Marketing Essentials: Amazon's Strategies and Competitive Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of Amazon's marketing function, exploring its roles and responsibilities, including market research, brand management, and promotional efforts. It examines the interrelationships between the marketing department and other functional units like HR and IT. The report then compares Amazon's marketing mix (7Ps) with that of eBay, highlighting differences in product offerings, place, pricing, and promotion strategies. Furthermore, it discusses the formulation and evaluation of a basic marketing plan for Amazon, covering aspects like strategy development, product development, and competitive advantage. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of effective marketing in achieving business objectives and maintaining sustainability in the competitive e-commerce environment.

Marketing
Essential

Table of Contents
.........................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1. Roles and responsibilities of the marketing functions..........................................................4
P2. Roles and responsibilities of marketing which are interrelate with other functional units...6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3.Comparison of the ways in which different organisation apply marketing mix to attain
business aims and objectives ......................................................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P4. Formulation and evaluation of a basic marketing plan.......................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the accumulation of activities undertaken by the company in order to
promote and increase buying and selling of their products or service. This function help in
conducting various activities like promoting the business, reach targeted audience, enhance sales
performance and more. Basically, it plays an important role of conducting market research to
identify changing trends in the market and providing goods accordingly to the customers so as to
meet their satisfaction level and requirements and attains the business objectives in an effective
manner. Chosen organisation for the assignment is Amazon, which is an American Multinational
Technology firm and offer the branded products through online (Babin and Zikmund, 2015). The
report will throw lights on marketing function, its roles and responsibilities as well as its
interrelationships with different functions. It also compares the ways in which the organisations
apply marketing mix in order to attain the business objectives. Furthermore, it also develops and
evaluates a basic marketing plan for the organisation.
TASK 1
P1
Marketing function within Amazon plays an important role in analysing customer
demands and services and thereby providing them products and services accordingly so as to
meet their requirements and satisfaction level. Moreover, it also performs the function of
promoting and creating awareness about its products and services so as to attract and influence
the customers to purchase the product (Wilson, McCabe and Smith, 2018). In the competitive
marketing environment, it is necessary for the business to develop and implement proper
marketing strategies so as to maintain its sustainability, whereas there are some specific roles and
responsibilities of marketing function within Amazon which are discussed as follows-
Roles of Marketing Function /Department
 Conducts Market Research- Marketing function plays an important role of conducting
market research so as to identify customer needs and wants and also analyse the changing
trend in the market so as to provide products and service accordingly and gains
competitive advantage in the market place (Baker and Magnini, 2016). Manager at
Amazon conducts the market research of analysing the level of competition and the
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demands of the customer so as to provide products accordingly (Role of a Marketing
Department. 2019).
 Monitoring and Managing Social Media- Marketing department helps Amazon in
collecting information about the customers attitudes and behaviour regrading its products
and services through the different social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram. This assist the manager at Amazon to use recent hashtags and memes to create
awareness about its products and services and influence the customer to purchase the
product.
 Defining and Managing the Brand- This role of marketing department is concerned
with defining the mission, vision of the organisation to the customers so that they can
capture the larger market share by providing quality products. Marketing Department
within Amazon plays an important role in enhancing and managing the brand image by
providing high quality products as per the requirements of the customer and provides
proper information to the customers regarding their brand so as to provide them
maximum satisfaction while purchasing products from Amazon.
Responsibilities of the marketing Function/ Department
 Communication and Promotional Efforts- It is the responsibility of the marketing
department within the respective organisation to plan marketing campaigns and develop
different ways to promote their products and services in the market. Marketing
Department within Amazon is responsible for organising events such as exhibitions,
sales and promote their products online on various portals so as to communicate the
customers about their product or service.
 Formulation of Strategy- Formulation of strategy is another main responsibility of
marketing department in accordance with the organisational goals and objectives. In
context to Amazon, marketing department of the company is responsible for the
development of promotional and growth strategies so as to enhance brand image and
attains maximum profitability and productivity (Baker and Saren, 2016).
 Product Development- It is the responsibility of the marketing department at Amazon to
work with internal and external teams and provide ideas and suggestions related to
product packaging and development so as compete and sustain in the dynamic business
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environment. For the product development, marketing department at Amazon is
responsible for setting the price of the product and makes plans in order to launch the
same.
P2.
All the departments within the organisation are interrelated to each other, which assist them
to work effectively towards the attainment of goals and objectives. In Context to Amazon,
marketing department has interrelationships with other functional units of the organisation,
described as follows-
 Marketing with HR department- HR Department of the respective organisation is
responsible for recruitment, selection and providing training to the employee so as to
work effectively. When marketing manager of Amazon identifies the needs skilled
employee who has the capability to analyse data of market research effectively,
Marketing provides information to the HR department so as to recruit the candidate
which posses such skills and able to work effectively.
 Marketing with the IT Department- As the IT department within Amazon is
responsible for adapting the latest technologies in order to make the process easy, simple
and clear for the customers to place order online. Therefore, IT department seeks
information from marketing department about the existing trend of online technologies in
the market as well as the information regarding technologies used by other companies.
Therefore this information is provided by the marketing to IT department and assist
Amazon to function effectively and gains competitive advantage (Bastable, 2016).
 Marketing with Finance Department- Finance Department act as backbone of the
company and allocates proper funds so as to carry on the functions and activities in a
proper manner. Marketing Department provides information about the demands of the
customer and conducts sales forecast so as to provide necessary information to the
finance department to make arrangement of funds to meet the future sales and
expectation of the customer. This way both the departments work in coordination by
sharing information with each other and assist to gain competitive advantage.
M1
Many functions are carried out by marketing department in context to marketing
environment which is of conducting market research, formulation of strategies and therefore
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managing the brand in the market. These are the responsibilities of marketing department to
collect proper information and survive effectively in the competitive business environment. It
also leads to product development by analysing the existing trend in the market and aids
competitive advantage to the organisation and therefore maintains its sustainability.
M2
Interrelationships between marketing and other functional units assist the respective
organisation to work in a collaborative manner, thereby sharing the information effectively and
leads to the attainment of organisational goals in proper manner. It also helps in resolving the
issues of one department as marketing department provides specific information to all the
departments and assist them to function effectively without any issues and problems (Blythe and
Martin, 2019).
D1
Key elements of marketing function includes formation of strategy by effectively
conducting the market research as well as adopts to proper promotional methods so as to increase
awareness about its existing products to the customer. It relates the functional units of the
organisation such as market research generates effective information which is been supplied to
the finance and HR department and helps in regulation of activities in a proper manner.
TASK 2
P3.
Marketing mix is the set of the promotional tools which consist of 7 p's such as product,
place, price, promotion, physical evidence, people and process and allows the organisation to
pursue its marketing objectives in the target market. Further more it is the combination of various
strategies, tactics and decisions taken by the company in order to promote their offerings in
comparison to their competitors in the market (De Jong, Marston and Roth, 2015).
Comparison of the Marketing mix of AMAZON and E- Bay
Basis AMAZON E- Bay
Product It refers to the company
company's offerings which is
being provided to the
It is a multinational e-
commerce company which
provides various types of
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customers to satisfy their
needs and wants. Amazon
consist of various products
such as clothes, food items,
stationery, household,
electrical appliances, cosmetic
and other baby products in
order to meet the requirements
of the customer under one
roof. It also consist of cloud
based services which is used
for content protection(Hair Jr
and et. at. 2015.).
online products and services to
the customer such as home
décor, appliances, apparels,
electronics, and other
miscellaneous items. Along
with it provides online auction
services which leads them
towards capturing larger
market share.
Place It refers to the location or the
platform where the product is
been supplied or offered to the
customers. In context to
Amazon its place includes its
distribution channels such as
they did not have physical
stores, company provide its
products through online sales
channels which have their own
specific website or app and
customers can easily access
through their mobile
application.
It is a global brand in the
market place and also provides
online trading services through
effective online sales
distribution channels and
customer can place order
through mobile and laptops
from any place of the world.
Price It refers to the amount that the
customers have to pay while
purchasing products and
Pricing strategy for e-bay is
cost leadership as they provide
products to the customers at a
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services from the organisation.
Amazon uses low cost pricing
strategies as a way to attract
customers towards its offerings
as well as also adopts to
market oriented pricing
strategies so as to analyse
competitors pricing strategies
and charge lowers prices for
their product so as to attract
customers. Whereas Amazon
also adopts to prime pricing
strategies in which customer
has to pay subscription charges
for one day delivery and have
early access to the deals.
competitive lower price so as
to retain customers for a longer
time duration and moreover
auction style format allows
sellers sellers to select a
minimum price for opening
bids (Lane, 2016).
Promotion Ir refers to creating awareness
and promoting the brands of
the company so as to influence
the customers to purchase it.
Amazon uses aggressive
marketing campaigns to
promote its brand as well as
advertises through online and
print media so as to create
awareness and also has
affiliate programs such as
website and blog owners to
advertise amazon product links
in their platforms (Miller and
As E-bay is a renowned brand
in the market but in order to
promote and create awareness
different tools is used by the
company such as
advertisements in newspaper,
social media, also it uses
search engine optimization
which so it comes first when
the customers searches for the
product at google.
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Jentz, 2017).
People Amazon gives importance to
its workforce and give the
employees various benefits
such as health and financial
benefits as well as vacations
and equity plans. Training and
development needs are
provided to the employees.
At e- bay employees work
productively as they are
provided with necessary
training facilities. This assist
the employees within the
organisation to provide proper
customer service and provides
maximum satisfaction to the
customers.
Process Being a leader in E-
commerce , Amazon has a
strong oriented business as it
has adopted to the advanced
and updated technology so as
to conduct daily activities in a
proper manner as well as its
effective technology helps
individual to track the location
of its package.
E- bay has a automatised
technological process which
provides ease to the customers
in placing orders online also it
has specific currency convertor
which helps the customers to
know the price of the product
in a proper manner(Van der
Wagen, 2015).
Physical Evidence Amazon physical presence is
its website which is user
friendly and built with great
design to make ease for the
customers to place the product.
(Pike, 2015)
E- bay also has physical
presence as its stores which is
designed at a proper way so as
to provide ease to the
customers in searching for
different product items and
associated information is given
in a proper manner so that
customers can easily place the
orders.
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Hence, Marketing mix is an effective tool which assist Amazon and E-bay to form
effective strategies regarding attainment of goals and objectives in a proper manner.
M3 Evaluate different tactics applied by the organisation to demonstrate how business objectives
can be achieved.
MARKETING MIX is the effective tactics applied by the respective organisation in order
to analyse the competition and frame effective strategies so as to attain business objectives in a
proper manner. Moreover communication mic and innovation funnel can be used as an effective
tactics to solve short term issues and attains goals within the time frame. Innovation act as an
effective tactic so as to bring modifications in their services by using the updated technology and
maintains sustainability.
TASK 3
P4.
Marketing Plan is an overall report which outlines and specifies the marketing strategy
which will be adopted by the organisation over a period of time so as to communicate and
promote the products in the market place. It is a structured plan which consist of the marketing
activities that is the advertising and the marketing efforts for the coming year. It provide details
regarding situational analysis, marketing strategy , promotional activity and the budget in order
to perform the business activities in proper manner. This marketing plan for Amazon is based on
on introducing new 'Cab services ' to the customers throughout the globe. Marketing Plan of new
service introduced by Amazon will be explained with the help of SOSTAC Model.
SOSTAC Model
It is a marketing model which contains various marketing strategy which can be applied
to various situations within the organisation. It is an acronym which stands for situation,
objectives, strategy, tactics, action and control. This model will assist the organisation regarding
effective marketing strategy and planning and promotes its products in a effective manner so as
to increase the sales and profitability of the organisation. It is explained as follows-
Situation Analysis- This is an component of the SOSTAC Model in which marketing managers
within the respective organisation analysis the prevailing situation in the market place. For this it
is necessary to conduct industry analysis and also makes an analysis of the company's own
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resources, strengths and weakness. For this managers at Amazon conducts SWOT analysis for
the organisation in order to identify the areas of improvement (Piñeiro-Otero and MartínezRolán,
2016).
SWOT analysis- It is tool adopted by the company in order to analyse their strengths and
weakness and the associated opportunity and threats associated with it. It is an internal
environment analysis which assist the firm to covert weaker areas into strength and take proper
actions against threat identified.
 Strengths  Weaknesses
 With its strong brand image, Amazon
can attract customers towards its new
cab services and enhance profitability
level.
 This new cab service will allow
Amazon to gain competitive advantage
as it will provide cab services at a
discounted rate and captures larger
market share (Uncles, 2018).
 This new service will require additional
set up for the Amazon as it is totally
different from selling products of
different brands.
 It requires additional workforce
throughout the globe to provide specific
cab services to the customers.
 Opportunities  Threats
 It will leads to expansion of the market
share and gains trust and confidence of
many customers.
 It can also provide services in the rural
areas and creates awareness of its
online business which will ultimately
leads to increased sales.
 Existence of large number of
competitors is a major threat to the
company.
Objectives- Main objective of AMAZON is to capture market share by 20% in the upcoming 2
years by providing low priced cab services.
Vision- Vision of the company is to become the largest and the best e-commerce company in the
world by providing goods according to customers and requirements (Puddle, 2015).
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Mission- Mission of Amazon includes providing high quality products and services to the
customers at an affordable price and therefore captures larger market share.
Strategy- These are the actions and tactics which the manager of the respective organisation
takes so as to attain goals and objectives in a proper manner. Following strategies that can be
used the managers at Amazon are as follows-
Segmentation- It refers the classification of the market and consumers on the basis of
common characteristics they share. In Amazon segmentation is done on the basis of
demographic, geographic and psycho graphic characteristics of the customer. For its new service
of providing cab facilities, customers are segmented on the basis of their geographical location.
Targeting- It is concerned to whom the new service will be targeted so as to gain
competitive advantage. In Amazon for its new cab service facility customers such as young
generations are targeted who are online users and can avail the facility.
Positioning- It refers to the positioning of the brand in the market and how it can be
differentiated from those of competitors. For competitive positioning Amazon could set USP for
its new service which will make it different from those of competitors (Rudden, 2016).
Tactics- It refers to the formation of the short term strategies which can be used by the managers
of the in order to solve their short term issues. Moreover there are various tactics used by the
Amazon such as communication mix, marketing mix and online sales and other innovation
strategies to solve short term issues and meets expectation of the customers.
Actions- It refers to the action plan that is made by the company in order to promote its new
services in the market.
 Product- It is concerned with the new service of providing cab facilities to the customer.
 Place- This new cab services will be provided through online apps through customer all
over the globe.
 Price- Cab service facility will be provided an discounted low prices so as to attract
larger number of customers (Ryom and et. al., 2016).
 Promotion- Promotion of its new service will be dine through online and print media so
as attract customers towards its new service.
Forecast- This component in marketing plan assist the manager to identify the demands of their
services, this will help them in making arrangement of the resources in an appropriate manner.
For Amazon they can make arrangement of drivers, cars etc.
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Marketing Budget:
MARKETING BUDGET
PARTICULARS I Year II Year III Year IV Year V Year
Initial money 5000 8800 13500 14860 17840
Investment 11500 12000 26840 41500 15470
TOTAL 16500 20800 40340 56360 33310
MARKETING OUTLAY
Promotion 6450 2950 5000 3420 3330
Online publicity 2500 1900 5000 4000 2000
Print media 4000 1500 5000 2900 5600
TOTAL 12950 6350 15000 10320 11930
Control- This component in marketing plan will assist the manager within respective company
to actions if there are deviation found while implementing the strategies. When the manager gets
feedbacks and reviews from customer it helps the manager at Amazon to frame effective
strategies and controls the activities so as to provide maximum satisfaction to the customer.
D2.
With the help of strategic marketing plan it assist the organisation to place its new
services effectively in the market by adopting proper promotional tools as well as provide
training to the employee to use the updated technology in a efficient manner towards enhancing
the brand image of the company and attaining maximum profitability (Sharp, 2016). It also leads
to formation of effective strategies with the help of STP approach.
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CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from this assignment that it is essential for the organisation to
conduct marketing of their activities as a way to promote the brands and increase awareness so as
to influence the customers to purchase the product. It is necessary for the managers within the
respective organisation to frame effective strategies regarding promoting their products. Hence
all the functional units of the organisation are interlinked with the marketing department thereby
leads to attainment of business within the time frame. 7 p;s of marketing is also done with
comparison to its competitors so that business objectives can be easily realised. Moreover
SOSTAC model is also explained by marketing plan of the new product or service of the
organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Online
Role of a Marketing Department. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.thehartford.com/business-playbook/in-depth/marketing-department-role>.
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