Digital Business Report: Trends, Emerging Models, Impact on Amazon

This report provides a comprehensive overview of digital business, focusing on key trends, emerging models, and their impact on Amazon. It begins by defining digital business and highlighting its advantages, such as enhanced productivity and lower operational costs. Key trends like data protection, business process automation, artificial intelligence, multi-cloud architecture, and digital banking are discussed. The report then evaluates new and emerging digital business models, including freemium, e-commerce, digital ecosystem, and open-source models, with a focus on their implementation in Amazon and associated issues like cybersecurity. The impact of collaborative relationships and strategic alliances through digital technology is also examined, followed by a discussion on the impact of digital currency on digital businesses, including the implications of recent market crashes. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of digital transformation for businesses like Amazon in maintaining competitiveness and driving growth.

Digital Business

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The digital business is a platform where digital technologies are used in reinvestment of
business model and transforming products and services and providing new customer experience.
The project aims at proving an understanding of digital business and its significance in global
economy. The company which was selected for this project was Amazon which is an e-
commerce business platform dealing in trade and commercial activities.
Project had highlighted key trends and advantages of digital technology on digital
business. There was a detailed discussion on definition of digital business and advantages of
digital business on global market along with some statistics. Digital business increases
productivity and performance of business and enables organization like Amazon to generate
huge revenue and market share in retial industry. It reduces operational cost of company as
digital business doesn't require any place for establishing its business and requirement of human
is also low which reduces loabour cost. There are various key trends of digital business which
includes data protection and cyber securtiy, business process automation, artificial intelligence,
mulit- cloud architecture and digital banking. All these key trends have been discussed in this
project. The project had also included advantages of using key trends in Amazon which includes
details about augmented reality, voice search, AI and centralized payment.
The next point which was being discussed in this project was evaluation of new emerging
digital business model. This heading had some sub headings which were defination of emerging
digital business model implementation of same in Amazon in context of key issues which
includes cyber security and ethical issues. There are several business models taht are being
adapted by digital business for smooth functioning of business operations and to generate
revenue. Amazon had implemented e-commerce business model for trading and commercial
activities and to minimize the adverse impact of cyber crime on revenue and brand image of
business. Company had also used AI which had enabled company to secure information of its
clients. The project had also highlighted some other business models which were adapted by
Amazon to earn revenue. The thrid point which was highlighted in the project was impact of new
collaborative relationship and strategic alliance through digital technology. This heading
included defination of both collaborative relationship and strategic alliance. There was any
evaluation on advantages and disadvantages of collaborative relationship and strategic alliance
through digital technology. The last heading included in this project was about impact of digital

currency on digital business. It highlighted importance of digital currency on digital business and
impact of recent crash of digital currency on business and its operations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................5
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................5
1. Overview on key trends and advantages of digital technology...............................................5
2. Critically evaluate new and emerging digital business model.................................................8
3. Impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic alliances through digital technology
for Amazon................................................................................................................................10
4. Discuss the impact of digital currency on digital businesses.................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Digitalization is transformation of offline business into online business through digital
technologies which can generate higher revenue and create new value added opportunities to e-
commerce business. The aim of the report is to generate an understanding of digital trends and
advantages of digital technologies in global environment. The company selected for this report is
Amazon which is dealing in e-commerce business. It is a multinational technological company
which focuses on cloud computing, digital streaming, online business and artificial intelligence.
The company is being referred as most influential economic force in the world and is one of the
most valuable brand in e-commerce platform (Garcia, 2021). It is a well-established e-commerce
business through technological innovation and mass scale. It is the world's largest online retailer
industry that provides cloud computing services through AWS and live streaming services
through Twitch.
The global digital business has a very good market share in global market due to
pandemic and it will increase in the future. Global digital transformation market size was USD
608.72 billion in 2021 which is expected to increase at an annual rate of 23.1%. The main reason
for expansion in global digital market is rise in usage of bid data and other associated
technologies (Pihir, Tomičić-Pupek and Furjan, 2018). World is switching towards digital world
through adoption and implementation of digital initiatives. The introduction of artificial
intelligence and affordable cloud based transformation has made it easier for organization to
transform into digital market. The project will draw an understanding of digital business along
with its advantages. It will highlight key trends and implications of managing virtual business on
Amazon (Rupitz, Ebner and Ebner, 2022). Evaluation on new and emerging digital business
model in context to key business issues that are being faced in digital market. The report will
also include an evaluation on new collaboration relationships and strategic alliances and its
impact on company. A detailed discussion on impact of digital currency on digital business will
also be highlighted in this report.
MAIN BODY
1. Overview on key trends and advantages of digital technology
1.1 Definition of digital business
Digital business is a process of applying latest technology to create new value in business models
and to transform company's products or services and to provide new customer experience (Al-

Ababneh, 2020). Digital businesses rely on technologies to generate higher revenue and to
increase market shares. Transforming into digital business impacts each and every part of
organization from employees experience to customer service and management services within
entity.
1.2 Advantages of digital businesses
There are numerous advantages of transforming a business into digital market as it improves
effectiveness and efficiency of businesses.
◦ Enhances productivity: Adaption of digital technologies in business will enable
organization to improve its productivity and efficiency through acceleration of
process and streamlining of business operations (Kotane, Znotina and Hushko,
2019). Use of technologies instead of manual can help entities to enhance its
performance. The implementation of data analysis software and business
intelligence tool can collect and analyse business process data effectively.
◦ Lower operational cost: The main objective of every business is to reduce time
and cost. Manual task is time-consuming process and requires lot of investment.
Meanwhile, automated techniques can complete task within time and is less
expensive than manual process. There may be higher chances of mistakes while
doing it manually and this can lead to increase of cost to organization while
digitalizing organization can be more efficient and effective.
◦ High quality and consistency: Digital business can provide high quality output
and operations will be consistent in nature. For instance using technology for
customer service will give them higher satisfaction than manual customer service
process.
1.3 Key trends in digital business
Key trends in digital/virtual business are as follows:
◦ Data protection and cyber security: Data protection and cyber security are most
important trend of digital business to secure information and data of company
from malpractices (Senyo, Liu and Effah, 2019). Every company has transformed
into digital platform where it has stored all its valued information in clouds which
must be protected.

◦ Business process automation: It is an emerging digital transformation trend which
is used by company to operate in digital world. Business automation will lead to
more efficient and effective workforce.
◦ Artificial intelligence: AI has made it easier for organization to operate in market
as it is a tool that spot and recognize trends, make decisions and forecasts and
learn and improve. AI has enabled company to provide better customer support
experience and efficient workforce.
◦ Multi- cloud architecture: This is a system of distributing software and workloads
within the organization through one or more private clouds (Luz Martín‐Peña,
Díaz‐Garrido and Sánchez‐López, 2018). Multi- cloud architecture is also used
for disaster recovery, data residency requirement and resilience.
◦ Digital banking: Digital banking has made it easier for transferring money to
others and people form all over the world can access digital economy. It has
enabled company to receive online payments for products offered and services
rendered.
1.4 Application for using digital business with advantages and key trends applied on
Amazon
◦ Augmented reality: Amazon has implemented augmented reality technology to
improve shopping experience of its customers. This enables customers to see
products on sale and take better shopping decisions. This software is most
effective while shopping of tangible items such as clothes. It is a new experience
for customers to see 3D model of item and wear it virtually (Ukko and et.al.,
2019). This technology is very essential in e-commerce business as it can build
customer base.
◦ Voice search: Industries like e-commerce industry has implemented voice search
technology for increasing its revenue. Integration of voice search enables
customers of Amazon to place order online and to improve organizing of
shopping list. This trend has been an opportunity for company as it ensures
customer satisfaction as customers can use keywords to order products.
◦ Artificial intelligence: It is the another technology that has created growth
opportunity for e-commerce business (Luo, 2021). This technology is integrated

by Amazon to automate and personalize shopping experience of customers (Chen,
Chen and Lin, 2020). The data and information related to customer shopping is
being collected and these are used to predict relevant items that customers will but
through their past needs.
◦ Centralization of payment: Amazon has developed variety of ways through which
customers can make payment and do online shopping. For instance wallet services
on amazon can improve experience of customers in making payment. The user of
website can save their payment mode and can easily make purchases. The unique
ID provided by company to customers can be used for shipping and delivery
expenses at their convenience.
2. Critically evaluate new and emerging digital business model
2.1 Defining new and emerging digital model
A digital business model is a tool that is used to create value which is based on development of
customer benefits using latest technologies. The development of digital model for a company is
very essential (Wirtz, 2019). The digital business model has following characteristics:
◦ The value created by e-commerce business are through digital technologies.
◦ They are based on digital business innovations which are new in market that
focuses on rendering services.
◦ Customer acquisition and distribution of products are based on digital platform
and channels.
◦ Digital business model creates unique customer value.
2.2 New, emerging digital business model in context of key issues
The new emerging digital business models are:
◦ Freemium model: Freemium model is used by customers to get access to basic
version of product (Sousa and Rocha, 2019). The features in this version is
limited but users can apply for premium version and enjoy additional features.
◦ E-commerce model: E-commerce business model enables customers and
businesses to purchase and sell items online. There are various types of e-
commerce models that are being used by digital companies for trading.

◦ Digital ecosystem model: It is the most complex and robust digital business
model. Due to vendor lock in system available in this model allows users to up
sell existing clients and to attract new customers.
◦ Model of open source: The most successful example of this model is Firefox
which is used to protect data and information from cyber crime (Bican and Brem,
2020). This software is easily available and free for access which made it
attractive for customers. The business strategy of Firefox relies on search engine
royalties and partnerships.
2.3 Emerging business models applied by Amazon
Amazon has implemented diversified business that has been enabling company's growth in retail
industry. Company has business segment which is used to sell products to its customers through
company website which contains information of all its existing clients (Perelygina, Kucukusta
and Law, 2022). The other revenue generating segments are subscription services, Amazon
AWS, advertising revenue, etc. The company has adapted e-commerce business model which
enables it to sell products to its customers and generate huge revenue. Company majorly
performs B2C practice where it directly sells its items to customers. According to (Chen, 2022),
the emergence of e-commerce model on Amazon was adapted due to key issues such as cyber
security issue. The online business has been impacted negatively due to increase in cybercrime.
The companies like Amazon that has implemented e-commerce model had anticipated cyber
security and ethical issues by using modern technologies (Linde and et.al., 2020). The cyber
crime has adversely affected the revenue and performance of business and increased customer
turnover due to rising insecurity of confidentiality.
Dependency of online business platform on technology has increased level of threat. It is
essential for company to take corrective actions to minimize cyber threats and to gain trust of
customers for enhancing profitability and productivity. The cybercriminals get access of data that
are stored on Amazon cloud. This crime has also violated ethics of business through exposure of
information related to customers (Xu and Koivumäki, 2019). The increase in rate of cyber crime
had adversely impacted relationship of company and its customers. The implementation of e-
commerce model and artificial intelligence had reduced cyber crime and ethical issues. The other
models adapted by Amazon are the retail business model where vendors sell their products to
company and then company sells it to customers through online platform (Sukrat and

Papasratorn, 2018). Store card model is kind of credit card which can be used in one store. This
model provides customers services that are provided by banks through credit cards.
Advertisement business model is used to generate revenue through online advertisements. This
business of Amazon is growing fast and company is able to earn huge revenue. All these
business models are implemented by company to generate revenue other than from selling of
products.
3. Impact of new collaborative relationships and strategic alliances through digital technology for
Amazon
3.1 New collaborative relationship and strategic alliances: collaborative relationships
are those where two or more companies or people are working together to achieve a
common goal, in the modern times it is changes by the intervention of the digital
technology. Hence, collaborative relationships enables practice of people or
companies working together via online means such as networks and software as a
solution platforms (Nguyen, 2020). Strategic alliances it is an arrangement among
two or more companies or organizations to take on a mutually beneficial and
advantageous projects where each company retains its own independence. Strategic
alliances offers freedom of creativity and competitive edge in the market place due to
the fact of coming together of two or more organization.
3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of strategic alliances and collaborative
relationships through digital technology:
Advantages:
Amazon has entered a global agreement with BlackBerry QNX which is a global leader in
intelligent security software to develop intelligent vehicle data platform which is popularly
known as BlackBerry IVY. It has enables many business advantages for amazon. For amazon
getting the technical expertise from blackberry is the biggest advantage of the strategic alliance
as it has enabled amazon to have strong technological support for development of IVY. Also, it
avails low cost of operations, as two companies are coming together to work on the same
objective, they have to do the process once only which otherwise they had done separately
incurring double cost (Mamédio and et.al., 2019).
Maximization of profitability can be achieved by strategic alliances via digital technology, as
target market is really large and such alliance can attract even more customers and client which

will offer large market share. There is high level of optimum resource management due to the
watch dog kept by each organization for such collaboration which results in saving cost and
managing the resources in systematic manner. Also, due to online and digital facilities it
becomes easy to just get started rather than in physical environment it needs a lot of resources
and incurs high fixed cost (O'Dwyer and Gilmore, 2018).
Disadvantages:
Such digital technological driven strategic alliances and collaboration also has some negative
side to it. There tends to be less personal contact and engagement which makes entire
collaboration not resulting into building string relationships in business. Amazon seeks strong
corporate relationships with other organization and digital collaboration fail to deliver the same.
Also, it leads to poor decision-making which means slow and procrastinated decisions due to
involvement of multiple people from two organization. Amazon has a large amount of customer
data, employee data, business data and entering into collaboration leads to sharing of same on
some level which makes the data vulnerable to data theft raises security issues. There are also
chances of conflicts and disciplinary issues due to different culture of working in the
organization which are unable to comprehend in digital setting. The biggest disadvantage could
be high dependence on internet which makes it vulnerable to down time in case of poor or no
connection (Ferreira and Franco, 2019).
3.3 Application to amazon on how they use or could use new collaborative
relationship and strategic alliances through digital technology:
Amazon already has strategic alliances and collaborative relationships with different companies
which are digitally driven and are benefiting the organization in so many ways. One such
example is blackberry and amazon which has built IVY together. It has resulted in a very
productive outcome. Further, company can adapt such alliances and collaborations to build
strong market share and beat the competitors in their own game (Bamel and et.al., 2021).
As amazon is operating globally it can collaborate with other digital partner prevailing in the
county and use digital mode and artificial intelligence which can enhance the profitability. As in
many countries amazon still has manual maintenance of inventory at warehouses due to remote
location. Here amazon can collaborate with local warehouse management systems which enables
proper supply chain of the goods and deliver on time.

4. Discuss the impact of digital currency on digital businesses
4.1 Importance of digital currency on digital businesses
Digital currency is online currency which is available in electronic form it is also known as
digital money or electronic money (Kim and et.al., 2022). These currencies don't have physical
form and are used through electronic wallets which are connected through internet. These can be
centralized as well as decentralized and can transfer value.
Benefits of digital currencies are:
◦ Fast transfer and transaction time: The digital currencies generally exit in same
network which eliminates intermediaries for transferring of money which reduces
time of transferring currency (Xu, 2022). As there is no requirement of
intermediaries for transfer of digital currencies the cost of transfer is also low.
◦ Digital currency simplifies accounting and recording of cash and organization
doesn't require any human for maintaining and handling of currency.
◦ It has also reduced fraud and error which generally incurred due to manual
process (Elsayed and Nasir, 2022). The cost of maintenance has also decreased as
limited employee is to be hired for handling online transaction.
◦ Customers are able to make payment from anywhere in world and are able to
purchase items from online mode which has increased customer satisfaction.
◦ Digital currency has also reduced cyber crime and enabled greater trust with
customers as no information regarding credit cards of clients are stored in clouds
of company.
◦ Digital currencies have being designed with transparency which enables
businesses to track money at anytime and from anywhere.
4.2 Critically discuss impact of recent crash of digital currencies on digital business
Cryptocurrency is type of digital currency which is secured by cryptography and this enables it
nearly impossible to be double spend (Rodríguez-Caballero and Villanueva-Domínguez, 2022).
Cryptocurrency is very volatile because it doesn't have backing from any currency. Therefore,
movement of price of these currencies truly depend on speculation among investors. Recently
there was a crash in price of cryptocurrency due to:
◦ Rising inflation: Investors who have invested in crypto had pulled their
investment which has reduced demand for crypto and price of it fell down.

◦ Market correction: There was a rapid growth in digital currencies such as crypto
and bitcoin in last two years (Fruehwirt and et.al., 2021). This unstable rapid
growth was required to be stabled and this was reason for falling of crypto price.
◦ Terra Luna crash: Terra and Luna are stable coin that are designed to stabilize
price of crypto and to minimize volatility of crypto. The crash of Terra Luna had
forced investors to pull their investment from crypto.
Impact of cryptocurrency crash on businesses
Virtual or digital currency has very little impact on financial stability of business and economy.
Companies such as banks and investing firms has stayed away from bitcoins and crypto. The
bitcoin related stacks had a rise in valuation but there volume was low (Akyildirim, Sensoy and
Söylemezgil, 2020). There was a great monetary impact of bitcoin and crypto crash. Besides this
the price movement of bitcoin had suggested that it is emerging as store of value. Along with
bitcoins, cryptocurrency are also volatile digital currency within ecosystem. The emergence of
these digital currencies had minimized the threat of cyber crime and enhanced relationship of
online business and customers. The crash in these currencies can impact revenue of digital
business.
CONCLUSION
Digital business is an online business which is set for trade, commerce and transfer of
funds. Digital business has a great impact on global economy and it is anticipated to increase in
the future. The dependency on advanced technology has made digital business more effective
and efficient. The project had highlighted about digital transformation and its impact on global
economy. It had an overview of key trends and advantages of digital technology on digital
business such as Amazon. It had also discussed new emerging digital business models that have
been introduced due to some issues such as cyber crime. Along with this it included digital
business model which has been adapted by Amazon. The project has defined new collaborative
relationship and strategic alliances. This also included advantages and disadvantages of new
collaboration and strategic alliance through digital technologies. Lastly it included importance of
digital currency and impact of recent crash of digital currency on businesses.

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