Amazon.com had consistently served a global audience. In July 1995, the customers of the company came from 45 different countries. Currently, the company sells to over 150 countries. In the year 2000, about 13.8% of all revenues came from the International market. (Krishnamurthy, 2003)
There are five international stores of Amazon.com: Amazon Canada, Amazon France, Amazon UK, Amazon Japan, and Amazon Germany. Someone may argue that why Amazon.com needs international stores when anyone, anywhere can get online and buy stuff from Amazon. However, Amazon.com opened international stores for the following good reasons :
The Mother-Tongue Issue
Despite the fact that every time you go to another country, people automatically speak English to me even before I open my mouth. However, it is not everyone on earth speaks English. So Amazon decided to create native-language stores in other countries that have high Internet penetration. (Friedman,2004) Because of serving the international markets, Amazon.com opened customer service centers in Slough, England, Resenburg, Germany and in The Hague. Multilingual service representatives were hired to serve customers effectively. With the French, Japanese and German stores, for instance, the company was forced to deal with creating content in local languages. (Krishnamurthy, 2003)
The Shipping Issue
It’s true that anyone anywhere can get online and buy from Amazon, even though it’s an American company. But if they do, they’re also paying shipping prices from America, even if they live halfway around the world. That’ll put a kink in the whole good pricing thing. But when international shoppers buy from an international Amazon stores, their items are shipped from that country. (Friedman,2004) Also, customers need to wait for their products after they brought at Amazon.com. If customers can order the products in their own country, that can save the delivery time. Therefore, international stores of Amazon.com can solve the shipping problem.
The Currency Issue
Amazon.com is all about convenience for customers. Therefore, it considered the currency issue that may inconvenience for customers. For example, if a customer were British, for example, he or she would much rather buy items priced in pounds than try to figure out the whole conversion thing. (Friedman,2004)Also, the current changes every time, so customers may pay more to buy items.
The Local Product Issue
Local products are more readily available to locals. So if customers are looking for the newest PD James novel, check out Amazon.co.uk first; if you’re looking for “Harry Potter et l’Ordre du Phénix,� check out Amazon.fr. (Friedman,2004)These international stores help to sort the items for the clutter that let customers more convenience.
The National Pride Issue
Some people, though they may speak English, such as Canadians, British folks, and bilingual Frenchmen, just want to buy from a local company. And local companies usually understand their own people better. So when Amazon.com opens these international stores, they work with a local team to make the store authentic and hip to all the appropriate cultural subtleties. (Friedman,2004)
Friedman, Mara. (2004) Amazon.com for Dummies , Hoboken: Wiley Publishing Inc., ISBN 0764558404
Krishnamurthy, S. (2003) E-Commerce Management:Text and Cases, Louiseville:Transcontinental Printing,Inc.,
ISBN 0324152523
Sharon Tse 12:45, 9 Sep 2004 (EST)
