MGMT231 Sales: Analysis of Amazon's Sales, Relationships and Ethics

This report provides an analysis of Amazon.com Inc.'s sales management strategies, focusing on customer relationship development and the alignment of selling processes with marketing efforts. It explores Amazon's effective use of CRM software to personalize recommendations based on customer data and purchase history. The report also examines the evolution of Amazon's selling model, highlighting its efficiency in attracting sellers and offering affordable shipping rates. Ethical considerations, including employee treatment and the promotion of Amazon's own products, are discussed, alongside the company's efforts to address these issues. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the value created through Amazon's customer relationship strategy, which leverages data to meet customer needs and enhance engagement. The conclusion underscores the importance of communication and customer service in Amazon's success within the online retail industry.

Running head: SALES MANAGEMENT
SALES MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The report is built on the analysis of ways by which an organization is able to manage its
sales by developing relationships with the customers. The company which has been taken
into consideration for this study is Amazon.com Inc. The ways by which selling process of
the company is able to complement the marketing based processes have been analysed in the
report The process of ethical sales is also considered to be an important part of the analysis.
The relationships which have been developed by Amazon by the customers have been
analysed in the report in detail with the help of different strategies implemented by the
company.

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Table of Contents
Introduction and Situation Analysis...............................................................................3
Relationship Selling.......................................................................................................3
Evolution of the Selling Model......................................................................................3
Ethics..............................................................................................................................4
Creating Value with a Relationship Strategy.................................................................5
Communication Style.....................................................................................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................6
References......................................................................................................................7

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Introduction and Situation Analysis
Amazon.com Inc. is an electronic commerce based organization which has its base in
Seattle, Washington. The organization was established by Jeff Bezos in the 1994 and further
had shown extensive amounts of development in the online retail industry. Amazon.com has
thereby developed the position of the largest internet based retailer in the world with respect
to the total revenues and market based capitalization. The most important part of the success
that has been achieved by Amazon in the industry is the customer first policy implemented by
Bezos (Amazon.com, 2018).
The report will be based on the study of the ways by which Amazon is able to develop
an effective relationship with the customers and selling based process that is used by the
company.
Relationship Selling
As discussed by Choudhury and Harrigan (2014), the relationships with customers is
managed by Amazon with the help of proper integration of CRM or Customer relationship
management software. The organization is able to develop effective recommendations for the
customers with the proper analysis of data which is available about the previous purchase
made by them. The customers are allowed to purchase products from the website and further
provide their opinions as well. The highest levels of data efficiency have been gained by
Amazon with the aim of providing best service to the customers. The recommendations
which are provided by Amazon in the website play a key role in the purchase based process.
Evolution of the Selling Model
According to Hassan et al. (2015), the selling model that has been developed by
Amazon is highly efficient and free of complications. The organization provides an effective
platform to the sellers in order to display their products and offer them to appropriate

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customers. The amounts which are charged by the company to sellers are based on different
categories of products that are offered by them to the sellers. Amazon has thereby developed
a selling model which is highly efficient in nature and has attracted the small scale sellers
from all over the world.
As argued by Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl (2017), the shipping related rates are also
decided by the management of Amazon so that best levels of products can be offered to the
customers within affordable rates. The organization has been successful in beating the
business model which is implemented by Ebay. The selling model of Amazon has been
helpful in providing effective levels of support to the other functions that are conducted by
the company. The sales procedure which has been developed by Amazon is able to
complement the relationships which have been developed with the customers and the sellers
of the company as well.
Ethics
According to Khodakarami and Chan (2014), the culture of Amazon has been under
investigation based on the ways by which the employees are treated and different ethical
practices as well. The organization has however faced some major issues based on the high
turnover rates and the unions developed by employees. The results of many researches have
depicted that Bezos was not successful in leading the company from the ethical perspective.
The welfare of employees has not been provided with much importance by the company.
However, the CEO of Amazon is quite clear about his requirements and expectations from
the employees. This factor is able to support the ethical base of leadership style which is
followed by Bezos.
As discussed by Kumar and Reinartz (2018), the culture which has been developed by
Bezos in Amazon can be considered to be highly unappealing in nature which however does

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not completely proves his leadership to unethical. The most important featured of leadership
of Bezos was based on the ways by which he made his expectations clear with the employees.
A major issue which has been raised against Amazon is based on preference which is
provided to the own products of the company when customers wish to choose the products.
The organization makes the use of algorithms in order to provide high levels of visibility to
the products which Amazon itself offers to consumers. The CEO of Amazon aims at solving
these issues in an effective way by making changes in the algorithms so that similar levels of
opportunities can be provided to different sellers who offer their products on the company
website (Nyadzayo & Khajehzadeh, 2016).
Creating Value with a Relationship Strategy
The customer relationship strategy which has been implemented by Amazon has
played a major role in the development of value for the customers. The company aims at
analysing the needs and demands of the customers with the help of data that is available
based on their previous purchases. This has played a major role in the ways by which the
company has provided recommendations and suggestions to the customers and increase
levels of engagement. The value that is created by the company for its customers is quite high
which has been an important part of the effective processes of Amazon in the online retail
industry (Tseng, 2016). The various customer touchpoints which are available within the
organization have been managed by the company in order to connect with them effectively.
Communication Style
According to Kumar and Reinartz (2018), the levels of communication and service
which is provided to the customers is considered to be an important part of the position which
has been developed by Amazon. The organization has been successful in transforming the
customer service based activities in an effective manner. The proliferation of the reviews

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provided by the customers and the real-time recommendations which are offered to them is
considered to be a major part of the effective relationships developed by Amazon. The
shipping related support which is provided by Amazon to the customers is considered to be
important for the development of relationships based on effective levels of communication.
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that Amazon has been able to develop its place
in the online retail industry with the help of its effective strategies. The levels of
communication and the service which is offered to the customers is considered to be a major
contributor to the success achieved by Amazon in the industry. The selling based process
undertaken by the company is thereby considered to be highly important for the ways by
which Amazon develops relationships with the customers.

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References
Amazon.com (2018). Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers,
Books, DVDs & more. [online] Amazon.com. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/
[Accessed 8 Oct. 2018].
Choudhury, M. M., & Harrigan, P. (2014). CRM to social CRM: the integration of new
technologies into customer relationship management. Journal of Strategic Marketing,
22(2), 149-176.
Hassan, R. S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M. N., & Zafar, F. (2015). Effect of customer relationship
management on customer satisfaction. Procedia economics and finance, 23, 563-567.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D., & Kuehnl, C. (2017). Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 45(3), 377-401.
Khodakarami, F., & Chan, Y. E. (2014). Exploring the role of customer relationship
management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information &
Management, 51(1), 27-42.
Kumar, V., & Reinartz, W. (2018). Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy,
and tools. Springer.
Nyadzayo, M. W., & Khajehzadeh, S. (2016). The antecedents of customer loyalty: A
moderated mediation model of customer relationship management quality and brand
image. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 30, 262-270.
Tseng, S. M. (2016). Knowledge management capability, customer relationship management,
and service quality. Journal of enterprise information management, 29(2), 202-221.

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