Marketing Report: Amazon's Strategic Marketing Planning and Execution

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's marketing strategies, examining various approaches such as influencer marketing, relationship marketing, viral marketing, green marketing, keyword marketing, and guerrilla marketing. The report delves into Amazon's strategic marketing planning, including its mission, vision, and the synergy between practical application and theoretical concepts. It highlights Amazon's customer-centric approach, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs and wants. The case study explores Amazon's evolution, from selling books online to becoming a global e-commerce leader, and identifies key factors contributing to its success, such as competitive pricing and efficient delivery. The report also discusses the dynamic nature of the marketing environment and the need for adaptable strategies, emphasizing that the best approach is situation-dependent. The document is a valuable resource for understanding how Amazon has achieved its market position through effective marketing practices.

MARKETING
STRATEGY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a set of activities that covers all functions related to selling products and
services to the consumers (Ahmadi, 2018). It is not only selling a product or services, but also
covers all related functions which are starting from the idea of product or service and end after
making their customers permanent user. So it is very clear that marketing concepts very wider
concept that needs proper study and analysis. Most of the people think that sale of article is
marketing but it is not correct because marketing is much more than that. Marketing is the
function or activity that creates, communicate and deliver the information related to the article. It
is also include exchange offerings that are important for customer’s values. Marketing is
focusing on satisfaction of customers which requires a deep study. So that's why it is not a
simple or easy topic. In this report or assignment, Amazon is undertaken for as a case study to
understand that what is marketing or their implications on market. Amazon is a multinational
company of America that mainly focuses on e-commerce business. This report covers best
strategies or approaches of marketing which are applied by the organization in their practical life.
It also covers there consequences that faced by organization whether it is good or bad and their
impact on organizational growth or success.
MAIN BODY
Now marketing becomes a wider concept whereas earlier it just a selling of article to the
customers. Due to changing behavior of environment i.e. dynamic environment influence the
marketing of organizations (Al-Surmi, Cao and Duan, 2020). It's just not a topic but more than
that because the success or growth of organization almost depends upon their marketing
strategies and approaches which they used. So it is very necessary for every individual or
organization that they should understand the marketing concept and their strategies or
approaches. Marketing is set of all activities that create something new which satisfy the
consumer needs and wants. It’s just not satisfied the consumer needs and wants but also it creates
their needs. So it is very clear that marketing needs more deep knowledge to understand their
practicality. Marketing have many approaches or strategies that applied by organization in their
business so they can achieve their target and goals successfully. Marketing needs research i.e.

marketing research that helps to analyze the market needs and wants and marketing manager
takes action according to them.
Marketing research is the function where the marketer acquires all types of knowledge
when they analyze the market situation and problems (Bayazovna, 2020). It is very necessary
function because in this function market identifies the actual problems and analyzes the situation
after that take measures to capture the market and lead their business. For this marketer use many
types of strategies and approaches that are helpful for making the problem easy to solve.
Marketing has many types which are explained in following points:
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is the type of marketing in which marketer does not do marketing
directly but they focuses on those individuals who influence others to buy their products. For
example Amazon do their marketing from celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor, etc. so this is the basic
method which Amazon and many more companies uses marketing so that their potential buyers
get attracted from selected individuals and make their decision to purchase products or services.
In this time it is very common for big organizations that be give higher amount to celebrities so
that they are convinced to do their marketing on behalf of company (Bormane and Batraga,
2018). It is very helpful in case of the potential buyers trust on celebrities. People thought that if
celebrities buy Amazon's product so why they are not doing that. This type of marketing in spice
of motivates companies’ potential buyer to purchase their products or services.
Relationship marketing
It refers to the marketing where the marketer focuses on making good relations with the
customers so that they transfer the message for buying their products and services. It basically
loyalty in the customers that companies provide best quality of products or services which
automatically inspires others people which are the relative of their customers. It is one of the
important methods that every company should adopt to build loyalty. Amazon provides best
quality of products or services so that they build loyalty in the customers. It can directly or
indirectly promotes their goods or services.
Viral marketing

As their name tells the meaning to spread the message or information speedily as the
disease of viral spread from one person to another. It's just transferring information from one
person to another speedily (Chaffey and Smith, 2017).
Green marketing
Green marketing refers to the marketing where the market focuses on healthy
environment. In this type of marketing customers get attracted through their main objective is to
make the balance of ecological system. In such type of marketing marketer use those tactics
which influence the customers through their message of negative effect of their products or
services on environment. Amazon also do this type of marketing where de promotes E-
Commerce business which reduces the paperwork to save trees. It is actually good for human
being that companies are also focuses on greenery or environmental friendly products or
services.
Keyword marketing
In this type of marketing the marketer focuses on the word that use in there
advertisements which directly influence the right people with their right message. Marketer
choose a keyboard and use that keyword in every situation so that consumers that right
information. It is very helpful to reach on right buyers (Chitra and Sasikala, 2016).
Guerrilla marketing
It is the creative and unconventional marketing strategy that gets maximum results to
influence the potential buyers for purchasing their products or services.
From the above discussion it is analyzed that there are many kinds of marketing that used
by organization to attract the customers and their potential buyers. These types of marketing
have to achieve their organizational goals and objectives (Galli and Kaviani, 2017). Amazon
uses many types of marketing for promoting their products and services in the market.
The mentioned statement in this assignment i.e. "The best marketing strategy are not top
down, they're outside-in, starting with customers needs and wants" is tell many things that should
be understand. This statement states that effective marketing strategy is not to adopt a single

strategy that is top down strategy or outside in strategy. The basic meaning of a factor strategy is
to use the strategy which is applied or suited on that moment. It is because the environment is in
dynamic nature so it is not fix that every time organization faces same type of problems or
situations. So that's why one strategy is not fixed to every situation.
In the mentioned statement top down strategy refers to marketing strategy where the
marketer focuses on transferring their messages to the very few people who are ready to invest
on their businesses. In simple words top down strategy is a strategy where marketers choose
selected group of people where they try to attract wealthiest peoples of targeted market. So that
they generate interest on those peoples and convince them to invest in their organizations. This
type of strategy helps to identify their potential buyers. It also helps to find commonalities in the
selected area. But it is not much as easy because it is time consuming for convincing wealthiest
persons. In today's market the competition gets tougher which increase the competition in
marketing strategy so to select very few people, it is a maybe possibility that it can work or not.
Because it is not easy to find right person from which marketers can get right information. So
that's why effective and best marketing strategy is not a top down strategy (Gupta, 2017).
Where is outside in strategy is the strategy of the marketer focuses on customer's needs
and wants. They did from putting themselves in the situation of customers so that they can
analyze their perception and behavior related to the products or services. In outside any strategy
customer value is taken as starting or end point. That means the main focus is customers value
which they generate from identifying and satisfying their wants and desire. It becomes the
approach where marketers’ thoughts that it is the best approach to satisfying customers demand
or wants. But sometimes it cannot be effective because it is not easy to put themselves in the
position of customers. Because customers have different kinds of opinions and thoughts which
cannot be possible to thought exact like them. It also occurs one of big problem for marketers
that they have no back who support them. So it is very clear that the best marketing approaches
not to apply top down or outside in strategy. Actually there is no best marketing strategy
available in the market that gives best results to the organization. Because it totally depends upon
the upcoming situation or problem where the marketers choose best strategy according to the
situations. The practical applicability helps to people to understand that which marketing strategy

is appropriate for organization (Haider and et. al., 2017). It can be better understand from the
case study of Amazon that mentioned below.
Amazon is the multinational company of America that deals in e-commerce business
providing all types of goods and services to the customers through online shopping. It becomes
the most successful business in the world through their marketing strategies. They started to sell
books through online and expanded their business through selling electronics items, apparel,
video games, software, jewelry, food items and toys. In 2015. amazon becomes the most
valuable retailer as it surpassed Walmart in market capitalization. In today's time it becomes one
of the big company in US. Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon that founded company in July
1994. Their success is only depends on its marketing strategy, but it is not false that they face
many ups and down in their business life. The main of three important component that becomes
the success source of Amazon are provide goods at low prices, they select the large size of
population and makes fast delivery possible. They are always charge less prices as compared to
their promises to consumers (Inan and Kop, 2018). Two most important factor that become their
success component as it chooses 'buy box' for determining prices and 'flywheel' as their strategy.
Amazon's Goals and mission & vision statement:
Amazon's goal is to continuously increase the level of customer's experiences by
providing online shopping with their own taste and preferences.
Amazon's mission statement is to provide wide range of products and service at low
prices through physical and online stores.
Amazon's vision statement is to become the most consumer-centered organization in
world. In simple words, it becomes the most wanted organization that leads the business world.
Amazon's strategic marketing planning
Synergy between practical and theory of strategic marketing planning
It is important to understand the practical applicability of strategic marketing planning in
business. Strategic marketing planning is to pre determined goals and objectives of business with
proper analysis of internal and external factors that influence the organizational growth and

success (Laverie, Humphrey and Bolton, 2018). It covers 4Ps of marketing mix that helps in
execution of marketing strategy. Strategic marketing also helps to business to understand the
market behavior so that they make the right decision regarding to business strategy. Best strategy
is always not to accept a single type of strategy because it only depends on the upcoming
situations. Strategic marketing planning helps to overcome or to reduce the uncertainty of
upcoming situations.
Amazon is the company that deals in online businesses, in e commerce industry it is very
well known that companies face many hurdles because of many reasons. One of the main reason
is day to day increase in number of competitors (Mansouri and et. al., 2016). Amazon's
competitors are Flipkart, Ebay and many more. Amazon's has main four pillars of strategy that
are applied for success and growth. Four important pillars are mentioned below:
 Amazon offers wide range of variety that means they are satisfying the needs and wants
of customers. They provide millions of products and services to the consumers in which
58% are from third party sellers.
 The technology that they used to deliver the products and services is very high tech in
terms of browsing history and give suggestions.
 Amazon's adopt scaling from small to large that really helps in exploring new business
opportunities.
 Providing best quality of products and services so that they can build the customers'
loyalty.
From the last 7 years Amazon's expenditure is continuously rising that can be clearly
mention in the given figure.

In the above figure it clearly states that Amazon increasing their expenses in marketing that
means how much they are serious for marketing strategy (Papadas and et. al., 2019). Because
they know the importance of marketing strategy in success and growth of the business. They
integrate a number of online marketing channels in Amazon's business that are social advertising,
associative programs, television advertising, etc. It shows that they are based on certain
principles that are mentioned below:
 4Ps of marketing mix
 STP model of Amazon
 Unique selling proposition
 Marketing communication mix
Strategic marketing planning is not the single concept because it helps to identify and
analyze the marketing situations so that organization take steps according to them. So it is
necessary to understand the above mentioned concepts that helps to make strategic marketing
planning better. The detail information related to these concepts are explained in the following
points:
4Ps of marketing mix of Amazon
4Ps are the important components of marketing mix that helps to promote organizational
goods and services in the marketplace (Parnell, Acikdilli and Doyle, 2019). It gives the basic

knowledge of organizations structure that what are prices and products serving to the consumers.
The detail information related to marketing mix are mentioned below:
 Products
Products are the main elements of marketing mix because it becomes the reason for
success and growth of the business. Because Amazon is the top player in online business
industry. So they offers a wide range of products and services to the consumers. They innovate
their products through launching of Amazon Prime to serve services like web series that give
entertainment to the consumers. In today's scenario their offerings becomes the success path of
their business. Amazon divided their products in mainly four categories that are Electronic
devices, Amazon website, Amazon web services, and Media content. The below figure is giving
the companies that owned by Amazon. That shows their effective strategy which gives the
success and growth of the business. Amazon sells their wide range of products so that they
satisfy customers' needs and wants.
 Price
This important component refers to the pricing strategy that taken by the organization
from which they render the products and services (Saura, Palos-Sánchez and Cerdá Suárez,
2017). Pricing is the main component that firms uses to sell their products and services to the
customers. There are three main pricing strategy that used by Amazon to sell their products and

services to the customers that are price discrimination, value based and market oriented pricing
strategy. For primary goods amazon uses market oriented pricing strategy that helps to make
their selling prices more competitive. They adopt discrimination pricing strategy when the same
product is sell at different place. For example, Amazon sell their products and services in US and
UK but they charge different price for same products. This strategy helps to gain higher profits
because they can be charge higher prices from different locations. Generally Amazon chooses
low price so that all types of customers can purchase their goods and services. Their pricing
strategy is low pricing because they thought that customers are the key element to gain the
success and growth from the business. These type of strategies helps to capture the market even
when the market environment gets fluctuate very fast. It helps to handle the unknown upcoming
situation by adopting flexible pricing strategies. Place
Place is the important component for organization in which company choose their target
market and apply all types of marketing strategy to achieve their goals. It is the place where
company wants to sell their goods and services to make their profits maximize. It become the
important component because if company take wrong decisions related to selection of place then
they may be go on losses. So it is important for the organization that they select right place that
helps to achieve their targeted goals and objectives (Šimić, Štimac and Mikrut, 2018). Amazon
always integrate new online shopping experiences with traditional tools so that they can serve the
best experiences to the customers. It can be done when the customers choose their products and
services online and pick up from offline or physical stores, it directly reduce the delivery charges
and make goods economical. This type of strategy called omnichannel marketing strategy that
allows customers to select their products online and pick offline from physical stores. Amazon
choose e commerce business because they know that customers are now upgraded that means
they know the online shopping and wanted to do that. Their distribution channel is so good that
can be clearly seen from their fast delivery. They generally focuses on fast delivery so that their
customers get more attracted. Promotion
It is the most important tool that used to promote organization products and services in
the marketplace. It basically choose the best marketing promotional strategies that helps to

promote their products widely. Amazons uses many types of promotional marketing strategies
that helps to application of effective promotion strategies. It is very important to spread the
business fast so that customers get clear knowledge and information for the products and
services. One of the important promotional strategy that used by Amazon is to advertise their
products and services very widely that helps to reach at maximum number of people. Amazon
spend a lot of amount on expenditures in which they can focused on promoting their goods and
services. They also use many types of sales promotions activities that helps to attract more and
more customers. It used as a secondary tactic because firstly they consider promotional tools and
techniques.
From the above discussion it is analyzed that Amazon is not depend on one particular
strategy they generally used many kinds of strategies that helps to grow and success. Even in
this pandemic situation they use their mind that no one is able to give high prices of goods and
services so that they charge at very low prices. They used COVID-19 predatory prices that really
helps to remove many offers from their stores and banned many accounts.
STP model of Amazon
STP model is the acronym of segmentation, targeting and positioning that helps to
accomplish their targets after selecting the target markets. It is very important for application of
strategies that company apply in the marketplace (Singaram and et. al., 2019). These three are
the important things that are very compulsory for organization to accomplish their organizational
goals and objectives. Segmentation is the activity that perform by the organization to divide the
population into smaller groups on the basis of similar characteristics. It really helps to allocate
the persons according to their similarities. For example Amazon divide their products and
services for children on the basis of age they, they serve products and services according to the
age.