Inside view of Amazon brand analysis, this can help us understand why they are becoming a clear leader in Indian market. This was presented in IIFT college by Ritesh Tando. Snapdeal, Flipkart comparison is there. created by consultant with two years of indepth knowledge of the market.

1. Brand Strategy Analysis
Ritesh Tandon

2. Index
 Index
 Amazon Background and Competition
 Brand Identity
 Target Audience and Positioning
 Brand Strategy
 Recommendation for Branding Strategies
2
3
6
7
8
10

3. Amazon Background and Competition
Amazon.com – A history
The Early 1990s: Beginnings
Jeff Bezos, Vice-President of the Wall Street firm D.E Shaw had an epiphany when he read a report that projected the annual web
growth at 2300% back in 1994 and that brought the idea of a 292 Billion Dollar Company. No sooner Amazon.com was started.
The website initially relied upon on word of mouth for growth and very little on advertisement.
The company started its successful ‘marketplace’ model in 2001, which resulted in its first profit and a model followed in India as
well.
It relied on acquiring and merging companies to expand its operations in different categories and countries a model which they
choose not to employee in India for multiple reasons
The Indian Entry
Amazon entered India in 2013, after doing the PEST market analysis they realised entering sooner even with India having a huge
population wasn’t profitable due to Political unrest and unfavourable rules and regulation for a foreign market player to work
effectively in India. Also Indian market was really small when it comes to Online selling, forbes in 2012 calculated it to be around 1-
2 billion dollar, for a company that early 75 billion dollar it was a too small a pie to invest in. That being said with the growth of
Flipkart and Snapdeal in a short time period and the growth of Online market with Huge potential customer it was impossible for
amazon to miss the opportunity.

4. Amazon Background and Competition
Amazon.in
2013 with the purchase of Junglee.com we saw the inception of the brand Amazon.in, starting with only 2 categories and
increasing it to 20 with 1.5 million product in only 1 year. We see Amazon moving quickly by changing the market by
introducing concepts like cash-on-delivery payments, liberal return policies, free or subsidized shipping and in-house logistics
which already established players in the market like Flipkart and Snapdeal struggled to replicate.
It leveraged in Brand value very well in India, since even before its entry in 2013 as an ecommerce company amazon had
foundations as software provider and had employed large number of people.
Another important factor Amazon had large pockets that its competitor could never match.
Market Competition
Initially the market consisted of Flipkart, Infibeam and Ebay as the only name for Online Shopping with Ebay known for used
goods more than new goods. Flipkart Started in 2007 as a Online bookstore market place with tags like “Over 10 million
books. Now at your doorstep.” than 2011 “ No kidding no worries” with its ads showing how it’s so easy to shop on Flipkart a
child can do it. 2012 “shopping ka naya address” distancing it self as a books only online platform to one stop shop for
everything.
They focused on Strong return policy and Original product tag only.
Closely followed at that time but now a slowly fading away name was Infibeam which had Amazon resembling color scheme
and logo with Tag Shop with a smile tag line

5. Today the market has changed tremendously since the entry of amazon the number of Online marketplaces has increased
from handful to in 100’s.
But Major names in market as per their online market share is shown below
1.) Amazon.in
2.) Flipkart.com
3.) Snapdeal
4.)Paytm
5.) Myntra
6.)Jabong
7.) Shopclues
8.)Healthkart
9.) Limeroad

6. Brand Identity
Using David Aaker’s Brand Identity Model we can see Amazon Standing as
BrandasProduct
Wide Range
Lowest Price
High service
Reliable
Value for Money BrandasOrganization
Innovative
Customer Friendly
Global
Trustworthy
BrandasPerson
Honest
Reliable
Timely
Energetic
Friendly
BrandasSymbol
Symbol for
reliability
Functional Appeal
Modern/Hightech

7. Target Audience and Positioning
Demographic Segmentation
- People with Access of Internet
- Age Group of 25 to 50 years with 45% of online
buyers being in the age group of 35 to 49
- More Focus increasing towards younger audience
Geographic Segmentation
- Appeal to all over the world
- Sell Digital where physical is difficult
- Focuses on developed areas and slowly working
on getting the rural area audience by focusing on
application sale since better penetration of smart
phones in rural India than laptops
Psychographic Segmentation
- Focuses on Personalization and customer Loyalty
- Keeps a modern and Dynamic image by redesigning the
website frequently
- Quality customer care to develop long term relationship
with customer.
- Recommend and suggest products that the customer
has liked in the past rather push new things or
suggestions
Situational Segmentation
- Most online purchases done for convenience
- Keeps adding new categories to attract new customer
- New Lightening deals every day, Every Hour
- Low pricing a major factor for online purchase

8. Brand Strategy
Salience Stage
Due to its strong presence all over the world and also in India as a software
Provider Amazon did not have to spend a lot of time after it was formed in
India making in presence felt or Introducing it self as a major player.
Performance/Imagery
Since the market already had players who had been spending Millions
Educating the market that online shopping is safe and different features that
Online shopping has, Amazon choose to focus on few major fields, spending
On its core delivery system, strong customer care and tie with Infosys to
form Prione, a seller onboarding and educating company which all its competitor failed to do. Having a dedicated teams in place
Amazon was able too give great performance in both its field of Seller onboarding and buyer retention
Judgmets/Feelings
By this stage due to its strong supply chain (which they have perfected over the years) they were clear winners in the market.
In comparison the competition could not deliver the same goods at the same price under the same time.

9. Brand Strategy
Making Amazon a clear winner in comparison. They have the biggest seller base with one of the highest catalogue helping it
gather more and more buyer base with time.
Resonance
With launch of Amazon Prime and Exclusive products launch, Amazon has slowly converting every buyer as a loyal customer.
The place other competitors are struggling to retain sellers due there mismanaged back end system and frigid rules amazon
attracts new sellers with unique offerings easily giving both the parties buyers and sellers a good reason to join the Amazon
Train.

10. Recommendation for Branding Strategies
Amazon definitely proven itself to be a winner in the Indian market but there are few points we would like to make for its
branding strategies.
• Although Amazon has been able to use the 2nd mover advantage very well, we would advice it to acquire a
already establish ecommerce portal specifically established in niche market like fashion, Flipkart being its
main competitor so far has a very strong fingers in that market and after electronic the only category where
there is most money its fashion. We would advice it to acquire website Limeroad or Voonik this will provide
the company healthy revenue and expertise in a segment that has huge potential.
• Amazon has a expertise in not just selling products online but also in warehousing, logistics and Data
management it should start offering these services to Indian Sellers too. Since many Indian sellers prefer
selling their products on their own terms through facebook or whatsapp group. These services can help
amazon get revenue through these sellers too and also get the trust of these sellers so that they can later
maybe join Amazon.in

11. Recommendation for Branding Strategies
• Amazon with its advertisement has been focusing on building its brand as an Indian Brand, which dilutes its
value as an International name in the mind of Indians. It has worked wonders in the past but we feel since
Amazon is now a house hold name in India it should change its focus creating ads regarding the products
and different categories it has. Its still focusing on telling India that it has good products, faster delivery
reliable sellers but this information we all know. Its time to recognize that Indians as a buyer needs more.
• Amazon has multiple products offers Internationally but out of the lot only Kindle has seen the light of the
day in India. We would suggest as a brand development strategy it should tie with Indian Innovators and
launch product offering that is suited for Indian buyers. This will give them a new category and unique
product that other ecommerce doesn’t have and also enrich the buyer pool by showing the effort the
company is making in developing the local manufacturing unit which is the need of the hour since “Make in
India” is at full force.