Amazon Inc.s Strategy and Financial Expenditures

Introduction

Amazon is among the most successful electronic trading businesses in the United States. Being founded more than twenty years ago, the company has managed to create the largest online marketplace in the world, which indicates the presence of a well-developed marketing strategy. Considering that studying the experience of market giants can be practically relevant, the essay generalizes on the elements of Amazons strategy and financial expenditures.

Mission and Vision

Mission and vision statements are among the key elements of business strategies. As for Amazons mission, it refers to the opportunity to offer a wide range of affordable products to its customers to provide the convenience of shopping experience (Gregory, 2017). In its vision statement, the company emphasizes the client-centric approach and the widest selection of products (Gregory, 2017). As it is clear from the statements, they are aligned with the companys goals and present its key priorities such as moderate prices, a wide array of products, and a positive customer experience. Even though the company supports a customer-oriented approach to business, the statements do not refer to specific ethical responsibilities.

Environmental Forces

Political and legal factors may impact the success of Amazon in many cases. Nowadays, it has significant difficulties in entering the market of South-eastern Asia due to the level of competition, transportation issues, and the need to optimize payment process to meet the needs of clients (Teo, 2017). Apart from that, the companys financial success is highly impacted by social concerns because the scandals related to the working conditions that Amazons warehouse workers are offered can destroy its reputation (McRae, 2016). Thus, environmental forces impacting the performance of Amazon are numerous since it collaborates with customers from different countries and has to provide a lot of jobs.

Customer Service Management/Call Center

Amazon has a well-defined when it comes to dealing with customers problems. On its international website, the company offers help related to refunds, the use of gift cards, Amazon Prime benefits, and other issues. The company has 24/7 call centers and customer support chats, which makes it easier to get through with clients in different time zone. A few months ago, I contacted its customer support specialists to inform them about delivery issues, and the quality of communication was very good.

Expenditures

Amazon provides the key information on financial operations and marketing expenses in its annual financial reports to support the principle of transparency in business. For instance, in its most recent report, the company claims that its promotion expenditures have increased due to the growth of salary expenses and greater costs of online marketing (Amazon, 2017). In 2017, its total advertising and promotional costs were 6.3$ billion, whereas in 2016 the company spent 5$ billion on personal selling (Amazon, 2017, p. 54). These figures are likely to speak in favor of the companys further growth.

Positioning Statement

Regarding the positioning statement of Amazon, it has been changed a few times to reflect changes related to its product selection and client preferences. Seventeen years ago, an emphasis was placed on the companys opportunity to provide instant access to over 1.1 million books (Klein, 2016, para. 4). Nowadays, Amazons positioning statement presents it as the most customer-centric company where virtually anything can be found (Klein, 2016, para. 8). By updating the statement, Amazon presents its new goals in the field of e-commerce.

Target Customer

The company being analyzed does not provide the characteristics of its target customers in a mission statement since the range of products it offers is extremely diverse. Earlier, the services were targeted at students, school and university teachers, or researchers since Amazon described itself as a book seller. Today, this e-commerce giant provides all types of products, which makes its services targeted at all internet users.

The Marketing Mix

The strategy used by Amazon can be described with the help of the 4Ps model. As for the first element, the product, Amazon ranks second to none when it comes to the number of products and services offered. Nowadays, the number of product categories that can be found on Amazon exceeds thirty, which is an important source of competitive advantage (Amazon, 2017). The second P, the price, is actively used to attract consumers Amazon claims to monitor its business rivals prices to increase customer retention. To increase profits, the company uses discriminatory pricing, and the price of identical products may vary depending on the country. Concerning such element as the place, the company contacts its customers using websites and a chain of bookstores in the United States. Regarding Amazons approach to promotion, it is pivotal to note that the company actively uses digital advertising, social media ads, and various promotional actions (sales, promo codes, etc.) to stimulate purchases.

Branding Statement/Logo

As it has been stated, Amazon highlights that it is the most customer-centric company. Nowadays, its branding statement is work hard, have fun, make history, which is a famous quote from the CEO of Amazon (Siliconreview Team, 2018, para. 1). The companys logo presents the word Amazon with an orange arrow connecting the first and the fourth letters. In such a unique way, the company demonstrates that everything from A to Z can be found on their website.

Conclusion

To sum it up, Amazon presents an extremely successful company due to its approach to customer service the range of products available. However, it is recommended to introduce new practices helping to prove its respect for employee rights. In particular, it would be necessary to create better working conditions to avoid further scandals and consumer boycotts. Another recommendation relates to the need to make payment options more flexible to enter new markets successfully.