Amazon is one of the giants of the computer market and is known to be the Wal-Mart of the web. It was predicted to be soon crushed by B&N after its launching; but it has become the most successful e-tailers of web and is doing the crushing itself (Amazon: The Walmart of the web, 2011). In order to compete, Amazon has focused on the pricing strategy as it believes to make the customers cheerful by providing them cheaper stuff. It has a superior business model where the technology is combined with the logistics company (Magee, 2011). It’s competitive pricing and advanced technology would become the competitive advantage for the firm in the long run. Low pricing is also the dominant strategy of the company and also earns it the first mover advantage.
Google is another global technology company that owns a large segment of the web market. It has developed numerous services and products at a very low cost or at no cost even. The basic strategic advantage of Google over its rivals is the superior infrastructure due to which it delivers speedy search. Google’s biggest competitive advantage is its innovativeness. Around 96% of the revenue of Google in 2011 was being earned from advertising. But there are numerous non-advertising activities of Google too. It is transforming as a company and entering the hardware business to employ the Fluid Core Strategy (Shaughnessy, 2013). It is going to gain a second mover advantage for the business by applying this strategy.
Apple is yet another strong name in the web market Apple offers its products at a premium price unlike Amazon. In the computer market, Apple analyzed its competitors and partnered with its competitors like Microsoft to gain a mutual benefit. Especially in the tablet market, Apple and Amazon have come together to form an oligopoly and formed a great strategy (Mace, 2011). Google is a competitor in this regard where both Amazon and Apple are planning to kill the rest. The strategy adopted by Amazon is a dominant strategy as lower pricing is always the best strategy (Magee, 2011). Apple is a leader in the Fluid Core strategy as it takes in retailing, mobility, design, platform management and miniaturization.
References
Amazon: The Walmart of the web. (2011). [online] 1st Oct. Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/node/21530980 [Accessed: 18 Feb 2014].
Mace, M. ( 2011). Amazon vs. apple? no, its Amazon and apple vs. everyone else. Mobile Opportunity, [web log] Retrieved from: http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2011/09/amazon-vs-apple-no-its-amazon-and-apple.html [Accessed: 18 Feb 2014].
Magee, D. (2011). Amazon: the most competitive business ever built?. [online] 27th July. Retrieved from: http://www.ibtimes.com/amazon-most-competitive-business-ever-built-818659 [Accessed: 18 Feb 2014].
Shaughnessy, H. (2013). Google as a champion of fluid core strategy. [online] 31st Aug. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/08/31/google-as-a-champion-of-the-new-fluid-core-strategy/ [Accessed: 18 Feb 2014].
