The Importance of Brand Positioning

As the world’s second largest retailer, and as the largest digital retailer, Amazon has defined its contributions to brand marketing through its evolution of the digital age and its implementation to global consumer availability, reaching demographics previously unattainable. Prior to the explosion of the dot com burst in the 1990’s and 2000’s, businesses would be limited to their geographical reach and localized commercialization, with brick and mortar stores restricted to those who could physically reach the building. Now, the brand is often associated with any household necessity, providing consumers with a complete shopping experience at the comforts of their house and other mobile locations, with emphasis on the non-necessity of visiting a store in person. Consumers are able to reallocate funds and availability used for car travel, gas, and time management to optimize their personal productivity without the need to interrupt their daily activities. Amazon has peaked at a maturity for years, establishing itself as one of the top two brands positioned to consumer convenience, only trailing the physical global brick and mortar powerhouse of Walmart, who has also established a digital brand positioning to compete with Amazon and other major retailers.

Amazon’s Brand Identity

In a guided effort to adapt to the digital age transformation, Amazon has worked to implement personalization and recommendations to its consumers aiming to individualize each online experience shoppers have. Amazon “leverages data and machine learning to provide personalized product recommendations, enhancing the customer’s shopping experience” (Osman, 2023), not only driving sales for the business but further fostering customer loyalty with an individualized experience. Amazon has been successful through its commercialized efforts, with brand positioning on television advertisements and professional partnerships, along with extended efforts to provide more to consumers beyond their shopping experiences. As an evolved business, Amazon additionally provides resources including Amazon Prime to further establish consumer brand loyalty and additional revenue streams, targeting brand loyal customers isolating their shopping experiences with the familiar Amazon brand.

What Brand Identity Strategy Would Help Your Business?

Similar to Amazon’s experience evolving with the growth of the digital age, newer operations can aim to replicate the success of Amazon by establishing a name that will remain popular and recognizable. Avoiding trendy names, or “names that will lose their appeal over time”, will allow businesses to remain focused on presenting their business for what they offer as opposed to how they are known, as business “naming is 20% creative… 80% political” (Wheeler, 2017), ensuring the focus of the company name is solely on being available for all potential consumers. If businesses are concerned with their brand positioning being too far left or right on a political scale, emphasis on a non-stereotypical and publicly branded positivity are crucial when determining the name of a business. Avoiding controversy and immature naming conventions, as business Kum & Go has learned, will attract a wider audience of consumers as opposed to those settling with the naming of the business. Opposed to the quirky Kum & Go, Amazon, Apple, Walmart, and Irving are all prime examples of naming conventions can be utilized without fear of driving business away solely from the word (or words) representing the business, of which newer operations should analyze when determining the name of their business.

References:

Osman, N. (2023, October 19). Amazon’s Digital Transformation. Retrieved 3/17/2024 from https://www.institutefordigitaltransformation.org/amazons-digital-transformation/#:~:text=Personalization%20and%20Recommendations%3A%20Amazon%20leverages,but%20also%20fosters%20customer%20loyalty.

Wheeler, A. (2017). Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team (5th ed.). Wiley Professional Development (P&T). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781119375418