Amazon Australia

In 1995 when Amazon was first launched as an online book store, founder Jeff Bezoz'svision was that Amazon would become an online 'everything store'. Arguably, Amazon has achieved this. Amazon now accounts for over 43% of all online sales in the US and they claim that they have the 'earth's biggest selection' of goods1.

For many years, Australian shoppers have been deterred from purchasing from Amazon US due to the often prohibitive shipping costs, however this has now changed. As part of their global expansion, Amazon officially entered the Australian market on December 5, 2017. Amazon's entry served as a wakeup call to big businesses such as eBay, Woolworths, Coles, Harvey Norman and JB Hi-fi. In the lead-up to Amazon's launch, many Australian consumers took to social media to welcome its entry into the market, and to slam large Australian retailers for high prices, poor customer service, limited range, and a lack of online offerings2.

To ensure that Amazon continues its success, you have been hired as a marketing consultant to develop a marketing plan to help Amazon expand in the Australian market.

a. Identifytwo viable market segmentsfor Amazon in Australia. To do this you must develop a segmentation table using the four segmentation bases and a minimum of two variables within each base. Advise Amazon which one of these segments they should target.(10 marks)

b. Using the target market you have chosen develop a positioning statement for Amazon Australia(5 marks)

c. Thinking about theprice elementof the marketing mix, whichmajor pricing strategydo you believe Amazon currently use? You must explain why you believe this using evidence from the case study and your answer to Question 1(5 marks)