What Is Amazon’s Business and What Factors Are Critical to Its Success?
Autor: ppap • November 6, 2016 • Case Study • 1,225 Words (5 Pages) • 1,575 Views
Assignment Questions:
- What is Amazon’s business and what factors are critical to its success? [list or table]
Amazon’s Businesses | Critical Success Factors |
Online Retailer | Easy to find product catalog |
Competitive price | |
Free-shipping (Prime)/Shipping globally | |
Operating fulfillment center with huge inventories | |
Personalize the Web experience for its customers | |
Excellent customer services & return policies | |
Innovation | |
Back-end Fulfillment Services | Back-end fulfillment services for other global retailers |
Low inventory cost | |
Using high technologies | |
Excellent customer services & return policies | |
Cloud Computing Services | Cost effective IT services |
More convenience for customer to store and share information | |
Developed own methods & built Web-enabled information systems | |
Collecting and using information to run the business | |
Innovation | |
Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems | Service the eCommerce business needs of other retailers |
High efficiency | |
Large automated & fulfillment centers with huge inventories | |
Disintermediate the retail process | |
- What challenges did Amazon face when it first entered the marketplace? [list]
- Startling by losses and lots of red ink
- Facing big & strong competitors
- People were not familiar with shopping over the web
- Huge infusion of capital needed for fulfillment services
- Building its own web-enabled information systems for scratch
- Developing new methods of payment
- IT acquisitions
- What information is required by Amazon to transact, to manage, and to innovate? [table]
Level of Information Processing | Information Needs |
Transacting | Customer information |
Product information (location) | |
Payment information | |
Shipping information | |
Customer registration | |
Return requirement | |
Management and control | Time takes to fill individual orders |
The flow & turnover rate of inventory | |
Time & steps involved in filling individual orders | |
Worker error rates | |
Associated cost of operations data | |
Fulfillment process staffing requirement | |
Level of customer returns | |
Employee performance & training | |
Innovation and corporate learning | Back-end fulfillment services |
Enterprise information management | |
Performance levels of products & supplier | |
Competitor performance | |
Supply chain management system | |
...