5 Ways Jeff Bezos Hacked Ecommerce

Jeffrey Bezos has proven himself to be quite the business mastermind over the years., building some of the world most powerful brands. He is the founder and CEO of e-commerce platform Amazon, The Washington Post and the founder of Blue Origin, a space exploration company.

Bezos’ exploit in business has literarily made him the richest person on the planet and there’s a lot to learn from the entrepreneur extraordinaire. In this one, we’ll be focusing on some of the strategies he’s used in placing Amazon on the throne of global e-commerce.  It can be said that Jeff Bezos hacked e-commerce, seeing how he’s taken Amazon to such great heights since founding the platform in 1994. The company is currently valued at $1.7 trillion Dollars. Let’s see some of the key strategies Jeff Bezos has used.

1. Next-Level Personalised User Experience

One way Jeff Bezos has ensured that Amazon outshines its competitors is by creating a personalised shopping experience for its customers.  The e-commerce platform observes the shopping trends of customers and uses that information to make recommendations.

This hack works because customers are most likely going to buy products they find relevant. If you’re trying to scale your e-commerce platform, you may not have the resources to achieve this level of personalisation, but you can start by simply displaying the recently viewed products.

2. Fast Loading Pages

A Slow Loading Page is like a Slow Sales Man and the truth is, customers don’t respond well when you waste their time. Amazon ranks among the first of similar platforms to have discovered that a webpage that loads at a slow speed could cause a customer to lose interest in purchasing a product.

In 2016, the e-commerce company conducted research that showed that for every 100ms of page load time on its platform, there was a 1% decrease in sales.

Fast loading pages is something every brand must take seriously. An ideal webpage must load in two seconds or less if it must hold a customer’s interest.

READ ALSO: Amazon Now World’s Most-Valuable Brand, Topples Google & Apple

3. Strong Customer Reviews

A brand that receives strong support from its customers will mostly thrive. Amazon proves this, seeing how the company has leveraged the positive reviews it has received from customers. As a result, more than half the people in the United States now search Amazon for a product before using a search engine.

Customers reviews are an essential tool for overcoming buyer hesitation. They answer a lot of questions from prospective customers whilst providing key descriptions of a product. Customer reviews can improve sales for any brand when showcased strategically.

4. Data Analytics

Amazon has made a lot of smart moves thanks to its use of data. According to Wunderman Thompson Commerce, the company draws and analyses data on virtually everything, be it button styles or marketing channels.

Smaller retailers can follow the same path by using tools such as Google Analytics, and simple A/B testing market campaigns or landing pages. These reveal what customers want and expect from a platform.

5. Admitting Mistakes

It’s not always been glorious for Amazon, even the most successful businesses have failed at one point or the other. However, what matters is how the brand goes about correcting its mistakes. In 2009, Amazon had to delete copies of “1984” and “Animal Farm” from Kindles because they were unauthorised versions. This caused outrage online and strained trust of customers.

The company took the reactions seriously and Jeff Bezos offered a personal apology. Although it was an unfortunate incidence,  Amazon handled it so well that it favoured that company.

Jeff Bezos has really gone outside the box strategising for Amazon and there’s a lot of useful lessons to learn from how this titan literally hacked e-commerce.