Introduction: Amazon.com

From what once started as an online bookstore in 1994 in Jeff Bezos’s garage, Amazon.com has now grown into the largest internet retailer and 56^th largest company in the United States.  Listed as number 49 on Fortune magazine’s “Fortune 500” and making 61 billion dollars in revenue in 2013, Amazon is predicted to make a huge mark on the business world.  My name is Justina Hartman and I am a senior at Union College and for the next for the next 3 months I will be discussing Amazon.com.   I will be talking about the ups and downs of the business, new products, events, trends, customer service, employee relations, social media and much more.  I chose Amazon.com as the target of my research because I believe that one day it may be the only retailer. As crazy as that seems Amazon.com is unlike any other business today.  The business design goes back to the age- old industry of retail where the goal is to “getting the products from the people who make them to the people who want them” (Matthews, TIME).  The idea behind this is that customers can purchase anything they want from anywhere in the world all from one website.

            Known as the fourth  most successful startups of all time, Amazon.com is an e-commerce company that sells DVD’s, VHS’s, CD’s, music, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, toys, jewelry, and food.  In 2007 Amazon introduced the Amazon Kindle e- reader and later the Kindle Fire tablet computer in 2010. This ground breaking technology created a competitive advantage for the company and increased its reputation and revenues. 

The biggest department of Amazon that has given it the excellent reputation that it has today is the customer service department.  Searching and purchasing an item on Amazon.com is fast and efficient.  If a customer finds an item on a different website but it is above their budget, if they search for the same product on Amazon, chances are that they will have it and it will be much cheaper. Deliveries are fast, reliable and possibly free! Another tactic that Amazon uses that makes it number one in customer service is the refunds they reimburse customers with if there is a problem.  They make it easy, fast, and with no hassle. Fast response time is extremely critical for an online retailer and when a customer feels that the company cares about them, it leaves a positive image in their mind. Amazon answers in no less than an hour with a response that will completely satisfy the customer. Giving them the opportunity to track their package, find out exactly when they are going to receive it, or to see if it gets stuck along the way is another positive strategy of Amazon’s. Many individuals find the idea of computer tracking “cookies” to be intruding their privacy but Amazon has done an outstanding job of utilizing this information by creating full customer profiles that help customers find the products they are looking for. The CEO Jeff Bezos says that there is a difference between customer service and customer experience.  He says that “customer experience begins when the customer begins shopping for a product on Amazon and ends when that product is delivered and meets all the expectations of the customer… Customer service is a part of the customer experience that involves the direct contact customers have with employees of the company. Customer service is an important component to building customer loyalty.” (Estep, Examiner).  I believe that this distinction makes Amazon a leader in the business world.  Customer service is a form of public relations because that is the communication between the company and the public and the image the public has of that company.  Positive customer service really does impact the way a customer views the company and if they will return.

            In 2010 an article was released by the Huffington Post which discussed the working conditions of Amazon warehouse workers.  The article talked about a job advertisement that was released in a local newspaper in Coffeyville, Kansas asking for help during the busy winter season. The post “specifies that people involved in "Picking/Order Selection" are required to stand on feet for 8-10 hours, and walk 10-15 miles a day… To do shipping, potential employees must be able to stand on feet for 8-10 hours… And workers in 'receiving' are required to stand fairly stationary throughout shift for 8-10 hours, while they also have to lift, bend, stoop and squat repetitively" (Bosker, Huffington Post).  This is an example of a public relations issue that the staff has to deal with.  Another example was when an Amazon worker sued the company for shorting at least 2,100 warehouse workers nationwide overtime pay. Other issues include workers complaining that they were refused sick leave, made to work a 10- hour overnight shift, given quotas for amount of packing needed to be done within the hour, penalizes those who do not meet quota, and given only one break of 15 minutes every eight- hour shift. These are current issues that have been dealt with in the past and continue to be worked on. Customer relations are a big part of the company and customers are interested in knowing that where they receive their merchandise from is treating their employees well. This gives Amazon.com a bad reputation and the public relations people need to work towards improving it.