Executive Analysis
Amazon Bella is a second generation Amazon Alexa. Alexa has become a big part of the world today and is used in many different ways. Bella is our new and improved version of Alexa that is now wearable and comes with features. Amazon is a top leading company that excels in innovation and customer satisfaction. The Amazon Bella aims to please and bring ultimate convenience to any and every person that uses it.
Bella will be a wearable watch that includes all the functions of our already successful Alexa as well as some new key features such as emergency calling capability, customization, wireless charging, projection, and multi-language assist. While there are strengths and weakness to every product, Bella will be in a highly competitive market with high quality characteristics at a record breaking price.
Environmental Analysis
Starting as a book delivery company out of Jeff Bezos garage, Amazon has done nothing but grow into a top ranking company throughout the world. Amazon now generates over $61 million in annual revenue from all different sources. There is a market for everything and at Amazon our goal is to provide everything from A to Z. Bezos passion for convenience has made this possible and thriving.
The Marketing Environment
Competitive Forces:
The Market for wearable technology is very competitive. The company leading the game currently is Apple with the iwatch. There are also samsung products, off brand products, fitbits, michael kors, the list goes on. While there is plenty competition, the competitive pricing will make a difference. Apple products are priced very high as well as name brand watch products.
The market for wearable technology is continuing to grow and is expected to be worth $34 billion by the year 2022. Apple is currently holding a global market share of 17% with the Apple Watch. This has become the go to product, but Bella intends to be right on Apples heels with quality, pricing, and reliability.
2. Economic Forces:
Economic forces will have a large role in whether this product is successful or not. From how much many the consumer has and is willing to spend to the all around economy. The Amazon Bella will be competitively priced at $79.99. According to Forbes.com we see that the average price of wearable technology is $85, this puts Bella under average market price. In comparison to the Apple Watch, we see the cost of production at about $84 per watch and the selling price for $300 and up. This leaves a 75% profit margin. Amazon is dedicated to ensuring they provide top quality products at a steal of a price. This competitive pricing will provide people in all different kinds of economic standing to be able to purchase this product which will then turn into revenue and product sales.
3. Political Forces:
We for see no political issues arising in the making, selling, or marketing of this product.
4. Legal and Regulatory Forces:
In regards to the legality of this product, our number one goal is to keep our ideas legitimate and all of our own. One of the biggest problems that many companies run into is patents and copyrights.
5. Technological Forces:
Technology is continuously changing and evolving. This can make or break the Amazon Bella. As a whole, Bella will either keep up with technological advantages or Bella will fall behind because of how quickly this environment is continually changing.
6. Sociocultural Forces:
Sociocultural forces play a large role in determining how far a company will go in the market. Currently, wearable technology is making record breaking sales and is expected to continue to rise because technology is a hot and ever growing product. Due to the fact that this a highly capable, impressive quality, and competitive price, the Amazon Bella should be able to successfully compete side to side with the sales of the Apple Watch.
B. Target Market
The Amazon Bella has a very open market. This product can be used for children, adults, athletes, business employees, and so on. The limited with the Amazon Bella are non existent. The product is gender natural, age friendly, and innovative.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
· Price
· Unique product (foreign interpreter)
· Brand name- Global presence
· Customer loyalty
· Supply chain
· Practical design
· High margin product
· Large range platform compatibility
Weaknesses:
· Search functionally not as powerful
· Works only in certain countries
· Needs additional speaker if using in larger room
· Information database
Opportunities:
· Online market
· New markets
· Expand brick & mortar business
· Access a new database to have a stronger platform
· Sound functionality
· International usage
· Advertising
Threats:
· Apple Homepod
· Google Home
· Dependence on American Market
· Cybercrime- (hacking)
Strengths:
1. We made our product very affordable for the consumers with a price of 59.99. We have made our price very competitive.
2. “Bella†is a unique assistant with extraordinary new capabilities. Such as foreign interpreter, emergency call access, projector, location-based reminders, voice memos and a wireless charger.
3. A new product introduction by Amazon gets consumers excited with the new technology that will now be available. Customer know Amazon they know that their products are worth buying. The brand is globally known, gives consumers the assurance of great performance in their newly introduced products.
4. Amazon already has the customer loyalty. Since we are adding to an already existing product line, consumers are going to want the new product. For users that have had the product before “Bella†they will love this even more with all its new features. Consumers love to keep all their devices on the same ecosystem, which will allow them to work together much more smother.
5. Unlike our competition we can make sure consumers can get their hands on our new product instantly. We will have our product be available per amazon prime shipping.
6. We have designed a new more practical and cleaner looking device. We make sure that our size is convenient enough for consumers to place anywhere and not take up much space.
7. “Bella†is a new product designed by amazon which will use its own operating system. We will no longer have to pay for us to operate android platforms on our devices. This will cut from cost of software production. Since we can do all of our shipping we will be making extra revenue on the product.
8. “Bella†will have the capability to be used on any of exciting smart home device line. We will have available on many platforms, not only for smart home capabilities but also for our new wearable technology; such as an introduction of a new smart watch and car platform capabilities.
Weaknesses:
1. Since we no have our own platform we are still lacking “search functionality†– there are a lot of questions “Bella†is still unable to answer. – Bella is on its way to become one of the smartest virtual assistants on the market.
2. We focused on product size. We wanted a product that can be placed anywhere without taking up much space. With the compact size, we lack the advance speaker enhancements for larger rooms.
3. “Bella†will only work in certain countries due to the fact that it can only speak; Spanish, English, French and Arabic.
Opportunities:
1. We are available on amazon.com but we need to make sure that our product is available on more online markets.
2. We need to go into new markets, we have the opportunity to grow to many more countries we need to advance our language capabilities. We can reach international markets.
3. Expanding brick & mortar business will make our product available for grab and go consumers who do not want to wait for their already purchased product to be shipped to them.
4. Partnerships with companies such as Bowers & Wilkins to improve our speaker capability and still offer a compact size.
5. Advertising has lacked, not a big presence of commercials or ads being displayed. Missing out on opportunity to reach more consumers.
Threats:
1. Apple-Homepod- offers the number one speaker in the market, but lacks the search functionality like “Bellaâ€. With the new products they are launching they pose as a threat if they can develop the search functionality (virtual assistant) like “Bellaâ€.
2. Google Home- back by google search engines poses as a threat with its advanced skills. Still “Bella†offers more capabilities than the google home. Price is also very competitive, they are both around the same price. Size in the product has also pose as a threat seeing that they are just about the same size. They do however off the better speaker functionality.
3. We have a dependence on the American Market, we need to make sure that we market our product more internationally and make it functional for international usage. With the amount of competition, we can just rely on American markets.
4. Cybercrime- Hacking wireless home networks has become a major threat. We need to ensure that users’ information is safe. Data breaching has become a major concern in the past five years.
Marketing Objectives
Amazon is a company that makes it easy for consumers to find nearly anything online. The company continuously thinks of the consumers and makes changes and improvements according to the changes in demands and desires of the consumers. They have now responded to the wants of the consumers and have produced the Amazon Bella smart watch. Amazon expects to persuade currents customers and bring in new customers with the Bella. With the projections of using 5 million dollars in marketing efforts, there is an expectation of high demands with the Bella. They project the marketing costs to be covered within the first year.
To reach their goals, Amazon should recommend reaching benchmarks and timing their accomplishments, so they can track what they’ve reached and what they have yet to attain. Also, Amazon should analyze the response from the consumers of the Bella. They can administer surveys to consumers, asking questions such as: What brought you to buy the the Bella? Do you think the advertisements effectively marketed the Bella? Would you recommend any changes in the advertising of the Bella?
Marketing Strategies
A. Target Markets
Target Market 1: Adults- there are many features that would be helpful for the average adult, like recording voice memos and reminders sent right to the watch.
Example: A mother can be at the grocery store and have a location-based reminder sent to her “Bella†that there is a sale on tomatoes in that grocery store. Target Target Market 2: Athletes- there are all the health and fitness feature on the “Bella†to help an athlete track their activity levels.
Example: A runner can track the distance they’ve run and the time it took them to run it. They would be able to track calories taken and burned as well.
B. Marketing Mix
Price: Amazon provides a great number of features in their “Bella†smart watch. Amazon strives to exceed customer expectations and anticipates changes in demands of their customers. Smart watches are on the rise and Amazon has come up with a loaded smart watch, “Bella†for the price of $79.99.
Product: Amazon “Bella†is not only your everyday watch, she is smart! The Bella is a wireless charging smartwatch that can track health and fitness activities, track packages, call emergency services, send location-based reminders, record voice memos, and recognize the owners face. Bella also has features to cater to the wants of the owner such as different voice options, language options
Promotion: If a customer purchases an at home Alexa, the customer will receive a discount on “Bella.†What is better than having both the sister products in your possession?
Place/Distribution: “Bella†can be purchased in electronic stores such as: Best Buy, Target, Walmart, or Amazon. The product can also be purchased in fitness stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods. These stores bring in customers of all ages.
Marketing Organization
Company wise, we have to be sure that any actions that are taken are for the right reason and that it will have the correct outcome that we had wanted. If we have everything going smoothly, we can ensure that the main focus will be marketing the product to salespeople and getting them into stores. The marketing director will be in charge of anything that needs to be done in order for a successful outcome to occur. What needs to be focused on the most is customer needs, which will result in satisfied customers. In saying that,i believe separating the roles into customer groups will be more sufficient. The customer groups will include: 1.) the manufacturing group, 2.) the production group, and 3.) the licensing group and 4.) The analysis team. Each group will be held by a manager and and everything will be presented to the marketing director. Each group will have the ability to make any changes that they feel will be beneficial to make this product successful. The changes done for Bella compared to the original Amazon Alexa will ensure that the customers needs and wants are incorporated within the product.
Activities, Responsibilities, and Timetables for Completion
All activity is set to start around the middle of the fiscal year starting on August 1st. Any changes made will be done accordingly.
-August 1st: Create leaders and managers of each group, The marketing director will be in charge of all of those groups and all information will return back to him for his approval.
– August 15th: Create a research team, about 3 to 4 people, which will research customer wants and needs and return the information to the managers so they can start their work. The topics that are to be researched are customer wants regarding the upgraded product and create a survey for the customers to find out and understand their wants.
– August 30: The groups will now present their research from the topics they were assigned to the marketing director as well as the rest of the team. After that, feedback will be given and the analysis team will review all the feedback that was given.
-September 1st: Create a system where customers can provide their feedback and to monitor any activity.
-By October 31st: Review and make any changes to anything that the analysis team had feedback on.
– By November 15th: Meet new clients who will review the new product. The people who are in charge of this are the managers of each group.
-November 30th: Develop a strategy for new product offerings for the potential customers. Along with that, we can take what the customers have been saying and perfect any flaws.
-December 30th: At this point we can start finalizing the system where the current customers can provide feedback.
-By February: Finalize and create new product offerings as well as any “sales†or discounts that can bring in more customers. With this, we can advertise to the customers that are currently active as well as the future customers.
-February 20th: Gather all information regarding customer feedback, make any changes, and evaluate the product offerings to see which one would be the best fit. The marketing director will take charge in this.
-February 29th: Renew the information from the business analysis team and prepare its date for the next fiscal year.
To Consider Before Understanding Bella’s Performance Standards:
Alexa by Amazon was released to the public in November of 2014. According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, they surveyed 500 owners of Amazon’s Alexa and discovered their devices have 73 percent of U.S’ market share of home automation devices. They estimate that Amazon has sold over 20 million Alexa units since 2014 and sold 5 million units of Alexa just last year.
Bella will be a wearable, simple yet luxurious watch. The new features consist of emergency calling capability, customization, wireless charging, projection, and multi-language assistance. As Bella will be a wearable watch, they will enter new competition with the Apple iWatch and Galaxy watch. The Apple iWatch was released on April 24, 2015. Since Apple’s launch of the Apple iWatch, an article on Fortune estimates that 11.9 units were sold in the last year. The Apple iWatch is considered a power house and will be given great consideration as it’ll become primary competition.
The Galaxy Gear which is another wearable watch that’s interactive and was released on September 4, 2013. Galaxy spent millions of dollars for the campaign of Galaxy Gear and in November they released that the results were devastating. The reports indicated that the Gear was expected to sell less than 50,000 units. According to Statista.com, the total estimated digital watches sold in 2014 recorded nearly 5 million. There has been an ongoing increase of digital watches being sold each year since 2014. In 2016, there were 36 million digital watches sold, and the expected digital watch sales are up to 148 million units for 2018.
Performance Standards and Financial Controls:
The entire budget for the new-product research, research on competition amongst the Apple iWatch and Galaxy Gear, sample products on the iWatch and Galaxy Gear for experimental reasons, and customer interactive forms will aim to consist for 45% of the annual budget.
The breakdown of the budget will consist of 15% for the billing cycle meaning all employees and bills paid, 20% for all forms of customer interactive concepts including a one day event to test and use the watches during the event, 15% on resources to enhance the quality and life of Bella including Apple iWatches, Galaxy Gear, and any other form of resources that are being purchased for experimental purposes, 25% of the budget will be entitled to the marketing of Bella as our marketers will be choosing the best potential locations for best reactions and connections to be built, and 25% on new business development and product implementation of the future.
When operating for Amazon Bella, there will be several teams that work to better Bella in all forms. These teams will include an experimental department, research department, sales department, marketing department, journalism department, and a creative department. Each of these teams will be expected to report all the resources that were allocated during the time of project to the marketing director. These reports of all expenses per team will allow the marketing director to understand the track and growth of the project through seeing dollar amounts. These dollar amounts will be compared to the scheduled reports of budgets to determine success of failure rates.
The marketing director will expect these resource reports on a weekly basis. These reports will allow for the marketing director to understand the overages or shortages that the organization may be having. It’s important for the marketing director to implement these reports on a weekly basis because the overages will be accounted for and addressed. The marketing director will also be in charge of redirecting the budget meaning shifting dollar amounts. As noted, the organization has built budget forms per team, so the marketing director to shift the budgets per team as needed.
Each team will work on bettering the quality of life of Bella. By bettering, there comes a need to update Bella. With research and experimenting with materials, these assigned teams will find ways to improve Bella. These new findings will be tested out on a quarterly basis and new products will release every year and a half. Apple releases a new iPhone every October and has had enormous success with it. By extending the product to every year and a half, there will be more of a desire for a new product. This desire will drive consumers to come in bigger numbers per release.
Measuring Actual Performance:
To understand the efficiency and strength of Amazon’s Bella marketing strategy, it’s essential to compare the actual performance to the plan objectives. The monitoring procedures that should take place include:
First, there will be a process review implemented on a monthly basis. This implementation will allow the management director to understand the scheduled time delivery for every component to have a finished product of Bella. The marketing director will then compare the time it actually took to complete this product versus the time it’s scheduled to take. This is a key element as it includes the ability to deliver to thousands of people.
Second, each team will be expected to decide on what changes should be adjusted, product focus, and operations to better Bella. This is a key element because if each team has the correct correspondence, there’s a great chance for a high success rate of Bella. The interactiveness of each team will be in direct relationship with Bella’s success.
Third, there will be an expectancy to perform near the Apple iWatch and the Galaxy Gear. The expected results for the first release of Bella is to land between the Galaxy Gear and iWatch. As noted, the iWatch has had great success, so topping them will be extremely hard on the first release. However, within the third release, Amazon Bella should be up to par with Apple’s iWatch. Considering Bella’s lack of sold units when they first operated, it’s a good strategy to aim above them on the first release. Amazon has a great reputation to overcome Galaxy Gear’s units sold.