Report on Amazon Australia's Marketing Strategies - MKT00720, 2018

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon Australia's marketing strategies since its inception. It examines the nature of their marketing efforts, including email marketing, reviews and ratings, customer loyalty programs, and video marketing. The report also proposes strategic marketing options for Amazon Australia moving forward, such as more personalized email recommendations, incentivized reviews, tiered rewards systems, customer-generated video content, and increased investment in sponsored ads. Additionally, it suggests improvements in transparency regarding retail pricing and data collection. The analysis concludes that while Amazon has been successful in adapting to market trends, there is still room for growth and improvement in their marketing strategies to maintain a competitive edge.

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Marketing
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Contents

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Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Background to the Company.......................................................................................................................3
Marketing Analysis......................................................................................................................................4
i) The Nature of Amazon Australia's Marketing Strategies since it began..........................................4
ii) Strategic Marketing Options for Amazon Australia moving forward...............................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
Appendix.....................................................................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................9
Executive Summary
Amazon has been an e-commerce platform for over a decade with continued growth as one of the
global e-commerce giants. Its advertising continues to loom as it is becoming a popular medium
in e-commerce. Despite the advertising revenue that has been increasing sales for Amazon, a lot
is yet to be done to ensure they are constantly up to date with market trends. This literature aims
at discussing the different marketing strategies Amazon has adopted over time, while discussing
the possible marketing strategies they could employee to stay competitive with the shifting
consumer trends.
Introduction
Amazon is an e-commerce company based in Washington, Seattle. It is distinguished for making
sales of goods over the internet. Jeff Benzos founded it in 1994 and launched in 1995. Amazon is
a product of Jeff Benzos, a genius who started by selling books to give consumers more options

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and convenience through product purchases and delivery (Mannen, 2010, p.54). Within two
months of inception, Amazon was already selling books to over 45 countries while generating a
revenue of $20,000 every week. It started by selling books, and later diversified into selling other
items and products. Jeff Benzo popularized online shopping that five years later he was named
the man of the year in 1999. Even with the great strides, Amazon was frustrated by investors. In
2000 the company focused on expansion and growth, and it rapidly grew and diversified. The
company has been doing well since its inception, and in 2017, the website was fully updated to
reflect the ongoing technological changes. Amazon has made big moves, where it has made
expansions to different white-label brands while being an influencer when it comes to marketing.
Amazon has flipped the e-commerce world. They have become a force to be reckoned with by
even using drones to make deliveries. Their marketing strategies have placed them on the map,
increasing their revenues while helping the company to grow fiercely against their competitors.
Background to the Company
Amazon considers itself a company which is customer-centric. Since their inception, they believe
that listening to customers has been the pillar of the company. With the unprecedented revolution
in technology, Amazon has tried to take advantage of all the technological advances that have
come into play. Their operations have been based on ownership of all the shareholders and
employees in the organization. They started as bookselling and deliveries to grocery selling.
They have implemented the cutting edge technology, and they provide many products. Amazon
has been able to grow fast, generating huge profits while dwarfing their competitors. With the
drone deliveries and shipping innovations, they have been able to dominate e-commerce retailing
(Abrams, 2010, p.66).

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Marketing Analysis
i) The Nature of Amazon Australia's Marketing Strategies since it
began.
Amazon has been seen to improve over the years through various marketing strategies. Being
customer centric and increasing efficiency has been the main driving force for the organization.
Without a waste of time, customers are given what they want. Amazon has been obsessive about
the needs of customers over the years. They have focused on instant gratification while providing
customers a smooth experience. When marketing is involved, one can arguably say that email
marketing was one of the most critical channels used for marketing by Amazon. It's the first
tactic they employed, and they have refined and developed their email strategy with time. They
have managed to ensure that every transaction where an email is involved is maximized. When
it comes to email marketing, there are nine types of marketing, and transactional emails which
take users through a process of onboarding, review solicitation, purchase emails and different
upsell types. The email marketing ensures that all customers are kept up-to-date, thus promoting
return customers while making them accustomed to the products hence continued purchased
(Nijssen & Frambach, 2001, p.7).
Amazon has also been able to increase its sales through reviews and ratings. It is a pioneer in this
type of marketing where they use it to lift revenue. Research shows that such ratings and reviews
boost scores by 18%. The consumers trust content generated by users more that information
made by the manufacturers and retailers. When the feature was added amazon earned at least
$2.7 Billion every year. Amazon has also used a tactic where they solicit reviews for their
products individually. When someone buys a particular product, they follow up to request a
review for that specific product. Other e-commerce websites bundle up requests for reviews,

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while Amazon sends out individual email requests for everyone. Therefore, the individualistic
approach works better than the vague and general solicitation of emails (Kaufmann & Manarioti,
2017, p 12-23).
Amazon has also used customer loyalty programs to retain their customers. Their marketing has
been fueled by loyalty programs which increased revenues with up to 5-10. Certain memberships
like prime increase the expense, but regardless, they still spent. Research points out to a feeling
of prestige and extra worth as the reason behind such expenditures. The other tactic used by
Amazon is the use of videos which makes clients see them as transparent. They have done the
video streaming for several years. Such videos are like the Style Code Live which discusses
fashion. The videos have links at the bottom of the screen which allows customers to buy
products they like in the featured videos. The videos combine entertainment, shopping, and
gratification all at the same time. This has opened up a whole marketing world for the Amazon
products (Drozdenko & Drake, 2012, p. 12-20).
Through the collection of information, Amazon can personalize everything based on location,
age, past order purchase and browsing on-site information. Many companies took time to keep
up with these strategies; others have not been able to keep up.
ii) Strategic Marketing Options for Amazon Australia moving
forward
While recommending emails to specific people has worked well for Amazon, the emails do not
have so much inspiration for them. When a client, for example, purchases a spoon, they
recommend a spoon next time, instead of perhaps recommending other cutleries. Therefore, their
email recommendations should have more inspiration and making more relevant

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recommendations to clients. Also, Amazon has a great review system making them great for
Tumblr or Reddit folder. However, ratings and reviews are also used by other e-commerce sites.
Shoppers trust content that is user-generated more than manufacturer or retailer information. It is
crucial that Amazon, therefore, solicits reviews with incentives that go with such solicitation.
They should have loyalty programs which integrate reviews, making customers glad to write
reviews. Such can be increased through entry into raffles, where they win certain products.
Amazon and give coupons for reviews or give small discount for writing reviews. When
incentives can be put on reviews, customers can return, without being fueled by a negative
experience. (Foote, 2016, p.548)
Amazon has a holistic experience for customers, giving them everything they want in one shop.
Such things include food items, clothes, household items to books. This shows how Amazon has
extended to personal spaces, and they should, therefore, consider coming up with a rewards
system which is tiered based on the engagements (Blozis & Cohen, 2009, p.144). This would
help them maximize on all channels from the activity of customers on Instagram, to the review
system in a central hub in the Amazon website. With this, hose holding accounts can be
rewarded for sharing or making referrals. When Amazon makes a connection of all the accounts
and customers, they will collect more data while increasing benefits to them thus reaping more
benefits. When it comes to sharing videos, Amazon can use customers to show the target
audience how happy they were with certain products. Amazon has been using celebrities, but
also incorporating the ordinary shopper into some videos will increase their sales. Amazon can
also incorporate reviews for videos; such detailed reviews can guide shoppers on their next
purchases in future. In their, marketing Amazon can increase sponsored ads as the other method
of advertising. They should increase the investment on sponsored ads which has become the new

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marketing strategy to reach more people online. This will involve better ad targeting and
reporting (Brown, 2011, p. 360). This will involve creating sponsored ads targeting specific
shoppers. The use of ad words should be precise, and to the They should incorporate data from
customer segmentation which will give them insights on what to do. The customer's interest and
satisfaction is essential. With the increase of products, search catalog becomes competitive, thus
creating the easy access options for customers is essential to ensure that searches lead to
purchases and not exit from the website due to frustrations (Jackson, 2009, p.46).
Amazon can also improve on transparency when it comes to retail pricing. People are confused
about pricing because of their offer and pricing schemes. If Amazon could show the market price
for items in other places, customers may increase their trust and increase the sales. Accordingly,
issues have arisen in the recent years about data tracking, and everyone is not comfortable about
e-commerce platforms collecting data and using it. Such data is very beneficial for e-commerce
where it helps them in marketing and generating advertising options for specific people.
Transparency on the collection of data can be helpful because people can have the option of
giving what they feel comfortable with and not feel like their information is exposed. Giving
people such options to give information at their discretion can also build trust (Jarnow &
Dickerson, 2007, p.32).
Also, amazon prime has quality content which has been increasing in quality. However, it is not
easy to find all services in one place. Despite the challenges which have sometimes faced, they
have been quick to learn and adapt to new strategies depending in market trends. Therefore,
Amazon can start giving prime getaway to other services; there is potential for growth of
Amazon when such services are given (Al-sayyed, 2016, p. 204).

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Conclusion
Despite the challenges which have sometimes faced, they have been quick to learn and adapt to
new strategies depending in market trends. Amazon is an exciting company to study, and it will
be interesting to see its growth in the coming years. Compared to retail giants like Target and
Walmart, Amazon has relatively much growing to do (Damsch, 2008, p. 20-54). It is exciting to
see the changes they continue to go through as technology innovations continue to be seen.
Amazon has been a very successful e-commerce platform.
Appendix
Appendix A- Amazon sales growth based on the marketing strategies over time. If the
recommended strategies are implemented, the projected sales will look like this.

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Appendix B- Amazon dwarfing the competitors because of their adaptations and keeping up with
market trends

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References
Abrams, R.M 2010, The successful business plan: secrets & strategies. The Planning Shop. New
York, pp.66
Al Sayyed, S 2016, Strategic Marketing. A Live Case Study on Amazon Marketing. Willey &
Sons, Washington, pp 204
Blozis, D.E. & Cohen, S 2009, Yahoo Income: How Anyone of Any Age, Location, And/or
Background Can Build a Highly Profitable Online Business with Yahoo. Atlantic Publishing
Company. Washington, pp.144
Brown, B.C 2011, How to use the internet to advertise, promote, and market your business or
web site: with little or no money. Atlantic Publishing Company. Washington. pp., 360
Damsch, M 2008, Amazon Marketing Strategy. Atlantic Publishing Company. Washington, pp
20-54
Drozdenko, R.G. & Drake, P.D 2012, Optimal database marketing: Strategy, development, and
data mining. Sage. California, pp. 12-20
Foote, T 2016, Make Money on Amazon Video Direct: The Best Ideas for Your Online Video
Marketing Strategy. Tracytrends Publishing. London, pp.548
Jackson, S 2009, Cult of Analytics: Driving online marketing strategies using web analytics:
Driving online strategies using web analytics. Routledge. London, pp 46
Jarnow, J.A. & Dickerson, K.G 2007, Inside the fashion business. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Merrill, pp 32.

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Kaufmann, H.R. & Manarioti, A 2017, Encouraging Participative Consumerism Through
Evolutionary Digital Marketing: Emerging Research and Opportunities: Emerging Research
and Opportunities. IGI Global. NJ, pp.12-23
Mennen, M 2010, Global Corporate Strategy-A Critical Analysis and Evaluation of Amazon.
com. GRIN Verlag. London, pp.54
Nijssen, E.J. & Frambach, R.T 2001, Creating customer value through strategic marketing
planning: A management approach. Springer Science & Business Media. New Jersey, pp.7