Four trends that are large factors in Amazon’s general environment, both for the firm as a whole and specific to the Kindle Fire, are technological trends, economic trends, sociocultural trends, and physical environmental trends. Technology is rapidly changing, which means changes not only for firms but for everyone in the world. For Amazon specifically, technology has played a big part in their success. With the emergence of online shopping, Amazon has been able to take over a large part of the retail game. Consumers often opt to shop online rather than leave home to purchase products in store, and with free two-day shipping through Amazon Prime, consumers are taking advantage of the technology available. When it comes to the Kindle Fire specifically, …show more content…
Amazon’s greatest strength is its superior logistics. In order to lead the way, Amazon has many regional warehouses and has purchased multiple logistics firms such as Yodel and Colis Privé in Europe in order to meet customer delivery demands (Lierow). This, coupled with free two-day delivery for Amazon Prime subscribers, helps them have a great advantage over other companies that deliver goods purchased online. Conversely, a possible weakness for Amazon is that they are purely based online. Although they are a leader in retailing, many online only retailers have been bought out by brick and mortar retailers, such as Walmart’s purchase of online vintage clothing retailer Modcloth (Dennis). Additionally, some online retailers have expanded into having brick and mortar locations, or have chosen to sell their goods in stores. For example, online cosmetics brand Morphe has started to sell their products in Ulta, a cosmetics store that takes advantage of omnichannel retailing. While Amazon is thought of as a reason for the demise of brick and mortar retailing, they must pay attention to how trends change and adapt accordingly to continue succeeding. An outside opportunity for Amazon is the fact that consumers enjoy convenience, which includes shopping from home. Many consumers have turned to Amazon for even their weekly grocery shopping, along with events such as Christmas shopping. As long as consumers still want this convenience, Amazon will be able to grow due to this opportunity. However, a threat they must be aware of is competition from other large retail firms. For example, Amazon’s biggest competitor is Walmart. While Walmart is having to compete against Amazon’s online retailing, Amazon must compete against Walmart’s brick and mortar retailing. For now, Amazon is leading the way in market cap at