In 25 years, Jeff Bezos' group has become the second largest retailer in the world. With its motto "Innovate, innovate, innovate", the e-commerce giant has not finished making news. But how in a quarter of a century has this small online book retailer managed to establish itself as a retail giant?

Birth of the Amazon empire

Founded by the American Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon is the world's second largest retailer, with a turnover of 470 billion dollars in 2021. The platform is not only the leading online retailer, but also a key player for many e-commerce professionals. Amazon's boss has only begun the digital shift. He has built an empire that is completely overhauling the traditional version of retailing. Thus, today, the online sales platform remains an essential part of consumers' daily lives, definitely driving new consumption patterns.

A well-honed strategy

The consumer at the centre of attention

This leading status is due to carefully considered and implemented strategies. To begin with, the consumer's life is simplified. The American entrepreneur assumes that by having a wide range of choices on a product, no physical shop would be able to have the necessary stock. The customer would just have to search for the product they are interested in and Amazon would have the ability to supply them quickly. Therefore, the strength of the platform lies in the strong relationships it has with its customers. And the customers are very grateful, as consumers have ranked the retail giant as the second most admired company, behind Apple.

Amazon's supply chain

The success of the e-commerce platform is also due to its supply chain management. Indeed, Jeff Bezos' group has optimised and automated each of these elements in order to ensure that everything functions correctly and efficiently. This means excellent management of product storage and inventory, pricing, delivery and so on. The least we can say is that Amazon is a master in this field. This automation has completely turned the industry on its head and Amazon has no intention of stopping there. That's an understatement because the platform continues to innovate. It is increasing the number of distribution centres, building an ever more efficient delivery team and not hesitating to invest in new technologies. These actions are putting its competitors to the test and they have no choice but to invest to stay in the race.

The price battle is on

Secondly, Amazon guarantees the lowest price, sometimes including delivery. The creation of the Marketplace service has made it possible to open up the price battle to offer ever more attractive prices. In addition to the significant contribution of commissions on sales, this strategy allows the lowest price to be displayed at all times and naturally expands the range of items on offer. Likewise, the launch of Prime allows customers to access ever more important offers: 2-day delivery, promotional offers, photo storage space and access to free cultural content. Absorbed by the system, Prime customers buy on average 2 to 3 times more than others. In the United States, more than elsewhere, the services of the American giant have largely seduced the population. In 2018, Amazon Prime already had 100 million subscribers in a country with 330 million inhabitants. This is a winning point for Amazon, which has definitely given impetus to new modes of consumption.

Enhanced user experience

Finally, Jeff Bezos understood that the customer is king and is always right. He has therefore developed his strategy by focusing on the user experience that has made him successful. Experts even say that the online retail platform invented the digital customer experience. Once the consumer has chosen items in his or her shopping cart, Amazon does everything possible to ensure that the consumer validates the order as quickly as possible in order to avoid retractions. To do this, it sends them to pages where the only possible clicks are to validate the order. This is a formidable strategy that allows Amazon to limit the number of non-sales and thus avoid accumulating stock.

A stroke of genius or a well-honed strategy? While SEO was a new idea, Amazon figured out how to rank its products well in search engines so that buyers could find them quickly. This construction of a distribution and fulfillment system has delivered, as today products are delivered the day after the order is placed. On top of this, the platform has taken on a system based around personalised recommendations for shoppers, another clever e-commerce marketing idea. The result? Based on a consumer's buying process, they buy more without doing any further research. A revolution that allows the platform to establish its omnipotence over the competition.

A winning relationship

Finally, hundreds of thousands of merchants sell their products on Amazon, taking advantage of the platform's reputation and visibility. By developing strategies, these merchants can increase their visibility and considerably improve their sales. This close collaboration between Amazon and these sellers can lead to some friction, but it is a win-win situation. Indeed, while Amazon pushes consumption, sellers take advantage of this platform and its global visibility in order to promote and sell their products.

Now omnipresent in our daily lives, would you be able to live without the digital giants such as Amazon, Google, Apple, or Facebook, which have made this world what it is today?

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Sophie Fromont
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I am Sophie, Account Manager at Les Pitchous. I have a passion for digital, marketing and art, and tried my hand at several jobs before I really found my calling.

I also thrive on travel. After living in different countries, I settled in Canada, in Montreal. Adapting to a new environment stimulates me on a daily basis and pushes me forward. 

I have been enriched by all these different experiences and cultures and today I can say that I have grown and been enriched by these beautiful experiences. That's all I can wish you, and also to be happy. Because life is more beautiful when you are happy!