Critical Reflection on Marketing Strategies Focusing on Customer Needs and Wants

This critical reflection analyses the marketing strategy of Amazon, focusing on customer needs and wants. The author explores the importance of customer satisfaction for a successful business and how Amazon is using this to become one of the best online commerce platforms. The article also discusses the significance of communication, regular connection, and pricing strategy to retain customers. The author concludes by sharing their learning experience and plans to educate young entrepreneurs on the importance of customer expectations and satisfaction.

Running Head: CRITICAL REFLECTION
Critical Reflection
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Topic- Critical Reflection on the statement “The best marketing strategies aren’t top down;
they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants”.
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

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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.
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

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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

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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.

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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).