Amazon.com’s
European Distribution Strategy
Identification of the problem
Launching Amazon in Europe
Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de
In 1998 Amazon.com entered the European market, targeting the major markets for its business – United Kingdom (largest online market) and Germany (largest market for books in Europe).
These ventures were fostered through acquisitions of the leading online book retailers in each country – Bookpages.co.uk in the U.K. and Telebuch.de in Germany. The two websites were re-launched in October 1998 under the Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de brands following their US parent Amazon.com “Get Big Fast” strategy by offering a wider variety of products within one year – soon they evolved from a pure book retailer into an e-tailer with the introduction of Music, Auctions, zShops, Video, Software and Video Games among other categories.
Amazon.fr
In September 2000 Amazon continued its expansion overseas with the opening of Amazon.fr.
However, this time Amazon didn’t acquire an online bookseller prior to its launch; instead, they built the site from scratch, facing the inherent challenges plus the tough competition from already stablished competitors like Fnac.com, Alapage.com and BOL.
Amazon’s Challenges in Europe
During its first years in Europe, Amazon had faced several challenges that led to particular operational and organizational choices. Amazon recognized the existing cultural differences and as a result they chose to fully comply with their legal and cultural specificities, meaning a significant tailoring of Amazon.com’s traditional value chain to local needs. Therefore Amazon decided to:
- Maintain dedicated Web sites for each customer base;
- Build 24h cu ...