...Amazon.com Strategic Analysis Amazon.com is one of the world’s leading online retailers. Simply being online has been their main strategic focus from the beginning. Jeff Bezos created the company in 1994 from his garage in Bellevue, Washington. At that time books were the only product sold to customers. The company went public and started selling music and movies in 1997. Over the last 14 years the site has included many more products to the list of items that they sell such as apparel, electronics, DVD’s, toys, games, etc. This essay will discuss if Amazon.com is moving away from its core competency of being an online retailer and the competitive areas between Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. We will also address the uses of Amazon.com database; possible data management issues; the relationship among Amazon’s data, information, and knowledge. The essay will conclude by describing how the retailer uses e-business and e-commerce for B2B and B2C. Transition from Core Competency While Amazon.com remains the top retail provider amongst sales, the profit margins are not as high as investors want them to be (Rainer & Turban, 2008). Profits have fallen, and the operating margins are at 4.9 %, which is below Wal-Mart whose margin is 5.1 % (Rainer & Turban, 2008). Online shopping has become a more desired way amongst the consumer world. With the increasing business comes competition. As a result, Amazon is becoming more and more a part of the technology world. It would not be said...
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...Writing Assignment: Financial Analysis Amazon.com by Angelo Fresco Strayer University FIN 534: Financial Management Dr. James Glenn March 11, 2013 Company Overview The company, its operations, locations, markets, and lines of business Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is a leading global Internet company and one of the most visited Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products at steep discounts by housing them in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These lines of business include: an online bookstore, DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. The company also produces consumer electronics—notably the Amazon Kindle e-book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet computer—and is a major provider of cloud computing services. The majority of Amazon’s sales are products sold by Amazon, although many are from third-party retail sellers and consumers that sell their products from the comfort of their own home using Amazon.com as a platform. Amazon was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It has direct international operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Last year Fortune ranked CEO Jeff Bezos as its Businessperson of the Year on the back of the company's stellar growth, especially...
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...Overview Amazon.com started in the mid 1990s as an online bookselling venture and then quickly morphed into a retail supercenter, selling all types of products. The company has faced much adversity and growing pains along the way, and had a difficult time turning a profit for many years. However, it appears as though they have turned the corner in recent years and now have become very successful as a result of founder Jeff Bezos’ vision and sound business plan for the company. They must continue to increase their edge in innovations and ideas to stay ahead of the competition. Strengths Amazon.com has many different strengths, as is made apparent by the success they have seen. Their cost leadership strategy, producing products with a lower cost than competitors, has been evident from the company’s inception. Amazon.com sought to gain market share by providing products and services at a much lower rate, sometimes at the expense of their profit margin. This proved to be a wise idea and a top strength of the company as it pressured the competition and ultimately put many brick and mortar stores out of business. Another strength was Amazon.com’s first mover advantage. Amazon.com got into the business of online selling very early, at a time when retail stores were very prominent and seen as primary means for consumers to purchase products. Amazon.com quickly gained loyal customers and continued to exploit this advantage since other companies had so much ground to make...
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...Inside Amazon’s Idea Machine: How Bezos Decodes the Customer Jeff Bezos is known for his customer-centric beliefs and his attention to business details. According to Anders (2013), he "is a notorious micromanager… an executive who wants to know about everything from contract details to how he is quoted in all Amazon press releases”. Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com is the world's largest internet retailer of any kind reporting more than $61 billion in 2012 sales (Anders, 2013). Based on an article published by Forbes in April 2013, this work identifies some of Jeff Bezos’ leadership traits and style that have influenced him to build Amazon into one of most profitable and most admired companies in the world. The article by George Anders (2013), contributor writer for Forbes, highlights how Amazon was transformed from an online bookstore to a giant Internet retailer, Bezos’ customer-centric strategies to figure out what his 164-million customers want and not his 56,000 employees, and how Amazon manages its “culture of metrics” in order to track its performance through about 500 measurable goals. Through Jeff Bezos’ greatest accomplishment of transforming Amazon from an online bookstore to a giant Internet retailer, this author can identify Bezos’ leadership traits, such as intelligence, self-confidence, determination, and integrity, within the framework of Trait Approach. The Trait Approach suggests that organizations will work better if the people in the managerial positions have designated...
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...INTRODUCTION: Amazon.com opened for business in July 1995, nobody in that time was optimistic for this brand new business model. People still enjoy the physical store, and skeptical on online shopping. However, with more than a decade efforts, Amazon was named the world’s top brand ahead of common names like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and so on. Amazon and its online business model had creased more than $34 billion revenue, and equally 80 million people visit Amazon.com every month. In order to achieve greater success, Amazon need to overcome the challengeable external environment, strengthen organization structure, fulfill the product line, and leverage its brand strategy. CURRENT MISSION, GOAL, AND STRATEGY The current mission statement for the Amazon.com is “to be the Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavor to offer customers the lowest prices.” Amazon added 13 new fulfillment centers in 2010 and another 15 new center in the 2011 and company is planning to launch cloud technology in 2011 which allowed customers to store and access music. The company believed that in the nearly future this technology could bring the internal strength and competitive advantage for Amazon.com. INTERNAL ANALYSIS: See attached IFEM Amazon.com internally with an IFEM score of 3.25 FINANCE: Amazon is on strong financial position now; online sales reached $9.91 billion...
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...trade. This phenomenon, termed as globalization, encompasses the ongoing economic integration and growing interdependency of countries worldwide (Cavusgil). In this new environment, the country borders are not deterrents to trade. Instead because of incentives and technology, other countries have become opportunities to expand market share. To exemplify this world environment, this study involves comparing the consumer experience in searching for a product on an US based company website with a global audience as opposed to a US based company website with a US audience. The basis for comparison involves search behavior and results as well as buying behavior intentions. The subjects of this study are Amazon.com and Bookpassage.com. Background: Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com, Inc. is headquartered in Seattle Washington and is termed America’s largest online retailer as of January 2010. (Wikipedia). Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, this company began as an online bookstore but later expanded its offerings to include DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food and toys. Amazon has established separate websites...
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... The History of Amazon.com In the beginning Amazon.com conducted business out of a two car garage in Bellevue, Washington. Today this retailer headquartered in Seattle, Washington has one of the largest organizations on the internet. By employing thousands of employees the organization has gained outstanding success. Customers from all over the world can purchase books, movies, and thousands of other products with just a click of a computer mouse. Amazon.com was introduced to the world in 1994 by Jeff Bezos who resided in Bellevue, Washington. “With a small investment and only one investor Mr. Bezos was able to secure a user friendly website and ship orders to 50 states and over 48 countries. During this time books were the only products that were available”. (The History of Amazon.com, 2011) “By creating a powerful community based website, customers were able to add their book reviews for all customers”. (The History of Amazon.com, 2011) In May of 1997 Amazon.com went public and by public demand the share price went from an expected $18 to $24 a share with total earnings of $54 million dollars. Within the last decade through expansion and popularity, Amazon.com opened international sites in Germany and the United Kingdom. Music and movies were added to the services and order fulfillment centers were opened in Nevada, Kansas, and Kentucky. Jeff Bezos was named the “king of cybercommerce” (The History of Amazon.com, 2011) In 2001 and 2003...
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...Amazon.com Case Analysis Consumer Behavior Overview Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company based on the internet as the Earth’s biggest bookstore in July 1995 and today is biggest everything store. Amazon has become the Earth’s most customer-centric company, where consumers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online and endeavors to offers its customers the lowest possible prices and the best customer service. Amazon.com offers millions of new, refurbished and used items in categories such as health and personal care, jewelry and watches, gourmet food, sports and outdoor equipment and apparel, books, music, DVDs, electronics, office equipment, toys and baby supplies, home and garden and on demand video. Amazon has also established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and China. They provide international shipping to certain countries for some of its products. Amazon.com Case Analysis In 1994, Jeff Bezos left his job as senior vice-president of an investment firm, moved to Seattle, and began to work out a business plan for what would become Amazon.com. After his evaluation of report that projected annual Web growth at 2,300 percent, Bezos drew up a list of 20 products that could be sold on the Internet. The list was narrowed down to what he felt were the five most favorable: compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos, and books. Bezos eventually decided that his venture would sell books over the...
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...its self up for success. Amazon was allowed to plan, lead, organize and control by simply providing consumers with their demands in a fast effective way Internal Factors An analysis of the internal resources will show the organization whether they have a competitive advantage. Management will want to review areas such as human resources, marketing, operations, and other areas such as information systems. Once this is complete the company will have an idea of what their resources are. Resources fall into two categories; tangible and intangible. Tangible is something physical such as office furniture. Intangible is an intellectual asset such as logo or patent. The resources can give the company a competitive advantage in the market if they either bring customer value, are rare, difficult to reproduce, or are well organized (Bateman & Snell, 2009). External Factors An organization will analyze two distinct areas of its external environment; competitive environment and macro environment. According to Bateman and Snell (2009) the competitive environment will consist of buyers, rivals, new entrants, and suppliers as well as compliments and substitutes to their product. The macro environment will consist of the economy, social values, the law, technology, and demographics. A careful analysis of these two areas will allow the organization to determine its opportunities and threats to the company’s strategic plan....
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...segmentation strategies, order sourcing decisions, overall replenishment and fulfillment process flows, intra-warehouse process flows, and transportation policies. This report analyzes the overall Amazon.com supply chain for United States distribution with a specific emphasis on the Media product segment. Amazon.com US Retail Product Segment Books, CDs, and DVDs and magazine subscriptions comprise the media product line at Amazon.com (Amazon.com 2002 Annual Report). Amazon.com began as an online bookseller and its first product line expansions were music and movies. As a result, the Media segment comprises a large percentage of Amazon.com overall revenues. In 2004, Media accounts for 74% of all revenues. Within the US, the Media segment accounts for 67% of all revenues. In dollar terms, the Media segment in the US generated $2.6 billion in revenue in 2004, compared 115 to $3.8 billion generated across all segments in the US (Amazon.com 2004 10-K Report). The pie chart below shows the breakout of revenue percentages by product and service segment. Fig Amazon.com does not provide margin numbers by product segment, so the Media contribution to profit is unknown. JP Morgan estimates that Amazon.com gets 25% gross margins for books and media and 15% for electronics ("US Equity Research: Amazon.com", 2005). Additionally, data regarding important financial metrics such as inventory turnover, free cash flow, and...
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...Barnes & Noble Vs. Amazon To attain a competitive advantage over Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble needs to develop a proper strategy and implement a successful marketing plan. SITUATION ANALYSIS Barnes & Noble first must consider the issues and problems facing their company, and then perform an opportunity analysis to determine their strengths and weaknesses in relation to their customers, competitors, and company capabilities. In regards to the main concerns of Barnes & Noble, the company needs to worry about the uncertainties associated with the expected rapid growth of the Internet, the changing profile of Internet users, increased competition and indeterminate future developments in electronic retailing from publishers, wholesalers, and retailers, and intense price competition. By 2000, more than 80 million users will be on the World Wide Web, with an increase in females and a broader spectrum of education levels and age, changing the market demographics. Additionally, some book publishers, namely Simon & Schuster and Bertelsmann, have expanded online, while the national leading wholesaler, Ingram, is developing a website where wholesalers could ship directly to consumers. In the meantime, small publishers and universities have started to publish directly on the Web, avoiding print versions completely and thereby challenging the posterity of conventional books. Within the Barnes & Noble Corporation, their smaller traditional bookstores such...
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...Background description of Amazon.com 3 2.0 What is Big Data? 4 2.1 The Business View 5 2.2 Technical View 5 3.0 Amazon.com and Big Data 6 4.0 Identification of Amazon.com’s "Big Data" needs 6 5.0 Big Data problems to be solved and Big Data solutions 6 6.0 What are AWS (Amazon.COM web services) problems and what is the solution for it 8 6.1 Kinesis other advantages 9 7.0 Conclusion 10 8.0 References 11 1.0 Background description of Amazon.com History Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon.com) serves consumers through its retail websites and focus on selection, price, and convenience. The Company offers programs that enables sellers to sell their products on its Websites and their own branded Websites and to fulfill orders through them , and programs that allow authors, musicians, filmmakers, application developers, and others to publish and sell content. The Company operates in two segments: North America and International. The Company serves consumers through its retail websites, and focus on selection, price, and convenience. The Company designs its Websites to enable millions of products to be sold by the Company and by third parties across dozens of product categories. Customers access its Websites directly and through its mobile Websites and apps. It also manufactures and sells Kindle devices. In October 2013, Amazon.com Inc acquired TenMarks Education Inc. Effective February 5, 2014, Amazon.com Inc acquired Double Helix Games LLC. Amazon.com is a Fortune 500...
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...by its founder Jeff Bezos but soon alter this Amazon expanded the products from books to media, toys, electronics, furniture and apparel and today Amazon is Fortune 100 company. Amazon has used the world wide web to its advantage by spending millions dollars and a lot of man hours to find problems, and develop solutions, to enhance the customer’s online experience. By fixing some of these problems the site is easier to navigate through.( Marketing Strategies of Amazon.com.) Amazon has also collaborated with many other partners like Target, Sears Canada, and Timex to name a few. This collaboration with these partners allows Amazon and their partners to expand their sales and business. Amazon host web services that include ecommerce, database, payment and billing, web traffic, and computing, these services allows merchants to sell their products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and after products are purchased, Amazon.com will pay for packing and shipping the merchant’s product.( Marketing Strategies of Amazon.com.) Amazons business strategy is their consumer, when it comes to their customers Amazon is always concerned about the customers experience when they shop at Amazon and if there are any problems they fix it. In 2009 Amazon had...
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...Amazon.com - Financial Analysis Case Study Introduction The bookselling industry is one of the steady growing industries which have estimated the sales of $27 billion in the year 2006. The sales of the books highly depend on different seasons. The industry has diverse customers who buy different categories of books which includes the trade books, college books, professional books, mass market paper-back books. With stiff competition across the market, the companies are strongly focusing on adopting different ways and means so as to attract more and more consumers and achieving high market share in the industry. Company overview Amazon.com is considered to be the market player in the e-commerce industry (bookselling). Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos, who focused on enhancing the book shopping experience of consumers, with innovation and new ways to sell books online. One of the major players of Amazon.com is Barnes and Noble. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore that has turned into one of the largest online retailers selling items from music and movies to artwork and furniture. As the company website states “it is by design that technological innovation drives the growth of Amazon.com to offer customers more types of products, more conveniently, and at even lower prices.” In this paper you will learn the financial health of the company Amazon.com. The 9-step process written about by Professor Piper will be followed to assess how financially sound Amazon.com...
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...Resources, 2009). It is the largest online electronic retailer in America (Webley, 2010). Amazon was founded in 1995 by Jeffrey Bezos’s (Amazon Global Resources, 2009) . Since Bezos opened the doors of Amazon he has defined and redefined online retailing for the rest of the Internet retail world. When the doors first opened it was from a two car garage in Bellevue, Washington (Amazon Global Resources, 2009). It was nothing more than an online bookstore; the inventory was stored in Bezos’s two car garage. It has now expanded to offer the Earth’s biggest selection of books, CDs, videos, DVDs, electronics, toys, tools, home furnishings and house wares, apparel and kitchen gadgets (Amazon Global Resources, 2009). Customers still rank Amazon.com as the best online Internet retail shopping website (Farfan, 2011). This was based on their internet shopping experiences during the 2011 holiday shopping season (Farfan, 2011). Identifying Amazon’s Mission, Vision Statement and Primary Stakeholders Mission and vision statements are written for the employees and customers. Mission statements can be one sentence or a short paragraph which describes the purpose of the business. It identifies, the companies values and principle business aims. A vision statement can also be a sentence or a short paragraph providing a broad image of the future (Farfan, 2011). Amazon’s vision and mission statement are the same, "Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place...
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