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For everyone who prefers to shop from eCommerce platforms around the globe, Amazon is the first eCommerce marketplace that clicks their minds. Amazon had its feeble birth in the garage of Mr Jeff Bezos, and later it rose to its dominance by claiming a jewel in the eCommerce market in the last decade.
The only other company to attain a trillion dollars market share with the gigantic Apple Inc, Amazon is what it is today, following a sustained and smooth path of innovation, dedication, reimagining the eCommerce domain, and solid professional principles from its founder, CEO, and the world’s richest man to date, Jeff Bezos. For marketers, eCommerce start-ups, and e-retailers, Amazon is the perfect case study if they want to learn how to do things.
eCommerce Omnichannel Marketing - Amazon’s Success Story
To set itself as the top suggestion when it comes to buying any product online, Amazon Marketing sets the trend and culture within itself by utilizing every channel possible that keeps prospects as well as customers engaged, active, and keen on frequent purchases, i.e, Omnichannel Marketing. Amazon has remarkably adapted eCommerce omnichannel marketing for its mission to operate at a much higher frequency than its competitors. It is aggressive, customer-centric, and evolutionary.
Amazon is using only SEO for gaining popularity is an absurd statement. Amazon capitalizes on user-generated reviews to easily boost its product pages to the number one position. However, this was an idea they invented way back in the early 90s. There are a bunch of cultures and trends they set, which have now become SOPs for eCommerce marketing experts.Their primary reason to attract overwhelming fame is easy to access to products integrated with a service network that pays micro-grade attention to detail. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos had the vision to make Amazon the most customer-friendly eCommerce platform in the world and has been able to accomplish this up to a remarkable extent and gave the bleeding edge to his competitors.
Renown eCommerce Practices Introduced or Improved by Amazon
Today, most eCommerce platforms adapt design and UX approaches that this eCommerce king has either pioneered or mastered. Below are the top 4 omnichannel marketing strategies that Amazon has utilized to become what it is today. Let’s discuss each of them in detail.
User experience
Amazon believes in the customer-first approach. It has triggered a massive transition in the entire eCommerce marketing domain, pushing entrepreneurs and marketers not to put themselves first and consider putting their customers on priority. They introduced the use of UX processes and design elements to make the online purchases of products or services an interactive and enjoyable experience. They dedicated a notable amount of time and investment into acknowledging customer pain points, prospects’ journey, and understanding what turns a visitor into a customer.
One of their most renowned patented technologies (ended in 2017) is ‘Amazon One-Click.’ It makes the overall process of online shopping smoother and more efficient. Once your account is set up with payment and shipment details, the next time is to just click on the ‘Buy Now’ button. It jumps the cart and directly finishes the payment, and ships your deliverables. This feature has been well embraced by customers who want to refrain from visiting different pages and carts and complete their purchase journey faster. The same methodology is incorporated by the Amazon Echo device, where you can make online purchases by giving voice commands to its speech recognition engine, Alexa.
Exceptional customer service
Amazon went through an exceptional roadmap to ensure that its customers were taken care of. Their supply chain and inventory management possess state-of-the-art technology and methodologies, most of which are industry-based. ‘Amazon Prime’ is an excellent example of their customer-first approach. The Customer-first approach is the key reason behind Amazon’s remarkable growth over the decade. Using Amazon Prime, users get to enjoy multiple perks for a yearly subscription, including same-day delivery, special discounted offers, major add-on utilities such as Prime Video, and much more.
Amazon is unbeatable on the pricing edge. Mostly, Amazon offers the most aggressive pricing models that limit its competitors. The most reasonable pricing structure is due to their highly optimized supply and logistics chain, decreasing unnecessary expenditure and cutting down the overall purchase cost. Using robots to increase efficiency in their inventories has drawn criticism from different segments who believe that it puts people out of work. Amidst this negative feedback, Amazon raised its minimum wage for warehouse workers to $15 per hour, which is considered one of the highest wage scales in the world. It stresses the fact that Amazon knows how to move with the flow and does what is needed to incorporate sustainability mixed with innovation and a futuristic approach.
Innovative advertising strategies
The most recent ad strategy they have implemented involves artificial intelligence and machine learning to gain insights into user preferences and send them samples of products they potentially like and the products they purchased. This perfect combo of advanced AI and user preference tracking ultimately allowed Amazon to serve its customers. Their giveaway campaign is also a top marketing strategy adopted by many eCommerce businesses now. Thousands of products are promoted using this practice by allowing you to win the product for free once you click on the giveaway button. If you fail to win, you have the option to buy that product at the least possible price, most of the time much lower than available anywhere. It's a win-win situation for both the customer as well as the company.
They are also trendsetters in enabling customer interactions via omnichannel marketing. Push notifications, email, SMS messaging, and digital omnichannel advertisement strategies have been used for a long time to enhance customer engagement and unlock cross and upselling opportunities. Their “Frequently bought together” and “people also purchased” options and sponsored product placement at strategic positions on the web store and mobile application are some of the most popular initiatives adapted by every eCommerce retailer in the market nowadays.
Diversification in eCommerce marketing is essential
Other than primary eCommerce operations, Amazon has diversified massively over the course of the decade. Echo, one of the most successful virtual assistant-based products, is a severe shocked by its well-known failure in the form of the Amazon Fire smartphone. It failed so badly that it had to stop production within a year of launch. This bold step company to try different ideas itself shows that they don’t refrain from experimenting and accepting failure as a part of the roadmap to utmost success. They have a notable presence in other businesses such as:
- OTP Amazon Prime Video
- Purchase of the Washington Post
- Purchase of video game streaming site Twitch
- Setting up brick and mortar retail stores
- Launch of the Amazon book stores, etc
Their thrust to change, evolve, and upgrade has made Amazon such an unbeatable eCommerce entity.
Conclusion
From being one of the first eCommerce platforms to one of the largest, Amazon has been able to mark success because of the time and effort invested in offering top-notch and premium customer services. They use data along with high-end Omni-personalization to turn their prospects into satisfied and loyal customers. By critically focusing on crucial data points and maximizing their interactions, offering programs that entrust loyalty, and improving their logistics and supply chain, they maintain to remain the dominant eCommerce platform in the tech-driven globe.
