Brand image contains the brand’s physical characteristics, name, package and symbols (Assael, 1990). Amazon.com’s branding strategies are creating and maintaining brand equity, which can be thought of as an intangible asset of added value or goodwill that results from the favorable image, impressions of differentiation, and the strength of consumer attachment to company name, brand name, or trademark (Belch & Belch, 2001, pp.60). The strong equity positioned a company and its brand is often reinforced through advertising (Belch & Belch, 2001, pp.60). That was why Bezos spent heavily on traditional advertising to establish a brand although none of the big booksellers were giving much thought to the Net in 1994 (Willis, 1998).
According to Media Metrix, Amazon's name recognition in part reflects the site's popularity because it has more than 1.5 million customers, making it the Web's busiest retail location (Willis, 1998). This is because the many consumers have developed brand loyalty, which can be defined as a preference for a particular brand that results in its repeated purchase, towards Amazon.com (Belch & Belch, 2001, pp.121). Amazon.com strives to develop and maintain brand loyalty among consumers because Amazon.com has created a successful system of one-to-one marketing (Alsop, 2001). It is the first company to really take advantage of something the Internet makes possible. In the old days, only small outfits could keep track of customers: your local tailor, the local barber, the butcher at the grocery store. As retailing and customer services have consolidated, Amazon.com does not lose the personal touch (Alsop, 2001).
Bezos knows that a brand is a trusted promise of quality, service, and value, established over time and proven by the test of repeated use and satisfaction (Saunders, 2001, pp.82). Although the store includes more than books, Bezos has not differentiated his book division from his music line or from his video line because he wants to make sure that each product line is sustained by the power of the brand (Saunders, 2001, pp.83-85). The brand’s name is meaningful, memorable and believable. Bezos chose to name his site as Amazon after the world’s largest river because he promised that his site will become the biggest bookstore in the world. But, now, that promise has been extended to “The World’s Largest Selection� (Saunders, 2001, pp.83-85).
Since a logo is representative of all the values critical to brand, when Amazon.com changed its logo in early 2000, it was a big thing. As the press release from Amazon.com in January that year explained, “To reflect Amazon’s brand and its relationship with its more than 16 million customers better; the familiar logo was changed to communicate the company’s mission of being the most customer-centric company in the world, most notably by depicting the ultimate expression of customer satisfaction: a smile.� On the old logo, there was a downward curve underlining the company’s name; the new line curves upward to a dimple, forming a happy face. In doing so, it also sends another message about Amazon. The line goes from the A in Amazon to the Z in the word, thereby sending the message that the store carries everything from A to Z (Saunders, 2001, pp.94-95).
Bezos has said that Amazon’s customers want selection, good service, and low price. So, he needs to do better in these three areas to promote its brand. In short, Amazon.com still needs to have well-defined business strategies to strengthen these three areas before establishing a memorable and believable brand image among consumers.
1. Brand
1. Assael H. (1990) Marketing: Principles & Strategy, Chicago : Dryden Press, ISBN 0030166225
2. Belch G. E. & Belch M. A. (2001) Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communication Perspectives, US: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0071180265
3. Saunders, R. (2001) Business The Amazon.com, UK: Capstone Publishing Limited, ISBN 184112155X
4. Alsop, S. (2001) “I'm betting on Amazon.com� Fortune, New York, vol.143, no.9; pg. 48, 1 pgs, retrieved 8 September, 2004, from
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5. Willis, Clint.(1998) “Does amazon.com really matter?" Forbes, New York, Apr 6, 1998, retrieved 8 September, 2004,from
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Jason Er 20:34, 26 Oct 2004 (EST)
