Amazon Kindle – it’s not the device, it’s Design Thinking that drives it’s success.

When I go online to buy something, 80% of the time I start and end at www.amazon.com. Recently I got a Kindle so that number will probably go even higher…..and Amazon does a superb job of making sure that it does.

What makes the Amazon experience so remarkable, is that the component parts of their service come together to create a superior whole.  Amazon exemplifies idea of  “positioning within an existing market to redefine the market in their favor so that their offering cannot easily be imitated by competitors” [from the late business guru C.K.Prahalad]. With Amazon, like McKinsey Quarterly (see prior post), all the parts work together in a system design that is extremely difficult to replicate.

Here is a synopsis of Amazon’s different components and how they come together:

• Amazon Account: the foundation of Amazon’s system. It ties to your historic purchases, credit card info, preferences, wish lists, Kindle devices and contact info.
• Kindle: the Kindle is a well made, purpose built reading device that is “registered” to your Amazon Account so that you can get downloads directly from Amazon and email docs to your Kindle for reading.
• 1- Click Purchase: Find a new book and with a single click, you can buy that item. Your Credit Card on file then gets charged. You also get an email confirmation.
• Whispernet Delivery: With Whispernet Delivery you make a purchase and then get the content sent to your Kindle. No connection fees or syncing needed.
• Content Is King: Not only does Amazon have a tremendous volume of content, but they also have:
  • Content Recommendations: each user’s preference and purchase history is stored and used to provide targeted content recommendations.
  • Low Content Costs: there has been a bit of a dust-up recently between Amazon, Apple and the content publishers over pricing, but Amazon’s costs still are the cheapest around.
  • Extensive Search: Amazon includes very strong site search capabilities that make it easier to find content.
• Recommendations: the Amazon community is very active and content (+ product) recommendations are invaluable to supporting informed purchase decisions. Amazon takes your likes / preferences and then combines them with the recommendations of people that have made similar purchases.
• Direct Marketing:  With all of a user’s preferences and history in their database, Amazon can deliver highly targeted opt-in emails that drive additional purchases.

Despite their integrated system, Amazon is facing a huge threat from Apple, another master of design thinking. Will Amazon end up as the winner? Who knows, but the battle between these two will be an interesting one.

One Response to “Amazon Kindle – it’s not the device, it’s Design Thinking that drives it’s success.”

1. Tweets that mention Amazon Kindle – it’s not the device, it’s Design Thinking that drives it’s success. | grahamlubie.com -- Topsy.com says:

   May 18, 2010 at 8:42 am

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