Marketing Plan of Amazon Incorporations

This report aims to analyze and understand the impact and use of the digital and social media platforms in achieving business goals and expansion. The growing use of digital media platforms and social media for marketing and promotion proves the fact of its competence, with contrast to contemporary approaches. 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.

Running head: MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
This report aims to analyze and understand the impact and use of the digital and social media
platforms in achieving business goals and expansion. The growing use of digital media
platforms and social media for marketing and promotion proves the fact of its competence,
with contrast to contemporary approaches. This study looks into the strategic development of
an organisation by analyzing its marketing plan and thereby proposes a suggestion to develop
the brand. The major concern for devising a marketing plan is to provide a guideline based on
which an organisation can substantially grow with time in terms of brand value and market
share. It helps an organisation in analyzing the key factors that influence the organization’s
business. The plan has analysed the five forces that manipulate the business the environment.
it has also looked into the TOWS analysis which has analyzed the threats, opportunities,
weaknesses and strengths of the company. The marketing objectives of any organisation
should be reflected in a marketing plan and these reports has evaluated the strategies and
devised a plan that orient with the marketing goals of the Amazon Inc. The marketing plan
also helps in giving a brief overview of the budgetary allocations of the organisation to
achieve its goal. The importance of a proper lay out of the business strategies allow the
managers to understand the short comings that might arise due to internal factors. While
analyzing the internal and the external factors it gives an insight into the shortcomings of the
organisation, a proper marketing plan ensures that these short comings are identified and the
addressed in due time. The marketing plan also needs to be aligned to the future goals that the
company would want to be in a time frame.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................5
Company Over view..................................................................................................................7
PESTEL Analysis of Ecommerce industry: Australian Context................................................7
Political factors:.....................................................................................................................8
Economic Factors:..................................................................................................................9
Social factors:.......................................................................................................................10
Technological Factors:.........................................................................................................10
Legal Factors:.......................................................................................................................11
Environmental Factors:........................................................................................................11
The Porters Five Forces...........................................................................................................11
Bargaining Power of Buyers:...............................................................................................12
Bargaining Power of suppliers:............................................................................................12
Threat of new entrants:.........................................................................................................12
Threat from substitutes:........................................................................................................13
Rivalry in the industry:.........................................................................................................13
TOWS analysis of Amazon:.....................................................................................................14
The Threats and Weaknesses:..............................................................................................14
Strengths and opportunities:.................................................................................................15
Marketing Objectives of Amazon Inc......................................................................................16
Specific:................................................................................................................................16
Measurable:..........................................................................................................................17
Attainable:............................................................................................................................17

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Realistic:...............................................................................................................................17
Time bound:.........................................................................................................................18
Marketing plan.........................................................................................................................18
STP approach.......................................................................................................................19
The segmentation of Amazon:.........................................................................................19
Targeting of the market:...................................................................................................19
Positioning of the product:...............................................................................................20
Marketing Mix of Amazon:.................................................................................................20
Promotional Plan......................................................................................................................22
Schedule:..............................................................................................................................22
Timings:...............................................................................................................................22
Campaigning:.......................................................................................................................22
Promotional Tools:...............................................................................................................23
The Pull technique:..............................................................................................................23
Marketing Budget:...............................................................................................................23
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................24
References:...............................................................................................................................26

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Introduction
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.

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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.
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

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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.
Company Over view
The concerned organisation is Amazon Incorporations based out of the United States
of America. It was incorporated as an organisation on the 5th 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.
PESTEL Analysis of Ecommerce industry: Australian Context
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.

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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).

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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 ranked15th among 190
economies for ease of doing business (Business 2014) and holds the 5th 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 15th 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.
Table:1 Global rank for Ease of Doing Business
Graph:1 Economic Freedom

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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.

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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 Porters Five Forces
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

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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.
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

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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.

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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.
TOWS analysis of Amazon:
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
THREATSTheriskofimitationanddatatheftAggressivecompetitionwithretailchainsandlocalfirmscreatingriskymarginstogainmarketpresenceWEAKNESSESThereductionofprofitmarginsLimitedinventoriesandoutlets.logisticalissuesthataffectbusinessOPPORTUNITIESThegrowthindevelopingcontries.Developmentofselfownedlogisticstocatertopaymentsafetyanddeliveryconcerns.Expandwithretailoutlets.STRENGTHSUtilisingthedigitalplatformandcreatinganewsphereofbusiness.Thecompetitiveedgeintermsofcusttomersatisfactionandpricing.Theglobalreachandmarketpresence.

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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.

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Marketing Objectives of Amazon Inc.
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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.
Marketing Mix of Amazon:
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.

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I. 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.
II. 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.
III. 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

23MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
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.
IV. 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.
Promotional Plan
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

24MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
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.
Schedule:
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.
Timings:
The timings will be from 11:00am to 6.30 pm. The timings will be scheduled to gain
mass attention during the campaigns.
Campaigning:
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

25MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
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:
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 technique:
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.

26MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
Marketing Budget:
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,

27MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
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.

28MARKETING PLAN OF AMAZON INCORPORATIONS
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