1. AMAZON: HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY TO THE
MOST CUSTOMER –CENTRIC COMPANY
ON EARTH (?)
Thomas Cravens Final Paper
Quality Customer Service,
Wednesdays, 5:20 PM

2. Amazon Drone Delivery

3. BACKGROUND
Amazon “mythic”, with its provision of high-quality customer service.
 On the other hand, Amazon is not without its challenges.
 Amazon still struggling to learn how organized labor fits into relentless push for innovation.
 Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos started Amazon, Bellevue, WA, July, 1995, as online bookstore.
 Amazon of today, has grown to rival the largest retailers.
 First stock offered for sale “IPO”, May, 1997.
 Amazon’s net annual sales recently surpassed $100 Billion.

4. BACKGROUND
Amazon Much more than simply US’s largest online retailer.
 Amazon involved many different businesses, number of rivals increase from innovation.
 Amazon’s first international websites, with the United Kingdom, Germany.
 CEO Jeff Bezos named Time Magazine’s 1999 “Man of the Year.”
 2000 launched Marketplace, offered free shipping $99 purchase, contracted with Toys”R”Us.
 2002 Amazon made first profit, became more aggressive, lowered free shipping to $25.
 Seeking new technologies, including Kindle tablet, exploration of drone delivery, and smart phone.
 Continual reinvestment has allowed growth, yet challenges Amazon to reach profitability.

5. BACKGROUND
 Search for innovation places Amazon in competition with technology giants; Google, Netflix, Apple.
 Competing with Netflix, Hollywood movie companies, signed rights for first movie; Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq”.
 2002 launched online cloud service, Amazon Web Services (AWS) before industry-known.
Meets federal security and compliance requirements, leading provider of cloud services.
 Expanding the reach of the Kindle, with applications for other devices, Amazon continues.
 Amazon Prime, a $99/year subscription service provides 2-day delivery, streaming movies and music.
 Innovation continues with purchase of robotics company, adding robots in warehouses.

6. CUSTOMER BASE
 Average consumer purchasing items from Marketplace.
 Businesses selling products on the Marketplace.
 Start-ups with limited computer storage first Amazon Web Services customers.
 Now larger companies are utilizing AWS to remain competitive, without the cost of overhead.
 Employees important customers; 2011 “Career Choice” program pays 95% of tuition, prepaid.

7. GLOBAL DIVERSITY
Corporate headquarters: Seattle, WA.
 Also locations: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Fra,
Germ, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain,
U.K.

8. GLOBAL DIVERSITY
 Successful in China: Worked well for Amazon, knowledgeable regarding cultural
differences.
 Acquired Chinese e-commerce start-up Joyo, 2006: Amazon.cn
 Delivery of goods in China is unique set-up, may be foreshadowing of future.
 China only country where Amazon delivers good on own; average delivery time 2.5 days.
 Chinese more interested in knowing when package will delivered, prefer to pay on delivery.
 Customers are notified of the date and time their package will arrive.
 Amazon first allowing point of sale(POS) upon delivery, using hand-held, portable card
scanner.
 Amazon.cn CEO Wang Hanhua--service in China “…has surpassed its service in the US.”

9. GLOBAL DIVERSITY
Amazon may have missed the mark in Germany. Amazon’s second largest market.
 Regularly has conflicts with organized labor in Germany.
 Fulfillment centers strike against Amazon on a regular basis.
 In U.S., Amazon has successfully prevented union organization.
 In Germany, Amazon has pushed back, saying too much union involvement prevents continual
innovation.

10. CUSTOMER SERVICE CHAMPIONS
 Most current award; 2014 by Zogby, 24/7 Wall St: highest-rated company for fifth year.
 One comment from research-- “The company’s roots as a technology company… helps customer service.”
 2013 ranking by ForeSee, ranked higher than brand names Nordstrom, Coach, Tiffany, Costco, etc.
 Has highest ranking for 9 years, consecutively.
 Showed great importance of Amazon’s focus on the “…customer experience…”

11. SERVICE BREAKDOWNS AND
RECOVERIES
Personal experience: Wall plug replaced on rechargeable watch.
 Amazon willing to replace if unable by working directly through the manufacturer.
 Customer service rep. apologetic, even though it was my fault that I broke the part.
 Manufacturer replaced the part at no charge, including the cost of shipping.
 Impressed that Amazon willing to replace entire item, including the watch, in order to rectify my error.
 Positive customer experience that Amazon is fully committed to provide, with every single contact.

12. SERVICE BREAKDOWNS AND
RECOVERIES
Commitment shown strongly in corporate material: “There’s Always Room for Improvement”.
 Amazon coined innovation: “ACES (Amazon Customer Service Excellence System’).
 Continuous improvement methodology; closer to customer-centricity through continuous improvement.
Jeff Bezos’ Question mark email: Shows commitment to action is article about CEO Jeff Bezos.
 ”…Amazon employees get a Bezos question mark email, they react as though… ticking time bomb.”
Amazon is so committed to customer obsession, even rectifies situations that it cannot control.
 A father purchased a PlayStation from Amazon, was stolen from the front steps of their home.

13. BRAND LOYALTY
Business customer:
 One of Amazon’s customer types is sellers on Amazon website.
 Independent business, Florida Gifts, initially hesitant: “…It turned out to be really great thing for us.’”
 Helped grow their business.

14. BRAND LOYALTY
Amazon stating on website: they are “most customer-centric retailer on earth” shows commitment.
 Experiencing this on a personal, direct level, along with numerous ratings and rankings of research,
 Amazon is consistently rated in first place, verifies this result.
 Included research of two main age-group targets: millennials and baby boomers.
 Prosper Analytics: millennials ranks Amazon first place, Baby Boomers ranked Amazon second place.
 Prosper found two out of five Prime members under 35, loyalty important to younger generation.

15. BRAND LOYALTY
Amazon Prime is an online innovation that is similar to a membership at Sam’s Club or Costco.
 $99/year membership that allows certain benefits for its members. No limited offering of items.
 Anyone in the household, purchasing an item under this membership, can receive Prime benefits
 As long as you have an online connection, log into Amazon Prime account.
 Benefits include free 2-day shipping for items with “Prime” label, instant ad-free video, music streaming.
 The “extras” add a great deal of value.

16. BRAND LOYALTY
Another way that Amazon encourages customer loyalty:
 One technology that provides a history of past purchases mentioned already.
 Another described: “Price-Drop”; a business writer impressed that he ordered a book, received $.16.
 Explained Amazon’s high level of integrity, bringing Jonathan Salem Baskin for more to purchases.
 Christiana Hart explained commitment to loyalty shown by numerous warehouses, worldwide.
 50 in U.S. alone spread over 19 states, as major commitment for “…faster and cheaper delivery”.

17. TECHNOLOGY
The technological innovations main categories:
 1) First there is the website technology, for convenience for online retail customers.
 2) The suite of tools targeted for eCommerce business, Innovations for all organizations, including
Government and education. and/or entrepreneurs.
 3) Finally, machines that you can “hold in your hand”.

18. TECHNOLOGY
Amazon is generally seen as mainly as retailing website: Amazon relishes this emphasis.
 Simplifying the process of purchasing an item, online requires complicated technology.
 Amazon’s IT staff has developed this process, patented the “1-Click” purchase button, on 10/12/99.
 1-Click makes “’…shopping easy and hassle-free.’”
 Another technology Amazon uses is the storage and reminder of previous purchases.
 It provides a summary of the account, on top, than “Buy it Again”, various departments recently shopped.

20. TECHNOLOGY
E-commerce Business:
 Definition: “An entire spectrum of companies that market products on the Internet and through
other technology, and the process of accessing them by consumers”.
 E-commerce businesses that utilize Amazon have package of technologically driven products.
 They can simply use Amazon.com to advertise their products.
 Businesses can use Amazon Pay, or the commitment can be as deep as Fulfillment by Amazon.
 AWS Saves money for businesses and organizations

21. TECHNOLOGY
Technology that you can hold in your hands
 Amazon seeks more practical, best value, such as the Amazon Fire HD 6, retails for $99.
 First company to contract with a wireless provider, 12/1999, allowing online purchases by cell phone.
 Also offers higher-end, interactive devices, with recent introduction of the $189Amazon Echo.

23. Conclusion: Amazon may be the most
customer-centric company on earth
 Amazon very complex company extremely driven to satisfy the customer, make some profits.
 Utilizing every logistical, technological, and systematic customer-centric tool that they can develop.
 Amazon appears on a path to pursue every possible avenue to satisfy the needs of customers.
These have been the reasons Amazon
 Is a customer service champion
 Explaining service breakdowns and recoveries
 Brand loyalty
 Technology innovations