Amazon Business Analysis
University of Phoenix Online
MGT/521 Management
Amazon Business Analysis
Amazon.com was started in 1994 by Jeff Bezos as a place to buy books. Bezos believed that only the Internet could offer customers the convenience of browsing a selection of millions of book titles in a single sitting (Amazon Overview, 2012). In 2000, Amazon.com began to offer its e-commerce platform to other retailers and individual sellers. Today, over two million small businesses increase their sales and reach new customers by leveraging the Amazon.com e-commerce platform. Amazon has continually evaluated the way it conducts business and the number and types of products it offers. However, in the world of e-commerce and technology it is treacherous ground where competition can rise over night to threaten your business. Using a SWOT analysis shows a company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Nickels, McHugh, McHugh 2010). Armed with this information a mutual fund manager can decide whether or not to invest in Amazon.com.
Strengths
According to Research and Markets Amazon recorded revenues of $34,204 million during the financial year ended December 2010 (FY2010), an increase of 39.6% over FY2009. The operating profit of the company was $1,406 million in FY2010, an increase of 24.5% over FY2009. The net profit was $1,152 million in FY2010, an increase of 27.7% over FY2009 (Research and Markets, 2012). Some of the key points that allowed Amazon to accomplish this are global brand, diverse products, customer centric vision, and focus on research and development (Strategy Keys, 2012). Amazon has branch websites in seven other foreign countries and several other sub brands such as Zappos.com. These sub brands are part of the diverse product line that Amazon offers. The availability of so many products on one website from makes it a one stop shop for most needs. This coupled with the founding principle of making it easier on the...