Amazon.com Inc and its customer-centric philosophy

The Brand that I would like to discuss today is Amazon.com. I can’t remember the first time I heard of this company’s name, but whenever people think of buying ebooks, they will think of Amazon. These recent years, not only books but also various types of products that you cannot think of a place to find, you can always find them at Amazon. It is now the biggest online retailer in the world.

The company’s mission on Amazon’s official Facebook page states that “Our vision is to be Earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.” Started out as an online bookstore, throughout its 23 years of development, Amazon has quickly become a famous platform for online sellers and buyers, a huge market that has everything, from electronic devices, hardware products, clothing and beauty products, to baby and kid’s supplies. It took the company only the first 27 months to reach a million customers and another 6 months to reach its second million (source: fundinguniverse.com). At this time, Amazon.com, Inc also launched Amazon Advantage to help independent authors and publishers, and Amazon.com Kids to provide books for younger children and teenagers. This somehow do represent the company’s philosophy: Do the best they can to bring benefits to their customers, which are both book sellers and buyers.

Stick to the mission to become “a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online”, since 1999, Amazon started to expand its market share dramatically, to the point even some economic analyst started to worry that the company might end up making no profit. The fact was that even though the company’s sale did increase every year, Amazon had been facing a loss of 1 billion dollar over 7 years. However, the company’s target to be the “Earth’s biggest selection” has been proving gradually that it can become a success in the long run.  

Somebody said that Amazon’s philosophy “obsesses with customers”, which is actually an interesting and not-so-wrong point of view. Most of its trading policies prove to be favor the customers benefit over the company’s profit. For most of the problems that their buyers have with an ordered product, Amazon will make a full refund without investigation or charging the sellers. Even with Zappos – an online shoe and clothing retailer acquired by Amazon, the customer service employees can make a decision on their own without asking their managers so as to bring their customers the most pleasure experiences they can. Because of their customer-centric way of doing business, even though we cannot tell if the company will success yet but it is no doubt that Amazon is among the best retailers in the mindset of customers around the World.

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