I have to admit I am an Amazon addict. Almost everyday I surf this website looking for new offers in several products and I have bought almost everything through this company: books, perfumes, electronic gadgets and even the case of my laptop are among the goods I have acquired through them. But why have I become such a fanatic of this company? the answer, they have decoded and even anticipated my taste.
Like I do, there are a lot of people that purchase almost everything through Amazon and talking to them I could find several reasons we share:
1. First of all, security. When you buy in Amazon you know the system is safe and that you are not going to experience any kind of trouble with your credit card balance.
2. Reliability: what you order is what you get! this helps to relax the customer experience which it is not a sure thing in the internet.
3. The "wish list": I think this is one of the most successful features Amazon has. This feature allows customers to share their favorite products. This has allowed Amazon to hear their customers as not other retailer company has done before. See link below.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_43/b4152047039565.htm
4. Relevance of the customers opinions: I think it is very brave and bold from Amazon to permit their customers not only to post their opinions of the items acquired through this website, but to grade them. In my opinion this makes easier the buying experience because one can rely in the other buyers opinion and decide to purchase or not. See link below.
http://www.davechaffey.com/E-commerce-Internet-marketing-case-studies/Amazon-case-study/
5. Marketplace: the participation in this e-market encourages people to do business through a safety and reliable environment. It is amazing how easy it is to access to this feature and be able to sell again goods you purchased previously through this website. See link below.
http://www.writing-world.com/promotion/amazon.shtml
6. Post-sale customer service: one of the main reasons why this company has earned my trust and fidelity; it is wonderful not only to receive confirmation of your purchase and to be able to track your order, but to receive news from possible items that generally match your taste. I know this might seem obvious, but every time I receive in my email offers from Wall-Mart or Staple, just to mention two examples, it really annoys me to watch several products that does not match my taste. Therefore these emails go straight to the Trash folder without even checking them.
Finally, as I mentioned in my last blog, behind successful companies like this one there is always an integral organizational system that back up the marketing efforts; so this is not just the outcome of an e-marketing strategy, but the entire work of several coherent strategies.
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Ricardo, I completely agree with you. I am not an Amazon addict like you but I am an Ebay addict which is very similar, except for the type of business model; Amazon is an e-tailer while Ebay is a market creator. I not only get great deals on the goods that I purchase but I feel like I am being treated like a good customer when I am making my transactions.
ReplyDeleteWhen i first bought something off of Ebay I was not sure if it was going to arrive in time, or if my good (webcam) was going to be of good quality, or if someone was going to get my credit card information an all that because I was a first time online buyer. Knowing how much credit card fraud and all the corruption that takes place online I was scared but went on to buy anyway because the item was really cheap. It was secure, reliable and there was great customer service overall.
Ebay has a paypal system which links to your bank account giving security assurance because you can always check your balances with you bank an ansure no additional charges are deducted. Every time I order I get exactly what I paid for and this keeps me buying because I know I can always get exactly what I want and pay for. Throughout the process of my transactions, I would get emails giving me the arrival times and track my orders. One time my good was late because it was backordered and coming from China and the seller informed me every step of the way where the good was, why it was late and asked if there was anything he could do for me in the mean time. Ebay encourages their sellers to do this by allowing for ratings of buyers and sellers. Since nobody wants bad ratings, to avoid bad business, sellers usually have excellent customer service.
Even though Ebay is a different type of company than Amazon, you can clearly see the similarities in them successfully decoding consumer behavior. Their efficiencies encourage consumers to keep coming back to buy because of the reliabilty and great customer service. It is like Ricardo says, it is not just about the e-marketing strategies but the combination of several coherent strategies along with successful e-marketing that makes a company successful.
i think the most relevant thing behind amazon's success is the 2nd point you mentioned "Reliability: what you order is what you get! this helps to relax the customer experience which it is not a sure thing in the internet." there are hundreds of companies that are out there trying to replicate Amazon's business model, but amazon is now so well established in the mind of the consumer, we just trust amazon.. And that is one of the most important things that and new company that wants to do the same business should focus on...
ReplyDeleteAmazon core advantage is that they know how to keep their costumers checking their website very often. They know what people want and how they want it. The platform is very user friendly and the idea of the Wish List I think is awesome. Once you start buying in Amazon you wont stop doing it. They are continously sending you daily, weekly, monthly offers to your email that you cant omit. I think this company will continue as #1 for many years due to their efford to keep your purchase as a positive experience.
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