Marketing Strategies Case Study

From the definition, marketing strategies integrate operating objectives where the focus is on the serving the market based on the internal capabilities of an organization. This paper will focus on Amazon, an e-commerce and cloud computing company. It was founded in 1994 by its current CEO Jeff Bezos. Based on market capitalization and revenue, it is the largest internet retailer globally. In addition, Amazon is ranked as the first by The UK Customer Satisfaction index – the position is the fifth in a row (Amazon, 2017). The same author defines customer orientation as a set of approaches where the customer is put first with a view of developing a long-term profitable enterprise. In customer orientation, businesses must develop an understanding of the value of customers.

In this case, businesses must establish systems that will track and capture innovative ideas. Further, (Mukerjee, 2013) notes that companies must avoid conducting businesses as usual since they must make efforts to enhance the value of customers. Customer input must be regularly considered in decision making. Organizational culture plays an essential role in setting marketing strategies for customers. Going with the contingency management perspective, it is defined by (Wasmer & Bruner II, 1991)as the set of attitudes, values and behavioral systems that integrate to form the main identity of an organization or a unit within it. Under contingency management, organizational culture is held as a variable since it can be altered. Given the high degree of control under organizational culture, Amazon is clearly demonstrating a high degree of power to shape organizational culture to its advantage.

According to (Ashley, 2017), Amazon has built a culture that values listening. Further, (Mukerjee, 2013) notes that the information gathered should be applied in designing new products. This is the case with Amazon where products such as Prime and Echo are delivering on Amazon’s promise of being the earth’s most customer-centric company (Davis, 2016). With the products, marketing strategies are applied to convince customers that the products will be very unique. Features that are advertised for the products are that information about the weather, flight delays and restaurant reservations can be accessed easily (Davis, 2016). Through its web services, Amazon advertises such innovative products hence endearing them to customers. With this technology, Amazon personalizes items that are seen by customers. Sophisticated statistical software for profiling customer tastes is applied to group customers hence making it easier to make recommendations on products to groups of customers (Jenkinson & Sain, 2005).

With interactive marketing, Amazon always collects the data – when the customer buys and when they avoid purchases. Through this innovative marketing technique, dialogue between the customer and the brand is created hence allowing Amazon to effectively meet the needs of its customers. As a company that looks to gain more customers globally, it is a proper initiative. This creates a sense of identity where such customers can discuss matters relating to their experiences at Amazon. Through these channels Amazon builds trust and creatively engages the customer. This segmentation of customers is in line with (Donovan & Samler, 2016). They consider it as an essential step in measuring the elements that are crucial to customers. Even though (Donovan & Samler, 2016) consider it as a laborious and time consuming process, they add that it is necessary for a detailed analysis of groups of customers on the basis of their current and future needs and expectations.

The first is elimination of major causes of dissatisfaction, satisfaction of a high percentage of customers and finally delighting a high proportion of customers. According to (Collomb, 2018), Amazon has been successful in undertaking the three steps since it has generated a solution involving customer empowerment. The CEO notes that Amazon does not simply sell stuff but also assists customers in making purchase decisions. Based on (Collomb, 2018) this attitude has led to innovation where customers can review all product ranges offered via web. Focusing on the experience of external customers has created benefits that are felt within the e-retail industry. With more growth, Amazon has added more products to meet the needs of many customers. Having established its presence within the book industry; Amazon applied that knowledge to improve its international market presence.

When it comes to place, Amazon has global online presence. This presence is enhanced by its business model where customer engagement is exclusively done via website. As indicated by (Jenkinson & Sain, 2005), its web presence is interactive hence enhancing customer experience as well as serving as a data collection point. The pricing strategy is further bolstered by classification of customers as indicated by (Donovan & Samler, 2016) since those who obtain a premium account can obtain more competitive prices hence offering value for their prestige. From a critical point of view, the most integral ‘P’ in Amazon’s case is perception as proposed by (Donovan & Samler, 2016). The authors indicate that perception is the summation of customer experience from ordering to delivery. It also includes operational use and support.

The organization is a world leader in its space (Amazon, 2017). Secondly, there is ensuring of a positive attitude among employees at main interfaces involving customers and distributors. They are important stakeholders since they are responsible for making marketing activities work profitably. Amazon has engaged employees significantly to ensure that internal marketing matches the efforts directed at external marketing. One internal marketing strategy that has been applied is empowerment of employees to avoid bureaucracy. According to (Mullaney, 2017)Amazon classifies its decision making into ‘type 1’ and ‘type 2’. Another factor in internal marketing is price and according to (Morgan & Piercy, 1990), it involves the sacrifices that must be made internally to ensure product success. In this case, employees may forego other projects and pay the psychological cost of adopting the manner of conducting jobs.

Factors falling under ‘price’ may be sources of obstacles hence (Morgan & Piercy, 1990) propose that factors in this category should be addressed. Amazon has recognized the difficulty of fully engaging employees in this front hence it has made an offer to allow discontented employees to leave the company. Amazon believes that holding onto employees who offer themselves below the optimum levels will be unhealthy for both the company and the employees themselves. According to (Eugene, 2018)this communication creates an environment filled with positivity. Employees are also able to maximize on their strengths. Critically speaking, organizations seeking such an open communication system must also move to the next level where employee concerns are addressed. At Amazon, problem solving seems to have been at the heart of management.

If there is lack of willingness in problem solving, such programs would definitely fail since employees would ignore the daily submissions. From (Mullaney, 2017), this initiative has enabled Amazon to retain versatile and talented employees. With this initiative, employees at Amazon think and act like owners. Reflecting on the initiative, Amazon has transformed the employee experience hence motivating them to serve customers in improved ways. In the long run, employees have the potential to commit to Amazon’s cultural values hence strengthening their problem solving capabilities. Organizational culture is deemed a crucial part of internal marketing. Around 30% of employees win their cases hence indicating a positive outcome given that 0% would win if they were dismissed immediately (Lebowitz, 2018). When being reviewed by their managers, employees expect fair judgment since the jury also weighs the performance of the manager.

Reflecting in the culture at Amazon, employees perform at high levels since the system ensures that potential of each individual is utilized to the maximum. Even though some human resources analysts might criticize it as too demanding, Amazon has leveraged on its organizational culture to improve quality of service to external customers. In order to promote effectiveness between internal and external marketing, (Ahmed & Rafiq, 2003) propose a cross functional approach. Viewing the CEO’s position from a business point of view, such actions will improve public relations hence increasing the chances of making sales. Given the necessity to execute internal marketing with effectiveness, the management may fail to determine its benefits objectively. As a result, (Huang & Rundle-Thiele, 2015) provide an internal marketing scale.

They develop this scale with the knowledge that internal marketing transcends organizational functions relating to human resources and marketing. Given the depth of the research by (Huang & Rundle-Thiele, 2015), the scale provides an actionable tool for measuring internal marketing activates. Jeff Bezos has directed the initiatives and integrated them into core processes. Given that customer focus has been set as the basis for existence, it is indicative of single-mindedness from the leadership at this company in delighting customers. Within the internal front, Amazon has upheld the role of employees as critical in generating coherence between internal and external marketing. First of all, employees are enlightened on the high level of expectations within the company. Again, this policy shows the determination of the leadership at Amazon.