Digital Marketing Concepts - Case Study Example

Digital Marketing Concepts Introduction ICT plays an important aspect in the business world. Digital platforms have overtaken conventional market places. Amazon.com was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and began operations in 1995. Originally, the company was focused providing a simple interface through which people would purchase books online and it served as an online bookstore. Over the years, the company has grown to become the biggest online retail company. By 2008 Amazon had become a global brand with other 76 million active customers’ accounts and order fulfillment to more than 200 countries. Despite this volume of sales, at December 31, 2007 Amazon employed approximately 17,000 full-time and part-time employees. The vision of the company is a focus on customer experience by offering affordable prices, ease of access and guaranteeing availability of merchandise. The vision of Amazon is to offer earth’s biggest selection and to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. In 2011, the net sales of the company increased by 41%. The company has always endeavored to use technology to satisfy the needs of the customers. Use of Digital Channels Amazon.com is an online company and hence it has to utilize internet marketing techniques. Internet marketing is important in this era where most of the target consumers spend most of their time online. Digital channels are critical in advertising the company and marketing the products of the company. For a company to stay competitive in the online environment, it is necessary for it to develop features that attract customers and motivate them to make purchases from the website (Andrew, 2011). In essence, the website of an online company is the only interface with the clients. Therefore, the website has to impressive and user friendly for it to be appealing to potential clients. Over the years, Amazon has developed and refined its website within the anticipations of the customers and to provide a rich user interface. The company has used digital design channels to obtain a leadership position in the industry. Web Analytics Web analytics is the careful analysis of the activity on a website in order to deduce the behavior of the visitors of the website. Amazon has been on the forefront of using advanced web analytics in analyzing the behavior of visitors with a view of improving their business potential. As the CEO Jeff Bezos stated, the company utilizes the latest data analysis tools to scrutinize visitor information. One of the strengths of Amazon is that offers reviews on every single product that it sells. This provides a model for online accountability. The user has a chance to read reviews of other clients before making a purchase. This strategy is important in the user feels empowered and informed before making the purchase decision (Leigh, 2009). The use of web analytics also helps to cross sell products. Amazon uses advanced software to group together products according to purchase patterns. Essentially, the company tells the user other services that have been availed to the visitor. This increases the chances of the user buying other related products and thus increase the overall amount used on the site. The concept of cross selling is also important since the user might be unaware of other products. When related products are positioned together, the user can make a decision to purchase. The use of web analytics to collect personal information is important to personalize the offers presented to the users. Information on the history of purchases and products viewed is stored and used to make target offers. This is important since it helps the company to make relevant offers to a user depending on the browsing history collected. Amazon monitors the number of users on their website round the clock. In this way, the company is always aware of the user metrics and thus corrective measures are quickly taken in case of anomalies. This makes the company is pro active. Superior User Interface The website of Amazon.com has been designed to provide a superior user interface. One of the important design features in the web design of Amazon.com is the ease of navigation. The company lays emphasis in making it easy for any end user to navigate easily and in a fast and easy manner. The most popular products are positioned at an accessible place within the website. The deals of the day are also placed at a prominent position in the website to allow easy access. When users find the products they need in an easy way, the chances of making purchases are increased. This has contributed to the recent increases in the rate of conversion of web visitors in their sites. The other important improvement in the web interface of Amazon.com site is web interactivity. There are several channels available for the customer to communicate and seek help form Amazon. The client can use live chat, email or phone to contact customer care assistants. More importantly, the communication channels are right on the website and all the user does is to click. Advanced algorithms can also detect a user who may need help and initiate communication. This ease of interaction projects the clients to a smooth shopping experience and improve the rates of purchases. The communication channels are also real time hence the user problems are sorted immediately. This provision of superior customer service is important to gain customer trust. Amazon endeavors to satisfy its clients and most of its business comes from repeat customers. As the business maxim goes, it is easier to maintain a repeat customer than to acquire a new one. This strategy of ensuring that users become lifelong members of Amazon has helped grow the sales portfolio of the company over the years to attain a sales figure of 48.08 Billion in 2011. Management Style and Organization The style of management practiced at Amazon.com is participatory with a flat organizational chart. The participatory nature of management ensures that every employee is empowered and is integrated in the company’s operations. In this case, they become more productive and likely work harder. Thus, the motivational level of the employees of Amazon is very high. Consequently, their performance is above the industry average. The open organizational structure ensures that the flow of ideas in the organization is easy. There is no bureaucracy in the company hence each employee has easy access to superior. This means that decision making process is faster and efficient as compared to bureaucracy where decision making is long and tedious. The leadership style of the CEO, Jeff Bezos, is of a charismatic kind. Charisma can be defined as a very special kind of personal appeal that inspires a cult like admiration and following. In the traditional sense of the word, charismatic leaders were people who took on a mission to undertake a radical political transformation. History is rife with examples of leaders who led their people through great crisis like Sir Winston Churchill and more recently President Barack Obama. However, the recent rapid social changes have made people to be attracted to leaders who have a great mission. Jeff Bezos arguably has one of the greatest corporate physical presences in the world. His well built body and cuts an image of fit person; something that many people admire and desire. He exudes great confidence whenever he appears on television and this earned him a number of committed followers. These people who show great admiration to him have a contagious effect that tends to attract others. The ultimate effect is that most people consequently end up having great adoration for such a personality (Michael & Jefferson, 2009). Leadership is an important aspect in the current society. In order to advance in a given career, an individual has to exhibit strong leadership skills on top academic qualifications. In reference to leadership, an important aspect is communication and hence every aspiring leader has to develop strong interpersonal skills. Team work is also important for the attainment of goals since effective teamwork helps to solve problems more easily and quickly. The contemporary world sees charisma in popular personalities who show great skill in the activities they engage in. Jeff Bezos is the founding CEO of the company and his long stay at the company gives an indication of stability. He embodies the founding principles and vision of the company therefore the company has been able to stay on course. Bookselling/ Online Sales Amazon has encouraged innovation and this has helped the company to stay afloat in communications technology. Amazon is a leading technology company which is renowned for churning out innovative products. Due to its culture of innovation, the company has become a leader in each market that it enters. It has become the most valuable online sales company in the globe (Wall Street Journal, 2012). The strategy of Amazon.com on innovation leans towards an intuitive approach. According to the Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com sees itself as a company that is in business to create the next generation products. Through this strategy, the company has produced numerous revolutionary products. For instance, the company entered the music industry by creating a platform known as Amazon mp3 through which people could download their favorite songs at only one dollar. Prior to this, the music downloads industry was marred by issues of piracy and music producing companies were adamant to allow online sales of music. The innovative approach of Amazon created an environment whereby the music owners could make some money while the consumers had the choice of buying only the songs they liked instead of the whole album. The outcome was extremely successful with more than three million song downloads within two days of launching the service. The company has also created a special synergy between the engineering and design department such that the devices that it produces are artistically impressive. Devices such as the Amazon Kindle are aesthetically appealing and technologically advanced. This approach to innovation has resulted in a literally near fanatical appeal of the products to the target market. The spirit of innovation is embodied in the company’s motto of being the most customer centric organization in the world. In the late 1990s, Amazon was struggling financially and it had to re-invent itself or face imminent collapse. The company shed off some of its business lines such as the personal computers and restructured its business portfolio towards services, software and integrated solutions. Amazon adopted a collaborative approach towards innovation by using online media. The concept of crowd-sourcing whereby ideas are generated from within and outside the organization and the most viable ideas get funding. In its quest of creating a smarter planet, the company has invested heavily on development of open source technologies and innovation geared towards adding value to clients. The company has unrestricted innovation policies and its employees are allowed to work on projects of their choice. Mergers and Acquisitions The company has managed to grow its portfolio through mergers and acquisitions. Amazon.com operates retail web sites for Sears Canada, Bebe Stores, Timex, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, and Lacoste. Mergers and acquisitions are a fast way of growing a business instead of starting from scratch. The impact of cost and the chances of failure is minimized through mergers and acquisitions. In the recent past, Amazon has expanded its business portfolio to include provision of enterprise solutions. This is important in recognition to the evolving technology business. The expansion of portfolio to include such services ensures that the company has multiple income generating activities. Conclusion The growth of Amazon.com has been fuelled by informed business decisions. The company has invested in advanced technologies in order to promote the provision of top class services. Also, the company has diversified its business streams to ensure that it is not overly dependent on one channel of income. It is evident that technology is integral in ensuring that the company is in a prime position to face the challenges of today and the future. In conclusion, Amazon has remained successful due to its emphasis on great customer experience. Bibliography Andrew, L. A. 2011. Leadership in the 21st Century. New York. Pearson. Leigh, A., 2009. Contemporary Leadership: How to Make a Powerful and Lasting Impression. New York. Prentice Hall. Michael, H & Jefferson, K. 2009. Digital Marketing Concepts. New York. McGraw Hill Read More