Mia
The high street is dead, long live the internet. When consumers want to make purchases they do not get in their cars and head into town; they turn their computers on. E-commerce has made people’s lives much easier and also saved them money which is perhaps more relevant than ever when you consider the rising cost of fuel in North America and Europe.
One company stands out most of all: Amazon. Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform, offering a huge selection of products and services. It has even entered the entertainment industry, launching Amazon Prime.
This post will explore Amazon and Amazon Prime in more detail:
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is an entertainment service and streaming platform launched by Amazon several years ago, originally focusing on re-releases of other studios’ content. In recent years the organisation has put more of a focus on its own original content, however. Just last year Prime launched a continuation of J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga, which achieved immense success. Unsurprisingly, Amazon Prime is now in 23 different countries including the United Kingdom and France. It regularly outperforms rivals like Netflix and Hulu.
Rival Services
The streaming industry is highly competitive. Platforms are constantly vying for control of the market, which at this time, Amazon dominates. The platform’s major successes are a consequence of the original content that the studio behind it produces and releases. Studies show Netflix has been performing terribly especially compared to how they were just a few years ago. If Amazon continues to release content that is of the same quality as that which they have released in the last few years then their stranglehold over the streaming industry is only going to get tighter, choking out competitors like Netflix.
Creating Media
The studio behind Amazon Prime has been able to create popular television shows and films by buying famous licenses, like the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings was one of the most famous book series of its time. The Peter Jackson films which were released in the early 2000s achieved immense success and demand for more entries has only continued to grow. Other popular franchises have also been purchased and adapted into films and television programs, like the Harry Bosch series.
Affordable Plans
Unlike the platform’s competitors, Amazon offers affordable plans, ensuring that their content is available to even the most deprived families and individuals. The current cost of living crisis has led many people to have to relinquish their subscriptions, but Prime’s sales have hardly fallen due to its reasonable prices. Consumers continue to use and support Prime because they get a lot for their money.
E-Commerce World
Moving away from Prime and onto its mother company, Amazon. Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform on the internet, dwarfing eBay and Etsy. Part of the reason for the platform’s success is its age, it is the oldest still-functioning e-commerce platform there is and regularly outperforms its rivals.
Second-hand Books
Originally, Amazon was designed to be a bookstore. Jeff Bezos’ plan was for Amazon to become the largest bookstore on the internet, at a time when e-commerce sites and digital bookstores were not as popular as they are now. Quite quickly the platform grew and became much more than a simple bookseller, however.
Films and Television
During the rental craze of the 1990s and 2000s, Amazon answered consumers’ demands by offering its own rental DVD service, the original Amazon Prime. Consumers could rent DVDs from Amazon and have them delivered directly to their homes. Netflix offered a similar service and was more popular, at that time.
Unique Products
Part of the reason why Amazon is the most popular e-commerce platform on the internet is because of the huge range of different products offered there. Consumers can buy anything, from toiletries to clothing items and even pet food. No other platform has as much range as Amazon does.
Int’l Toiletries
As mentioned in the previous point, it is possible to buy toiletries on Amazon. Some companies offer natural, organic toiletries only available in certain countries on Amazon, giving consumers access to things they would not usually be able to buy. The only downside to this service is that many products take weeks to arrive.
Amazon Delivery
Amazon does not just have a stranglehold over the e-commerce industry and now film and television, it also outcompetes most courier services. Amazon’s courier service exclusively delivers products sold on its e-commerce platforms. Why pay for external couriers when you are wealthy enough to start your own delivery service, after all? These were most certainly Jeff Bezos’ thoughts when he championed the idea of setting up Amazon Delivery.
Franchising Amazon
Money is not easy to come by these days. People are struggling more than ever, with many being unable to feed their families. The cost of living crisis is getting out of control. Unemployment has never been higher, either. Amazon now allows entrepreneurs to franchise Amazon Delivery, starting their own courier companies. Many of the costs of startups are covered by Amazon.
Customer Support
Unlike some of the internet’s other e-commerce services, Amazon’s customer support desk is responsive and cooperative. If a mutual resolution cannot be achieved in disputes, Amazon’s support desk will invariably rule in favour of consumers. Consumers are the organisation’s lifeblood after all. This means online scams are much harder for con artists to pull off.
Product Returns
Keeping in line with the previous point, when consumers are unhappy with purchases they have made they can easily get their money back. As Amazon rules in favour of consumers 9 times out of 10, consumers do not have to worry about being stuck with ineffective or misdescribed products.
Reliable Vendors
Because of how strict Amazon is, vendors are nearly always reliable. When a vendor isn’t committed to delivering excellence, Amazon’s seller team is quick to kick them off of the platform. Amazon’s fairness to customers is part of the reason why it is so popular.
Very few companies are able to make the switch from e-commerce to entertainment as effectively as Amazon has done. It is an industry leader and in the coming years, its successes are expected to continue.
