Amazon Could Soon Compete with UPS and FedEx

Amazon Could Soon Compete With UPS and FedEx



Amazon is well known as possibly the largest online store on the market, more trust worthy than ebay and easier to visit than WalMart. And now Amazon is expanding its horizons to delivery of packages as well. With about seven package delivery centers in the U.S., people think that Amazon could begin delivering packages themselves, which would save them about $3 a package and about $1.1 billion per year as opposed to using UPS and FedEx. This service may also get packages out to customers sooner rather than having to wait so long for the packages to arrive.
This relates back to marketing in the sense that Amazon would be both saving themselves money and competing with UPS and FedEx if they did start their own delivery system. And while the direct competition may not be a good thing, it is unlikely that any of the three carriers would go out of business anytime soon. Personally, I have seen Amazon delivery trucks on my street a few times and it seems like a great idea even though at the present time, the Amazon delivery trucks seem like more of a rare novelty to see than anything.
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Costco Must Do More to Battle Amazon

Costco and Amazon are known to be head on competitors as they both offer bulk goods through different means. However,  in the past 18 months, Costco's retailers shares have remained unchanged, while Amazon's shares have more than doubled! For the first time ever, Amazon's annual revenue is expected to overpass that of Costco's. With about 81 million card holders, Costco has an advantage over Amazon by limited product selection, loyal customers, and fee income. Their no hassle return policy is also a reason many customers choose to shop here. However, not many have the time and effort to shop and search for an item at the huge department store. Amazon is more convenient, offers 2-day shipping, a much more variety of products and is usually cheaper. Other options such as Walmart, Target, and Kroger are also cheaper than Costco. Amazon appeals to the younger generation, as most don't have time to actually shop at Costco, or see it easier to make an online membership with Amazon. As a college student, I personally find it easier to shop at Amazon as it has everything one could ever need! 

Snapchat Pushes Further Into Digital Ad Targeting

                                PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES


 But first, let me take a selfie. Companies moving into or in the marketing department era are looking for new ways to promote their products. To reach a vast amount of people, these companies need to get involved with the trends like Snapchat for example, which is now going to be called Snap. Only being 5 years young, Snap has grown into a beautiful marketing butterfly. 

     First, Snapchat started to promote short snaps of companies like Comedy Central and Vice. Then, Snap started to add filters to promote movies like the Suicide Squad. Now, they have 3 new targeting options to expand the marketing opportunities on their application. In the following are the 3 new targeting options:

• Snap Audience Match: gives marketers the opportunity to take a list of mobile device's IDs and email addresses and match that data with Snap's consumer data. (Privacy?  - Snap is doing their best to keep personal data safe from ad campaigns)
• Snapchat Lifestyles Categories: "lets brands direct ads to people who consume certain types of videos (like sports or gaming content)."
• Lookalikes: helps advertisers target their ads to customers who's characteristics are similar to the company advertising to them.

     SNAP is an interesting topic due to its features. The filters are fun to use especially the promotional filters. Also, this is a fun way of communication. This application gives people the opportunity to capture wonderful and silly moments of life. 

     Why This? This article is relevant to principles of marketing, because Snap is developing new services to attract their target market. Their target market are companies looking for new promotional methods. 

     Concerning other businesses, Snap will help them grow, due to their popularity. Most people who have smartphones will most likely have this application. Therefore, people all over the world will be looking at the ads and become more inclined to buy the company's service or product. 

CLICK ON "SNAP" TO GO TO THE WEB PAGE :)

By: Mike Shields

Time: Sept. 13, 2016 11:01 a.m. ET 

Blogger: Raul I. Chaidez

Time: Sept. 29

Package Delivering Drones May Take Some Time

 

A new era for package delivery services is underdevelopment! With drones being sold to the public today, we anxiously wait for them to be used by online shopping websites to deliver our packages. However, we may have to wait just a bit longer.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has set up specific rules to which all package-delivering drones must follow. This is so make delivering packages by air as safe as possible. However, companies such as Amazon, Alphabet Inc., and United States Parcel Service Inc. are advocators in the idea that we need drones now! They have been pushing for faster check ups by the FAA, stating that we need to speed up the regulatory process. With the pushing of faster check ups, the FAA stays firm with their decision to take their time.
It is important that the FAA clears up any issues with the drone manufacturers so that the sky is a safe place for drones to fly. We do not want damage to the drones or packages. Most of all, we do not want accidents which could put people down below in harms way of falling debris.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/package-delivery-drones-likely-years-away-from-federal-approval-1475154227

Blackberry Outsourcing Handset Business

Blackberry, once one of the largest mobile handset device companies in the world has failed to keep up with the worlds current smartphone devices. Blackberry began as a major player in the mobile phone and handset device world since its early come up with its first handset device in 1999. Its device revolutionized the world and became extremely popular in the business world. At its peak the Canadian company was valued at 83 billion dollars, and now ten years later that value has fallen to 4.1 billion dollars. The Chief Executive John Chen was forced into a corner where he would be required to change the companies business strategy before it took a complete pitfall. Through his experience and responses from the companies largest investors and shareholders, Mr. Chen has decided to stop producing one of the companies first major successes, its mobile devices, and concentrate the companies efforts into producing software. This decision came to light after it was shown that Blackberry only made up 1% of the total global smartphone population. It was completely thrown in the dark by the more successful and popular smart phone producers such as Apple inc. and Samsung electronics Co. Chief Executive John Chen stated that by completely pushing all the companies efforts into new software development he would be able to turn the company around and bring in more profit.
The article states that the software that will now be the companies major play in the technological world will be marketed to businesses and the government. The software will be presented as a mobile management tool that will allow these organizations to manage devices from various providers that are used by employees on corporate networks. This would be the companies new target market and targeting mix.
The Article puts great importance in how Mr. Chen's decision into changing the companies products and marketing strategy will be able to push the once more successful company into a new beginning and increase the companies revenue. It also states that this would be one of the only chances the company has coming out of its slump due to all the pressure that the company and John Chen are experiencing. The major investors have supported the idea thus far but have stated that if this fails it seems that many of them will be backing out and the company will reach its end.

Chinese Cash Pours Into U.S. Real Estate

Chinese Cash Pours Into U.S. Real Estate

As China continues to its economic ascent, it has turned to investing in other countries such as the United States. Some of these investments have included real estate ventures, which is discussed in “Chinese Cash Pours into United States Real Estate” by the Wall Street Journal.  As discussed by Elliot Brown, the United States has become an attractive destination for Chinese foreign direct investment due to an anti-corruption campaign in China by President Xi Jinping, which has seen a more hardline approach to certain business practices in the country.  Therefore, investors have sought to look abroad.  Likewise, diversification due to a slowing real estate market has pushed Chinese investors to look for more options.

Several cash pouring investment projects are underway in the U.S., Forth giving are a few business deals.  China's $1 Billion investment aimed at the development of biotechnology research and development companies.  Chinese insurance companies invest $6.5 Billion in Strategic hotels and resorts Inc. As well as China's $3 billion investment in the Central Park Tower also known as the tallest apartment tower in the U.S.  China discovered they were able to generate increasing profits by sticking to investing in development projects versus buying into an already made company.

This topic of real estate highly interests me because I myself have considered a career involving real estate development and sales.  Whether real estate development is commercial or residential, it can be an important indicator of economic growth to opposing forces and serve as a profitable revenue source.

This topic is relevant to our marketing class because we have been studying improvement in decision-making processes with marketing information.  Relevance is also based on the need for investment developers to have an accurate picture/presentation to provide to potential customers, prior to the development projects.  Management tasks for investment developing require strong practice of in depth research, strategic planning, and data analysis.

This topics incentive to invest in real estate development not only applies to the principles of business but also exercises product planning for goods and services which can be used as an implication to foreign companies making business deals outside of subjectively real estate development. 

 Link to WSJ website 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-cash-pours-into-u-s-real-estate-1472569340       

Walmart stops selling Egyptian cotton sheets made by Welspun

Welspun, a textile giant, was selling bedding sheets to large retail stores like Walmart and Target under the advertisement that they were made from Egyptian cotton.  However, they had not used 100% "Egyptian" cotton in the production of its bedding sheets an investigation revealed.  Walmart said it was going to give a full refund to customers who purchased the sheets and stop selling bedding sheets made by Welspun.
This article highlights the importance of companies building trust with the final customer.  When it came to Walmarts knowledge that the sheets were not Egyptian cotton they offered customers who bought them a refund.  This is a marketing concept that builds customer relationships.  Companys that use the marketing concept and seek to build long-term relationships with their customers will be likely to retain those customers.  This was Walmarts way of making things right with the final customer.  This was a smart strategy because when a retailer that goes out of their way to correct a problem, the customer might in turn spread the word and recommend them due to the good experience they had.  It also builds trust between the retailer and the customer which is essential to long-term relationships.
This is also a business-to-business issue because Walmart is an intermediary (retailer) for this textile manufacturer. It's unclear what level the relationship was between Walmart and Welspun, but in order for Walmart to retain its trustworthiness it had to discontinue selling Welspun's products to save face with the final customer.  Walmart is justified because Welspun did not meet their needs in their role as an organizational customer.  Walmart was under the assumption that the product the supplier was selling was 100% Egyptian cotton and when that turned out not to be the case, it was in their best interest to sever ties.
Read about the story here.
Posted by J. McConnell