Question

Topic: Comparative Market Analysis of an organization 1. Select a industry in which you are interested (i.e.: consumer goods, industrial goods, travel, postal, health care, entertainment, finance, retail, etc.). 2. Select a leading business in your field of interest. For example, in the travel industry, you might select an airline, a cruise line, a tourism bureau, a hotel chain, a travel agency, a car rental firm or a resort/destination. 3. Prepare a critical evaluation of the organization that you have chosen. Some of the criteria for evaluation are: At whom is this product / service targeted? 4. What is the product / service concept, stated in terms of results produced for the customer? 5. How is it being positioned in relation to customer needs and competitive offerings? 6. What is the level of customer satisfaction? 7. How is it managing the marketing mix? 8. What are your recommendations on its strategies on segmentation, targeting and positioning and marketing mix? 9. Conduct a comparative analysis between the leader you have chosen and a company (or companies) within the industry that does not enjoy the same success. 10. What strengths and weaknesses do you find in their marketing efforts? 11. How have their efforts enhanced or hindered the company's image and success?

Answer 1

The company that I have chosen is the ‘Amazon.com’ which is an e-commerce business and majorly into the retail business. I chose this business because this is one of the players in the e-com industry that I look forward to as they are able to make a good difference while the number of rivals and the new entrants are increasing in this industry.

When critically evaluating the organization, we can see that they target almost all types of consumers/customers who are comfortable in the online shopping and find the same easy and viable. It covers the customers in all the age/gender/nation/intention. They have something for everyone and everything that one is looking in particular for. You can also find that Amazon has personalized their platform in accordance with each country they enter into so as to ensure the website or the app being belonging to the country they function in. This would be applicable if you want to sell or buy a product.

Amazon as stipulated above has the product for everyone in whatever range you look for. This is an economy platform for a shopper and you can also find the premium level and upper class targeted products as well. The major product or service concept of Amazon is to make available the A to Z products under one umbrella and they ensure the quality of this service. There are proper descriptions and reviews included in the app where you can even see the customers uploading the real pictures of the products received. When a customer is not happy with the product received they can easily return the same which is again a hassle free return. And the overall result is the delivery and return of the products in every nuke and corner of the country they work in. They even let you have or receive your product in a day which makes Amazon even more attractive.

As contemplated, Amazon has been positioned the superior and the best when coming to the customer needs and competitive offerings. They are the one among the players who provides the original branded products at the best price ever and they had not put down 90% of its customers in this. Even the books that you purchase of some great authors and publishers are one of the best examples for this as the price in Amazon are lesser with the same quality and original product assured.

The level of customer satisfaction with respect to Amazon is high as they assure a hassle free return if you are not happy with the product and you just need to raise a ticket for returning the product by quoting the reason for the same. This it increases the attractiveness of the entity and the level of customer satisfaction.

Coming to the marketing mix which is the combination of the 4 P’s mainly i.e. price, product, promotion and people, the company is maintaining a perfect mixture. This is because, the products they provide cover every category let it be the essential goods, beauty, fashion, electronics, appliances, décor and what not. While they assure the best price for these products which helps us save and purchase within the budget but the most quality brands and products. Coming to the promotion, they have a very basic promotional technique and the company have reached such a level that every customer knows that it is with Amazon that we should compare the prices of the product we ought to purchase. And the last ‘P’ i.e. place, Amazon with its A to Z products is everywhere near you and their each your door step wherever you are and this is the best thing about the company.

Amazon is such a company and brand which is beyond any other similar players and they have a good team and the resources to ensure this. It is from Amazon that every entrepreneur aspiring to launch an e-com business looks for ideas as a mentor. But still my recommendations would be to enhance the quality of their apps and filtering the pictures of the products that are uploaded by the sellers so as to ensure quality and original pictures which would help to enhance their status.

There are other websites like Flip kart which is again a place for all the products but they are not enjoying the same status as Amazon as they are not able to provide the best price or delivery charge as Amazon is. And another problem is that majority times Flip kart delivers a wrong product and the return is also not easy in Amazon.

But the strength in their marketing efforts is when coming to the Indian market you can say most people know the company even before Amazon and this is strength for the company. They also put in efforts to woo the customers through cute advertisements and the celebrities. But the weakness here again is that they are not having a good responsible customer service and return policy despite of the advertisements for the same and it can be counted as a weakness.

And these very points actually enhanced the reach of Amazon and their increased customer base.