Question

“The best marketing strategies aren’t top down, they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants.” Critically analyze this statement using Amazon as your case study organisation.

Answer 1

Answer:-

Top down marketing develop their marketing strategies analyzing the total market and the advertisements are intended to attract a mass audience. The message is trying to address the common needs of the customers and some of them may be interested in the ad and others may not be based on their individual needs and wants. But outside-in marketing try to understand the individual needs of the customers and develops the message individually that would ensure individual customer attention. In the competitive world it is very essential to focus on individual customer need s to ensure successful marketing. We can analyze the marketing strategy followed by Amazon. Amazon develops the advertisements and builds messages for individual customers by analyzing their buying behavior. Amazon is accomplishing the same by analyzing the previous shopping history and product search history of the particular customer. The data helps Amazon to identify the needs and wants of the particular customer and the products the customer may be interested in and develops the message accordingly. Amazon is a perfect example for outside- in marketing. Amazon ensures right product recommendations to customers by following outside-in strategy and the customer voice is the major factor which drives strategic marketing decisions in Amazon. This method helped Amazon to make more customers and become successful in the field of ecommerce.

• Customers, now a days does not want to get general advertisements and promotions. They have the option of marking such advertisements as spam. It is better to send them customised ads.
• Customers get attracted towards the product, price, promotion which exactly suits them.
• There are so many options available in the market and digitalisation has made the market more expanded. Customers get lost in this huge data. They need customised marketing to narrow down their search.

Amazon is e-commerce comapny which is a digital market place where sellers and buyers meet to selling and buying of goods and services. It has successfully implemented the outside-in strategy. It can be understood in following points:

• Amazon collects the data from the different seach engines used by customers to gather information about the desired product of customers at desired price, mode, place etc.
• The data is processed into a marketing campaign for that particular customer to narrow down his/her desired shopping search.
• For example: If a person is searching for a premium range, air-coditions with certain specification. Amazon will gather the data from his search-engines and Now, the person will start getting customised ads related to premium air-conditions on the websites which he /she uses.
• Artificial intelligence is being used to read the digital data and make appropriate strategies according to it. The strategies are implemented for whole marketing-mix.

1. Product: Product is not only the tangible thing which a company delivers; it includes all the intangible benefits added with the product. Outside-in strategy, understnads the needs of intangible benefits for a customers and promote the product for that benefits.
2. Price: The price filters available in amazon are the best example of customised price.
3. Promotion: The gathered data is processed into a narrow adverdising which reduces the customers frustration and improves the probability of converting the sells.
4. Place: Amazon is making the product available at customers' place. The channel of distribution is well managed as per the needs of customes.