ITMG624 Information Technology Project Management

1. In which categories does Amazon have the highest sales and profits

2. Can you think of other services that Amazon can provide to better utilize the tools and services that they already have

3. What can Walmart and other hybrid (on-ground and online such as Best Buy, Walmart, Sears, etc.) store do to compete with Amazon?

1.Over the years, Amazon is a leading online retailer for a diverse range of products attracting global customers. Amazon.com is a global e-commerce firm providing online retail, cloud computing services, consumer electronics, and digital content. Amazon was first established as an online bookstore in 1964. Consequently, over the years the company has expanded sales to electronics, clothing, jewelry, furniture, food, groceries, video games, software, DVDs, CDs, and MP3 downloads. A recent online e-commerce report listed Amazon as the leading online retailer in the United States with more than 310 million active customers globally. The sales margin and profits differ on the items depending on the selling cost and the customer preferences. Most of the company’s revenues are generated from online sales of electronics and other products.

The major categories of the highest sales and profits can be identified as follows; toys and games, electronics, camera and photo, video games, books, and clothing, shoes, and jewelry. Online customers highly seek toys and games. For instance, fidget spinner toys thought to relieve anxiety and stress. Secondly, electronics generate high profits accrued from the large numbers of orders of electronics such as Bluetooth speakers and headphones for clients interested in entertainment. Camera and photo category consists of products such as Fujifilm and photography products that are in demand in the current global market. With the rapid growth in gaming, video games such as PlayStation are highly sought by customers. There have been high sales of books ranging from second-hand books and online e-books. The high growth of online readers has resulted in the increased sales of e-books. Lastly, clothing, shoes, and jewelry contribute to the high profits by Amazon ("Amazon.com Best Sellers: The most popular items on Amazon", 2017). These categories are listed among the best-selling products on Amazon; hence it is recommendable for prospect sellers on Amazon to focus on popular categories to get a better insight of the market and make more profits while driving the sales higher.

2.In addition to the products offered by Amazon such as electronics, books, games, toys and clothing, Amazon provides other services such as cloud computing services, Amazon web services (AWS), and third –party seller services. These additional services contribute to Amazon’s overall revenue. Some recommendations would better assist Amazon in expanding their service globally. Amazon can implement new services that will better suit the current online customers through utilization and improvement to the existing tools and services.  Considerably, the customers are valuable assets in an organization. From this perception, Amazon should focus on utilizing their tools and services with a significant emphasize on the customers’ current desires and analysis the changes in their tastes, attitudes, and preferences.

It is imperative for Amazon to focus on the future of online retail by diversifying their services with the establishment of more physical stores in different nations. With the significant advancement in technology, most online retail companies have been carried away by online websites and gadgets that do not focus on the set of actual customer needs. Amazon should focus on making the online shoppers experience enjoyable. It would be difficult to predict the actual customer’s desires, however, with the analysis of online surveys and other data mining tools, the company can get an idea of what customers want. Amazon can implement mass personalization, to better understand the customer traits and improve their services to providing an enjoyable and unique customer’s shopping experience (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

Lastly, Amazon should direct their investment on setting up more physical stores in different nations.  Physical stores offer the interaction of customers with real customer services agent that may provide care and attention more diligently compared to online technology.  Considerably, Amazon should create a balance between online and offline shopping experience. This can be achieved through syncing the physical; stores with customers gadgets such as mobile phone and personal computers. In addition to the physical stores, the company may offer new technology to replenish items at homes such as groceries. Amazon can provide smart home devices that notify the company when certain products at a customer’s home are out of stock especially the routine purchases. The customer will then confirm on the products out of stock, and the products will be delivered to the location of choice. Consequently, this will drive the online shopping experience to be compelling with the record of purchasing history that will help in offering tailor-made shopping experiences to online customers.

3.A competitive market will ensure the on-ground, and online stores steer up towards the improvement of their services to thrive in the market. In result, customers will have an array of products to choose from at affordable prices.  The main competitors of Amazon include Walmart, Best Buy, and Sears among others. Over the recent past, Amazon has enjoyed unbeatable advantages in the market over the online and physical stores. Considerably, these companies should come up with strategies posting competition towards Amazon. It may be hectic to throw off Amazon from its top position in the market completely. However, it is possible for other stores to compete with Amazon as discussed herein.

First, other stores can compete with Amazon by focusing on its weakness. Amazon focuses on an excellent array of services and products. Furthermore, it does not do content marketing offering a gap for competitors. Competitors should focus on content marketing as the huge opportunity to thrive in the market against Amazon. Secondly, Amazon has dominated the market with the fast and free shipping services. The competitors can focus on improving their delivery service satisfactory to the customers and exceeding their expectations if possible. For instance, Walmart can offer delivery to customers before the anticipated date of delivery. Also, competitors can focus on improving the customer service experience. It is, therefore, an opportunity for the competitors to offer personalized, one-on-one customer service to compete with Amazon ("How to compete with Amazon - Raconteur", 2017).

To sum it up, competition with Amazon can only be achieved when other stores focus on the present opportunities in marketing and customer experience and relations. It is imperative for the competitors to emphasize on niche products and proactive marketing of the products and services.

References

Amazon.com Best Sellers: The most popular items on Amazon. (2017). Amazon.com. Retrieved from, https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers/zgbs

How to compete with Amazon - Raconteur. (2017). Raconteur. Retrieved from, https://www.raconteur.net/business/how-to-compete-with-amazon

Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. (2016). E-Commerce 2016: Business, Technology, Society. Pearson Higher Ed.