your market and proposal (including any country-specific issues) which demonstrates your ability to prioritise key factors. Additionally, you must also consider any specific issues pertaining to the industry via an assessment of Porter's Five Forces, ensuring that your recommendations going forward reflect the findings of this section.

f)  Summarise internal attributes of the organisation and external factors affecting the organisation (including global factors) in the form of a TOWS analysis.

g)  Marketing objectives (using the SMART format).

h)  Marketing plan (strategy and tactical overview). To include: segmentation, targeting and positioning analysis and marketing mix development and analysis.

i)  An outline promotional plan and marketing budget for the promotional launch of the concept (schedule, timings - Drip/Burst campaign, spend on different promotional tools including social media - Paid, Owned, Earned Media, and the use of push/pull/profile techniques).

j) A clear explanation of how you would monitor, measure and adapt the marketing plan using identifiable key metrics as you progressed through execution.

k)  Appendices. This must include biography, references and any other relevant material.

Organisational Overview

The potentiality and competence of the virtual world has made it an inevitable tool to transform human lives. The capacity of approach attained by any mass medium cannot be undermined. The digital media being the most potent, effective and massive in its capability to outreach and perform, has surpassed all other forms of physical promotion. This study involves in analyzing the effectiveness of these platforms in shaping the business enterprise. of Amazon Inc. The ecommerce giant has been chosen as the case, due to its extensive use of the digital domain to handle its operations and business. In fact, the inception of Amazon lied in the usage of these mediums as instruments of business.  It has to be understood that marketing does not only involve increasing sales, it is more about delivering business value for the consumer and creating an environment of sustainable growth that credits customer satisfaction and customer faith as an asset of the organisation. An integrated marketing strategy creates opportunities across various aspects that govern the business success of a firm. These include strategies that amalgamate customer advocacy, employee satisfaction and engagement. The motive of a strategic planning is to create a long term growth plan that adds substantial value to the company over a time frame (Marcelo Torres et al.  2014). A proper strategic planning will involve the external and internal stake holders, the strategic targeting of customers, analyzing data that reflects consumer behaviour, customer psychology and orientation and the data that reflects the consumer behaviour of the market over the company’s services and products (Sarbah and Otu-Nyarko 2014). These data driven analysis allows the organisations a greater scope to understand the needs of the market and thereby expand their strategies and plans accordingly. Promotional strategies are required to be holistic in their approach to sustain the market competition and earn an edge over the other players in the industry. The report will discuss the various aspects as mentioned through a detailed review and will critically assess the failures and the successes of the organisation and the strategies that should be undertaken to achieve a set of goals in the future.

The success of Amazon itself proves the resourcefulness of the digital platform. With the advent of newer avenues in the sectors of business, the nature of business plans and strategies have changed with time. Business organisations are utilizing the potential of the digital medium to maximize their market reach and generate ways to develop growth in a comprehensive manner. The report will be subdivided into several sections that will analyse the organisation, the PESTEL factors, the Five forces of Porter, the TOWS identifying the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats to understand the current scenario of the organisation. The necessity of a strategic marketing is to understand the critical issues that influence the business processes in an organisation. The strategic marketing revolves around issues that are of high concern and in the profitable interest of a company. The necessity for strategic planning is due to the fact that wrong strategies back fire and hamper the growth of a company to an extent that dampens the brand image of the organisation and reduces market presences and eventually reflects in financial losses taking a toll in the overall growth of the company. the promotional strategies of a company decide the brand image of the company and the way a company promotes its products and services decides the amount of market reach that can be achieved by it. The marketing strategy of Amazon is completely different and is based on the virtual spaces across several digital platforms. It has been observed in a study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers that online marketing strategies will account for 51% of total marketing and advertising expenses of organisations by 2019.

PESTEL Analysis

Amazon Incorporations is currently the largest online retailer. Amazon is one of the founding members of the e- commerce industry and holds a major share in the online retailing.  The company has developed a completely new genre of marketing approach based on a platform that is virtual in nature and contradicts traditional methods of marketing and promotes all its services and products in their virtual spaces. Being the largest company in online shopping, Amazon provides a wide variety of products, ranging from pediatric products to scientific equipments. It has services in grocery, electronics, apparel and clothing, beauty products and cosmetics, jewelry and personal care items. It also expands it services in the health sector providing alternative medicines and drugs. It also caters to sport gears and accessories. The major services include electronic media, e-books, paperbacks, and electronic audio and video devices. It also provides entertainment services on the digital platform, and devices of entertainment. A summation of the products and services provided by Amazon will be analysed in the company overview. 

The concerned organisation is Amazon Incorporations based out of the United States of America. It was incorporated as an organisation on the 5^th day of July, 1994. The company mission and goal include three major objectives which can be summarized as thus:

• To attain worldwide reach
• Priority to customers
• Providing the widest range of products and services.

In order to achieve its worldwide reach the organisation has plans to expand its operation across all the continents of the globe.The Amazon Inc. has ambitious plan to expand its business in the Asia-pacific region including Australian subcontinent.The PESTEL analysis will analyse the Australian context for Amazon in the given scenario.

The PESTEL analysis is a critical review of a set of factors that determine the external factors that manipulate a firm’s business growth or potential. In order to understand the context of Amazon we have to understand the industry they are involved in and understand the factors that influences the business environment in the region.We will analyse the political, the economic, the social, the technological, the legal and the environmental factors in the Australian context for the ecommerce industry the way it would create an affect Amazon in expanding their business in the region.

Political factors:

The political factors include the political environment of the region, the labour laws, the industry standards, the political regulations and sanctions prevalent in the country and the regulative measures that are in practice and are detrimental for an industry. The industry standards and operational practices should be in tune with the political agenda of the concerned country which would allow smooth functioning of business in the country. Australia has political stability and favours business growth from the perspectives of ease of doing business and having economic freedom. According to the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Australia offers a robust regulatory system with competent banking and finance solutions. The political factor would be suitable for Amazon to expand its business in Australia. The international business ties with the government have been decent and encouraging. There is stable political environment among the various political entities and which improve cooperation fostering growth of business (Business.gov.au 2018).

Customer Advocacy, Employee Satisfaction and Engagement

Economic Factors:

The economic situation of Australia is very stable and global reports produced by the World Bank and Wall Street journals confirm the same. It has been ranked15^th among 190 economies for ease of doing business (Business 2014) and holds the 5^th position in terms of economic freedom. (Austrade.gov.au 2018). According to the Australian Bench Mark report, the country offers the key reasons for investing in their country and claims that Australia has a robust economy with dynamic industries amalgamated with innovation and skills. Australia has global ties and strong foundations necessary for a business to expand. The report below provides information about the economic stability of the country.

The table beside gives an insight about the key economic indicators and reflects the ease of doing business in Australia. Australia is ranked 15^th among 190 economies in terms of business environment.

The graph beside reflects the rank of Australia in terms of economic freedom which increases the possibility of investing in a foreign location. Depending on these reports we can infer

that the economic factors are on the positive end for Amazon.

Social factors:

Australia is culturally diverse and has a stable population. The literacy rate of Australia is 92% (Australia.gov.au 2018) among young age groups and adult literacy rates are also high. The country has diversity in the work place making it a potential for any organisation to set up their enterprises. The population being mix of various ethnicities allows variety of choices among the consumers. This diverse social environment would foster the growth of Amazon Inc. in the country. The high literacy rate proves that there are competent human resources who would be useful in managing business in Australia and also encourage the business of Amazon in the country. The millennial generation comprises a large share of the demography being the most potent customers for Amazon. The adult age groups are also potential customers for Amazon. The people are technically equipped and are also financially robust which provides good grounds for Amazon to expand business in the region.

Technological Factors:

The technological factors include the various technological up gradations that influence the business environments. Amazon has a strong technological foundation relating to their nature of business. The use of the digital platforms in expanding business and for promotions is being adopted by all firms in the current scenario and Amazon is the pioneer in harnessing the potential of the digital space in creating business opportunities. The technological advancements in the virtual spaces have brought the digital platforms in cellular formats. The developments of mobile applications have a recent development that has come with technological advancements. The applications are required for smart phones that are designed to use several platforms in the form of applications. Amazon has upgraded them technically with all necessary requirements to stay competitive in the market. Since Amazon is based in the industry that is governed by technology, continuous up gradations are required with time to be relevant in their industry

Promotional Strategies

Legal Factors:

The legal framework of the country is robust and has stringent laws to address corrupt practices. The country has data safety laws and intellectual property laws in their legal framework which will boost the growth of ecommerce in the environment.The Australian Consumer Laws provide a framework to support consumers availing ecommerce facilities. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 ensure fair trading practices in Australia. Thus it can be inferred that the Australia has a fair practice environment for business and Amazon Inc. would find it reasonable to expand its operation in Australia. 

Environmental Factors:

The environmental factors would not create much of a difference for Amazon since their concerned industry is mostly digital.  Environmental factors include those issues that might affect the nature of operation and business of an organisation. The nature of business of Amazonhas lesser environmental impacts and therefore it would not be a problem for expanding business operations in Australia.

The Porte’s Five Forces are analytical factors that determine the extent of competition faced by any organisation in terms of doing business. The five Forces help to identify the level of competition that is prevalent in the market and the chance of survival in the market owing to a set of five individual factors. These are identified as

• Bargaining power of Buyers
• Bargaining power of Suppliers
• Threat of New Entrants
• Threat of substitute products
• Rivalry in the industry

The Five forces analysis of Amazon will help us to understand the expansion of Amazon in Australia depending on these individual characters.

Bargaining Power of Buyers:

The bargaining power of buyers of Amazon can be considered as medium to high. Initially the bargaining power of Amazon was not that higher, but with growing competitions the power has increased substantially. The growing number of options for the consumers in the E-retail sectors has increased the power of the buyers. The chances of switching are comparatively high if there is even a slightest issue of dissatisfaction and service. Being mostly dependent on service the customers tend o choose other options with better customer service and satisfaction. Amazon being the pioneer of the industry maintains high standards of quality and service. This gives them a competitive edge, yet doesn’t allow them to have complete monopoly. The bargaining power shifts from comparatively higher to medium differing from situation to situation. Depending on the service and product being consumed or used, the power of buyer changes.

Bargaining Power of suppliers:

The bargaining powers of the suppliers of Amazon vary from being low to moderate in the industry. The scope of the suppliers to bargain is comparatively low since the industry is dictated by the e commerce organisations which have high industry standards and have multiple options available to switch. The suppliers also want to be associated with the ecommerce giants due to their market reach and customer base. The bargaining power therefore is not controlled much by the suppliers and has very low to moderate power depending on the goods and services they offer.

Conclusion

Threat of new entrants:

The threat of new entrants is moderate for the Ecommerce industry. The investment and resources required to compete with the existing players is comparatively huge which lowers the threat from new entrants. Being a service oriented industry the running cost is higher. The fluctuating market also provides very less opportunity to have huge margins. The margins can be effective only when operated at a large scale. Simply the interest of the new entrants will be dampened since the amount of investment required is very huge. Therefore the threat for new entrants is comparatively low to moderate for Amazon.

Threat from substitutes:

The threat of substitutes for the ecommerce industry comes from two different perspectives. The first threat comes from competitive firms operating in specialized goods. For example with the advent of the digital platforms, almost all industries have an online platform to perform business. These are a substantial threat as people might shop directly from the concerned sites. The second threat comes from retail establishments who provide the market experience to the customers. The substitutes might include Wallmart and other retail chains. The threat from substitutes is high for the E-commerce industry and subsequently for Amazon. The bargaining power of buyers being high the threat from substitutes is also higher. People generally would prefer physical buying experiences which offer real experience and options as compared to e commerce sites. The trust factor is also high due to gratification of the customer.

Rivalry in the industry:

Though Amazon have led the way in the industry and are the advocates of the industry, the success of Amazon has attracted several new competitors in the market who have constantly given stiff competition to Amazon in their respective regions. The local e commerce organisations have always earned a competitive edge, yet Amazon has tried to deliver their superior service in order to compete. Rivalry in the industry is higher for Amazon.  In the case of Australia there more than twenty competitors in the market which include Ozbargain, JB HI-FI, Officeworks, and Harveynorman are the few to mention.

Thus from the above analysis we can infer that  Amazon will have to face a comparative amount of competition in order to expand in Australia but the factors external factors and the Five forces of Porter reveal that expansion plans for Amazon in Australia would be viable given a few addressal to the concerning issues are made.

The TOWS analysis of Amazon will help to understand the threats and opportunities faced by Amazon along with it will also help us to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company.

The Threats and Weaknesses:

The threats faced by Amazon include the risk of imitation of the business concept by competitors, the low margins that yield very less net profit and the aggressive competitive policies that make it vulnerable to market risks. These induces the weaknesses that the company experiences. The long term generation of low profits would actually increase the risk of failure in overall growth.  The extensive cost behind maintenance of logistics and system cannot be borne by low margins on a long run competition. The issues of data theft and cybercrime are hampering the brand value of the company. Amazon needs to look into these issues of the shrinking margins and data safety in order to maintain its global presence. The effect has been disastrous since these are creating high debts for the company and the organisation has seen recent losses amounting to almost 359 US dollars. There have been several product flops which is a serious concern for the company. There have been instances of tax evading cases which have badly reputed the company. The organisation needs to look into these issues to create healthy growth over the year’s growth (Xu 2013).

Strengths and opportunities:

The Strengths of Amazon as an organisation are greater their weaknesses and hence Amazon have created such a vast global reach. The market presence of Amazon is extensive and is certainly the largest online retailer. The global outreach has allowed Amazon to expand its services and products across various places. This provides Amazon with a whole new set of opportunities which would eventually expand the business and profitability of the company. Among several opportunities Amazon can opt for retail establishments and introduction of In-house brands and facilities which would create opportunities for businesses.  The already existing market reach would provide the extra advantage among its consumers. They have the capacities to acquire the local ecommerce companies which would reduce the competition in the markets. The use of the digital platforms in an extensive way and making it profitable has been pioneered by Amazon. Newer strategies in modifying e commerce can always manipulate profits in a different level.

The marketing objective is generally defined by the SMART objective, which ensures that these objectives are specifically framed, measurable in nature, achievable and realistic within a time frame. Amazon being one of the most recognized brands in online retail across the world aimed for an innovative brand expansion when it came to introduce a Kindle. For extending the Amazon Kindle, one of its significant and highly innovative products, the company required the world to perceive the company as not solely as a seller of wide variety of products but also as a prominent creator (Xu 2013). The marketing objectives of Amazon can be analysed based on the Smart approach in the following manner.

If we look at the marketing objective of Amazon we can deduce the way they achieved their objective. The marketing objective of Amazon as described in their SEC filings is as below:

“Earth’s biggest selection and to be Earth’s most customer-centric company”

The goal still remains the same but the outreach has expanded to a global scenario.

Specific:

The goal should be specific in nature, for example Amazon wants to be the most consumer centric company and it still delivers its shipment free of cost. This goal was specific right from the beginning and that they have managed it in a planned manner to achieve the objective. The goal to become the most consumer chosen consumer centric organisation

Measurable:

The goal needs to be measurable, which means that the progress in achieving the goal should be measureable by quantifying it. There should be adequate logistics and system support to measure the growth of the company. The yearly rise in customer base of Amazon reflects that they had devised a plan to measure the growth in their business plan. The number of increasing customers and online visitors reveals the fact that they had een keeping a track in achieving their target.  

Attainable:

The goal was ambitious but attainable only because they have been planned well and measured. There were failures but the goal in being the most consumer centric company is still their mission. The founder Jeff Bezos has said that the goal of Amazon will always be the same. The pursuit of becoming the most consumer friendly organisation is still rolling. Amazon has certainly become the most consumer friendly E- retail chain starting from just an online book store. The objective should be attainable within a given time frame and not be a dreamy phrase. This doesn’t not necessarily mean, that the objective has to be achieved right from day one, but the process in achieving the goal must continue till its within reach.

Realistic:

The marketing objective must be realistic in nature calculated over a given time frame. The objective of becoming the most consumer centric company might not seem realistic at the first place, but over a given time frame that objective seems achievable. Amazon did not become the most consume centric company neither did it become the most visited company of the planet in a year’s time. The goal took a considerable time span over a period of time.  Amazon being the most consumer centric organisation today is a journey of over twenty years. The goal of achieving the objective should develop over time in an organized manner.

Time bound:

The last but not the least it is very important to have a time bound objective and not just extend the time frame. This is achieved only when each smaller set of goals are assigned within a time frame and regular motivation and urgency is taken to achieve the set targets. Without time bound targets, objectives would never be achieved since they would only be prolonged with delay. The time frame assigned to a set objective should be seriously monitored by adopting the other approaches of the specific, measurable, attainable and realistic. The achievement of the goal cannot happen without a time frame since without any time frame, the progress cannot be measured, if the progress cannot be measured the realistic approach cannot be identified. Attaining the objective would also seem unrealistic without a given time frame. The factors of attainability and measurability of an objective becomes futile without any time frame. Thus it is very important to have a time frame attached to the objective being set by the organisation and adequate planning should be done in order to achieve the said goal or objective.

Marketing plan

The marketing plan of the any organisation is the drafting of a strategy that gives an overview by which any company would launch a product or promote their services and products to generate revenue. Chaffey and Smith (2013) have noted the first thing which marketers need to understand on the way consumers use Amazon ecosystem not only for what they purchase on it but what they do on it. This strategy of Amazon primarily involves its wide range of products ranging from its media properties along with shopping choices to things such as Your Garage whereby customers can segment the cars they own. Furthermore, for video, Amazon has the renowned Kindle, Amazon Instant Video along with Amazon Video Direct that is a recent $1.4B acquisition which exclusively streams eSports. Amazon does not expose all of its data, but tends to offer two varied sources of significant insight such as Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA) and Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) (Xu 2013). These sources however inclusive information from content preferences as well as purchase categories to lifestyle insights related to various types of hobbies and activities which consumers prefer. The marketing plan will be devised in order to achieve a set of objectives for Amazon in the following section. The marketing plan will follow the STP or the segmentation, targeting and positioning approach and evaluate the same with a marketing mix of the organisation.

STP approach

The STP approach includes four stages of analyzing an organisation market. These include the Segmentation followed by Targeting of the market and then positioning of the product or service of the organisation. The final stage evaluates the steps in a marketing mix. The STP of Amazon will be analysed in the following section.

The segmentation of Amazon:

Amazon Inc. being a Business to Consumer or B2C business firm, the market segmentation will depend on the behavioral, life styles choices and demographic attributes of the consumers (Weinstein 2013). Starting from the silent generation facilitates Amazon to attain an improved focus on customers who have been buying power and time to read many books. Marcelo Torres et al. (2014) have revealed that as around 61% of this segment uses social media, substantial proportion of customers to buy an e-book has high level of acquaintance with internet and social networking platform. Furthermore, the next significant segmentation divides readers by gross income. E-book buyers who earn over $78,000 per year have been observed to read more number of books in comparison to other segments.  Xu (2013) has been revealed that almost 81% of people positioned in this segment currently own a Kindle or tablet. The market segment of Amazon by demography would give an understanding of the varying needs of the different age groups of the markets and would cover all sections of the society. Being a e retailer, Amazon would have customers from different demographic sections.

Targeting of the market:

The identification of the target customer in the segmented market is the process of targeting in an STP process. The demographic segments include consumers of varying age groups. The age group that will mostly access the technology and the services will be age groups between 14- 45. This demographic segment includes two age groups that includes working professionals and students. Thus Amazon will have to plan their marketing in a manner to achieve the most from this section of the target. The target market will develop the positioning of the product or the organisation. Piercy (2016) has claimed that Amazon will attain considerable achievements by efficiently targeting those with generation who are frequent social media users. These users however are identified as readers who read over 8-10 books each year with a gross income higher or equivalent to $81,000 and holding minimum graduation degree Marcelo Torres et al. (2014). This segment of social media users tend to exhibit inclination in receiving innovative and specialized promotions or advertisements of new book releases, sales or discounts. As a result, direct mailers in some magazines would be achievable at communicating process of advertising information to this target segment.

Positioning of the product:

The positioning involves strategies and plans that make the consumer feel connected to the Organisation in terms of their requirements. Along with it should also look into various requirements and positioning of the product or the service must be done accordingly. The organisation should strategize the USP or the unique selling proposition according to the target customer. The main aim of positioning a brand is to understand the requirement of the target customer and thereby create services and products to earn a competitive edge over the rivals in the same segment and reduce the competition among substitutes. Amazon focuses on customer satisfaction which is their USP and is rightly the preference of the targeted customers.  Further to improve the areas of attainable advertising, the positioning employed to diversify e-books requires reflecting the values shared by target customers. It has been claimed by Marcelo Torres et al. (2014) that attaining right e-books advertised to this specific group signifies understanding greatly about preferences and choices for books. However if this segment can be proficiently introduced to buying e-books, they may seek for books which draws their attention. Based on research by Piercy (2016), Amazon is identified as the major player of the US market share. With indie books which are published without ISBN, Amazon has comprised a share of around 84% of US e-book purchase and the rest that is approximately shared between Apple i-bookstore, Kobo-US and Google Pay books (Chaffey and Smith 2013). Furthermore, it is important to note that while the market share of the traditional publishing agencies including Big 5 declines significantly as many publishers have been falsely keeping prices at stake. Marcelo Torres et al. (2014) have witnessed that a considerable number of individual authors sell more e-books on regular basis on Amazon in comparison to the publishers with ISBN put together. Furthermore, reports in 2017 revealed that the US Kindle Unlimited has been solely accountable for 12% of the independent authors’ income rate whereby in the United States this is approximately comparable to the income from all non Amazon sales channels. In addition to its market positioning, Amazon also needs to focus on customer satisfaction being the most vital point in the e-commerce industry, the gratification of the customers should be equal to the physical retail stores and reduction in the shopping sprees of the generation gives Amazon the competitive edge.

The marketing mix is a composition of four factors that are taken into consideration while considering a market strategy of a product. The four factors also known as four Ps include the product of the organisation, the price of the commodity, and the promotion of the product along with its place of promotion (Oliveira and Toaldo 2015). The marketing mix of Amazon will help to us to develop a strategy to pitch a product of the organisation.

1. Price: Pricing of the commodities served by Amazon includes a huge range of services and products. The E commerce firm not only sells retail goods in the digital platforms but also have few in-house products as the Kindle, the Amazon Web service. The pricing of the products have been done with preferences from lowest to highest. The consumers therefore have a range of prices to choose from for a single commodity. In comparison to other e-book readers introduced by Sony and Nobles, Amazon Kindle is premium priced. Furthermore, the diversified versions are sold in different pricing, whereby the most preferred one being Amazon Kindle that has acquired against the payment of around 120-250 US dollars (Chaffey and Smith 2013). However, the price tends to vary from country to country on the basis of taxation system.
2. Place: Amazon Inc. has a global presence and selection of place may vary depending on the carnivals or term breaks in the respective regions. Though the place of operation is global, Amazon should develop inventories based in specific regions. For example, Amazon might open up an inventory in the Asia pacific region to cater to deliveries and business in the region. Similar country based orientation is necessary to determine the place of the business of operations. Amazon Kindle is sold across the US market place and is also being delivered across the world. Furthermore, Amazon possesses the readiness to give piece for piece replacement for the Kindle in order to ensure that the product emerges as the most prominent one in the market (Piercy 2016). However, with the growing prominence of Kindle, it is no more being limited on Amazon shopping website but has been started to be marketed on other portals as well. For example, Croma along with other renowned retail stores have been selling Kindle from the storefront.

• Promotion: The promotional strategies of Amazon are unique and it uses the digital space in an expansive way to promote itself. Apart from using the virtual platforms Amazon has extensive TV commercials and promotional videos. They have brought promotional offers that can be compared to none. The discounts offered by Amazon are compared to none. It has a promotional strategy attached with corporate social responsibility, the Amazon smile, which gives extra mileage to the brand image. The extensive promotions in all social networking sites and websites are extensively used by Amazon and have increased the company presence in the physical world (Piercy 2016). Amazon has been using save paper initiative for its innovative marketing for Amazon kindle. Furthermore, there can be identified several ways through which the company efficiently endorses the sales of Amazon Kindle and guarantee that every customer receives the exceptional experience it offers with the best range of books.

1. Product: Amazon Kindle it itself according to reports is no less than a revolution. The improved and advanced products which followed signify the innovation and creativity with which products are innovated and built in Amazon. Kindle has aimed to reinstate the quality experience of reading paperbacks (Marcelo Torres et al. 2014). To proficiently serve to a diversified base of readers, the company has introduced wide-range of variations in Kindle. Author claim that the diverse Kindle range purposed to serve consumers with diversified reading needs and preferences. Readers can now choose from the broad array of products as per their preferences of paper quality such as Kindle Keyboard Kindle Oasis, Kindle Paper white, and Kindle Touch.

A promotional plan is designed in order to gain mileage out of an event or an occasion to create publicity about a desired product that helps the company to create market presence. The promotional planning is designed to attract the target customers and promote the product to achieve greater revenues from the product. A promotional plan is designed to achieve short term goals dedicated to a particular product or the service that is being launched. A successful promotional plan should have a precise promotional message, the message should be clear to the audience and the message should create an impact among the audience regarding the product (Turban et al. 2017). The promotional plan of Amazon Inc. for expansion in Australia will be framed in the structure.

The Promotions will be campaigns initially launched at Sydney across the month of December. The campaigns will be organized during the weekends and will be promotional campaigns with fun and interactive activities. The activities will be scheduled on Friday to promote the BLACK Friday campaign already popular in the USA.

The timings will be from 11:00am to 6.30 pm. The timings will be scheduled to gain mass attention during the campaigns. 

The campaigning approach will be a Burst campaign, in the scheduled places. Mostly the campaigning is designed to launch the Black Friday promotion and therefore burst campaigning will create an impact. This will also initiate the process of attracting the target customers to visit the Amazon website. Special Promo Codes would be offered to create more potential customers and Cash Back Offers would be gifted through the campaigns to increase publicity and promotional superiority (Watson, McCarthy and Rowley 2013).

Blog- In recent times, creating one’s own website is identified as the new trend. As this process gives access to wide range of unlimited sites such as Wordpess.com it is very basic to upload essential design templates and images so that marketer can efficiently create a site which reflective of Amazon e-book and tends to resonate with the target base the company wants to cater (Piercy 2016). Furthermore, creating a blog on the website will facilitate marketers to platform writings on Amazon Kindle along with potential readers and magnetize traffic to Kindle’s e-book landing page (Chaffey and Smith 2013). The company should also enable comments and incorporate social share buttons on the posted blogs in order to leverage and encourage customers’ engagement.

Creating E-Book Landing Page- According to author, creating a landing page on marketers website whereby the attractions of the Kindle and further raise the prominence of the product. However if marketers have ecommerce or payment gateway facilities they can link the Call to Action button in order to help people get direct purchase facility. Marketers can also link the landing page to Amazon KDP book page once it is live.

Promotional tools would be used extensively through Paid and Owned Media, and the brochures and handouts would be printed to provide the promo codes. The budgetary allocation would be comparatively higher since Amazon will launch its services. Apart from using Owned media platforms, promotional offers and deals would be aired on the local television and on the social networking sites that have a huge market share in the scene (Scott 2015).

The pull mechanism will be implemented in order to achieve the desired output. The main objective of the promotional plan will be attracting the target customers into visiting the sites. The promo codes will add to the pull factor and will increase consumer attraction. The pull strategy will be initiated by the campaigns and the referral codes or promo codes will be the trigger to initiate the pull strategy (Pantano and Viassone 2014). The target customers will feel motivated to visit the websites and would be potential customers in the long run. The promo codes can be attained by customers by downloading the Amazon Appstore App and enter their claim code in order to successfully redeem discounts (Piercy 2016). These promo codes further will encourage consumer segments to get related to an overarching promotional marketing strategy of Amazon and indulge customers to purchase varied Amazon Kindle. 

The marketing Budget of the Promotion will look into the sectors where budgetary allocation will be required. These will be made as follows:

Budgetary Allocations	Rate	No. of promotions	Total value
Paid Media Websites, online Platforms	$1	30days	$5000.00
Campaigns	AU$ 4000.00	4 weeks	AU$ 16000.00
Printed media Leaflets, Promo codes, brochures, and banners	AU$ 5000.00	10,000 leaflets 3000 promo codes 50 banners	AU$ 5000.00
Total			AU$ 26000.00

The budget above is planned only for a month’s promotion; therefore the quarterly analysis is not done. This budgetary allocation will sum up to around twenty six thousand Australian dollars and Amazon sales due to the promotion are expected to rise due to the Black Friday promotion. The Black Friday generated around 7 million in USA. Looking at these figures a high turnover is expected.

Conclusion:

The above analysis of the Organisation gives us an idea about the requirements that needs to be attended while formulating a market plan. The factors that are required to be considered which include the PESTEL analysis, the TOWS identifies the threats, opportunities and strengths which eventually helps to identify the market position of the organisation and its pros and cons that might affect the  business operation and growth of the company.  the strategic planning of Amazon reveals the area s that Amazon needs to grow and develop to create value to the business. the plan also identifies a  marketing objective analysis using the SMART approach that justifies the growth of the organisational goals over a given time frame. The Porter’s five forces of the organisation evaluate the external factors that affect the business growth of the company.  The Strategic marketing plan also evaluates the marketing strategies that are in operation and evaluates the scenarios that would create more opportunities for growth. The report also attempts a brief marketing mix analysis to understand the marketing strategies that would generate substantial growth. Finally, the marketing plan concludes with a promotional plan attempted to promote Amazon in Australia the promotional plan identifies the techniques and approaches that would be implemented to foster publicity and brand value among the consumers in the region. The report is a detailed analysis of a business to consumer service sector that identifies with all the major attributes required in a marketing plan. 

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