Strategic Marketing Plan for Amazon: Extended Marketing Mix and Implementation

This report discusses the strategic marketing plan for Amazon, including the extended marketing mix strategy of product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. It also includes a SWOT analysis of Amazon and recommendations for increasing sales and revenue. The report emphasizes the importance of careful planning, testing the market, and monitoring results to find and improve shortcomings.

Strategic Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
CRITICAL DISCUSSION..............................................................................................................2
APPLICATION OF THEORY........................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Strategic marketing is a method that is adopted by an organisation in order to differentiate
itself from the competitors. An organisation is required to focus on the strength so that it can
provide better services to the customers and enhance their value as well. When company adopt
the any strategy so it provides effective direction to the organisation for execution of the process.
Strategic marketing takes into consideration various factors such as competitive environment
and demographic factors that can impact the business and its profitability(Stevens, and et.al.,
2021). It help the organisation in establishing the marketing objectives that are attainable and
provide a specific time frame and should be measurable. The strategic marketing enables the
organisation to create the product and service that enable a concern to gain higher profits from it.
A research and analysis are conducted by the marketers to provide the important information that
are necessary for the product which provide higher profits to the organisation. It also provided
the maximum satisfaction to the customer by taking feedback on the products which help in
understanding the behaviour of the customers. The comp-any also able to analyse the trend that
are prevailing in the industry so that it can provide products accordingly in order to satisfy the
wants of the customers and increase the market share as well. In this report, Amazon has been
taken into consideration which is a multinational corporation with head quartered in Washington,
US. It focuses on the e-commerce, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital stream.
Amazon has a good scope as it is an online retailers, however, the company has the core
business units which includes the extensive list of subscription list of services. Amazon prime
and other membership offerings fees provides significant large indefinite quantity of the business
and also help in promoting the products of the company. Amazon other subscription such as
amazon prime, Prime video, prime music, kindle unlimited, audible, magazine subscription and
etc. fulfil the specific needs of the customers. There are some subscription services that are added
to the baseline prime membership and other are separate from the prime but an organisation
provide discount prices for the prime members. With the help of the subscription services,
Amazon displays the competition in various industries and influenced other companies as well.
The main objective of Amazon is to focus on the customers in order to satisfy their wants
by providing them widest selection of the products and services. The company provides products
and services to the customers with quality and safety at the lowest prices. The report will cover
the marketing model that are used by an organisation for structuring the business idea in order to
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communicate the selling strategies effectively. Further, it will explain the strategic marketing
plan which include the extended marketing mix, implementation and measurements(McDougal,
and et.al., 2021). Then, it will provides recommendation to develop the problem solving skills in
marketing.
CRITICAL DISCUSSION
Strategic marketing help the organisation in achieving their goals by developing and
maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. It determine the needs of the business what it
want to be and provide direction accordingly(Donthu, and et.al.,2022.). The company uses the
various marketing model in order to analyse the behaviour of the customers, company growth
and revenue expectations. In relation to Amazon the swot analysis has been done which are as
under:
Strengths Weaknesses
Brand name: Amazon has a strong image at
the market place because it provides best
services to the customers which enhance their
experience(Galli, and et.al.,2021). It is a well
known brand which allow the company to
develop the products without having worry
about its marketing.
Diversification: Amazon has diversified its
business which includes digital; stream, cloud
computing and artificial intelligence. Cloud
platform of Amazon AWS has 32.4% market
share and streaming platform Amazon Prime
video has penetration of 52.9%.
Cost leadership: Amazon has adopted the cost
leadership which assist in increasing the
revenue of the company by minimising the cost
because the company does not incur the
substantial cost in order to maintain the
Work culture: The employees of the Amazon
describe the work culture that is hyper
competitive, critical, unreactive and biased.
They does not have work life balance which
create stress on them and also have lack of
benefits.
Low margins: Amazon charge low margin on
the products in order to remain in the
competition which leads to decrease in the
profit of the organisation(Chatterjee, and et.al.,
2021). The organisation provides products at
low price to the customers with high quality
but it makes enough sales that does not suffer
losses.
Quality focus:
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business.
Opportunities Threats
Developing its own products: An
organisation has a good opportunity to make its
own products as it is a famous brand which
can easily capture the market. The company
also available financing resources to make its
own products which help in increasing the
profitability of the business.
Physical stores: The company has a good
opportunity to expand its physical stores at the
multiple places which encourage people to also
buy products from the stores(Rashidi-Sabet,
and Madhavaram, 2022). An organisation has
enough financial resources so it can expand
easily.
Competition: there are many competitors of
Amazon such as ebay, Alibaba.com, Walmart
etc. which provide higher competition to the
company. This can encourage the customers to
switch for their products which leads to the
reduction in the profit margin.
Cyber crime: It is a threat for Amazon
because there are million of users which uses
this platform by using an account. Thus, it
arises the risk of hacking where account can be
hacked by an unknown users for inappropriate
advantage.
APPLICATION OF THEORY
Strategic marketing plan
Strategic marketing plan refers to the plan which help the organisation in reaching to the
specific goals of the marketing. Therefore, an organisation develop a strategic plan so that it can
be able to increase the revenue and profit for the company. It help the organisation in identifying
the opportunities by targeting the market. This help the company to be proactive rather than
reactive and provide a sense of direction(Borchers and Enke, 2021). It increases the operational
efficiency of the organisation and make the business more durable. In relation to Amazon, the
strategic market plan has been discussed included the extended marketing mix.
Extended marketing mix
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Marketing mix provide a clear framework to the marketers which assist them in
approaching the customers with the effective marketing strategies, in relation to Amazon, the
marketing mix has been explained as under:
 Product: It refers to the product that are offered by an organisation to the customers
with many features and advantages. In relation to Amazon, the company have a wide
range of products portfolio that are offered to its customers and make them enable to
order the desired products. The product portfolio includes the books, clothing,
mobile/tablets, jewellery, books, shoes, electrophonic accessories, food products and so
on. The company started as a bookseller but now it it is the world largest leader and
constantly expanding the range of the products and services.
 Prices: It refers to the value that is placed for the products and customers are willing to
pay for it. In context to Amazon, the company have adopted the dynamic prising strategy
which allow the company to sale its products over the internet by adjusting the prices.
Thus, the prices get changed of the products offers at the discount prices so that each
customers can buy the products of a business concern(Abedi, and et.al., 2022).
Therefore, the organisation is able to target the wide range of segment that assist in
incensing the sales and generate revenue for the organisation.
 Place: It refers to the point of sale where customers are able to access the products with
great comfort. With reference to Amazon, the company sale its product online through its
official distribution website or provide its app for easy purchase. The company also have
physical store in US but the sale are made on the websites of the company. The company
have good supply chain because of effective collaboration with the distributors that help
in getting the products reachable to the customer.
 Promotion: It refers to the marketing communication that a business concern makes with
the customers in order to promote its products. In relation to Amazon, the company uses
the web based advertising, billboards and small methods of advertising to make the
customers aware about its offerings. An organisation also uses the advertising network ,
search engine marketing and social media platform for the promotion of the products so
that it can encourage the customers by offering them products at discount prices. The
company also establish the public relation with the potential customers and the targeted
audience.
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 People: It refers to the person who are directly and indirectly involve in the operation of
the business of a business concern. It includes the activities of selling of a product,
designing, marketing, managing team etc. In relation to Amazon, it has knowledgeable
and trained employees who contribute in satisfying the wants of the customers(Rosário,
2021) . They are also aware the preferences of the customers where services are provided
accordingly. Amazon also provide on call service to the customers to resolve their issues
related to the products that they have purchased.
 Process: It refers to the process which are involved in delivering of the product and
services to the customers. Amazon follow an effective process related to the products for
it makes a good appearance of the products with an effective packaging which influence
the customers. This help the company in providing their effective services and increase
their reliability. The company also have effective partnership with the Microsoft, red hat,
shopify and so on. Having a good process enable the company to deliver the same
standard services to the customers.
 Physical evidence: It refers to the everything from which the customers get interacted
that includes physical environment where the product and services are provided,
packaging, branding and so on(GuzmanJr 2022). In context to Amazon, the company has
good physical existence which includes the website, logo, stores and presence on social
media, email product packaging etc. this help the an organisation in providing satisfaction
to the customers that the business is feasible.
Implementation
It refers to the process which define the place for the product and services in the market
for consumption. In relation to Amazon, an organisation can implement the strategic marketing
plan where it set the right expectation for the marketing plan. It is also required by a business
concern to build an effective team in order to perform the operation of the business and secure
resources which are required to operate the business(Akter, and et.al., 2021). The plan is
communicated by the company to the marketing team members in order to understand their role
and plan and make effort to contribute to the success. The company can set the time line to
complete the each project divide the task into smaller objectives in order to successful
completion of the operations. A business concern also set the dashboard to measure the success
and make improvement.
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Measurements
An organisation can evaluate the strategic market plan by making analysis if the market
in order to the action of the competitors as the environment gets change so an organisation is
required to make analysis time to time in order to remain in the competition. In relation to
Amazon it should make external environment analysis to know the impact of the external factors
to the business and its profitability and also get feedback from the customers. An organisation is
also required to make immediate response to the quires of the customer(Haider, and Tehseen,
2022). Therefore, the company make effective control on the process of strategic marketing plan
in order to look for the revenue, customers satisfaction, profits, the number of the views on the
website receives and number of clicks on email promotions. All this help in promoting the
product of the organisation and increase the sales as well.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion it has been stated that, strategic marketing has a significant role in the
business which help the organisation in determining the ways to gain the competitive advantage
and increase the sale and profitability of the business. The report has discussed the about the
background of the Amazon and the scope and objectives of the organisation. Further, the report
has explained swot analysis of the organisation which stated the strength that includes the brand
name, cost leadership and diversification. The weakness include the work culture and low margin
and opportunities include the developing own products and physical stores and the threat
includes the competition and cybercrime. Moreover, the report has demonstrated the strategic
marketing plan with the extended marketing mix strategy which includes the product, price
place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Apart from this, it explained that the
company can implement the process of strategic marketing plan so that it can increase the profit
and revenue for the business. It has also stated the measurement that can be made when any
shortcoming occurs after implementing the plan that the wants of the customers are not satisfied
or getting low profit. For this, the company can take the effective control in order to gain
competition.
RECOMMENDATION
From the above discussion, it has been recommended that an organisation can increase its
sales and revenue by increasing the marketing. Therefore, it is necessary for a business concern
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to carefully plan and test the market nad also monitor the result in order to find the shortcoming
so that it can be improved. It is required to conduct the research at the market place to know
which message is required to communicate with the target audience. It is necessary for the
organisation to make promotions of the products nad make the customers aware for the same.
The companies is also required to review the pricing strategies as compared to the competitors in
order to gain the competition. It can provide product at the lower prices by satisfying the wants
of the customers nad increase the revenue nad profitability. When the prises are raised by the
company so it create the higher perceived value ion the minds of the customers nad also assist in
increasing the margin. An organisation can increase its sales nad revenue by expanding the
distribution channel without making any changes to the price of the products. It can provides it
services to the rural area so that the products can be reachable to each customers.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Donthu, and et.al.,2022. A retrospective of the Journal of Strategic Marketing from 1993 to 2019
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Galli, and et.al.,2021. A Critical Literature Analysis of the Relationships of Marketing and
Strategic Planning Under Project Environments. International Journal of Service Science,
Management, Engineering, and Technology (IJSSMET), 12(2), pp.1-24.
Chatterjee, and et.al., 2021. Digital transformation and entrepreneurship process in SMEs of
India: a moderating role of adoption of AI-CRM capability and strategic
planning. Journal of Strategy and Management.
Rashidi-Sabet, S. and Madhavaram, S., 2022. A strategic marketing framework for emerging out
of the climate change social trap: The case of the fashion industry. Journal of
Macromarketing, 42(2), pp.267-291.
Borchers, N.S. and Enke, N., 2021. Managing strategic influencer communication: A systematic
overview on emerging planning, organization, and controlling routines. Public Relations
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Abedi, and et.al., 2022. Strategic new product media planning under emergent channel
substitution and synergy. Production and Operations Management, 31(5), pp.2143-2166.
Rosário, A., 2021. The Background of Artificial Intelligence Applied to Marketing. Academy of
strategic management journal, 20, pp.1-19.
GuzmanJr Jr, H.T., 2022. Strategic expansion in a legal firm.
Akter, and et.al., 2021. Big data-driven strategic orientation in international
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Haider, S.A. and Tehseen, S., 2022. Role of decision intelligence in strategic business planning.
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Management (pp. 125-133). Springer, Cham.
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