Affiliate Marketing
Keeping in line with their fourth marketing pillar, Amazon.com sponsors a wildly successful program called Affiliate Marketing. Using Amazon Web Services (AWS) XML service, Associates (independent retailers) and third-party sellers agree to place links on their websites to Amazon.com or to specific Amazon.com products. If the third-party Associates list their own products on Amazon.com, they may create links to those products as well. Associates receive a fee for each visitor to Amazon.com that is directed through their links, and receive extra commissions if the visitor buys a product. However, at the beginning of 2009, Amazon.com decided to terminate PPC referral commissions to its North American Associates for paid search traffic. In an email sent to all Associates, Amazon.com said, “After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees [that] send users …. through keyword bidding and paid search.” Time will tell how the North America Associates program reacts to this change, but with AWS, it is unlikely that Amazon.com will lose many of its Associates. To offset this change, ion August 19, 2006, Amazon.com released aStore, which enables Associates to embed a subset of Amazon products within, or linked from, another site.
How successful is this program? Nearly one million Associates have joined with Amazon.com, and approximately 40% of its sales result from its Affiliate Marketing program. At the conclusion of 2007, Amazon.com reported over 1.3 million sellers through Amazon.com’s World Wide Web sites. It continues to expand its Affiliate program.
The Customer’s Opinions
Amazon.com does more than pay sycophantic lip service to its customers. Each product is available for consumer reviews, and customers may rate products on a hierarchical scale of 1-5 stars. Amazon.com members may also comment on other member’s reviews. Some bemoan Amazon.com’s consolidation of different versions of a product (e.g. DVD, VHS, BlueRay of a video) into a single product available for commentary. However, this simplifies commentary and use accessibility, a preeminent concern for Amazon.com.
Email Marketing
For such a money-conscious company as Amazon.com, the lure of free and accessible e-mail is one delectable temptation that is too potent to resist. Amazon.com engages in permission marketing, where customers give the company permission to send them e-mails detailing product promotions. Seth Godin, Online Marketers, writes that “By talking to only volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message.” This strategy has acquired Amazon.com an obsequious following. Melvin Ram, a satisfied Amazon.com customer, writes on webdesigncompany.net that “Looking at the e-mails I’ve received from Amazon over the last two years, I did not find a single e-mail that was irrelevant to me. Every single one seemed like it was hand-picked for me based on my previous purchases.”
Customer Service
Jeff Bezos would argue that customer service is not an addition to a corporate goal – it is the corporate goal. He calls Amazon.com, “The most consumer-centric company.” In a lecture to Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, Bezos “Tells of technological advances that have not only enabled customers to find products, (and now at 28 million items), enabled products to find customers [italics original].” Amazon.com focuses on the customer experience. It wants customers to quickly access their hearts desire and obtain it without hassle. It has spent billions enhancing and developing its website interface and customer relations.
There are numerous methods that Amazon.com uses to assist the customer. All customers may send e-mails to Amazon.com requesting clarification about purchasing or other information. Nor are all responses automated. Amazon.com engages many employees simply to respond to customer issues by phone and e-mail.
These are but the first few pages of Amazon.com’s extensive marketing manual. By refusing to compromise with mediocrity, Amazon.com has revolutionized ecommerce. Millions of customers, who are reading their books, donning their jewelry, or vacuuming their floor, are a living testament to Amazon.com’s success. Are you one of them?
Related Websites:
- “Amazon History.” Wikipedia
- Amazon.com Web Services
- Amazon.com 2009 letter to shareholders
- “Earth’s Most Customer Centric Company: Differentiating with Technology.”
- Enos, Lori. “Report: Amazon Tops November Net Sales.”
- Hardy, Jack G. “Jeff Bezo’s Amazon.com Built by Its Success in Valuing Trust.” Miami Herald.
- Hitt, Michael A., R. Duane Ireland, Robert E. Hoskisson. “Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization.”
- Holden, Greg. “Starting an Online Business for Dummies.”
- Monash, Curt. “Amazon.com – Rigorous Analytics in Support Usability.”
- Nielson, Jakob. “Amazon: No Longer the Role Model for E-Commerce Design.”
- Olsen, Stefani. “Dot-coms Paring Down Ad Spending Ahead Of Holidays.”
- Ram, Melvin. “Be Relevant! Amazon.com v. Borders.com Marketing Strategy.”
- “Wal-Mart v. Amazon: Holiday Showdown.”
