Business and Strategy: A Case Study of Amazon Australia

This report provides an overview of business strategies, analyzing their role in organizations, particularly focusing on Amazon's strategies since its establishment, such as e-commerce, effective promotion, and discounted sales. It begins with a company overview, followed by an analysis of Amazon Australia's marketing strategies, highlighting the use of e-commerce and promotional activities. The report suggests that Amazon can benefit from adopting an omni-channel business strategy to overcome the limitations of e-commerce and reach a broader customer base, especially those less technologically inclined or preferring traditional shopping methods. The analysis includes market analysis, strategic marketing options, and concludes with recommendations for future growth and increased profitability. Desklib offers a wealth of similar assignments and study resources for students.

Running head: BUSINESS AND STRATEGY
Business and Strategy
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Executive Summary
This report discusses about the concept of the strategies and also the diverse kinds of
strategies which are being used by the organizations for the process of their business. The
report analyzes the role that the various strategies play in the business process of the diverse
organizations through the analysis of the business strategies used by the organization Amazon
for the process of their business. The report begins by providing an overview of the
concerned company. The report then provides an overview of the strategies that the
concerned organization has been using since their establishment like e-commerce, effective
promotion, discounted and regular sales and others. Lastly, the report concludes with the
recommendation that the concerned organization can use the “omni-channel business
strategy” for the process of their business. The effective use of this particular strategy will
help the concerned organization to overcome the limitations of the e-commerce and will at
the same time help it to reach out to a much larger customer base.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Amazon......................................................................................................................................3
Market Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Nature of Amazon Australia’s Marketing Strategies.............................................................5
Strategic Marketing Options for Amazon Australia moving forward...................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Strategies form an integral part of the overall process used by a particular business
enterprises and the kind of business strategies that a particular organization utilizes for the
process of their business operations determines to a large extent the prospects of the
concerned organizations (Grant 2016). The organizations need to formulate the strategies that
they are likely to use for the process of their business on the basis of a thorough analysis of
the business environment in which it is operational and also after a detailed analysis of the
key competencies of their organization (Grant 2016). Furthermore, the strategies adopted by a
particular organization should be aimed to mitigate the threats that the concerned
organization faces in the business and at the same time to effectively utilize the opportunities
which are being presented by the concerned business environment (Spender 2014). Thus, it
would be apt to say that the diverse kinds of business strategies adopted by the business
enterprises play a significant part in the business operations of a particular organization. This
report will discuss about the business strategies that are being used by the organization
Amazon for the process of their business operations.
Amazon
The organization Amazon.com founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 is the 209th largest
organization of the world with a net market worth of $777.8 billion (Forbes.com 2018). The
organization is one of the largest online shopping websites of the world and offers a range of
products or services to the customers starting from books, furniture, electronics to various
other products or services (Amazon.com 2018). Furthermore, recently the organization has
started a new service called Amazon Prime wherein the customers can watch their favorite
movies, TV series and others at any time they want by paying a small subscription fee
(Amazon.com 2018). The organization initially started its business in Seattle, Washington,

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USA however currently it is operational in almost all the major nations of the world.
Furthermore, the organization has even overtaken some of the largest retail stores of the
world like Woolworths Limited, Tesco Plc and others not only in terms of the number of
products or the services sold by it on yearly basis but at the same in terms of the net revenue
generated by it as well (Amazon.com 2018). The organization under discussion as per the
data released by it in the year 2017 employs more than 566,000 employees from the diverse
countries of the world and the net profit earned by it for the same year was an impressive
US$177.86 billion which was much higher than its competitors like Woolworths Limited,
Tesco Plc, Aldi and others for the same year (Amazon.com 2018). Furthermore, the e-
commerce facilities offered by the concerned organization have been much appreciated by
the customers from the different nations of the world.
Market Analysis
The process of market analysis has become very important for the various business
enterprises of the present times since they not provide an overview of the position of the
organization in the business market but at the same time offer an insight to the concerned
organization about the threats and the opportunities that they face in the business market
(Dobni and Sand 2018). Furthermore, an effective knowledge about these factors is important
since they help the organizations to devise strategies which can help them in a significant
manner not only mitigate the adverse effects that they face in the business market but at the
same time to utilize the opportunities presented by the business market (Dobni and Sand
2018). In addition to these, the various kinds of market analysis at the same time helps the
organizations to understand the demands and the expectations of the customers in the best
possible manner and also to align the products or the services as per the results of these
analyses.

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Nature of Amazon Australia’s Marketing Strategies
Ritala, Golnam and Wegmann (2014) hold the viewpoint that the major factor which
determines the success or the failure of a particular business enterprise is the kind of strategy
that it follows for the process of their business operations. It is pertinent to note that the
organization Amazon since the year of its foundation has followed the strategy of e-
commerce and at the same time needs to be said that the effective usage of this particular
strategy has helped the concerned organization to gain a significant amount of success in the
recent times (Ritala, Golnam and Wegmann 2014). Furthermore, through the effective usage
of this particular strategy the concerned organization has been able to provide online
shopping services to the customers from the diverse parts of the world since the year of its
foundation.
The majority of the retail business enterprises of the world like Woolworths Limited,
Wesfarmers, Tesco Plc and others since the year of their foundation have been using the
“brick and the mortar” model of business and operate manual stores wherein they sell their
products or services (Winn 2016). However, in the present times it is seen that with the rise
of the internet and the lack of time which the majority of the customers have because of the
hectic nature of their schedule makes the e-commerce model of business much more
convenient for them (Stott, Stone and Fae 2016). The organization under discussion here
since the very year of its foundation has depended on the effective usage of this particular
strategy for the process of their business. Furthermore, through the effective use of this
particular strategy they provide the opportunity to the customers to not only place the orders
for the products or the services that they require but at the same time to get the products or
the services ordered by them at their doorsteps without having to step outside the comfort of
their home (Chaffey 2015).

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The organization under discussion here is known for taking the help of promotional
strategies for the promotion of the products or the services offered by them to customers
(Charles Jr, Schmidheiny and Watts 2017). For example, it is seen that the concerned
organization takes the help of the process of social media marketing and through the effective
use of this particular process tries to provide the required information to the customers about
the products or the services that they offer to the customers over the social media itself
(Charles Jr, Schmidheiny and Watts 2017). Furthermore, at the same time it is seen that the
concerned organization at the same time take the help of the tool of social media marketing to
provide information to the customers about the products or the services that they would
selling in the near future (Halal 2015). The use of this particular process helps them to build
anticipation among the customers and thereby to bank on it for the sale of the products or the
services that they offer in future (Rothaermel 2015).
Another important strategy which has helped the organization under discussion here
in a significant manner is the effective usage of the strategy of providing discounted offers
and also taking the help of process of offering regular discounted sales (Chaffey 2015). It is
pertinent to note that the concerned organization conducts regular sales wherein they offer the
products or the services to the customers at discounted prices (Wieland, Hartmann and Vargo
2017). In addition to this, the fact that customers can get the products or the services
manufactured by the different top brands of the world under one website or organization has
at the same time helped the concerned organization to gain a significant amount of success
over the years (Wieland, Hartmann and Vargo 2017).
Strategic Marketing Options for Amazon Australia moving forward
The organization under discussion holds the monopoly over more than 44% e-
commerce business of the world and this just represents the amount of success that the
concerned organization has been able to attain within a very short time the effective usage of

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the strategy e-commerce (Amazon.com 2018). However, at the same time it is seen that the
concerned is trying to take the help of the “omni-channel business strategy” and offer “brick
and mortar” manual services to the customers. One of the major pitfalls of the e-commerce
model of business that the company is known is using for the process of their business is the
fact that the customers need to be accustomed with the use of the various platforms of
internet and at the same time be willing to use the internet for the process of shopping (Dobni
and Sand 2018). However, it is seen that not all the people of the world are technologically
savvy and in addition to this there are many people who still like do their shopping from the
various manual stores (Spender 2014). The major customer base of the concerned
organization belongs to the age bracket of 20-50 years, that is, the ones who belong to the
category of the technologically savvy section (Dobni and Sand 2018). However, the focus of
this particular age bracket considerably narrows down the prospects of the business of the
concerned organization since it misses out on the customers belonging to the other age
bracket (Spender 2014). These are some of the major reasons why the concerned organization
needs to use the “omni-channel business strategy” for the process of their business. The
effective use of this particular strategy will not only allow the concerned company to focus
on the people who do not like the use the e-commerce mode of shopping but at the same time
would increase the annual profit of the organization in a significant manner as well.
Conclusion
To conclude, the strategies that a particular organization uses for the process of their
business wields a considerable influence on the entire process of their business and in the
majority of the cases it is seen that the success or the failure of a particular organization
depends to a large extent on the kind of strategies that it is using for the process of its
business. Furthermore, at the same time the organizations need to ensure the fact the

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strategies that they are using should be based on the results of the market and environmental
analysis that they performed and should help them to not mitigate the business threats that
they face within the business market but at the same time help them to make the most of the
business opportunities that are being presented to them by the business market.

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References
Chaffey, D., 2015. Digital business and e-commerce management. Pearson Education
Limited.
Charles Jr, O.H., Schmidheiny, S. and Watts, P., 2017. Walking the talk: The business case
for sustainable development. Routledge.
Dobni, C.B. and Sand, C., 2018. Strategy shift: Integrating strategy and the firm’s capability
to innovate. Business Horizons, 61(5), pp.797-808.
Forbes.com. 2018. Forbes.com [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/companies/amazon/#3af95de76fb8 [Accessed 12 Sep. 2018].
Grant, R.M., 2016. Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley &
Sons.
Halal, W.E., 2015. Business strategy for the technology revolution: competing at the edge of
creative destruction. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 6(1), pp.31-47.
Madsen, T.L. and Walker, G., 2015. Modern competitive strategy. McGraw Hill.
Ritala, P., Golnam, A. and Wegmann, A., 2014. Coopetition-based business models: The case
of Amazon. com. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(2), pp.236-249.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Services.amazon.com. 2018. Build your business with Amazon Services - Amazon.com.
[online] Available at: https://services.amazon.com/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2018].
Spender, J.C., 2014. Business strategy: Managing uncertainty, opportunity, and enterprise.
Oxford University Press.

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Stott, R.N., Stone, M. and Fae, J., 2016. Business models in the business-to-business and
business-to-consumer worlds–what can each world learn from the other?. Journal of Business
& Industrial Marketing, 31(8), pp.943-954.
Wieland, H., Hartmann, N.N. and Vargo, S.L., 2017. Business models as service
strategy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(6), pp.925-943.
Winn, J.K., 2016. The secession of the successful: The rise of Amazon as private global
consumer protection regulator. Ariz. L. Rev., 58, p.i.