Amazon, E-Commerce, and the New Brand World

D’Agostino, Jessica Loe

Date:

2018-06

Abstract:

This thesis evaluates the impact of e-commerce on brands by analyzing Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the world. Amazon’s success is dependent on the existence of the brands it carries, yet its business model does not support its longevity. This research covers the history of retail and a description of e-commerce in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of our current retail landscape. The history of Amazon as well as three business analyses, a PESTEL analysis, a Porter’s Five Forces analysis, and a SWOT analysis, are included to establish a cognizance of Amazon as a company. With this knowledge, several aspects of Amazon’s business model are illustrated as potential brand diluting forces. However, an examination of these forces revealed that there are positive effects of each of them as well. The two sided nature of these factors is coined as Amazon’s Collective Intent. After this designation, the Brand Matrix, a business tool, was created in order to mitigate Amazon’s negative influence on both brands and its future.