Amazon.com

6 Pages 1521 Words

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE

Amazon.com is a company that sells all kinds of books and most recently music through their website at discounted prices. It was founded by Jeff Bezos and began taking orders in July of 1995(Derie). Since then, Amazon has acquired five businesses that range from virtual database technology to videos while expanding to the European market. Its massive amount of sales can be attributed to its low competitive prices and ease of shopping conveniently from home.
The business level of Amazon.com is cost leadership. Best selling books are sold at a 30 to 40 percent discount and other books are discounted at 10 percent (Bade).
Amazon.com’s corporate strategy was in the form of single business to dominant all of business, but has since moved towards unrelated because they are offering more than just books at their website, ranging any where from kitchen and house ware to toys and games, DVDs, and herbal supplements.
Amazon.com has increase in size since it began operations in July 1995, doubling in size every 2.4 months with an 838 percent increase in sales form 1996 to 1997. To keep up with this extraordinary growth, Amazon had 800 employees on its payroll as of August 1998(Bade).
Amazon.com has plans in the works to capitalize on its increased market share by expansion into European e-commerce with already having 22% of sales from outside the United States. By acquiring previously established global companies, Amazon’s expansion into international localities should be smooth. Part of Amazon’s cooperative strategy is strategic alliances through acquiring businesses to expand into new product and market areas. They differentiate themselves while at the same time achieving their strategic mission: convenience, selection, service, and price. This has also been Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos’ intent form the initial thought and continued to this day.
The general external environment for Amazon....