Amazon – The Doyen among online retail stores.
Amazon no longer is synonymous with the once famous trivia fact that it’s the world’s largest river; rather it resonates with being the world’s largest e-commerce website store known to all that constantly strives to achieve newer heights and break its own records. While one may ponder how Amazon managed to reach at the pinnacles of success amidst its rivals, the answer surely lies in its services and not its products.
Even Amazon’s current CEO Jeff Bezos, when asked about its impeccable victory, gives immense credit to the generation of never-ending novel ideas and being customer-centric in anything and everything Amazon does. They keep experimenting, exploring new strategies and schemes that would work to eventually set a favorable outcome that satisfies both the customer and the company’s profits.
We have curated some of the best strategies that Amazon deploys and how businesses can be inspired by it:
Amazon’s logistics operation strategies have an endless array of choices sculpted to make negligible efforts on the user end. Such good experience delivered by Amazon does ensure loyalty in exchange for their products.
Delivery
One of the biggest challenges as a part of running an e-commerce retail store faced by owners would be the delivery of an item as soon as possible and avoid the customer waiting. Amazon tackles this problem by introducing the concept of free shipping when a customer makes an order above a certain purchase amount and offering prolonged free shipping services ( even upto a year) if you make a purchase above 119 USD.
Ordering
Purchasing goods could be a task, especially for people that are new to the concept of online shopping. Amazon caters to all sections of the digital literacy spectrum, by allowing One click ordering and Dash Buttons.
So, in the one click ordering option, you can purchase a product using pre-set options instead of clicking and having a long tedious process to check out. Some customers feel the need to reorder a previously purchased product. Keeping the customer’s need at the forefront, Amazon solves this problem by providing the dash button to restock on items. These dash buttons are conveniently present on the internet, in the play store app ,and can be accessed by virtual assistant , Alexa.
Returns
Sometimes, after the purchase, a customer may feel the need to return items. Amazon takes this query seriously and provides easy returns to customers within a specific period of time. This makes the buying experience favorable and non regretful for the customer. For consumers who are willing to physically drop off the product, Amazon has partnered with Kohls, to launch return kiosks in selected areas.
Establishing bonds between customers and brands
Amazon plays middleman for delivering a particular business’s product to the customer. But along with this, it also makes an attempt to make strong relationships between the customer and the vendor by initiating Amazon Exclusives where vendors and entrepreneurs can voice out their story to reach out to customers and make them feel personally connected.
Personalized communications
Human interactions have undoubtedly been an epitome to ensure quality customer service.For consumers whose doubts, queries are not solved by the websites frequently asked questions or AI efficient chat bot, Amazon offers the conventional calling method named Mayday so that customers can reach out to a real assistant.
Customers are prioritized and are always reverted back with calls without delays. Moreover these calls are free of cost and the presence of a Mayday button on your smartphones connects you quickly to an advisor.
Providing state of the art virtual experience
Amazon was one of the pioneers in creating benchmarks on how e-commerce sets its course.
- Creating an app: Along with a smooth functioning website, Amazon also built a user friendly app for people to download on their smartphones where one can easily search and scroll across thousands of brands to finally place their order on their favorite product.
- Social community: Amazon provides seamless customer service by immediately acknowledging and working on complaints. The company also has a twitter handle which is regularly checked in a span of 7 days to upgrade customer experience.
- Intelligent AI technology: Amazon incorporates a google imitating search engine that seeks to classify products by their customer reviews, price, brand and other specificities. It has succeeded in achieving this feat in multiple segments of their platform. Launched in 2014, alexa, Amazon’s official virtual assistant can also guide customers in playing the right music, setting alarms,and providing world updates.
Making consumer demands the latest trends
Since its inception , Amazon has prioritized customer service to be at the top and proceeded towards delivering them door-to-door at a time when computers were an alien concept and were just beginning to change the face of mankind forever.
Today Amazon has progressed from online shopping experience and expanded to providing various other services like online streaming and downloads. The invention of Kindle is an example of how they perfectly brought together the essence of an old book with the advancements of technology. Consumer needs are volatile and constantly evolve, thus companies need to up their game in order to keep up with the trend.
The Bottomline
For over two decades now, amazon has claimed the throne of offering the best customer service and setting higher bars for rival companies to catch up with.
Providing seamless customer experience by building meaningful bonds with brands that add a personal value to the customer are unique ways by which Amazon has made its way into the minds and homes of people today.
Consumer needs fluctuate forever and it is the era of technology and amazon has left no stone unturned in offering world class services and products infused with the latest technology and Artificial intelligence catering to every need.Businesses can incorporate similar principles, be inspired to create a consumer driven experience model to rise ahead in the world of e-commerce!
Maction can help take your business to the next stage of growth. Through proven practices of market research and cutting-edge technology, we are known to bring you fresh insights and perspectives that will change the way you look at your business. Book a call today and see what a market research strategy can do for your business.
