project 3 ppoint

TJ 4

Project Milestone 1

TJ Smith

MKT 5260.E1

Professor Dr. Kyle Allison

06/24/2022

Project Milestone 1

Selected Company and Product/Service for the Project

The company that I desire to work on in this project is Amazon. The service that I will focus on is e-commerce.

Synopsis of the Company and its Targeted Customers

Amazon is a multinational technology company, which has various businesses including e-commerce, digital streaming, and cloud computing. Amazon's e-commerce platform is referred to as the Amazon Marketplace. This platform enables third parties to sell products at a fixed price alongside the regular offerings of Amazon. According to Wells, Danskin, and Ellsworth (2018), Amazon’s targeted customers are comprised of the upper and middle-class consumers who own smart devices or home computers. These individuals mostly fall between the ages of 18 and 44 years. 60 percent of the target market is made up of people from the United States (Terry-Armstrong, 2019). Additionally, Amazon’s targeted customers are individuals who prefer online shopping due to its competitive prices, fast delivery, and convenience compared to the traditional brick-and-mortar stores (Wells, Danskin, & Ellsworth).

Real-World Marketing and Business Challenge

A real-world marketing and business challenge that Amazon is currently facing is the growing competition in the e-commerce space. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the e-commerce wave was starting to slowly take up the shape with many people acknowledging the promise of e-commerce over the regular markets. However, the lockdowns during the pandemic resulted in the e-commerce wave growing rapidly. More brands and companies realized that there was a need to focus their energies on e-commerce in order to remain profitable, access their customers, and minimize costs related to distribution. Although Amazon still leads in the e-commerce platform rankings, it is losing its overall market share. For instance, by the end of 2021, Facebook’s Marketplace had crossed 1 billion monthly visitors (Waters, 2021). Currently, more people are embracing the e-commerce culture with both established and startup businesses selling their products on e-commerce platforms. In fact, some businesses have no brick-and-mortar stores.

Reason for Focusing the Marketing Strategy to Fix the Problem

I want to focus my marketing strategy to address Amazon's problem because even though the company has diversified its portfolio, most of its income still comes from its e-commerce platform. Significantly losing its market share in the e-commerce space implies that Amazon's brand will reduce in value with the company experiencing a considerable drop in its revenue. Therefore, focusing a marketing strategy on this front will help Amazon stabilize itself in the e-commerce platform to ensure it has a sustainable business model and a steady influx of sellers and customers on its platform.

References

Terry-Armstrong, N. (2019). Amazon case study: Part two. Busidate, 21(2), 2-4.

Waters, M. (2021). Amazon’s profits are big, but competition is heating up. Modern Retail. https://www.modernretail.co/platforms/amazons-profits-are-big-but-competition-is-heating-up/

Wells, J. R., Danskin, G., & Ellsworth, G. (2018). Amazon. com, 2018. Harvard Business School Case Study, (716-402).

Professor feedback

Topic approved and good overview of the company. I think you have a good concept of what to focus on in how to build a digital marketing strategy on this company. Keep up the good insights and relation to course concepts. Thanks.