Marketing Essentials Report: Amazon, eBay Marketing Mix Analysis

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing, emphasizing its crucial role in business growth and development. It begins with an introduction to marketing, highlighting its function in reaching customers and increasing brand awareness. The report then examines the responsibilities of the marketing function, including market analysis, segmentation, pricing, distribution, and after-sales services, using Amazon as a case study. It explores the relationship between marketing and other organizational departments, such as production, finance, HR, and R&D. Furthermore, the report compares the marketing mix elements (product, place, price, and promotion) of Amazon and eBay, providing insights into their differing strategies. The report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of marketing principles and their practical application in the e-commerce sector, offering valuable insights into the strategies employed by leading companies like Amazon and eBay. The report also touches on the pricing strategies employed by both companies and how they impact their customer base and profitability.

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the technique to reach to the customer and make more people aware about
the product and services offer by a business. This process is helpful for company in gaining
attention of buyers and raising their awareness. Marketing is the most important part of business
that assists in its growth and development.. Amazon is taken into consideration, which is one of
the world's leading enterprise in e-commerce business. Amazon offers many products and
services all around the world. In 2018, Amazon generated around 178 billions revenues. The
current study highlights responsibilities of marketing. It describes the marketing roles in
organisation. Marketing mix elements will be compared between Amazon and eBay. Marketing
plan of new product will be produced so that sales of firm can be enhanced and it can
accomplish its goals.
LO1
P1 Role of marketing function
Marketing: Marketing is function that can be used by company to promote products.
This function is mainly used to make consumers aware about the new products and goods and
services which comes in market. It is also done to communicate with the customers. Marketing
includes advertising of the products, selling the product and delivering products to the ultimate
buyers.
Importance of Marketing: It is the function which is very important for every business.
It supports in maintaining the relationship with customers and organisation. Marketing is the
essential channel to increase the sales of the companies, it also helps the company to take proper
decision for growth of the business (Abril and Rodriguez-Cánovas, 2016). It operates in almost
every sector of the business, marketing helps firm in promoting brand. They make customers
aware about the goods through various modes like social media websites, radio, television,
newspapers and many more.
Marketing function’s responsibilities
Marketing Analysis: Marketing manager analyse the market and determine its trends,
needs and preferences. In marketing analysis, there is collection of information about market
conditions and all required information related to the customers. Marketing analysis is very
important for Amazon as from this, it will get all the information that may help in running the

firm successfully.. Market analysis can help company in determining about strategies is been
selected by competitors and also it help them in determining taste and preferences of consumers.
Market Segmentation: It can be done on the bases of age, gender, preference, location income
and many more, this is called market segmentation (Baker, and Saren, 2016). it is helpful in
minimising the risks of losses. Market segmentation is also helpful for Amazon as it is in the e-
commerce sector, it helps to target the products types, men's, kids, women's, entertainment,
productivity, etc. Company deals in every section, so correct person can be targeted.
Segmentation will help them to know the preference of the people, needs of the product,
locations and many more, so according to that they can design their products.
Pricing – When a monetary value is set on the product for purchase and sells in called
pricing. As business aims to enhance the sales and raise profitability. The demand and supply of
product plays an important role in setting the price of the product. If product’s demand is high
and supply is low than it may create problem for the firm. So pricing is the key element of
business as no business want to suffer losses so the price of products needs to be decided as per
the cost incurred for the production and the demand and supply chain of the product. Their will
be a fluctuation in demand and supply of the products (Bang and et.al, 2016). Amazon also uses
various discount offer in order to attract more customers like end of season sale, festival sale, etc.
Marketing is the technique to reach to mass audience and make people aware with product and
services offered by business unit (Blythe and Martin, 2019). It is important part of business for
its growth and development. Effective marketing is key to success for a firm. Amazon is a
leading E-commerce firm that offers products and services across the world. In the year 2018,
company has generated 177.9 billion revenues.
Distribution: When the product is being transferred from the producer or the seller to the
ultimate consumer this process is called as distribution (Blythe and Martin, 2019). choosing right
distribution channel is among the role of marketing manager. Since, Amazon is the largest e-
commerce business in the world, it deals in many brands and this gives it advantage in market,
Amazon uses the home delivery system to reach the customers which is more preferable by the
customers. Marketing manager of Amazon is responsible for making plans related with
distribution of products and services. It involves decisions such as maintaining inventory, choice
of distribution channel, warehouses, storage etc.

After Sales Services : The main motive of after sales services is keep the customers
satisfied and happy which is the marketing role. It is very helpful to gain the loyalty of the
customers. The customer care is open 24*7 so that customers can share their problems and
quarries regarding the product any time. Once complain is reported by customer the customer
care, the support team try resolve the problem as fast as possible. This great after sales services
of Amazon helped a lot in maintaining trust among the customers and it improves goodwill as
well.
P2 Relating to organisation context, discuss all the major roles and responsibilities of marketing
Marketing department and production: If the company want to satisfy the customer
and stand up on their expectation, then coordination is necessary between marketing and the
production department. This strong relationship between those two departments is very important
for increasing the performance of the organisation.(D’Souza and et.al, 2019). Marketing can help
firm in production services by making consumers have knowledge about the goods and services.
This can enhance production aspects in firm. It will also help them in increasing sales of
products. Company can also make use of effective marketing techniques to enhance their
production. After getting all the information about the market, consumers taste, needs the
marketing department inform the productions unit about it so they can modify or design the
products accordingly. Amazon uses many tools, that the main reason of their highly successful
product range
Marketing and finance department: Both department are two important part of the
company and both are interconnected by the company. At Amazon. these two are the most
important pillars of profit and prosperity (De Mooij, 2018). They both have interdependence on
each other as parallel to each other. Marketing department in Amazon works on the sale of the
product to generate more and more revenue but finance ensure to utilise funds well and all each
department properly so that net worth can be increased. It also helps to maintain the loyalty of
the consumer. Marketing can help firm in increasing sales which will help firm in bringing out
the cash inflow so it becomes the responsibility of finance department in measuring and maintain
cash inflow.
Marketing and HR department: Both these functional units work together in order to meet the
organisational goal. Hr ensure to get into the firm the talented people and use their skills
properly. Marketing helps in forecasting future manpower demand and so that balance between

demand and supply can be maintained.. Marketing can help HR department in hiring and
recruiting efficient and effective talent in company. This can help firm in making work
environment better of firm. It can also help firm in having wider options for appointing workers
in enterprise.
Marketing and R&D department: The performance of research and development unit
directly depends on the performance of marketing department (Lane, 2016). It works as
innovator which is helpful for R&D to analysis new ideas that can help in enhancing the
consumer satisfaction level and rise the profitability of the business. People are always looking
for something more advance, something new in the market. It is the among the roles and
responsibilities of marketing department of Amazon to improve the product and try new
promotional ways. By using some marketing tools Amazon had come to plan to launch Amazon
prime, which provide faster and free shipping, the company has also developed Amazon air
through which a customer can get its delivery in 30 minutes. ALEXA (Amazon voice assistant)
was introduced by the Amazon which can play music place order and answer to many more
voice commands. Company has improved and modified its website by one- click purchase in
which customers have no need to fill multiple forms to buy something.
LO2
P3 Marketing mix elements and its comparison with competitors
Figure 1 Marketing mix
Source: (The 7p’s of marketing, 2019)
Marketing mix used by the company to help determine the product. It always try to utilize
the marketing mix for the Amazon company.

Basis Amazon eBay
Product Amazon is the global leader in the e-
commerce business. As a global
leader, Amazon offers large number
of product to consumers. Where
customer can buy millions of the
product at the same place with
different kind of variety so it is easy
for them to choose product according
to their need. Wide range of products
help to make no. of costumers. And
the increase of selection of product.
They started Amazon prime facility
which help to gain more no. of
customer and they giving them extra
facilities (Lovelock and Patterson,
2015). It offers retail goods, video
games, Amazon Cloud for the data
storage, Amazon prime Videos for
the entertainment and the Amazon
Alexa for the voice assistant.
Electronics items like Amazon Echo
helps the consumers across the
world.
eBay is also an e-commerce
business website. eBay provides
warranty for its product which
attract customer and help to make
more profit. eBay offers wide range
of products to consumers such as
video games, home appliances,
beauty items, retail items, bicycles
etc. All these things are able to meet
the needs of wide range of
consumers and help them find the
new costumers.
Place Place means distribution, it started
with online selling concept in the
small room. Company takes support
of direct and indirect distribution
strategy. And it also decreases the
delivery time of the product. And
eBay is only dealing in online
business and their distribution
channel is only via online platform
and they deliver the product with
third party deliver option (Malhotra,
2015). In online business, eBay

create warehouse in the all Major
city's which help then to deliver the
product fast (Morgan and et.al,
2019.).
have been ranked in top 13 global
retail brands. In chosen strategy,
firm get more targets customers and
that help to achieve organisational
goal which is maximisation of profit.
Price Amazon adopts competitive pricing
strategy as primary pricing strategy.
It ensures competitor's prices and
accordingly set its products price.
With this pricing strategy, firm gets
more customer base and earn more
profit.
eBay adopt penetration pricing
strategy, this helps the firm in
attracting more buyers as initially it
offers low cost items so that people
take interest in its products and
service. In addition, firm charge 4%
of selling price as the fees and an
annual subscription fees
(Muralidharan and Raval, 2017).
With this strategy firm gets more no.
of customer which help to increase
its market share and company
growth
Promotion In promotion strategies, Amazon
primarily adopt advertising strategy.
It promotes the brand through TV
advertisements and news papers.
This helps the entity in reaching to
mass audience and making them
aware with features of company and
company provide sale on the special
product for the promotion.
Sales promotion is used by eBay.
For that, enterprise gives discount
coupons to customer, sale, and
cashback offers. It also adopts
advertisement strategies but not on
wide basis. eBay provide free gift on
the purchase of a fix amount and it
attracts customer for the investment.
People It is a very fast growing company
and more than 1,00,000 employees
are working in it which makes it a
eBay have a large no. of workers
with more than 12600 employees,
segment where eBay mainly focus

big brand and firm provides job
security to its employees and extra
benefits like incentive, medical
facilities and social security to their
workers (Tuten, and Solomon,
2017). For retention of staff
members, it provides them hygienic
and better working environment.
on their employee satisfaction and
reduce employee turnover rate. In
order to meet this target, it recruits
people at high salary packages. This
helps in hiring talented people those
who can contribute well in
accomplishing goal of business unit.
Process Amazon has its own website where
consumers can raise their voice if
they have any quarry related to
product or service. Customer service
executives give immediate response
to consumers which makes them
amazing experience. That shows that
buyers can reach to firm smoothly
and their problems get resolved
quickly.
eBay providing a quality online
shopping experience, for that it
implements strategy of customer
feedback and then apply those
feedbacks. It applies the suggestions
given by customer which helps to
making better experience of
shopping (Wensley, 2016.).
Physical evidence Its infrastructure, logo and goodwill
become the major attractive point for
consumers which gain attention of
mass audience.
Packaging of its products is very
attractive. It has designed its website
in attractive manner that catches
attention of potential buyers and the
help to gain more customer
LO3
P4 Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan
Executive summary: -
Marketing plan highlights planning of company to promote or market its products. This
process decides the future of company and generate sales as well. Amazon is world's leading e-
commerce company. It also provides the digital streaming, e-book reader, virtual assistance and

the web hosting and Cloud Data storage for the customer's. In this plan company is going to
launch a new product.
Mission: - Mission of Amazon to maintain the positioning in the market and serve across
the world.
Vision: - Mission of Amazon is to satisfy consumers and make them loyal towards the
brand.
Objective: -To increase sale of Amazon mobile phone by 20% before 2019..
To enhance consumer experience by 10% till the end of year 2019.
Situational Analysis: - SWOT analysis
STRENGTH
They have various type of products to offer in market
 It has strong global presence
 Company has fast delivery network
WEAKNESS
 Its many product fails to satisfy consumers
OPPORTUNITIES
 Invest in brick-and-mortar stores
 Entering in new markets
THREATS
 Cybercrime
 Economic fluctuations
Marketing Mix strategies: -
it will implement various strategies for the same:
 Product: It is going to launch a new mobile phone with new innovation and techniques.
Phone will be sold at every mobile store. Company is thinking of putting new and
innovative techniques in it. It will have 8-inch screen and dual camera in it. Phone will be
able to work on both 4G and 5G network. (Wu and Li, 2018). By this way people will
take more interest in buying its mobile phones and also providing the discount on the
mobile attract the buyers.
 Price: Amazon will implement skimming pricing method for the new Amazon mobile
phone. In this they will first keep the price of good low and then after setting up the

market, company will increase price of phone. This will help them in setting up consumer
base. It will also help them in reaching out lots of consumer. It will help them in
attracting more consumers.
 Promotion: Amazon for selling up its new phone with dual camera will make use of
social media marketing. They will also promote their products through advertising on
television. Company can also make use of brand endorsements in order to enhance the
sale of new Amazon mobile phone. This will help them in attracting and retaining more
consumers. (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015.).
 Place : It will sale the new products in places like UK, USA, India, China and many
more.
 Physical evidence: In this company will lay emphasis on the packaging of new amazon
phone. Packaging must be innovative and creative so that it can attract more consumers.
This will help them in gaining more customers
 People: The company will engage in providing training to all employees working with
them.
 Process:- It will be smooth and consumers will be able to reach to firm quickly, they can
coordinate with customer care executives through its website (Wensley, 2016).
STP:-
Segmentation: Amazon will apply demographic segmentation, it will concentrates on age and
gender of person.
Targeting:. It will apply differentiated targeting strategies which will help in gaining attention of
mass audience.
Positioning: Cost positioning will be applied that would help in satisfying needs of target
consumers.
Budget:-
Basis Expenses
Advertisement
expenses
250 USD
Rent 150 USD
Salaries 650 USD

administration cost 450 USD
Total expenses 1500 USD
Monitoring and Controlling: - For this aspect company will make use of methods like
key performance indicators and benchmarking. In this they can measure the company’s
performance in particular situation from the past. This can help them in understanding whether
the company is growing or not. They can also engage in taking feedback from consumers. This
will help company in knowing about the faults and shortcomings which they have seen in
product. Company can also make use of methods like benchmarking which can support them in
measuring the performance level of (Muralidharan and Raval, 2017).
CONCLUSION
Study can be summarised as marketing contribute in raising brand awareness of company.
This function has helped company in doing market research. They with the help of marketing has
investigated about consumer taste and preferences. It has helped them in increasing sales of
products, goods and services. Also marketing has perform function like analysis of market. This
function has supported firm in gaining competitive advantage. Marketing has also assisted
Human resource management in hiring and recruiting efficient talent in firm. It has also helped
company in growing. Marketing has also helped company in promoting products. It has assisted
firm in promoting the products of firm across globe. It has supported company in expanding their
business.