
Category winner: Amazon’s Big Data Strategy
The case |
![]() Who – the protagonistJeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. What?Amazon is the giant US online retailer that started out as an internet book shop, but is now, 25 years later, a seller of millions of items around the world. Why?
Big data has effectively transformed the way Amazon does business, as it has allowed them to better understand the precise products that customers want. Where?Amazon has opened websites in Asia-Pacific and Europe after starting life in Bezos’ native US. When?After being launched in 1994, Amazon realised in the early 2000s that big data could transform their company. By 2009 Amazon was buying Zappos for $1.2billion and using big data to check fraud in the organisation. Quite a difference from selling books from Bezos’ garage 15 years earlier. Key quote“At Amazon’s recommendation team, we asked ourselves, how do we take this data and make a little bit more money, how do we apply it in this channel differently and it was really neat. Now it is being called ‘Big Data’ in the marketing and media world, but at the time we were doing this stuff, it was just kind of putting one foot in front of the other.” – David Sellinger, former Software Manager (Customer Behaviour Research) at Amazon.
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Amazon’s Big Data Strategy |
The authors |
Debapratim Purkayastha and Adapa Srinivasa RaoDebaparatim and Adapa discuss cases readying students for future employment and the thrill of case writing. Preparing students for employmentDebapratim said: “Over the past decade there have been tremendous advancements in information and communication technology. Disruptive technologies have affected every business, cutting across industries. Businesses are required to have ambitious, well-considered transformation strategies if they are to stay relevant over the coming years.
Further experienceAdapa explained: “This is the third award I have won from The Case Centre (the other awards were in 2014 with a case on Nike, and 2015 with a case on Google). I feel very glad for getting recognition for my work, and I wish to gain more expertise in case writing in the future. “I learned a lot from working with Debapratim over the past few years. His guidance helped me in honing my writing and analytical skills, and I wish to continue our association with him in the future.”
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