6WBS0036: Amazon's Digital Strategy Report, Session 2020/2021

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's digital strategy, focusing on its position in the e-commerce market. It begins by examining the major issues Amazon faces, including increased competition from rivals like Walmart and Alibaba, as well as the challenges in Asian markets and low-profit margins. The report then applies a SWOT analysis to formulate a digital strategy for Amazon, incorporating the TWOS framework to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It explores Amazon's social media presence, content marketing, and e-commerce activities, including the SOSTAC method. Furthermore, the report examines Amazon's customer relationship management (CRM) strategies, using the RACE framework, and discusses methods for measuring the effectiveness of the new strategies, including the use of analytics and KPIs. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting to the evolving e-commerce landscape and maintaining a competitive edge.

UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
Session: 2020/2021
BUSINESS SCHOOL
Business Administration SDL
Module Code: 6WBS0036
DIGITAL ECONOMY
DURATION OF EXERCICE: 3 HOURS + 0.5 HOUR submission
Student UH ID: …………………

PLEASE, TYPE YOUR ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ON THIS PAGE.
USE AS MANY PAGES AS NECESSARY.
Present your answers in a report format using heading and subheadings.
Maximum recommended word count is between 1500-2000 words
Amazon
The online retail purchasing services provided by Amazon.com, Inc. It offers services to four main
customers: consumers, sellers, businesses and producers of content. Other promotional services, for
example internet advertising and co-branded credit card agreements, are available from the
Company. It offers consumers choices, affordability and convenience through its retail websites. It
builds its websites to allow its items to be offered through dozens of product categories by the firm
and by third parties. It also makes and sells the Kindle e-reader and aims to provide consumers the
lowest possible price by offering cheap daily products and free delivery (Anon., 2021). There are
quite a few major issues they are currently facing are the rapid increase in competition they already
had large competitors like Walmart also now it has become much easier for other online retailers to
enter the e-commerce market so new entrants are also a major threat to Amazon. Also having high
competition increases the threat of substitute products for consumers as consumers would have lot
of choices to choose from and can easily find a substitute product for any other e-commerce retailer.
Also, major threat is coming from Asian e-commerce companies which are expanding in US and
Europe for e.g. Alibaba this becomes a major threat for Amazon. Despite being a giant in e-
commerce Amazon has not proven themselves in Asian market and have to come up with a
marketing strategy to prove themselves in Asia market. Also low margins are one the issues for
Amazon despite having a good cashflow margin on products are not good. Considering all these
issues the major issue amazon faces is the competition from other e-commerce companies like
Walmart and Alibaba.
Future e-business/ Digital strategy
We have already examined the swot analysis of the amazon in CW1 so by taking that into account
we have to make digital staretgy for amazon for that we will be using TWOS to have better future
digital plans for amazon
Amazon Strenghts
Third most popular brand of
the world
Commands superior buying
power
Huge range of products
available
Weaknesses
Has yet to prove themselves in
asia
Amazon has yet to develop a
leading brand of hardware
products
Bad press and coverage about
employee treatement is
damaging the brand
Opportunitites
Growth opportuinties. Exist in
developing markets e.g
SO Strategy
Partner with leading AI
hardware for better customer
WO Strategy
Should target growing markets
in Asia like Pakistan

Pakistan
Expand range which in turn
will provide higher margin
opportunities
Enter new market such as
healthcare which is a huge
market
experience
Adding new products giving
customer more choice
Bangladesh and india
Threats
Large global players are
aggressively attacking Amazon
e.g Walmart and Alibaba
Several Asian competitors
couls expand in US and Europe
Several goverments are
investigating Amazons
practices and policies with
regard to fair play and anti
competitive practices
ST Strategy
Adding new and unique
products can give them
competitive edge towards
their competitors as they have
loyal customers and huge
market share
WT Strategy
Can use didtal marketing and
social media to penetrate in
Asian market as it is
developing and can also gain
advantage over its competitors
Amazon already have an competitive advantage over their competitors by having huge market share
other than that they could use different digital strategy. It follows that the Amazon technology
infrastructure must readily support this culture of experimentation and this can be difficult to
achieved with standardised content management (Chaffey, 2021) Amazon has achieved its
competitive advantage through developing its technology internally and with a significant
investment in this which may not be available to other organisations without the right focus on the
online channels. We now have a strategy to concentrate our development efforts on continuous
innovation through the development and development of specialised, exclusive proprietary software
for our business and to licence or acquire commercially developed technology for other applications,
where appropriate and available. (Willden, 2020)
Social Media Prescence
To assist grow its use of the social media more strategically, a firm should evaluate the sort of
content marketing it employs! Amazon is a B2C e-commerce company that focuses on content for
sale to its products. The use of the content marketing framework at Chaffey would thus be as follows
Content Engagment value  Celebrity endorsments
Content Media  Mobile app
 Podcast
 Hosted and streamed videos
Content Syndication  Content provided through feeds to
third party websites
Content Participation  Customers surveys and comments
 chatbots
Content Access Platform  desktops
 mobile
 laptops/tablets

Amazon is able to promote its brands and to emotionally inspire and engage its target market to buy
its items through a content marketing matrix through social media. However, rather than statically
expanding the dynamic wealth of media material, the firm is still trying to use its social media
presence so as to receive input from its clients (Anon., 2021). As mentioned above, the corporation
may also utilise its Social Media Presence to adopt various e-commerce methods to educate its
customers about environmental matters. The firm currently use social media to guarantee that it is
visible across all relevant platforms utilised on its target market with a population of more than half.
By employing social influencers and brand ambassadors to create awareness about how the firm
wants to use sustainable goods and to seek ongoing feedbacks from clients and social media
supporters, it will enable the company to inform how this strategy is to be implemented. (Tode,
2019)
E-commerce Activity
Amazon have to ensure that the strategy they are applying is working or not for that they have to
use SOSTAC method
Situation Brand perception, customer insight
Objectives 5s objectives- Sell, Serve, Sizzle, Speak, Save
Staretgy Target market and positioning integration of customer data through purchasing
and distribution
Tactics Digital marketing mix-detail number of campaigns, collaboration etc
Action Internal resources ensuring central marketing team issue promotes to global sites
on time, localised marketing teams to feedback on trends
Control Customer profiling customer feedback and satisfaction KPI’s
The firm also has to adjust and not apply this pattern generally throughout its group if it has varied
market positions and target audience else it will not achieve its marketing goals. Around 75 percent
of visitors are from mobile phones and 50 percent of its target market utilise brand research in social
media, so Amazon recognises the significance of guaranteeing its customer content, marketing and
price, etc. As part of their marketing mix, Amazon should also take account of discounts and goods.
For example, it may demonstrate how in several different aspects a trending product could be
utilised to extend the product's life and can be regarded as reusable rather than a waste item.
Amazon could advertise their trending products on social media platforms and also give ideas to
reuse products which can also give a good image of company to their customers.
Customer Relationship Management
Having an effective CRM method gives a major boost to the company. RACE framework is one the
simplest method the describe CRM
Reach Uses third party websites as afiiliates and
partenrnships with competitors websites to sell
its brand products sales through third party
websites
Act Uses its social media to engage with customers
through blogs, podcast, polls etc
Convert Achieve conversion to marketing goals through

leads or sales on website/app using offers and
data analytics to identify trends and
preferences
Engage Build customer relationship through time to
retain loyalty, offering individual discounts,
personalised marketing
As an online company, it must compete with bricks and mortar companies that know their
consumers face to face. It uses its client data acquired from registration and purchase activities to
customise marketing messages and provides customer loyalty and to guarantee that the consumer
feels "special". In order that Amazon knows how many messages to deliver and through which
channel it preferences, it may utilise its consumer data to customise its marketing messages
individually (Chakrawarty, 2017). Therefore, your customers feel better about the brand. So, by
concentrating directly on its consumers, Boohoo has achieved competitive edge over many of its
competitors.
With ownership of its e-supplies network, Amazon can give consumers additional supplements —
like tracking my shipment. Throughout its work, the firm can understand where orders are and
which may also be communicated with the consumer using digital technology. This enables the
client to establish trust and loyalty more transparently. (Anon., 2016)
Conclusion
In order to achieve competitive advantage incredibly efficiently, Amazon is a well-established E-
Commerce enterprise. In the previous several years, its existing strategy of diversification for
acquiring and merging with similar companies, as evidenced by the growth in the share price.
But this strategy is unlikely to be unsustainable for the future and will require brands to be
consolidated in the company instead. The additional problems with its network of supply chain
which have exposed the power and susceptibility of its third-party usage and other key parties also
show that the corporation has to examine different e-business or digital initiatives. The harm to
reputation and confidence with its third parties might take longer to restore.
Effectiveness of the new strategy
Amazon can use different strategies to measure the effectiveness of their new strategy. By using
analytic data to measure both the social media marketing effectiveness and customer journey.
Other method is
Measuring across all company areas and related to these plans and realistic goals should be utilised
for the key performance indicators (KPIs). Three tiers of KPI would be included:
1. Business KPI is designed to assist manage social media contribution
2. Reaching and influencing KPIs to control
3. KPIs for voice sharing and content management

The other method could be the balance scorecard format
(Anon., 2015)
KPI results, combined with all-importance web analytics, are utilised to advise Boohoo.com Plc about
how the e-marketing plan or mobile strategies may be developed in order to achieve its e-business
strategy goals.
Bibliography
Anon., 2021. Amazon.com. [Online]
Available at: https://www.companieshistory.com/amazon-com/
Chaffey, D., 2021. Smart Insights. [Online]
Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenue-
models/amazon-case-study/
[Accessed 4 May 2021].
Willden, D., 2020. Strategy Keys. [Online]
Available at: https://strategy-keys.com/articles-on-strategic-planning/example-of-a-strategic-plan-
model-amazon-internal-analysis/
[Accessed 5 April 2020].
Anon., 2021. etaileast. [Online]
Available at: https://etaileast.wbresearch.com/blog/amazons-engaged-buyers-drive-social-media-

revenue
[Accessed 22 December 2020].
Tode, C., 2019. Retail drive. [Online]
Available at: https://www.retaildive.com/ex/mobilecommercedaily/amazon-boosts-social-prowess-
with-snapchat-instagram-but-more-needed
[Accessed 23 June 2020].
Chakrawarty, A., 2017. Linkedin. [Online]
Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazons-customer-relationship-management-
strategy-atul-chakrawarty
[Accessed 13 December 2021].
Anon., 2016. channel reply. [Online]
Available at: https://www.channelreply.com/blog/view/amazon-crm-strategy
[Accessed 12 february 2021].
Anon., 2015. professional acedemy. [Online]
Available at: https://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs/marketing-theories-balanced-scorecard/
[Accessed 23 March 2021].