Ask 10 consumers what brands they are loyal too, and why, and the answers will be wildly different. There are multiple factors that go into consumer purchases and their preferred brands. Some examples are: quality, price, convenience, customer service, formulation of the product, and the historical, social, and environmental choices of the brand. Is the brand trustworthy? Do they make responsible choices? One company that is checking all the boxes for a large percentage of the retail market is Amazon.

BRAND LOYALTY
Ask 10 consumers what brands they are loyal too, and why, and the answers will be wildly different. There are multiple factors that go into consumer purchases and their preferred brands. Some examples are: quality, price, convenience, customer service, formulation of the product, and the historical, social, and environmental choices of the brand. Is the brand trustworthy? Do they make responsible choices? One company that is checking all the boxes for a large percentage of the retail market is Amazon.
AMAZON
Amazon, as a brand, is more than a single product. They are a conglomerate of companies assembled by Jeff Bezos. Started in 1994, Amazon.com was originally intended to be a simple online bookstore. Since then, the company has been in the limelight, changing how the average consumer researches, purchases, and receives retail items. A notable change amazon has made to the market is it’s Kindle e-reader. While Kindle was not the first e-reader to hit the market, it was the one that brought digital reading to the forefront of the market. Amazon has become synonymous with great customer service and lightning fast shipping.
AMAZON’S BRANDING
Amazon’s branding can be wonderfully summed up with their mission statement: ‘‘We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for three primary customer sets: consumer customers, seller customers and developer customers.” (Treanor, T. (2010). Amazon: Love them? hate them? let’s follow the money.Publishing Research Quarterly, 26(2), 119-128. doi:http://dx.doi.org.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s12109-010-9162-7 ) Customer service has been a focus for Amazon since the beginning. This appears to be a major draw for consumers. The company has consistently maintained an 80 or above Customer Satisfaction score since 2000. (American Customer Service Index, (2018) https://www.theacsi.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&catid=&Itemid=214&c=Amazon ) When comparing these numbers to industry standards, it shows exactly how customer-centric Amazon truly is. As of the end of 2016, 55 percent of E-commerce customers said in a survey that their online search for products begins on amazon.com. (Rey, Jason D. (2016) 55 percent of customers start their product searches on Amazon. https://www.recode.net/2016/9/27/13078526/amazon-online-shopping-product-search-engine)
PACKAGING
Amazon has previously had a few packaging concerns. As consumers who are partial to the occasional online shopping spree are aware, one good sized order has been known to arrive in several boxes. To combat this, Amazon established a sustainability division. With this initiative, the company has made strides in frustration free packaging, which produces less waste. Consumers now have the option to delay some items in an order and have everything shipped together, which reduces cardboard use. Measures like these achieved a waste reduction of 36,000 tons in 2015. (Tsotsis, A. (2016). Amazon should think outside the box. https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/1826018798/E97A484954D241AFPQ/8?accountid=38569 ) It also lead to the development of Amazon Key, which may in the near future allow products to be delivered without a box and placed directly inside of the consumer’s front door.

MAJOR COMPETITORS: WALMART AND TARGET
When looking at Amazon’s major competitors, one would have to consider both Walmart and Overstock.com. Despite being primarily a brick and mortar retailer, Walmart has, in recent years, expands it’s online offerings and even begun offering a free two-day shipping program, in order to combat Amazon’s widely popular Prime program.

COMPARE: SHIPPING OPTIONS

FREE SHIPPING AMAZON.COM OVERSTOCK WALMART.COM
MEMBERSHIP COST $99 annually, or monthly payments from 5.99-12.99 None None
TIME-FRAME 2 day shipping on most items 2 business days – 6 weeks, depending on size of item 2 day shipping on most items
RESTRICTIONS Items purchased must be “prime eligible” Free shipping only offered on orders over $45, and only in the continental 48 states Items purchased must be 2 day eligible. Orders must be over 35$, and only in the continental 48 states.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Many, including:
1-2 hour shipping in select cities, video and music streaming, e book lending library, photo storage, discount for subscribing to frequently ordered products, and many more. None None.

Which of these programs will work best is going to depend on the consumer’s shopping habits. If the consumer purchases infrequently and in relatively large orders, both Walmart.com and Overstock.com’s programs would work well. For the frequent shopper, no matter the volume, Amazon proves to be the better value.
PROS AND CONS
When comparing these companies, there are a few things that jump out. In amazon’s favor, we have the massive range of product types available, which surpasses both of the other companies named. Customer satisfaction for Amazon is much higher and steady, with Walmart’s scores having dropped into the sixties in recent years. ( American Consumer Scores Index, http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&catid=14&Itemid=214&c=Wal-Mart&i=Department+and+Discount+Stores). One possible point against Amazon is the lack of brick and mortar location. However, as the marketplace transitions to ease of online communication and away from face to face product research, this will become less and less of an issue.
CONCLUSION
Through the statistics and information provided to the marketplace through market research, we can see that while Amazon may not have many physical locations, this has not stopped them from establishing a strong brand identity and becoming a major player in the retail marketplace.

Resources
American Customer Service Index, (2018) https://www.theacsi.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&catid=&Itemid=214&c=Amazon
https://help.overstock.com/help/s/article/Shipping-Delivery
https://www.amazon.com/amazonprime?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0
Rey, Jason D. (2016) 55 percent of customers start their product searches on Amazon. https://www.recode.net/2016/9/27/13078526/amazon-online-shopping-product-search-engine
Treanor, T. (2010). Amazon: Love them? hate them? let’s follow the money.Publishing Research Quarterly, 26(2), 119-128. doi:http://dx.doi.org.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s12109-010-9162-7
Tsotsis, A. (2016). Amazon should think outside the box. https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/1826018798/E97A484954D241AFPQ/8?accountid=38569
https://www.walmart.com/cp/free-shipping/1088989