CASE STUDY:

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American multinational technology company that focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming and artificial intelligence. Amazon has been labelled as one of the worlds most valuable brands, and through effectively using cutting edge technology and innovations it has acquired the reputation of being a disruptor of well-established industries globally and is the worlds largest retailer outside China. It is also the second-largest private employer in USA.

Amazon plans to launch its online marketplace and services in South Africa during 2023, for the benefit of the African continent as a whole. It is seeking to recruit Account Managers to be based in Cape Town, whose responsibility it will be to recruit sellers both in South Africa and the African continent as a whole. The team of Account Managers will be tasked with assisting sellers reach customers on the African continent, since to date Amazon does not have any marketplace customers on the African continent.

This team of Account Managers will be headed by yourself, the Key New Accounts Manager. Together with your team of Account Managers, it is your assigned responsibility to recruit and launch online sellers onto Amazons marketplace and to assist online sellers to both expand and grow their businesses through partnering with Amazon and therefore improving the experiences of online customers both in South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. Amazon is also seeking to employ a Senior Retail Programme Manager whose task it would be to roll out stores in new countries on the African continent.

As such, Amazon has no marketplaces anywhere on the African continent, but for Amazon to establish a presence, the establishment of Amazon online malls in both South Africa and Nigeria (two of Africas largest markets) is both imperative and a pre-requisite. Africa has the largest cohort of youths globally, and research has shown that this cohort is extremely techno-savvy. Furthermore, Amazon believes that Africa as a continent is well-positioned for growth, spurred by the increasingly productive potential of its young population, their rapid adoption of technology, and evolving consumer-behaviour trends.

QUESTION: (15 MARKS)

Provide relevant solutions and recommendations for the various opportunities, benefits, challenges and risks, in terms of their technical, operational and economic feasibilities.