Hurdles and all, Amazon Stays on Track
June 21, 2012
Amazon is making leaps and bounds on the fast track and the article How Amazon Saves a Ton of Money, gives a glance at their running history. The ecommerce titan claims their evolving and the only certainty is the focus will remain on their customers.
How does one achieve 152 million active customers and enough warehouse space to completely fill 313 football fields? According to Amazon, you focus relentlessly on the customer. Happy consumers generate more traffic, which attracts more sellers. The more sellers the better product selection which enables lower cost structure and pricing. Since 2002 their customers remain happy enough to increase average sales volume by 5 billion per year.
With all their focus on the consumer, Amazon lacks in some areas:
“On a 102-degree day, 15 workers in an Amazon warehouse collapsed from the heat, six of whom needed to be rushed to the emergency room.”
“Despite a $5 billion cash reserve, Amazon donates nothing to charities — if an employee wants to deduct a donation from his or her paycheck, they have to pay an additional 6% fee.”
“Amazon buys books at up to 45% off the cover price causing small book publishers to lose over $3 per transaction.”
Facebook, Microsoft and EBay may have happier employees but when it comes to keeping customers happy, Amazon left them at the starting line. The sited article gave a binocular view of Amazon’s race towards success and some of the hurdles their leaping.
Jennifer Shockley, June 21, 2012
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