MG1062 Brunel: Amazon UK Physical Store Marketing Plan

This report provides a comprehensive marketing plan for Amazon's potential expansion into physical retail stores in the United Kingdom. It includes a detailed analysis of Amazon's internal and external environment using frameworks like PESTLE and SWOT, along with a competitor analysis focusing on organizations like Tesco. The plan outlines the target market, positioning strategies, and the 4 Ps of the marketing mix (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price) for the new service offering. The report concludes with recommendations for Amazon to effectively penetrate the UK retail market with its physical stores, leveraging its brand value and competitive advantages.

Running head: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of the new product and service that can be offered by an
organization in order to improve its place and revenues in the market. The organization that has
been taken into consideration is Amazon and the new service that has been suggested to the
organization is development of the physical stores. The internal and external environment of
Amazon has been analyzed in detail. SWOT and competitor analysis is able to provide a detailed
picture of the competition that is faced by the organization. The target market, positioning and 4
Ps of marketing mix for the new service of Amazon have been discussed in the report.

2PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
a. Company and service category background.........................................................................3
b. Brief concept of the new service offering.............................................................................3
Marketing environment analysis......................................................................................................3
External and internal environmental analysis according to the industry.........................................3
SWOT analysis in the table format..................................................................................................7
Competitor analysis.........................................................................................................................8
Recommendations based on the chosen industry............................................................................8
a. Target market........................................................................................................................8
b. Positioning of the service......................................................................................................9
c. 4 Ps of marketing mix...........................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

3PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Introduction
a. Company and service category background
Amazon.com Inc. is an international technology based company of American origin that
is mainly based in Seattle and focusses on providing services related to cloud computing, e-
commerce, digital streaming and artificial intelligence. Amazon has also been able to gain its
place among the Big Four technology organizations that include Facebook, Apple and
Google. Amazon is also known in the industry for the disruption that it has been able to cause
in the well-established industries with the help of technological innovation. Amazon had
been established by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994 in Bellevue, Washington (Amazon.com
2020).
b. Brief concept of the new service offering
The new service offering that can be taken into consideration by Amazon in the United
Kingdom is based on development of physical stores that can cater to the consumers in
different parts of the country. The physical stores will be able to offer major levels of
competition to organizations like Tesco that operate in the retail market of United Kingdom
(Aguinis, Edwards and Bradley 2017).
Marketing environment analysis
External and internal environmental analysis according to the industry
External environment analysis – PESTLE framework –
Political factors – The major political threat that is being faced by Amazon in the United
Kingdom is related to the implementation of Brexit. The uncertainty in the economy and

4PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
economic upheaval have a negative influence on the profit margins that are gained by Amazon in
the retail market. The implications that will be faced by the United Kingdom for leaving UK are
considered to be quite huge (Angelsberger et al. 2017).
Economic factors – The condition of UK economy after Brexit implementation will have
a negative impact on Amazon. The recruitment process of the organization will become difficult
in nature and the company will also provide low wages to the employees. Taxation based laws
will also be influenced in a huge way by the variations that take place after Brexit. Brexit will
also add taxes for customers of Amazon in the UK (Brannen, Piekkari and Tietze 2017).
Social factors – Sociocultural changes that will take place in the United Kingdom will
also have influence the behavior of customers in the retail industry. The behavioral shift and
changes in needs of UK customers will further lead to the changes that can be implemented in
the services and products that can be offered by Amazon. The online shopping trends can also
depict major levels of changes due to implementation of Brexit.
Technological factors – Technology is considered to be a major driver of the business
operations of Amazon in the United Kingdom. The emerging hacker industry is able to enhance
the levels of threats that are provided to Amazon. The information of consumers have to be
maintained by the organization in order to prevent different attacks.
Environmental factors – The global drive related to preserving the environment in an
effective manner id able affect the policies that Amazon has implemented in the United
Kingdom. Amazon has recently faced some issues related to the lack of proper implementation
of the environmental regulations (Cantwell 2017).

5PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Legal factors – The legal environment is able to facilitate the survival of business
organizations in the United Kingdom. Amazon has not faced legal challenges recently and this is
considered to be a key aspect that has helped the organization to maintain its business operations
in the retail market of the United Kingdom (Cravino and Levchenko 2017).
Internal environment analysis of Amazon.com – VRIO analysis
Amazon’s
Resources and
capabilities
V- Valuable R - Rare I – Imitable O -
Organization
Growing
presence in brick
and mortar
Yes
Growth in
diversity of
online services
Yes
Extensive
delivery based
network that
involves
domestic,
regional and
international
partnerships
Yes Yes

6PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Expertise based
on considerable
history of e-
commerce
Yes Yes
Strategic
distribution hubs
and warehouses
Yes Yes
Sustained
competitive
advantages
High equity of
global brand
Yes Yes Yes Yes
High market
capitalization
levels
Yes Yes Yes Yes
International
network of the
affiliates that can
expand the
international
market reach
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Capabilities
related to
Yes Yes Yes Yes

7PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
artificial
intelligence
Non-core competencies of Amazon – The non-core competencies of Amazon in the retail
industry are based on the growth in brick-and-mortar presence of the organization. This can be
considered as a valuable competency and can contribute to the growth of Amazon in a country
like United Kingdom. The growth in portfolio of the non-core competencies can also have an
impact on the value that is gained by Amazon and the loyal customer base as well. The delivery
network of Amazon is a non-core competency of the organization and it involves the
partnerships that are formed by the organization with its suppliers (Cumming and Zahra 2016).
Core competencies of Amazon – Long-term competitive advantages – The sustainable
competitive advantage that have been gained by Amazon are mainly based on the core
competencies of the firm. The capabilities and resources in this case are able to provide long
term competitive advantages to the organization. The brand of Amazon has gained high equity in
global market and the customers are also attracted towards emerging and current products of the
firm. High levels of market capitalization of the organization is also a major factor that has
provided sustainable competitive advantage to Amazon. The affiliate network of Amazon is also
a core competency of the firm that has provides huge levels of competitive advantage to the
organization (Durand, Grant and Madsen 2017).
SWOT analysis in the table format
Strengths
Strong brand value of Amazon.
Expanding the business
diversification.
Weaknesses
Imitable model of the business
organization.

8PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
Limited levels of penetration.
Opportunities
Growth of brick and mortar processes.
New partnerships with organizations.
Threats
Aggressive competition.
Cybercrime.
Competitor analysis
Company name Price Quality
Amazon Low-Pricing Medium and High
Tesco Low-pricing Medium
Walmart Low-pricing Medium
Recommendations based on the chosen industry
a. Target market
The target customers of Amazon mainly include the individuals who are able to access the
internet and have the different financial tools that include debit card, credit card and PayPal.
The clients or consumers of the firm are not only a part of the United States, Amazon is able
to provide the products to consumers in various parts of the world. The physical stores that
can be formed by Amazon in different countries can provide support to the organization to
cater to needs and demands of the customers in different countries (Hitt, Ireland and
Hoskisson 2016). The age group of the customers who are targeted by Amazon ranges from
18 years to 45 years. The younger shoppers will however be the most important target
customers of Amazon in the United States and the other countries as well. The UK based

9PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
customers of Amazon will also be targeted effectively with the help of extensive variety of
products that are offered by the firm (Silva, Styles and Lages 2017).
b. Positioning of the service
Amazon has been able to sustain its competitive advantage in the industry in a sustainable
manner with the help of three major operational strategies of the organization. The
operational strategies that have been implemented by Amazon include customer
differentiation, low cost based leadership and the focus strategies as well. Low cost strategy
can be implemented by Amazon in order to offer its products to customers in order to
differentiate itself from the competition that exists in the market. The low prices that are
offered to the customers is considered to be a major aspect related to the success that
Amazon has gained in the retail industry (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2016).
The company will also be able to mitigate costs that are based on low priced products
with the help of increase in the sales volumes. Customer differentiation strategy can also be
implemented in the stores of Amazon with the help of proper differentiation in the quality,
design and levels of convenience that are provided to customers. Focus strategy is also
considered to be an important aspect related to the positioning of Amazon in the retail
industry. Amazon mainly focusses on providing the outstanding levels of services to
customers in order to fulfil demands of the niche market (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2016).
c. 4 Ps of marketing mix
Products – The product mix that can be provided to the consumers by Amazon in the
physical stores include retail goods, consumer electronics, digital content distribution based

10PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
service, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry. The product mix if Amazon will be able to play
a key role in fulfilling the demands and needs of customers in different parts of the world.
Place – The location of the stores of Amazon will be able to influence the sales of
products that are a part of the product portfolio of the organization. Amazon needs to operate
the stores in different parts of the United Kingdom in order to attract the customers and
offering competition to the organizations like Tesco (Meyer and Peng 2016).
Promotion – The promotional activities that are performed by Amazon are considered to
be a vital aspect of the operations of the company and development of physical stores.
Advertising, public relations, sales promotions and direct marketing can be used by Amazon
in order to enhance the awareness of newly developed stores.
Price – The market-oriented pricing strategy will be used by Amazon in order to offer the
products to its customers in the United Kingdom. The selling prices are considered to be
competitive in nature and the prices of competitors will be able to influence the prices of
products and services that are offered by Amazon (Hanson et al. 2016).

11PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MARKETING
References
Aguinis, H., Edwards, J.R. and Bradley, K.J., 2017. Improving our understanding of moderation
and mediation in strategic management research. Organizational Research Methods, 20(4),
pp.665-685.
Amazon.com 2020. About Amazon. [online] US About Amazon. Available at:
https://www.aboutamazon.com/?utm_source=gateway&utm_medium=footer [Accessed 23 Feb.
2020].
Angelsberger, M., Kraus, S., Mas-Tur, A. and Roig-Tierno, N., 2017. International opportunity
recognition: an overview. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 27(1), pp.19-36.
Brannen, M.Y., Piekkari, R. and Tietze, S., 2017. The multifaceted role of language in
international business: Unpacking the forms, functions and features of a critical challenge to
MNC theory and performance. In Language in international business (pp. 139-162). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Cantwell, J., 2017. Innovation and international business. Industry and Innovation, 24(1), pp.41-
60.
Cravino, J. and Levchenko, A.A., 2017. Multinational firms and international business cycle
transmission. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(2), pp.921-962.
Cumming, D.J. and Zahra, S.A., 2016. International business and entrepreneurship implications
of Brexit. British Journal of Management, 27(4), pp.687-692.