Winter
Amazon Brand Audit
Adam Brooking, Ema Bassey, Connor Schmidt, Sophie Zhou
An in-depth summary and critical evaluation of the Amazon brand.
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Table of Contents
1. BACKGROUND
p.3
a. History …3
b.
Brand Portfolio …5
2. BRAND INVENTORY
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
p.7
Brand Elements …7
Products & Services …9
Innovation …18
Pricing …20
Distribution …22
Communication …24
3. BRAND EXPLORATORY
p.27
a. Consumer Knowledge…27
b. Brand Resonance …28
c. Competitive Analysis …30
4. STRATEGIC REVIEW
p.37
a. Positioning …37
b. Tactical Recommendations …39
5. CONCLUSION
p.41
6. APPENDIX
p.43
a. Timeline of Events …43
b. Survey Results …51
7. LINKS & REFERENCES
p.57
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BACKGROUND
History
Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1995. It started out as a place for book lovers
to buy books online. Bezos believed that only the internet could offer customers the convenience
of browsing a selection of millions of books in one single sitting. During the first 30 days,
Amazon.com fulfilled orders for customers in 50 states in the U.S and 45 countries- all shipped
from his Seattle-area garage.
Amazon.com quickly expanded into an online seller of a wide range of products, not just
books. Over time the company acquired more and larger fulfillment centers, and soon
Amazon.com would become one of the most widely used shopping platforms by consumers in
the United States, let alone worldwide.
According to its website, technological innovation drives the growth of Amazon.com to
offer customers more types of products, more conveniently, and at even lower prices. Starting
with embracing the dot-com boom, technological innovation has been a part of Amazon’s
identity for the entirety of the company’s life. Among its many technological innovations for
customers, Amazon.com offers a personalized shopping experience for each customer, book
discovery through "Search Inside The Book", convenient checkout using "1-Click® Shopping",
and several community features like Wish Lists and customer reviews that help customers
discover new products and make informed buying decisions.
By the year 2000 Amazon.com had become successful enough to stand out amongst
competitors as a market leader in the e-commerce industry. It even began providing its intuitive
e-commerce platform to third-party sellers, further expanding its usage rate and reputation for
being easy to use.
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In 2006 Amazon continued to innovate in the e-commerce industry by launching Amazon
Web Services (AWS), where it began to experiment with a wide range of cloud-based computer
and data interactions – now known as cloud computing. This put Amazon ahead of many other
online stores and service providers, since it now had the ability to provide even faster, more
reliable service by tracking its own data, as well as that of customers. As a result, Amazon stood
out as a supremely tech-savvy company focused on improving the customer experience.
In more recent years, Amazon has continued to grow as a company and as a brand,
creating media devices like the Kindle and incorporating robots into its distribution strategy. All
of Amazon’s strategic moves have been made to reinforce feelings of reliability, customercentricity, and convenience, spanning across different industries and different product categories.
Amazon is considered the fourth most successful start-up company of all time by market
capitalization, revenue, growth and cultural impact.
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Brand Portfolio
The businesses and services that compose Amazon.com’s family brands can be broken
down into three major parts: consumer business, seller business and IT infrastructure business.
Amazon includes several brands under each of these categories, as seen in the image below.
Based on its varying acquisitions ranging from drugstore.com to ivona, as well as e-commerce
companies and technology companies, there appears to have been a clear shift in Amazon’s
strategic business direction in terms of brand extension. Specifically, a shift from consumer
business to IT infrastructure business, which also implies a larger role in the B2B space.
Brands under Consumer Business
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The flagship brand “Amazon.com” goes under this category, and there are several subbrands that qualify under this categorization as well, such as Amazon Basics, Amazon Fresh,
Amazon Kindle, and Amazon WarehouseDeals, which are highly differentiated in their
offerings. These brands are all in the B2C space, and they would seem to represent where the
Amazon Empire starts, especially considering that the marketing strategies for each are close tied
to the customer-centric personality of the Amazon brand.
Brands under Seller Business
Brands that appear under this category would include Amazon Services, Amazon
Webstore, and Amazon Supply. These brands target competitor businesses from big brick-andmortar retailers to small start-ups that offer similar services. Perhaps the most significant detail
of Amazon’s presence in seller business, however, is that it has supported the brand’s move to
the IT infrastructure business.
Brands under IT Infrastructure Business
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the major brand in this category. Targeted at
enterprises, Amazon leverages the sales of this brand through its other service, Amazon Program
Networks (APN).
Acquisitions and Other Brands
In addition to the Amazon-initiated brands mentioned above, Amazon owns other
separate brands including Zappos.com and IMDb, gained through acquisitions. These brands
most likely have their own range of family brands, as well as their own pricing strategies,
marketing strategies, etc. They are distinctively separate from Amazon, but they still play roles
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in the overall revenue stream, and effectively reinforce key associations in Amazon’s brand
identity (customer service, reliability, etc).
Within Amazon’s brand family, there are flanker/fighter brands such as Amazon Kindle,
which is poised to compete in the tablet/e-reader market with the iPad and nook devices. There
are also sleeper brands which may include Amazon fresh, a grocery delivery service that is not
yet widely available geographically. Amazon itself is a power brand, tied to its primary website
and catalog, and Amazon Basics can be seen as a wallflower brand considering its low profile.
These will be further evaluated and mentioned in this audit’s recommendations section.
BRAND INVENTORY
Brand Elements
Name
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, almost named Amazon.com “Cadabra” – as in
“Abracadabra” – but it was after Bezos’ lawyer misused the name as “Cadaver” when he
changed his mind. Bezos chose the word Amazon in part because of the Amazon River, which is
one of the largest rivers on earth and, in terms of imagery, aligned perfectly with Amazon’s
original tagline “Earth’s biggest bookstore.”
Logo
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Amazon has used several different logos since the initial start of the website (see figure).
The first logo featured the Amazon River flowing through the middle of the ‘A’ shape, and the
phrase: “amazon.com ‘Earth’s biggest bookstore’” just below it.
The logo that is known today has a yellow arrow underneath the word “Amazon.com,”
which begins at the letter ‘A’ and points around to the letter ‘Z’. This image is intended to
communicate that Amazon sells everything from ‘A’ to ‘Z’, and the arrow itself is shaped to
resemble a smile, implying that customers would experience enjoyment during their time
shopping on the web site.
In 2002 the company created their last new logo, which was the same as the previous
logo but with the words “and you’re done” in the bottom right-hand corner. This served to better
illustrate to consumers that Amazon had a huge selection of merchandise, and that no matter
what they were looking for Amazon was most likely to have it, thereby making Amazon seem
like the “one-stop-shop” for nearly every type of consumer.
Colors
Amazon has implemented four main colors in their brand logo: black, white, orange, and
green. The color black featured in the Amazon logo is meant to represent dominance, supremacy
and elegance, whereas the orange color stands for pride and the happiness experienced by the
customer. The color green would appear to represent feeling of freshness, or perhaps harken back
to the brand image’s roots with the Amazon River, while white – aside from being used as a
balancing contrast to black – could possibly represent the presence of all colors, which conveys
the image of being “all-encompassing.”
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Products & Services
Amazon Basic
The Amazon Basic brand applies to product lines produced by Amazon, which include:
Electronic accessories, USB & A/V cables, Ethernet cables, blank recordable media, computer
mice, keyboards, and tablet covers. These items are typically priced around 10% lower than
other, competing brand-name products.
Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an online social movie studio, intended to find viable scripts and
eventually produce them into full-fledged films or TV shows. This service emphasizes the open
nature of gathering sources, providing a more intricate and customer-focused method for
filmmaking. Amazon Studios connects individuals with producers and other relevant figures in
the entertainment industry – bridging a normally impassable gap.
Amazon Fresh
Amazon Fresh is a service that sells and delivers groceries in the Seattle, San Francisco,
and Los Angeles areas. Customers can order groceries online and have them delivered to their
home. This service offers free same-day and early morning delivery, similar to how certain
orders through Amazon.com are carried out.
Amazon Kindle
The Kindle brand encompasses a series of e-book readers designed and marketed by
Amazon.com. The Kindle device enables users to shop for, download, browse, and read eBooks,
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newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media via wireless networking. Kindle software
is available for use on various devices and platforms, including Microsoft windows, IOS,
Blackberry, Mac OSX, Android, webOS, and Windows Phone. The Amazon cloud is what
allows the user to read and purchase Kindle-certified books from a web browser. Amazon also
created a web browser called Silk, designed specifically for the Kindle. Amazon offers a 3G
Whispernet network on some Kindles, which is accessible without any monthly fee or wireless
subscriptions.
Amazon warehouse
Amazon Warehouse is a service that offers discounts on refurbished products, as well as
certain deals on returned, warehouse damaged, used or refurbished products. Such products
offered do not meet Amazon’s rigorous standards as being “new” products.
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a membership program, priced at $79 per year of membership, that
features free two-day shipping, upgrading to overnight shipping for $3.99 per item, unlimited
streaming of qualifying movies and videos, one free borrowed e-book per month, and no
minimums on order sizes. This program has been highly successful among customers, and
actually played a crucial role in Amazon’s financial success while other companies suffered
during the recent economic recession in the U.S.
Amazon Student
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Amazon Student is a membership service similar to Amazon prime, but priced at $39 per
year and specifically targeted at college students. It features discounts and deals exclusively for
students and on products like textbooks and movies. It also features: free release date delivery on
video games, DVDs, books, and other media; a $10 credit for each friend referral; eligibility for
sweepstakes, giveaways, and contests; and access to over 41,000 different media options for
streaming movies and videos.
Amazon Mom
Amazon Mom is another membership service, targeted specifically at current or soon-tobe mothers. It includes access to a 3-month free trial before a required fee of $79 per year, and
members are eligible for up to 20% off diapers, a 15% baby registration completion discount,
and a 20% “family essentials” discount when you order 5 or more items on Subscribe and Save
(15% S&S, 5% Amazon Mom).
One Click Service
“One-Click” is a patent owned by Amazon that allows a customer to make online
purchases with a single click. Customer payment information is saved from the first purchase,
which allows the online shopper to use the internet marketplace to purchase an item without
having to use the typical “shopping cart” feature.
Amazon Cloud Drive
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Amazon offers cloud drive technology that is accessible by Amazon.com account
holders. With the cloud drive, customers can store music, e-books, and other data, as well as
reduce their relevant IT costs in multiple ways.
Amazon Instant Video
Amazon Instant Video is a service that provides a digital streaming platform for movies
and television shows. Customers with access to Instant Video (typically through membership
with Prime or another program) can purchase and stream movies and television across a wide
range of titles.
Amazon App Store
The Amazon App Store serves as an online venue for developers and buyers to browse,
share, and purchase apps for devices ranging from laptop computers to smartphones. The apps
offered though this platform typically are most compatible with the Android operating system.
Amazon Cloud Player
Amazon Cloud Player is a technological service that allows customers and members to
sync and store their digital music files across numerous devices, like personal computers,
smartphones, and tablets. Purchases from Amazon’s own music marketplace (Amazon MP3) can
be instantly stored to the Amazon Cloud Player.
Amazon MP3
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Amazon MP3 is Amazon’s online music marketplace, which encompasses a huge
selection of albums and songs from various artists, all available for purchase in the mp3 file
format. Music files can be downloaded directly to the user’s device or stored online via
Amazon’s Cloud Player service.
Amazon.com Rewards
Amazon.com Rewards is a new service from Amazon. It is a credit card that is paired up
with Chase Bank. Applying for this card allows the user to receive instant free $30 gift card. The
user automatically receives instant credit the second the application has been accepted. No
annual fees are associated with the card. If the card is used on Amazon.com then the user will
receive 3x the points, if used at gas station, restaurants, and Movie Theaters gives 2x the points,
and using the card for any other purpose gives 1x the points.
Amazon Payments
Amazon Payments is a new service that Amazon.com now provides. Amazon payment
was created to compete directly against PayPal, owned by competitor eBay. The mission is to
create a user profile that saves all the user’s payment information. This profile can be used on
any other website that is associated with Amazon.com, which allows the user to only have to
manage one profile instead of individual profiles for each website.
Private labels
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Amazon owns and operates four private labels, and the items in each label appear in
search results and product rankings in the same way other products do surfaced on Amazon.com.
The following sections go into more detail regarding the product offerings of each label:

Pinzon
The Pinzon label applies to 600 home and garden items – including some bed and bath
items that overlap with another private label: Pike Street. The label is named after Vicente
Yanez Pinzo, the Spanish explorer who discovered the Amazon River. The Pinzon label
supposedly travels the world to find the best materials for their products, and designs form and
function and experience their style, craftsmanship and value

Strathwood
The Strathwood private label encompasses around 350 furniture items, such as couches,
chairs, tables, and other décor items. Specifically, this label associates itself with high-quality
furniture and décor items.

Denali
The Denali label applies to around 50 personal tools and hardware items. Such items
include: saws, drills, screwdrivers, power tool accessories, machines and machine tools.

Pike Street
The Pike Street label is used with about 150 bedding/bath items, including sheets,
towels, and full-body wraps/throws. The label derives its name from the iconic Pike Street in
Seattle, Washington.
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Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) are a collection of remote computing services that make
up the cloud-computing platform. Its primary uses are: computing, networking, storage and
content delivery, database, deployment, management, app services, and other miscellaneous
services. AWS is hosted across 9 geographical Regions; each Region is contained within a
single country and all of its data and services stay within the designated Region. Each Region
also has multiple Availability Zones, which are distinct data centers that provide all of Amazon
AWS services. The Zones are purposely isolated from each other to help prevent outages from
spreading between Zones. The following sections go into more detail about each service:
Computing
These services assist is the processing of large amounts of data for businesses, analysts, and
marketers.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR)
Networking
These services provide a highly available Domain Name System (DNS), which allows a
user to connect to networks that feed directly into the AWS data centers.

Amazon Route 53
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
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

AWS Direct Connect
Storage & Content Delivery
These services provide a very low cost, long-term storage option: Web Service based
storage, Cloud backup block, and it helps accelerate moving large amounts of data into and out
of AWS using portable storage devices.

Amazon CloudFront

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Amazon Glacier

AWS Storage Gateway

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)

AWS Import/Export
Database
These services provide a wide range data management options carried out through database
storage platforms.

Amazon DynamoDB

Amazon ElastiCache

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)

Amazon Redshift
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
Amazon SimpleDB

AWS Data Pipeline
Deployment
These services provide a file-based interface which allows the user to provide quick
deployment and management methods through the cloud.

Amazon CloudFormation

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

AWS OpsWorks
Management
These services provide tools and a web-based point-and-click interface, which manages and
monitors all Amazon infrastructures.

Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Amazon CloudWatch

AWS Management Console (AWS Console)
App Services
These services provide easy-to-use apps to help manage different business operations as
interfaced through Amazon.

Amazon CloudSearch

Amazon DevPay
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
Amazon Elastic Transcoder (ETS)

Amazon Flexible Payments Service (FPS)

Amazon Simple Email Service (SES)

Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)

Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)

Amazon Simple Workflow (SWF)
Miscellaneous
These services cover a wide range of needs, such as productivity management, gift card
distribution, and consultation on how to use AWS.

Amazon Fulfillment Web Service

Amazon Historical Pricing

Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk)

Amazon Product Advertising API

Amazon Gift Code on Demand (AGCOD) for Corporate Customers

AWS Partner Network (APN)
Innovation
Amazon is always trying to find ways to innovatively improve the way customer interact
with their brand. Recently some rumors and facts have been released stating that Amazon.com is
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working on some new products, new services, and better ways to satisfy their consumers. The
following sections go into more detail:
Amazon Entrepreneur Store
The Amazon Entrepreneur Store is a new service engine that is offered through
Amazon.com. It is designed to be a hub where every entrepreneur can go to in order to receive
special discounts and special services that help promote/advertise their company.
Amazon Prime Air
Amazon Prime Air is a new style of distribution for orders placed through Amazon.com.
The company has been developing a new way to deliver their packages within 30 minutes,
involving an unmanned drone that is capable of flying a package directly to the customer’s front
door 30 minutes after the purchase.
Amazon Mayday
Amazon Mayday button is a new service that Amazon has created and implemented in
their Kindle Fire devices. This feature allows the users of certain Kindle devices to directly
communicate with the Amazon.com customer help center. Once the button on the tablet is
pressed, an Amazon employee will pop up on the screen through a live feed. The employee then
can directly communicate with the user to help solve their problem, and if the user can’t figure it
out then the Amazon representative can take control their kindle device and walk the user
through the problem.
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Amazon Publisher
Amazon Publisher is a new service engine that is offered through Amazon.com. This
service allows any consumer to upload their own books. The user can select which style of
book they want (either hard bound or paper), how many books they want printed (personal
customizations offered), and helps get their books published/advertised.
Pricing Strategy
Amazon.com attracts over 48 million active customer accounts mostly through their
pricing strategy. Founder Jeff Bezos states “our objective remains offering low prices every day
and applying them broadly across our entire product range rather than discounting a small
number of products for a limited time.” Amazon uses the “value pricing strategy” which is
known as the every-day low pricing. Amazon has always offered the discount of 30% off any
book that is over $15. The other way Amazon differentiates their pricing in by adding valueadded services. These services include free shipping on nearly all orders over $25 or always free
shipping for its prime members. Amazon uses their Warehouse deals in order to offer discounts
on refurbished products. Many people calls Amazon’s pricing strategy a burden on the
company’s revenue. Bezos though looks at the strategy of maximizing long-term profits by
increasing market share. The long run and believe that what’s best for the customer will turn out
to be in the company’s best interest he quotes “Every time the math tells you that you shouldn’t
lower prices ‘because you’re going to make less money. That’s undoubtedly true in the current
quarter, in the current years. But it’s probably not true over a 10-year period, when the benefit is
going to increase the frequency with which your customers shop with you, the fraction of their
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purchases they do with you as opposed to other places. Their overall satisfaction is going to go
up.”
List prices
The list prices that are displayed for products on the Amazon.com website represent the
full retail price listed on the product, which is suggested by the manufacturer or supplier, or is
estimated in accordance with the standard industry.
Price Matching
Amazon will price-match purchases of televisions and cell phones with certain select
retailers and any of those items that are sold through their website. Amazon will not match price
any other products.
Pre-order price guarantee
The pre-order price guarantee applies to books, CDs, videos, DVDs, video games, or
software sold by Amazon.com, and not to items or their prices, which are offered by other sellers
on their site. The not-yet-released items can sometimes change between the time the item is
listed on the site and the time that it is released and shipped. The pre-order guarantee means that
the price the consumer is charged with it is the lowest priced offered by Amazon.com between
the time the order was placed and the end of the day on the release date.
Shopping Cart Prices
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The items that the consumer puts into their “shopping cart” will always display the most
recent price displayed for the item. Prices for the item(s) may fluctuate between the time the
consumer puts the item in their cart and the time the item is purchased. Placing an item in your
cart does not reserve the price shown at that time. Prices may increase or decrease before the
purchase is completed.
Free Shipping
All orders that are $35 or more qualify the consumer for free shipping. Free shipping is
basically standard shipping meaning orders will be delivered 5-8 business days after the item is
available to ship, including pre-ordered items. Oversized and extremely heavy items will result
in a special shipping surcharge. The surcharged varies depending on the size and weight of the
item. The surcharge is shown to the consumer in the Shipping and Handling subtotal on their
order form. Some items have a sourcing fee attached to them to help cover the expense of selling
that item. Amazon prime members will be benefited with free Two-day shipping on millions of
item sold on Amazon.com.
Distribution Strategy
Amazon has its corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washinton, which also serves as one of
its distribution centers. Some of their other locations are in: Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas,
Nevada; and Herdon, Virgina.
Amazon started in a 400 square-foot garage, eventually expanding to two 300,000
square-foot fulfillment centers. Currently, Amazon owns and operates 50 fulfilment centers that
encompass a total of roughly 26,000,000 square feet.
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In order to further improve the company’s methods of storage and distribution, Amazon
eventually hired former Walmart executives who specialized in managing distribution centers.
These two individuals were in charge of Walmart’s supply chain and its impressive distributions
strategy. As a result, Walmart filed a lawsuit against Amazon in an attempt to stop them from
implementing a similar strategy, though the suit was eventually settled outside of court.
With the help of these ex-Walmart executives, Amazon was able to develop an
immensely successful method of distributing its products between fulfillment centers and
between customers. In the process, the company also heavily utilized Information Technology to
revolutionize the way it managed its distribution. In fact, Amazon’s distribution center is
currently run in large part by Kiva robots: small but sturdy disc-shaped robots that efficiently
move entire shelves full of items to human workers who select the items needed for shipping.
Amazon ships customer orders through delivery partners like FedEx and UPS, and
customers have the options of choosing from standard shipping (3-5 days) and two-day shipping.
Both delivery options are guaranteed to arrive within the given time range. Amazon also offers
digital distribution: delivery a variety of media like music, e-books, and videos in roughly 60
seconds.
In regards to future endeavors in distribution and shipping strategy, Amazon has also
been planning to implement an initiative referred to as “Amazon Prime Air.” This initiative
would utilize flying drones to deliver qualifying items to customer’s homes, both serving as a
significant point of differentiation between Amazon and the way competitors ship their items,
and a key component in Amazon’s aspirational goal to deliver customer orders within 30
minutes.
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Communication Strategy
Amazon’s marketing and communication strategies strives to create an innovative,
customer-centric brand image. Through targeted online marketing channels including its
Associates program, sponsored search, portal advertising, email marketing campaigns, and other
marketing initiatives, Amazon has been able to direct customers to their websites and effectively
drive sales. Amazon associates itself with brick-and mortar stores by hosting and managing retail
web sites and high-tech companies to reinforce its reputation of being focused on the customer’s
experience. Moreover, Amazon sponsors events such as that National PTA reading program and
launches campaigns supporting community initiatives, including its Clean Up Ecuador
Campaign – all partially serving to create positive associations of the brand in consumers’
perspectives.
Advertising
When Amazon first started, it put lots of effort into offline advertising, including on TV
and on billboards. Amazon spent roughly $80 million in offline advertising campaigns in 1999;
10 years later it only spent $9.4 million. Drastic cuts have been in place in terms of offline
advertising. Instead, Amazon has been mainly focusing on online advertising. With Amazon
Web Services (AWS) XML service, associates, and third-party sellers, Amazon has been able to
drive a large amount of traffic to its websites.
Word of mouth
Many customers, especially those who shop online, rely on product reviews to get
informed before making a purchasing decision. Amazon has successfully facilitated and provided
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customers reviews on its website to help customers make purchase decisions. These reviews, in
addition, help build the trust between Amazon and its customers. Well-displayed reviews with
visuals may very likely have served to significantly improve the conversion rate of Amazon
customers.
Customer tracking & Email marketing campaigns
Amazon understands the power of email marketing in terms of driving revenue.
According to a research conducted by the IAB, Amazon is the most popular email marketer with
consumers in the UK. By tracking customers’ online activities, Amazon is able to personalize
customers’ shopping experiences. They have sections including “recommendations for you”,
“related to items you have viewed” etc., and then they do personalized email marketing
campaigns with recommendations relevant to you afterwards. Because they know their
customers very well, they are able to compile email campaigns that resonate with customers’
personal needs.
Social
Social networks have helped Amazon drive sales through online posts are promotions. It
is reported that Amazon attracts an average of 417 comments per Facebook post, the 12th most
among major retailers. On Twitter, it has an average 48 retweets per post, the 9th most.
Moreover, Amazon has almost 4 million visitors click from social networks to its websites.
Besides driving traffic through social networks, Amazon has implemented social elements into
its own sites; for example, the wish list feature. Amazon sees the use of social media networks as
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a way to crowd-source product information to better personalize customers’ shopping
experiences. Its social marketing efforts help Amazon build its customer-centric brand imagery.
Associates & Partnerships
Currently, Amazon operates websites such like Zappos.com and drugstore.com as a result
of its acquisition efforts. Amazon also hosts retail web sites like Sears Canada and Marks &
Spencer. By doing so, Amazon has been able to place links on their partners’ websites to direct
customers to Amazon’s websites. Moreover, some third-party Associates selling their own
products via Amazon will place these links on their own websites as well. Recently, Amazon has
been approaching to some brick-and mortar stores including Neiman Marcus and
Abercrombie&Fitch, and they are discussing the possibility of featuring these retailers’ products
on Amazon websites.
Amazon also links itself to high tech companies especially in the B2B space through
AWS. In 2006, Amazon started to offer IT services by partnering with companies including Cap
Gemini SA to BMC software Inc. First quarter of 2012, Amazon has a little fewer than 1,000
partners, while it has more than 4,000 members now. Amazon Partner Network (APN) helps
Amazon build the trust of the brand and attract big enterprises.
Customer Services
Amazon, known as the most customer-centric company on earth, has put a great deal of
efforts in developing its website interface, optimizing its search engine, enhancing its
relationships with customers to offer customers delightful shopping experiences. Its recent
“Mayday” live support and promise of “delivery within half an hour” promise are both consistent
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with its core values. All of its marketing strategies appear in some respect to be designed to build
its relationship with customers.
BRAND EXPLORATORY
Consumer Knowledge Structures
Amazon has successfully leveraged its core values with technological innovation to
become known as the most customer-centric online retailer in the world. When thinking about
Amazon, consumers tend to come up with positive associations including “reliable, secure,
cheap, trustworthy, customer-centric, fast, convenient, variety” (these results obtained from our
own surveys and experiments). However, some consumers may also think of Amazon as a big,
multinational corporation, not friendly in many ways. They also might think of Amazon’s
customer services as not consistent sometimes. The figure below shows a hypothetical mental
map for the Amazon brand.
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In 2011, Amazon was rated the top in the National Retail Federation Customers’ Choice
Awards, an award honoring retailers across all channels and formats for their outstanding
customer service based on data collected from 9,374 shoppers. Amazon was ranked the top, and
Zappos, an Amazon-owned company, was the third; while Nordstorm was ranked the 10th.
Other research conducted by Forrester in 2012 shows that 30% of all online shoppers
start their product research from Amazon, and this figure surpass Google’s 13%. 86% of
Americans who have had online shopping experiences purchased from Amazon before. More
recent research conducted by Nielson shows that Amazon is the No.1 mobile destination among
mass merchants. And 53% of mobile web/app users in October last year shopped on
Amazon.com, and this number far surpasses Walmart Stores’ 13%.
Brand Resonance Pyramid
When analyzing the degree of brand resonance occurring in association with the Amazon
brand, and comparing the results to the brand resonance pyramid model, it would appear at first
glance that Amazon’s pyramid is well balanced, and that there is a great level of correlation
between the rational side and the emotional side. What Amazon is trying to offer – delightful
customer experiences – is perceived by its customers and transferred to their imagery and
feelings about brand Amazon. Amazon has been trying to build trust with its customers through
having product reviews, personalizing shopping experiences via customer tracking and email
campaigns and various partnership programs.
In return, all efforts have mostly paid off. Customers see Amazon as a secure, trustworthy
and likeable brand – the strongest associations aligning with the rational component of brand
resonance. However, based on our own survey of consumer perceptions on Amazon, we found
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that the right side – the emotional portion of brand resonance – may not be as strong as we
originally thought. Based on our results, as well as data retrieved from other online research by
companies such as Interbrand and Deloitte, it would seem that consumers will choose Amazon
first for shopping online, but they don’t claim that they are loyal to the brand. In other words,
Amazon customers may act loyal, but they don’t feel loyal; a majority of the resonance
experienced by Amazon customers revolves around the performance aspect of the brand. This
may put Amazon in a vulnerable position when facing future competition. Amazon needs to put
more efforts in terms of building its customer community. Our recommendations will reflect on
this point in later sections of this paper.
In addition, the pyramid is strongly built from the bottom salience to the top. There is a
high repeat purchase rate and high customer advocacy rates for brand Amazon. Amazon has
successfully linked its services/products attributes and the imagery/feeling associated with
shopping on Amazon.
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Competitive Analysis
Amazon faces a staggering amount of competition both directly and indirectly, given its
market share across multiple industries. A very wide offering of products and multiple brand
extensions place Amazon competitively in industries involving web & data services (B2B, B2C),
consumer technology, multimedia hosting and streaming, booksellers, catalog-based retail, and
more. Amazon’s direct competitors - as posited by company data reporting companies like
Hoovers Inc. and Yahoo! - mainly consist of Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Inc.
Indirectly, there are many more competitors in various product and service categories, but two
prominent companies are Google and Netflix. Internationally, Amazon could face future
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competition from other e-commerce companies like Tmall.com, located in China. The following
analyses break down each of these competitors in more detail.
Direct Competitors

Walmart - Large-scale retail services

Barnes & Noble - Catalogues and orders for books, ebooks.

Apple - Personal electronic media devices
Walmart
Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, and from the very beginning was
positioned as a general goods retailer designed with the consumer’s best interest in mind.
Walton’s plan to generate higher volume sales at a lower profit margin, while passing on the
savings to customers through low prices, resulted in rapid growth. By 1970 Wal-Mart was
officially incorporated with more than 30 stores across the U.S.A. and generating more than $30
million worth of sales. To this day, over 50 percent of Walmart – now posting sales in the
billions – is privately owned by the Walton family.
Much like Amazon, Walmart operates on building a strong, lasting relationship with the
average consumer, but through uniquely low prices and a wide offering of consumer goods.
Walmart’s positioning is made clear in their company slogan: “Save Money. Live Better.” ,
which is blazoned inside and outside brick & mortar stores, on reusable shopping bags, and in
their television, print, and online advertisements.
Walmart’s competitive pricing strategy sets the company apart from many other valuefocused retailers. Walmart also owns and operates stores targeted towards different segments of
consumers, including Sam’s Club, Walmart Discount Stores, and Walmart Supercenter. Through
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a complex and carefully monitored logistics plan, Walmart succeeds in delivering convenience
and value to their customers at their physical store locations.
Barnes & Noble
The first operating form of the Barnes & Noble bookstore was founded in 1886 as Arthur
Hinds & Company. Over time ownership shifted between family, and then between
businessmen, and it was Leonard Riggio in the early 1970’s who restructured and thereby
founded the current Barnes & Noble brand. It soon after became officially known as “The
World’s Largest Bookstore.” It went on in 1974 to be the first bookstore to advertise on
television, and later, the first bookseller in the U.S. to discount books. Continuing the trend of
innovation, Barnes & Noble more recently launched an online catalog and website for selling
books, breaking into the e-book product category and further establishing itself as a book &
related media superstore.
Barnes & Noble is positioned as the largest bookseller in the United States, as well as a
“superstore” for books and media. The company has aligned its brand well with students, who
benefit from discounts on textbooks and related materials. Brick & mortar locations feature a
warm and comfortable setting, many with a Starbuck’s cafe attached, promoting a sense of
personal space and making customers feel at home, thereby connecting with consumers on a
deeper level.
Barnes & Noble offers a wide range of media, ranging from books and cd’s to its Nook ereader. The company originally used print catalogues to showcase their product selections and
discounted items, but now relies on the popularity of online catalogues for a large portion of its
sales. Brick & mortar locations work in tandem with the Barnes & Noble website and online
store to establish the company as a market leader in the bookselling and mail-order industry.
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Apple
Founded in April of 1976, Apple started out with the mission to build and sell personal
computers. Their first product was a motherboard called the Apple I, followed by the Apple II
which featured an open programming architecture and unprecedented color graphics. The startup
grew rapidly at a rate of around 700% during the first 5-6 years of operation. In 1984 Apple
released the Macintosh personal computer, which sold well and established Apple as a market
leader in the personal computer industry. In recent years Apple has expanded into other
consumer electronics product categories, having creating the immensely successful iPod music
player, iPhone smartphone, and the iPad tablet computer, all the while continuing its powerful
line of Mac computers and software.
From the very beginning, Apple has associated itself with innovation and uniqueness.
The Apple I-III series of computers challenged the technological styling of IBM and other
computer makers at the time, and established the Apple brand as imaginative and revolutionary.
This identification was communicated in their former slogan “Think Differently,” which as
featured prominently on images of revolutionary figures from history like Pablo Picasso, Albert
Einstein, and Nelson Mandela. Apple has embraced and maintained their image of being unique
and continues to promote it across their product lines, effectively passing on feelings of
belonging and uniqueness to their customers.
Apple has maintained a strong, consistent design for all of its products and store
locations: smooth texture, rounded edges, prominent logos, minimalist features, and pristine
cleanliness. Such consistency is also present in their website and advertisements, ultimately
creating a gestalt to strongly establish Apple’s brand image in consumer minds. Apple’s flagship
product offerings are the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Macbook laptop series. All of these products
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are sold in their brick and mortar locations called the “Apple Store,” located in most
metropolitan hubs.
Indirect Competitors

Google - Search engine, web & data management

eBay - Online retailer
Google
Google was founded in 1998 with its flagship offering being a search engine. In time, the
company incorporated advertising based on certain keywords, which became Google’s primary
source of revenue. They built upon their search engine by patenting their PageRank service in
2001 which further allowed for search-based advertising. Recently, Google has expanded into
the web services category, offering cloud storage, website management, analytics management,
and global positioning navigation.
Much of Google’s image is influenced by their company motto, “Don’t be evil.” It
succinctly sums up Google’s values: friendly, good-natured, and responsible. Through their
colorful, minimalist search engine website and logo, Google associated their brand with
imaginative thought and being connected to everything.
Google has become a much more prominent company after expanding into the web
services industry. It’s Google Analytics service is one of its most widely used services, building
off of the brand’s experience with keyword and search-based advertising. By offering storage
and data management programs to consumers, Google has resonated in consumer minds as a
brand that is efficient, convenient, and helpful.
eBay
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eBay started as an online auction site in 1995, succeeding quickly in part due to the dotcom bubble. While the auction site originally started as a side hobby for its founder, Pierre
Omidyar, heavy traffic and usage prompted him to turn the site into a full-on business operation
and start charging users. eBay had reached two million auctions only two years later (1997), and
in 1998 the company went public, making the founder and President of eBay instant billionaires.
More recently, eBay has incorporated more straightforward shopping options, and now allows
users to bid and sell a variety of items from laser pointers to cars.
Despite its origins as a hobby site, eBay was created with the idea that as a platform it
could facilitate a perfect market, or at least a more ideal market determined by consumers who
bid on various items. This idea of perfect and revolutionized commerce is what has positioned
eBay as a prolific auction site. By giving consumers power over what prices are set on which
items, and when and where they can sell them, eBay passes on the value of ideal commerce,
suited to a consumer’s respective tastes.
This positioning is further reinforced by eBay’s acquisitions, which include a variety of
innovative technology startups focused on influencing or aiding in commercial behavior, such as
PayPal, StubHub, and Craigslist. These services give more control to consumers in making
purchase decisions online, thus driving eBay’s brand image of leading the way into the next
generation of commerce.
Other Indirect Competitors

Yahoo!

Microsoft

IBM

Facebook
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
Netflix

Hulu

Target

Kmart

Sears

Etc.
International Competitors

Alibaba Group - e-commerce, C2C, B2C, and B2B platforms (China)

Shop Direct Group - multi-brand online retailer (U.K.)

Otto GmbH & Co KG - e-commerce (Germany)
Tmall.com
Tmall.com was first introduced in 2008 as a B2C e-commerce platform focused more on
brand-name goods and improved shopping experience, rather than independent vendors or C2C
goods. The site was originally owned and launched by Taobao, a specifically C2C online
shopping platform, which was owned by the even larger Alibaba Group. in 2011 Tmall.com
became its own operation, and since then has carried products of a wide range fo brands,
inclusing Adidas, P&G, Lenovo, and Samsung. The site has also battled counterfeiters and
received consumer backlash for raised prices. Neverheless, Tmall.com holds onto roughly 50%
market share in the Chinese B2C space.
While operating mainly in China, Tmall.com is positioned to compete heavily with other
e-commerce companies like Amazon.com. Tmall offers buyers the chance to instant message or
chat with sellers and their customer service teams prior to their purchase, establishing the Tmall
brand as on that is closely associated with personalized customer service. Tmall is also
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positioned as all-encompassing brand, offering products in a wide array of categories from
furniture to consumer electronics.
Tmall.com currently serves customers in mainland China and surrounding geographic
areas. While not heavily involved in international markets, Tmall.com - and its owner company,
Alibab Group - has experienced growth and revenues rivaling that of U.S. companies like
Amazon and eBay.
STRATEGIC REVIEW & RECOMMENDATIONS
Positioning
Amazon has successfully secured a strong placement in consumers’ minds by providing
an easy-to-use shopping platform and highly-attentive customer service, as well as driving
innovation in e-commerce and distribution strategies. As a result, the Amazon brand is strongly
associated with convenience, reliability, warmth, and customer-centricity. The Amazon brand
has established a feeling of trust between consumers and the company, leading to consistent
brand resonance and repeat purchases from a large number of consumers.
Points-of-Parity
Amazon has much in common with other online and physical retailers, such as valuebased pricing, wide selection of product categories, and a focus on customer experience (i.e.
Walmart, Barnes & Noble). The Amazon brand also shares many similarities with technology
companies, like media distribution, tablet devices, and web services (i.e. Apple, Google). All of
these companies devote much of their energy to creating a unique customer experience and
providing good prices on a wide variety of goods, and they are often among the first choices of
consumers in the online retail and media device shopping categories.
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Points-of-Difference
Amazon stands out from their competitors primarily with their intimate level of customer
service, offering a highly-personalized shopping experience and incredibly fast and genuine
assistance from customer support. The brand also stands out due to its focus on innovative
solutions using technology, such as using robots in distribution centers and drones to deliver
packages, all with the goal of getting the product to the customer faster. By communicating the
reliable and friendly nature of their brand through their “smile” logo, careful advertising, and
direct customer service, the Amazon brand has risen to the forefront of consumer minds.
Brand Mantra: “Customer-Centric, Innovative Solutions”
Points-of-Parity
Points of Difference

e-commerce

Customer relationships

Digital media

Innovative technology

Innovative image

EC2

Value-based Pricing

Prime membership

Customer focus

Wide brand portfolio
Brand Mantra
From the very beginning, Amazon has leveraged technological innovation to provide
convenient, quality service to its customers. Amazon has continued to stay ahead of the curve
with innovative solutions, all with the customer’s best interest in mind. In doing so, the brand has
created a culture of customer-centricity and revolutionary ideas, spread across all of its
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acquisitions as well. For these reasons, a fitting brand mantra for Amazon might be: “CustomerCentric, Innovative Solutions.”
Tactical Recommendations
Having taken all aspects and analyses of the Amazon brand into consideration, there are
many conclusions about the company's strategic approach that can be made. The following
sections describe the strategic and tactical recommendations we have made based on our
research and close inspection of the Amazon brand.
Bolster Brand Image and Feelings
Perhaps the most significant and pressing issue in regards to Amazon’s brand
management is the way consumers feel about the brand. This audit has posited that consumers
tend to resonate on the performance aspect of the Amazon brand; its reliability, trustworthiness,
and ease-of-use. What occurs as a result is false brand resonance: behavior like repeat purchasing
is present, but the emotional attachment is not. It would be in Amazon’s best interest to leverage
their existing connections to customers to communicate more on the emotional side of the brand,
as well as improve their current social media approaches to embrace a more emotional-focused
approach – currently most of Amazon’s social media efforts are purely promotional. If Amazon
can secure the emotional attachment to their brand, they can count on strong long-term success.
Anticipate Back to Basics
There is a discernable pattern among growing companies in the United States: that after a
period of exponential growth a brand can become overextended and thereby suffers in the
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market. The best course of action tends to be a “back-to-basics” approach for these companies,
spurring recovery of brand equity. Amazon has experienced a huge amount of growth, and has
extended their branding across a very wide range of product categories, like computer
accessories, web services, household items, clothes-hangers, media devices, and groceries. It can
therefore be argued that, having observed clear growth and extension within the Amazon brand
and considering the precedent of other companies, Amazon may want to prepare for a “back-tobasics” approach in the near future.
Expand into Smartphones & Tablets
This idea would seem to be supported by existing rumors, but it could be in Amazon’s
best interest to extend their brand into the smartphone and tablet product categories. Usage of
smart devices is trending among different demographics of U.S. and international consumers,
and roughly 74 million users were recorded as visiting Amazon sites via a mobile device or
mobile app. Based on Amazon’s unrelenting focus on customer experience and technological
innovation, the brand could effectively be used as leverage to successfully penetrate the
smartphone and tablet markets, as well and generate significant returns on investment in terms of
both finances and brand equity.
Re-Position Internationally
As demonstrated in the competitive analysis section, foreign e-commerce compaines like
Tmall.com could be quite formidable competitors for Amazon if they were to enter the global
market. When considering the particular possibility of Chinese companies entering global
markets, Amazon may want to study such companies to determine potential points-of-parity and
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points-of-difference, and strategize for preserving their brand’s share in the e-commerce market
in the future.
Consider Consolidating Brand Extensions
While many of Amazon’s extensive product and service offerings have experienced a
healthy amount of profitability and success, the company also runs the risk of diluting its brand
value by overextending their brand and offerings. Many of the services offered by Amazon can
be considered to be unheard of in the minds of some consumers, and what seems to be a B2B
focus on the part of Amazon could lead to more expansions of its brand, as well as more risk.
Amazon may want to seriously consider evaluating its brand portfolio and trimming the fat to
ensure its brand does not become weakened by overextension.
CONCLUSION
Amazon has associated its brand strongly with customer-centricity, convenience, and
innovation. Such associations have been reinforced by its wide range of product and service
offerings, which are all designed to give customers a genuinely better experience.
Though this brand audit has identified some potential issues – mainly regarding weak
emotional resonance, overextension, and oncoming competitors – the Amazon brand is strongly
positioned in markets and in minds, and stands capable of leveraging its many sources of brand
equity to correct such issues. Such source of equity include channels of direct communication
with existing customers, high levels of repeat usage and awareness, and the strong association
between Amazon and reliability.
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Time will tell whether or not Amazon will decide to act on the issues identified in this
brand audit, but according to our analysis and evaluation of the Amazon brand, the sooner they
act, the better off the brand will be in terms of strong resonance with consumers.
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APPENDIX
TIMELINE OF EVENTS (2010-2013)
2013
September

Introduces Kindle Fire HDX

Introduces New $139 Kindle Fire HD

Announces Mayday Button - Revolutionary On-Device Tech Support

Announces Fire OS 3.0 “Mojito”

Introduces 6th Generation Kindle Paperwhite

Introduces “Kindle Matchbook”
August

Launches Mexico Kindle Store

Prime Instant Video Greenlights Original Children’s Pilot Maker Shack Agency

Amazon Launches Mobile Associates API

Introduces Amazon Art

Amazon Instant Video Wins Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
July

Amazon Creates More Than 5,000 New Jobs Across U.S. Fulfillment Network

Announces Second Quarter Sales up 22% to $15.70 Billion

Introduces “The Kindle Singles Interview”

Amazon Publishing Launches Jet City Comics
June

Announce Best Books of 2013
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
Announces Amazon Birthday Gift

Introduces Amazon Storyteller
May

Announces Login with Amazon

Amazon Appstore for Android Open in Nearly 200 Countries Worldwide

Amazon Publishing Introduces “Kindle Worlds”

Amazon Web Services Achieves FedRAMP Compliance for AWS GovCloud (U.S.) and
All U.S. Regions
April

Amazon Web Services Announces Launch of Certification Program for AWS Cloud
Computing Professionals

Announces First Quarter Sales up 22% to $16.07 Billion

Introduces 50+ Active and Healthy Living Store
March

Acquires Goodreads

Launches Kindle Fire HD 8.9” in Europe and Japan
February

Announces Entertainment Collectibles Store

Amazon Web Services launches AWS OpsWorks

Introduces Amazon Coins

Amazon Cloud Player Available in Ford SYNC Applink-equipped Vehicles
January

Announces Three Fulfillment Centers in Texas

Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 22% to $21.27 Billion
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
Announces Acquisition of IVONA Software

Announces its Third Fulfillment Center in California

Amazon MP3 Store Makes 22-Million Song Catalog Available to iPhone and iPod touch
Users for the First Time

Introduces “Amazon AutoRip”

Opens Fulfillment Center in Robbinsville
2012
December

Announces For the Eighth Consecutive Year, Amazon Ranks #1 in Customer Satisfaction
During the Holiday Shopping Season

Amazon Web Services Introduces New Amazon EC2 High Storage Instance Family

Prime Instant Video Greenlights Six Original Series Pilots for Production

Announces Kindle Available From Livraria da Vila And Pontofrio.com.br

Announces Fulfillment Center in DuPont

Launches Friends & Family Gifting

Introduces “Kindle FreeTime Unlimited”

AWS Marketplace Announces Support for Software Running on Microsoft Windows®
November

Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Redshift

Announces Worldwide Kindle Device Sales More Than Double Last Year’s Record Over
Holiday Shopping Weekend

Launches Video Gift Cards

Introduces Amazon Wine
October

Announces Third Quarter Sales up 27% to $13.81 Billion
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
Introduces “Kindle for Windows 8”

Announces Whispercast for Kindle

Amazon Studios Options First Novel
September

Amazon Web Services Launches Reserved Instance Marketplace

Introduces “X-Ray for Movies”

Amazon Publishing Introduces Kindle Serials

Introduces the New Kindle Fire HD Family

Introduces the New Kindle Paperwhite
August

Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Glacier

Launches Textbook Rental
July

Announces Second Quarter Sales up 29% to $12.83 Billion

Amazon Web Services Introduces New Amazon EC2 High I/O Instance Type

Introduces GameCircle

Introduces Game Connect
June

Opens Portal for International Mobile App Distribution

Amazon Publishing Acquires Avalon Books
May

Amazon Studios to Develop Original Comedy and Children’s Series for Amazon Instant
Video

Amazon Web Services Launches Dynamic Content Support in Amazon CloudFront
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
Amazon Web Services Announces First Global Customer and Partner Conference: AWS
re: Invent
2011
December

Amazon Web Services Launches Brazil Datacenters for Its Cloud Computing Platform

Introduces KDP Select

Amazon Publishing to Acquire Marshall Cavendish US Children’s Books Titles
November

Introduces The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
October

Announces Third Quarter Sales up 44% to $10.88 Billion
September

Introduces Amazon Silk

Introduces Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G

Kindle Books Available at Thousands of Local Libraries
August

Amazon Web Services Announces Global Rollout of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud
(Amazon VPC)

Introduces Kindle Cloud Reader
July

Announces Second Quarter Sales up 51% to $9.91 Billion

Endless.com Announces International Shipping to over 50 Countries Worldwide
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
AT&T to Sponsor Kindle 3G
June

Launches AmazonLocal

John Locke Becomes First Independently Published Author to Join the "Kindle Million
Club"
May

Announces MYHABIT.COM

Amazon.com Now Selling More Kindle Books Than Print Books
April

Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 36% to $12.95 Billion

Announces Amazon Deals App

Acquires LOVEFiLM International Limited
March

Introduces Amazon Appstore for Android

Introduces Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Amazon Cloud
Player for Android
February

Amazon.com Announces Prime Instant Videos, a New Benefit for Prime Members

Amazon Web Services Introduces AWS CloudFormation
January

Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 36% to $12.95 Billion

Announces Amazon Deals App
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
Acquires LOVEFiLM International Limited
2010
December

Announces $175 Million Investment in LivingSocial

Announces Kindle for the Web
November

Launches Amazon Studios

Introduces Price Check by Amazon

Launches Amazon.it (Italy)
October

Announces Third Quarter Sales up 39% to $7.56 Billion

Acquires BuyVIP.com

Introduces Heidi Klum for New Balance Collection

Endless.com Launches Jewelry Category
September

Introduces Amazon Mom Program

Launches Kindle for the Web
August

Announces "Your Kindle Commercial Contest"
July

Announces Second Quarter Sales up $41% to $6.57 Billion
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
Announces new generation Kindle
June

Launches Wheels Store

Announces IMDB Everywhere initiative
May

Announces Shopping App for iPad

Introduces Kindle for Android

Launches Amazon WebStore
April

Announces Kindle App for iPad

Announces First Quarter Sales up 46% to $7.13 Billion
March

Introduces Kindle for Mac
February

Announces Kindle for BlackBerry
January

Introduces Kindle DX with global wireless

Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 42% to $9.5 Billion
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Survey Results
The following survey was created by this group and administered to individuals within our own
personal networks and on Knox College campus. Sent out through Surveymonkey.com, we
received 88 responses over the course of two weeks. While not explicitly designed to industry
standards, the results still appeared to yield significant trends or implications regarding consumer
behavior and preferences. The results are as follows:
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“Amazon” = 55
“eBay” = 20
“Target” = 13
“Walmart” = 10
*Many respondents entered multiple answers
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*This displays only a segment of
responses
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Links and References
History
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-Mediakit_pf
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/resources/directory/company/amazon
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/09/the-future-of-amazon-ambitious-diverse-and-expansve/
http://www.amazon.com/Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node=239364011
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97664&p=irol-reportsAnnual
Amazon Strategies
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-news&nyo=0
http://prezi.com/cufd6_g-yghq/copy-of-amazon-marketing-strategy/
http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/Amazon
http://www.slideshare.net/hetmavani/amazon-brand-management
http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel/amazoncom-the-hidden-empire
http://www.slideshare.net/nik123hil/brand-management-study-of-amazon?qid=ea651629decc-4dbd-9a2e-3a96fd8b31b0&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1
http://www.slideshare.net/Puja79/business-strategy-amazon-puja-mishra
http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenuemodels/amazon-case-study/
http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/jeff-bezos-and-the-age-of-amazonexcerpt-from-the-everything-store-by-bradstone?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=10%20Things%20In%20T
ech%20You%20Need%20To%20Know&utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20%28sai%29%3
A%2010%20Things%20You%20Need%20To%20Know%20This%20Morning%20In%20Te
ch
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http://www.asiamarketresearch.com/columns/market3.htm
Charts and Statistics
http://www.statista.com/statistics/216657/market-capitalization-of-us-tech-and-internetcompanies/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/287961/e-commerce-revenue-share-of-leading-e-retailersworldwide/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/200626/percentage-of-visits-to-top-retail-websites-oncyber-monday/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/244013/share-of-global-b2c-e-commerce-sales-in-northamerica/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/209331/largest-us-internet-companies-by-market-cap/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/255219/tablet-usage-by-brand/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/269934/the-worlds-25-most-valuable-brands-by-brandequity/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/264875/brand-value-of-the-25-most-valuable-brands/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/236751/brand-equity-of-e-reader-brands-in-the-unitedstates/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/223101/e-reader-ownership-in-the-us-by-device-type/
http://www.statista.com/statistics/243735/number-of-unique-visitors-to-leading-ussmartphone-properties/
Communication
http://chevrontoxico.com/about/amazon-watch-campaign/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/09/24/6-things-online-retailers-can-learn-fromamazon/
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http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenuemodels/amazon-case-study/
http://www.marketingplan.net/amazon-com-marketing-strategies/2/
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/21729/3-Marketing-Lessons-From-Amazon-sWeb-Strategy.aspx
http://blog.getvero.com/6-lessons-you-can-learn-from-amazons-killer-email-marketing/
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/jeff-bezos-explains-step-amazons-strategy-hardest-coolestpart/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFYHF1w8w3g
http://www.chrisnosal.com/the-secret-amazon-marketing-strategy/
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2010/id20100412_520351.htm
http://money.howstuffworks.com/amazon.htm
Competitive Landscape
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=AMZN+Competitors
http://www.hoovers.com/companyinformation/cs/competition.Amazoncom_Inc.ef53c3d095de033c.html
http://www.ebayinc.com/who_we_are/one_company
http://ebay.about.com/od/sellingeffectivel1/a/Ten-Reasons-To-Choose-Ebay-Over-AmazonFor-Selling.htm
http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/history/bn_history.html
http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/history/
https://www.apple.com/about/
http://extras.denverpost.com/books/chap0411h.htm
http://www.google.com/about/company/
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International
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/brand-audit-amazon/4006645.article
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/12/lush-trademarks-cosmetics-amazonchristoper-north
http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/01/29/amazons-asia-strategy-be-patient
Products & Services
http://www.fastcompany.com/1379759/amazon-basics-branding-advice-jeff-bezos-11marketing-experts
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/amazon-unveils-brand-pages-145368
http://apparel.edgl.com/news/Brand-Strategy-at-Amazon-com62944
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/16/jeff-bezos-amazon/
Future & Innovation
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/amazons-future-not-selling-stuff/
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jeff-bezos-tells-amazon-customers-expect-homedelivery-drones-v21710134
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/what-if-amazon-delivery-drone-crashes-me-6other-key-f2D11673677
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130219143928-29478030-will-sales-taxesdrive-amazon-customers-away
http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/01/20/amazon-adds-mind-reading-its-bag-tricks
http://www.internetretailer.com/trends/e-retailers/
http://voices.yahoo.com/amazon-looking-beyond-online-marketing-communications3178239.html
http://richmackey.com/2012/11/a-lost-opportunity-to-demonstrate-brand-personality/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KRjuuEVEZs
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