Business Strategies Comparison: Amazon.com vs. Bershka Online Store

This report provides a comparative analysis of Amazon and Bershka, two prominent players in the online retail market. It examines Amazon's dominance, highlighting its customer-centric approach, vast product offerings, and technological innovations, including its Prime membership and fulfillment centers. The report contrasts Amazon's strategies with those of Bershka, an online fashion retailer, focusing on areas where Bershka could improve, such as expanding its product range, adjusting pricing, and enhancing customer service. The analysis delves into the customer journey, employee roles in customer experience, and the use of technology to improve services. Ultimately, the report underscores the importance of customer relationships and employee efficiency in achieving success in the competitive e-commerce landscape, positioning Amazon as a model for other online retailers. The report utilizes various sources, including articles and studies, to support its findings and recommendations.

Running head: COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
Comparison of Amazon to Bershka
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
Amazon.com is an American company of electronic commerce and cloud computing. It is
the world’s largest internet retailer as measured from its revenue and capitalizing market. The
company enjoys a great deal of customer experience that has led to its success throughout the
world. It sets standards for other companies working online and is highly used and recommended
by people from all nations. A comparison of the brand name with an online store, called Breshka
that operates in the United States and Switzerland helps to ensure the position of Amazon in the
global market. It also helps to identify the ways other online sites can improve to operate
successfully in the global market situation, increasing customer experience and preference for
the companies.
About the company:
The Amazon company was founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994, its base being in
Seattle, Washington. The company started operating as an online bookstore and gradually
diversified its business by selling video and MP3 downloads, video games, software, electronic
goods, apparels, jewelleries, toys and such other consumer goods. The company stands out to be
the largest provider of cloud infrastructure services such as the IaaS and PaaS (Rossman). It also
sells consumer electronics and low-end products through its in-house Amazon Basics brand. The
company has differing websites of it in the different countries and stands at the fourth position as
the most valuable public company. It has surmounted to be the largest internet company by its
collection of revenue (WSJ, 2018). The company always take the feedback and customer
reviews, which they try to evaluate and render solutions. As a whole, Amazon has been able to
maintain its fame and reputation on the global market with a huge margin of profits it has been
sustaining for itself.

2COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
Figure 1: Amazon’s market position in the Global Market.
(Source: Wsj.com)
Amazon as the pioneer:
Amazon is the world’s most consumer centric company that is slowly and steadily
heading to be the world’s first online market that delivers its brand promise like none before. It
has been responsible to have incurred 44% of the entire e-commerce sales in U.S in the year
2017 (Thomas). The company focuses more on the consumer choices and attitudes than the
competition it has or can have in the global market. It thinks for the long-term business and is
proud of its operations that have attained excellence from nations all around. Amazon has been
able to be one of those few brands that are marked by enormous customer obsession. In service
polls, Amazon serves to be at the top of the most preferred online retail sites by customers
(Semprini). It gives the world’s most relevant brands to its customers and enjoys a huge
customer loyalty surpassing the other sites. The company has been able to increase 19 million
members as prime customers in a year. The brand has been able to completely modify customer

3COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
experience in online shopping. It has always been updating itself with improving technologies
and has always prioritized relationship with customers, focusing on their expectations and
satisfactions that have accumulatively led to its glorifying success.
Amazon as a customer-centric company:
The brand Amazon works on the basic and primary focus of building and developing
customer relationships. The company promises to be the most customer centric company in the
world with all its engagement to satisfy customers from all around the earth with its high range
of products (Klaus). The noble approach of the company has not only increased the customers’
reliability and preference for the company but has also added to increase its profit enormously.
The company has about 50 fulfillment centers with more than 90,000 employees that
works on the customer relation with the company (Varia, Jinesh, and Sajee Mathew). The
company is constantly urging its customers to give them back a feedback so that they can work
on their drawbacks. It has been able to be a hassle free online shopping destination with barely
any shipping charges. The company also provides their own recommendations along with the
products that are undoubtedly reliable. The easy customer service telephonic conversation with
direct Amazon members also elevates its potential to be customer-centric. Moreover, the use of
advanced technology by the company determines its unique vision and promise of being a
completely customer-centric company.
Role of employees in developing Customer experience:
The chief objective of Amazon is to satisfy its customers and everyone associated with
the company undertakes this responsibility. Not just the ones facing the customers directly, but
all the employees together contribute to develop the sole concern of the company to be customer-

4COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
centric (Lemon and Verhoef). They work with the primary concern to optimize customer
experience and thus communicate in a very friendly and ready to help attitude that heightens the
good reputation that the company holds.
Customer journey of the Amazon customer :
Amazon is highly praised by its customers for its excellent service and products that has
been fulfilling the company’s desire to be entirely customer centric. It has been able to function
according t the expectations of its customers. The journey of the customers in Amazon is a long-
term affair. Competitive prices, swift delivery, and fair returns enable Amazon to have a grip on
its customers. It also has a lot of trust of its potential customers that has made the journey of
them in Amazon sustaining as well as appealing.
A step ahead in use of technology by Amazon:
Amazon has made a remarkable use of technology in its marketing strategies that enables
it to ship the ordered items to the customers within a day. Amazon has a tendency to
continuously innovate ideas and implement them in its business processes. It is experimental in
its operations that have always led to its development and success. In its modern approach,
Amazon uses the technique of raise, eliminate, create and reduce framework, eliminating
traditional retail distributors and developing direct relations with suppliers. It also raises the
standard by providing greater platform to customers for better choice and value of products. The
company has created a new level of cloud computing with the introduction of the new Amazon
Web Series, built from core technology that is globally recognized and famed (Hashem et al.).
The company also reduces the ineffective and products that are for short-term profits. All these

5COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
innovations and experiments in the business have always led to its greater expansion and profit
in the global market.
Bershka is an online fashion store that provides a wide collection of apparels to the
customers. It is also operational in the United States and along with the clothes; the retail store
has a stock of shoes, beauty products and accessories for the customers.
Areas in which the business could improve:
Bershka is famous for the quality products that it delivers. However, it lacks the variety
that Amazon has. Moreover, the price is also high compared to the price that one gets in buying
products from Amazon (Klaus, Phil and Bang). The store is solely concerned with clothes, shoes
and accessories. Along with the lowering of price of the commodities, it could also include other
important as well as necessary items such as books, home decors and consider the basic
amenities, the way Amazon does (Marjanova). This would enable the customers to buy a variety
of products from a single destination app rather than resorting to multiple sites.
The DNA of the customers:
The DNA of the floating customers in case of Bershka is that they are searching for home
décor items as well as electronic goods in the site. The regular customers also tend to prefer the
site when the online store when gives sales and free delivery of products.
Approaching the DNA issue:
Analysing the DNA of the customers of Bershka, it can be suggested that the retailers
must improve their marketing schemes. Instead of keeping high prices and getting customers in

6COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
time of sale, the company can fix reasonable price for the products (Schroeder). This would
enable it to hold on to the customers. The shipping charges are also very high for the products
that tend customers to switch on to other sites like the Amazon. Having an insight into the DNA,
the company can well-understand the various products that the customers are searching and
likewise take initiatives to increase the range of products to promote great experiences in the
customers.
Amazon approaches to improve customer experience in Bershka:
Amazon focuses on retaining its customers than to provide huge discounts. Its customer
support, flexible policies in returning items and fast delivery methods are way beyond any
comparison to Bershka. The company enjoys a very superior position because of the massive
customer loyalty it has gained through the years (Bilgihan et al.). Bershka is in comparison not
even known to the entire population. The Global Prime membership scheme of Amazon has been
in fame that delivers items to these customers within a day or two. Bershka has not been able to
provide any such marketing strategies. They are more in to offers and discounts that are not
always attractive for customers. Bershka has no self-service support for its customers that
Amazon provides that foster a better customer experience. Easy support, free returns and humble
relations with the customers would improve customer experience for Bershka that Amazon has
already been able to attain.
The entire assignment denotes that Amazon has been the most preferred online store for
people and various operating retail sites need to undertake measures that have been discussed in
the essay to increase their market to a good extent. The notion of Amazon to develop customer

7COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
relations and employee efficiency stands extraordinary compared to other sites that has embarked
to its glory over the years, which is yet to attain for other sites operational in the market.

8COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
References:
"Amazon's Sales Versus Other Internet Retailers -- Interactive". WSJ, 2018. Online. Internet. 20
Mar. 2018. . Available: https://www.wsj.com/articles/compare-amazons-sales-with-other-
internet-retailers-sales-1377723857.
Bilgihan, Anil, Jay Kandampully, and Tingting Zhang. "Towards a unified customer experience
in online shopping environments: Antecedents and outcomes." International Journal of Quality
and Service Sciences 8.1 (2016): 102-119.
Hashem, Ibrahim Abaker Targio, et al. "The rise of “big data” on cloud computing: Review and
open research issues." Information Systems 47 (2015): 98-115.
Klaus, Phil, and Bang Nguyen. "Exploring the role of the online customer experience in firms'
multi-channel strategy: An empirical analysis of the retail banking services sector." Journal of
Strategic Marketing 21.5 (2013): 429-442.
Klaus, Philipp. "The case of Amazon. com: towards a conceptual framework of online customer
service experience (OCSE) using the emerging consensus technique (ECT)." Journal of Services
Marketing 27.6 (2013): 443-457.
Lemon, K. N., and Verhoef, P. C. Understanding customer experience throughout the customer
journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6) (2016): 69-96.
Marjanova Jovanov, Tamara. "Principles of marketing: Setting goals and marketing strategies."
(2015).
Rossman, John. The Amazon Way: 14 Leadership Principles Behind the World's Most Disruptive
Company. Vol. 1. Clyde Hill Publishing, 2016.

9COMPARISON OF AMAZON TO BERSHKA
Schroeder, Bernhard. "leaders: build customer truth into your company dna." Leader to
Leader2015.78 (2015): 19-24.
Semprini, Pietro. Amazon. Diss. 2017.
Thomas, Lauren. "Amazon grabbed 4 percent of all US retail sales in 2017, new study
says". CNBC, 2018. Online. Internet. 20 Mar. 2018. . Available:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/amazon-grabbed-4-percent-of-all-us-retail-sales-in-2017-
new-study.html.
Varia, Jinesh, and Sajee Mathew. "Overview of amazon web services." Amazon Web
Services (2014).