The Amazonification of just about everything is in full effect. No industry is off-limits, no acquisition without consideration.
Companies trying to get a feel for what’s happening are running scared, or being run over. But, rather than stand around in awe – or shock, depending on how secure you feel about your market positioning – why not see what you can learn from the great Seattle-based Cookie Monster that’s chomping at the bit for more industries to destroy, sorry, conquer – “Om nom nom nom.”
Amazon.com’s hunger shows no bounds. The e-commerce Goliath has set its sights all over the retail landscape, and is moving in for the kill:
Down-market, Amazon is linking up with Kohl’s for a brick-and-mortar play at nationwide in-store returns. Midmarket, Amazon is launching its own apparel and furniture lines. Upmarket? You already know about its shrewd $13.7 billion Whole Foods takeover, where customers can now pick up organic eggs in an echo chamber for Amazon Echo, as well as Amazon’s other products and services.
Emulating an E-commerce Giant
Will you be the David who prevails? You can be, if you’re smart enough to do some of the things Amazon is doing.
Spending nearly $3 billion on digital marketing in 2015 alone, Amazon.com clearly understands the connection between digital and world domination.
How’s your DM spend looking? If you want to stay relevant, now might be a good time step it up, if you haven’t already.
While Amazon.com spends virtually all of its DM budget on search advertising, which makes sense, of course, because of its lines of business, your needs will vary. But, don’t shortchange the value of search or display marketing.
Harness Customer Feedback
In spite of the so-called “Amazon effect,” there’s a reason retailers, and everyone else for that matter, still continue to line up to form relationships with Amazon.com. Customers trust Amazon.com and, therefore, like doing business with the company’s partners.
That’s a simple sentiment, but it’s a big, big deal. Amazon.com continues to score incredibly high on customer service indexes. The lesson here is simple: mine customer experiences. Find out what your customers are struggling with and fix it. Be proactive about zapping the zits and honing solutions that address their expectations.
Keep It Simple
Have you thought about how important it is to have a very simple, clearly understood message when you launch a marketing campaign, such as a branded membership program?
One of Amazon.com’s service launches perfectly embodied its “keep it simple, stupid” (to the power of 10) approach. Early criticism, no matter how vocal, didn’t deter it from making one of its best self-described “Type 2 decisions” (those that can be reversed relatively easily).
Today, the Amazon Prime service enjoys subscriptions from well over half of all Amazon.com customers, and nearly 65 percent of all American households. Prime members spend almost twice as much as nonmembers on Amazon.com.
Coupled with Prime’s success, Amazon.com could receive well over 40 percent of all US e-commerce sales in 2017. That’s the power of a good idea matched with super-simple, clear selling points.
Excel at Digital Marketing
Amazon.com might be on a tear, but the truly scary part is there’s every indication that it might just be getting started. What’s next? Space travel? Drones? Self-driving vehicles? Whatever direction it’s headed next, you can be sure its exceptional DM strategy is fueling its growth.
To prevail against this Goliath, your slingshot needs to be a winning DM strategy that focuses on delivering a truly unique customer experience.
