Customer Relationship of E-Commerce Companies-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Customer Relationship Management Strategy of E-Commerce Companies. Answer: Introduction The Amazon Company is one of the largest and the first e-commerce company in the world with its base in Seattle. The company started to market the products through the internet in the year 1995 and was one of the biggest companies at that point of time. The company also has subsidiaries, which are Alexa Internet and IMDB. The company also offers various types of new, used and refurbished products (Amazon.com, 2017). The company is famous for its bookstores, as it provides various kinds of book items, which caters to the different kinds of customers on a global basis. The company employs more than 1600 people, which helps in satisfying the customers globally. The primary mission of the company is to orient themselves for the customers so that they can provide them maximum satisfaction by providing the products. The company has a high level of customer loyalty, which can be measured through the various factors such as hesitation of the customers in changing the company and the prompt action of the customers to purchase the products from their portal (Kantor and Stritfeld 2015). Customer Relationship The combination of the hardware and software along with the commitment in improving the services for the customers so that they can be retained within the company. This process is known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This process helps in managing the relationship between the company and the customers so that the mutual exchange of the products and services will help in maximizing the profits of the company (Hollensen 2015). The buildup of strong relationships with the customers helps the companies to be successful, as it helps them in providing the goods and services according to the tastes and preferences of the customers. The building of relationships with the customers is important for the company, as it helps them in determining the prices and the quality of the products and services (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). Objective of the project The objective of the project would be to analyze the various strategies that have been adopted by the e-commerce giant, Amazon, which has helped them in maintaining the relationship with its customers. These strategies have helped them in growing as an international brand and will be compared with another company, Alibaba, which has failed to adopt these strategies. Scope of the project The study will help in gaining a better insight about the strategies that needs to be adopted by the e-commerce companies so that they can maintain an effective relationship with the customers. Literature review Relationship marketing According to Choudhury and Harrigan (2014), this type of marketing helps the companies in maintaining a better relationship with the customers so that the organizations can have a better understanding of the needs and preferences of the customers. The companies need to maintain a long-term relationship with the customers, which need to be based on better quality of the products and the innovation that is taking place on a constant manner. The relationship marketing plays an important role for the companies so that they can be focused and offers best quality products and services to the customers. Setting a destination Amazon is known to set its goals and objectives in a better manner so that they can maintain the relationship with the customers in an efficient manner. Amazon, on the first place uses Customer Relationship Management in identifying the short-term objectives so that the long-term goals of the company can be met. The company simplifies the goals so that they can be achieved in an efficient manner and even keeping place for flexibility (Navimipour and Soltani 2016). Alibaba, on the other hand does not break down the objectives in a simple way, which can be achievable within a short span of time. The complexity of the objectives that are being set within the organization has made it impossible for the company to reach out to its customers in a proper manner. Customer Priority It is necessary for all companies to treat their customers in an equal manner. Amazon is successful due to the fact that they treat their customers equally. This has led to the belief that the customers never change their platforms that have been benefitted by this company. The company makes it a point to provide the customers with the products that they have ordered along with the option of exchanging it if they do not like the product. The customers can exchange the product within the stipulated time in a hassle-free manner, which has helped the company in earning goodwill in the competitive market (Tseng and Wu 2014). These things need to be kept in mind by the Alibaba group as well if they want to manage the customers in a better manner. The company has a provision of exchanging the products, if the customers do not like them but the process is long, as they do not have enough labor in carrying out the processes. The exchange policy that the company offers is within a fixed number of days and the process is long. This has led to the customers in shifting their platforms, as they have lost their faith in the company (Holal et al. 2014). Communication with employees According to Stein, Smith and Lancioni (2013), the Amazon company tries to maintain healthy relationship with its employees so that their morale can be boosted up, which will help in serving the customers in an efficient manner. The employees will be the persons who will meet with the customers while delivering or exchanging the products. The company needs to communicate with the employees so that they can provide the feedbacks of the customers to the company directly in a proper manner. This will help the company in serving the customers in a better manner. The employees of the company are also given the freedom to formulate new policies that may help in increasing the profitability of the firm. The authors Goetsch and Davis (2014) stated that the communication pattern in Alibaba group is hierarchical in nature. The upper management makes all the decisions that need to be followed by the employees, which causes problems within the organization. The feedbacks that are provided by the employees are not taken in to account by the company, which has created a negative impact within the company. Changes in the system According to Wijenayaka, Perera and Sanjeewa (2015), Amazon is always on the lookout in trying to innovate their systems on a constant manner so that they can deliver ultimate satisfaction to the customers. This helps them in adapting to the changes and follows the latest trends that will help the company in maximizing its profits and satisfy the consumers. If any new changes are bought within the organization, the management sees that the changes affect the company in a positive manner so that the employees can manage the systems in an efficient way. The other company that is Alibaba follows a traditional approach and does not implement the new technologies that will help them in managing the work in an organized manner. This has led to chaos within the organization, as the employees are unaware of the new changes that may help them in serving the company in an efficient manner and provide valuable feedbacks to the management that they will receive from the customers. Linking with CRM According to Armstrong et al. (2014), the primary motto of Amazon is to satisfy the customers by giving them the maximum satisfaction when they purchase the products or services that are being offered by the company. the company makes it a point to inform their stakeholders whenever there is a new change that has been adopted within the organization. This helps them in maintaining a relationship that is free flowing with the customers. The appointments with the clients are done by setting reminders so that the company can spend time with them and receive feedbacks, which will help them in changing the policies so that it can operate in a better way. Alibaba, on the other hand focuses mainly on increasing its profits by selling more number of products. This has left no growth strategies with respect to adopting new changes within their system. The employees are not motivated in providing better feedbacks to the company regarding the complaints of the customers so that they can be served in a better way. The necessary information about the products are not communicated properly to the stakeholders, which has resulted in a lack of interest from their perspective. Tracking the customers According to Wynn et al. (2016), to maintain a healthy customer relationship, Amazon tries to keep a track of the customers when they shop from their company for the first time. The customers receive various types of information on their phones and mails, which helps them in receiving updates on a constant manner. This helps the consumers in getting the valuable information regarding the offers and discounts that are given by the company. The customers are also able to provide valuable feedbacks to the company through phones and via emails. Alibaba, on the other hand tries to help its customers by providing information to the customers after they have shopped from them for the first time but the information that the company provides to them is vague in nature. The customers have pointed out that there are hidden costs in it, which they have to bear after the purchase has been done. This has led to the trust issue of the customers with the company and most of them are shifting their platforms to other online shopping portals (Lal and Bharadwaj 2015). Improving after evaluating Payne and Frow (2013) stated that Amazon tries to improve its relation with the customers after evaluating the methods, which would help in serving the customers in a better way. This helps the company to change its goals and objectives from time to time, as it tries to deliver the best services to the customers. This helps the company in identifying its weaknesses that may cause hindrances in building better relationship with the customers. The other company that is Alibaba does not use the process of evaluating their methods, as the primary aim of the company is to gain profits, which will help them to grow in numbers. This has caused problems within the internal structure of the organization, which has led to a conflict among the employees. The scope of improvement within the company is less, which is why the employees are opting out of the organization. Recommendations It is seen that the Amazon Company is serving in a proper manner and is maintaining the responsibilities with respect to the relationships with the customers. The feedbacks of the customers are taken in to account by the company, which has helped them in improving their services. The adoption of new strategies by the company will help the company in performing better within the competitive market so that they can have a competitive advantage over the rival firms such as eBay. The company needs to use an updated method so that they can track their customers after they place the first order. This will help the company in following the purchasing patterns of the customers, which in turn will help the company by providing them with the choice of goods and items that the customers may be interested in buying. Conclusion Therefore, it can be concluded that the Alibaba group needs to use better methods in tackling the customers so that it can help in building relationship with them. Amazon on the other hand, has used these techniques in a skillful manner, which has helped them in maintaining relationships with the customers. 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