Strategic Marketing Plan for Amazon Alexa in Singapore - Year 2019

This report details a strategic marketing plan for Amazon Alexa's introduction into the Singaporean market in 2019. It includes an environmental analysis using the PESTLE framework, examining political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors impacting the business. Porter's Five Forces model is used to assess the competitive landscape. The marketing objectives focus on generating profits and retaining a global market position by providing high-quality products to a target market segmented geographically, demographically, psychographically, and behaviorally. The marketing mix (product, pricing, place, and promotion) is outlined, followed by financial controls to ensure the plan's success. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of a well-defined marketing strategy for Amazon's success in Singapore.

Running head: AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Amazon and Its New Product
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Executive Summary.
Marketing research plays a very important role for even the top companies when they
explore new markets with new products. Amazon in the paper explores the market
conditions of Singapore to introduce its flagship product Alexa into the country. The
paper would see the company forming appropriate marketing mix based on the market
research. The marketing mix would be rooted in the macroeconomic analysis
Singapore. Amazon should enter Singapore using a formidable marketing mix.

2Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Table of Contents
Executive Summary...........................................................................................................1
Introduction:.......................................................................................................................4
Environmental Analysis:....................................................................................................4
Process 6 steps (PESTLE):...........................................................................................4
Political:......................................................................................................................4
Economic:.......................................................................................................................5
Social:.........................................................................................................................7
Technological:............................................................................................................8
Legal:..........................................................................................................................8
Environmental:............................................................................................................8
Porter’s Model:...................................................................................................................8
Marketing Objectives:........................................................................................................9
Target market:...................................................................................................................9
Geographically:..............................................................................................................9
Demographic segmentation:..........................................................................................9
Psychographic:.............................................................................................................10
Behavioural segmentation:..........................................................................................10
Creating brand equity:.....................................................................................................10
Marketing Mix:.................................................................................................................11
Product:............................................................................................................................11
Pricing:.........................................................................................................................11
Place:...........................................................................................................................12
Promotion:....................................................................................................................12
Financials:........................................................................................................................13

3Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Controls:...........................................................................................................................14
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................14
References:......................................................................................................................15

4Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Introduction:
Amazon Alexa is a subsidiary owned by Amazon, the largest ecommerce
company in the world which calls the United States of America its home country. Alexa
provides a range of products which are capable of playing music, making work
schedules, streaming podcasts and gaining of real time information (alexa.com 2018).
Alexa controlled echo-speakers are highly advanced second generation speakers
available in several variants to suit the different needs of the users. It is also accessible
in form of apps which enable users to gain weather reports and play audio files. The
products of Alexa come with advanced technology and compatibility to devices by other
leading ICT companies like Apple. Second generation Alexa is capable of performing
activities like surfing the internet, making online calls and even making ecommerce
shopping. The paper would explore the marketing mix of the Amazon and point out how
the ecommerce giant can use its market strategy to enter the Singaporean market with
Alexa.
Environmental Analysis:
Process 6 steps (PESTLE):
The following section would delve into 6 step analysis of market conditions of
Singapore which Amazon must conduct before introducing the product into the market:
Political:
The country of Singapore is a parliamentary republic which draws its strength
from the political system of the United Kingdom. The government of Singapore is strong
and stable with bilateral relationships with as many as a hundred and eighty nations.
The country shares strong relations with both developed and developing countries.
According to the official website of the US Embassy, Singapore, the United States and
Singapore are partners in political, economic and technological development. The two
countries are members of international organisations like World Trade Organisation and
ASEAN (sg.usembassy.gov 2018). This strong political relationship between the United
States and Singapore is of tremendous importance to American companies like

5Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Amazon. This is because this strong political relationship between two countries
plays immense role business expansion and sustenance of these companies in
Singapore (Tang and Tan 2015).
Economic:
The first economic factor which comes into play is that both the countries, the
United States of America and Singapore are economically stable countries.
Figure 1. Graph showing GDP of USA in USD bn
(Source: tradingeconomics.com 2018)

6Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Figure 2. Graph of GDP of Sinagpore in USD bn
(Source: tradingeconomics.com 2018)
The two graphs above (Figures 1 and 2) show that the GDP of the USA was
USD 19390.6 in 2017 against USD 323.91 of Singapore, both amounts expressed in
billions. An analysis of the GDP of both the countries reveal an upward trend which
means that there are more opportunities of business expansion of in these two
countries. As per the US Embassy. Singapore is one of the most sought after FDI
destinations of the United States backed by its growing industry (sg.usembassy.gov
2018). This means that the organisations of the two nations engage into huge amount of
financial transaction which calls for the second economic factor international currency
exchange.

7Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Figure 3. Graph showing USD vs SGD exchange rate trends
(Source: bloomberg.com 2018)
As far as exchange rate is concerned, USD though has higher value than SGD,
shows signs of fall. This weakening of USD against other international currencies would
have severe implications on the businesses of American companies like Amazon. This
means they these companies have to make their foreign operations self-sustainable so
that the overseas branches are able to sustain their operations financially. This throws
light on the third economic factor, the financial sources. Amazon is a public limited
company listed on the NASDAQ and its share price competes with other top IT giants
like Apple (reuters.com 2018). This means that the American company can use the
Singaporean securities market to make its operations in the market. The fourth factor
which encourages business of foreign companies in Singapore is presence of
multinational financial institutions (Popescu 2014). These institutions provide finance to
the companies in Singapore thus making their operations far more cost effective. This
analysis shows that the economic conditions of Singapore are optimum for foreign
companies to enter.
Social:
The people of Singapore are well acquainted with Amazon which would assist
Alexa enter the market. The next social factor in Singapore is its high population. The
GDP of the country is very high which means the residents have more disposable

8Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
amount to buy expensive products. This social factor would also boost the business of
Alexa in the market of Singapore (Valickova, Havranek and Horvath 2015).
Technological:
Singapore is technologically very powerful and has presence of companies like
information technology giants like Microsoft. Similarly, the nation has a very strong
banking networking based based on technology. This would support ecommerce
transactions, thus generating heavy revenue. The consumers in Singapore are also
very tech savvy, thus enabling IT companies like Amazon introduce new products in the
market of the market (Popescu 2014). The technological strength Singapore is also
boosted due to its technological partnerships with developed and developing countries.
This is also because the country receives strong technological support from the United
States of America. The American ICT companies like Amazon invest immense amount
of capital in the market (Tang and Abosedra 2014).
Legal:
The country has a very strict legal system and that favours growth of foreign
companies. This is evident from the low corruption level in the country. Similarly bribery
and black money systems are highly despised in the corporate sector (straitstimes.com
2018). However, there have been increase in the crime like murder and extortions which
is a matter of great concern for the multinational companies (Bahar 2018).
Environmental:
The market of Singapore faces serious environmental issues like flooding and
degeneration of its indigenous flora and fauna (Wilcox, Van Sebille. and Hardesty
2015). The country is almost an island and hence rising sea level would pose serious
threat to the existence of the country. The nation of Singapore is experiencing several
eco-green issues like massive ecological devastation to boost its growing
industrialisation (alexa.com 2018). The government of Singapore launched green plan
in 1992 to counteract these eco-green issues. Alexa can penetrate the market of
Singapore and contribute towards tackling these eco-green issues. Since, the gadget
helps in communication between people and enable them to listen to audios, the
listeners can gain information on the environmental conditions of Singapore on the

9Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
gadget (mewr.gov.sg 2018). Thus, Amazon can contribute towards spreading
awareness about environmental issues and encourage people to act in more
sustainable ways.
Porter’s Model:
The Porter’s model clearly shows that the market of Singapore is highly
competitive and Amazon’s new product Alexa would enter the market by forming
aggressive marketing strategies. Alexa is continuously under the threat from newly
entering smaller companies with similar services. For example, Google Home Mini
and Apple Home Pod marketed by Google and Apple respectively are already
present strongly in Singapore. Amazon should consider the presence of these substitute
products in the market of Singapore (Kim and Mauborgne 2014). The company should
also take into account the local music pod marking companies. Those companies often
use less expensive technology than Amazon in their products and charge lower prices
for the same products compared to Alexa. Thus, these new companies in the market
threat Alexa and tend to steal its customers.
Marketing Objectives:
Hertel-Fernandez, Skocpol and Lynch (2016) point out that the marketing
objectives of Amazon in Singapore are to generate huge profits by marketing a product
which enables the users to do myriads of functions like listening to music and surfing
the internet. Amazon has the strong attribute of creating value for its customers by
providing them with high quality products. The product under question, Alexa would
enable the customers perform a variety of functions like listening to music, getting news
updates The marketing objective of the company should be to serve these business
customers and also governments, with superior products. The company also aims to
retain its global position in the market (Peitz and Valletti 2015). The customers of the
Alexa in Singapore would also be the upper class customers who can afford smart
phones and hi-tech smart phones. Thus, the marketing objective of the company should
also be attracting these upper class customer base to generate immense revenue
(Pisano 2015).

10Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
Target market:
Amazon while entering the market of Singapore must use several segmentation
methods to segment its target market and generate immense revenue by serving them.
Geographically:
Amazon segments its market geographically on the basis of the markets. The
ecommerce company is the largest ecommerce company in the world and serves
hundreds of countries. As far as Alexa is concerned, the geographical segmentation
consists of dividing its total market into division like Asia and Europe (Platzer and
Sargent 2016).
Demographic segmentation:
The market segmentation of Alexa would consider consumers of different age
groups and it would play significant role in ensuring market penetration of Alexa into
Singapore. Since, Alexa facilitates listening to music and coordinating with other
electronic gadgets like smart phones, it appeals to customers of different ages.
The elderly people can use it to communicate with others while the younger
people can use it to listen to music (Beheshtian-Ardakani, Fathian and Gholamian
2018). Thus, Alexa can enter the market of Singapore to serve different needs of people
of different age groups. As far as income is concerned, Amazon should target
upper class consumers since Alexa gadgets are costly.
Psychographic:
The consumers preferring to use Alexa products should very psychologically very
tech-savvy and prefer multitasking gadgets. They should exhibit positive behaviour
towards technology and gadgets. For example, the consumers can use Alexa to
listen to songs and also surf the internet at the same time. The users of Alexa can also
make online purchases (Muslikh, Zainal and Hidayati 2017). It can be pointed out that
the users can also connect to Alexa on smart phones and tablets (Platzer and Sargent
2016). Thus, they can communicate with other users of Alexa easily to exchange
valuable information. Thus, this would enable the users communicate with people using
both smart phones and Alexa. This would be very helpful to people suffering from

11Target market:
AMAZON AND ITS NEW PRODUCT
anxiety and stress as they would be to keep in touch with their acquaintances easily
(Pisano 2015).
Behavioural segmentation:
The customer segments using Alexa exhibit certain unique behavioural
characteristics. Alexa can establish itself in the market of Singapore because it can help
people of different age groups like teenagers, working adult and family (Platzer and
Sargent 2016). The teenagers can relax listening to the music and lower their stress
levels. The same would be applicable for working adults and families. The families
staying in Singapore can use Alexa to listen to music and enjoy. Alexa can also be used
while consumers work out or do meditation to concentrate. Thus, Alexa can enable
users to concentrate and control their anxiety. Thus, Alexa can bring about positive
behavioural changes among people of different age groups (Pisano 2015).
Figure 4. Customer segmentation of Alexa
(Source: Platzer and Sargent 2016)
The segmentation strategy of Amazon as far as Alexa is concerned should be
measurable and actionable. The company on regular interval like once in a month
ensure that its segmentation is well aligned to its objective and is actionable.
Domestic consumers
Teenagers
Working adults
Aged people
People working out, meditating etc.
Commercial consumers
Setting up Alexa musical arenas for employees to relax
Make their waiting areas more appealing to customers