What Amazon's Smart Phone Means for Retail

Lauren Krause
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The release of the Amazon Fire phone in early June 2014 spurred endless chatter and speculation as business experts rushed to analyze the latest product from the online behemoth. Packing an impressive technological punch, the Amazon smart phone features many of the attributes consumers crave in their mobile devices. The true story, however, lies behind Amazon's motives for releasing the Fire mobile device. Will this product revolutionize the future of retail?

Amazon certainly pulled out the stops for the new Amazon Fire phone, with its sophisticated camera, impressive storage capacity and a critically praised 3D screen. Beyond the tech specs of this new gadget, the phone's built-in support for Amazon's digital content library reveals much about the online shopping destination's strategy for building consumer loyalty. In an attempt to woo both current customers and new buyers alike, Amazon has created a device that makes buying the company's products easier than ever before.

The shopping portal's foray into hardware development first emerged several years ago with the release of the first Amazon Kindle. Since that time, the company has worked to bring several other products to market, including the Amazon Fire tablet. By creating technological tools that allow customers to purchase Amazon products with the touch of a button, the company is developing a sophisticated infrastructure to continuously market Amazon's offerings. The Amazon Fire phone is merely one piece in the puzzle.

On a much larger scale, the Amazon Fire phone demonstrates a radical shift in how retailers target their customers. Experts explain that global brands must no longer focus on creating high-quality products; they must also work to develop innovative tools that allow customers to interact with the brand on a daily basis. The Amazon smart phone serves that role for the online shopping company in a powerful way.

Whereas clever marketing strategies and effective advertising campaigns once filled the core of a modern retailer's outreach, today savvy businesses must focus on developing new channels for customer-relations purposes. Companies like Amazon understand this principle, which is why they focus on the development of products like the Amazon Fire phone. Smaller retailers taking notes should focus on identifying their own potential growth opportunities, either through product deployment or new customer-retention strategies. This approach allows retailers big and small to work towards a more profitable future.

Online shopping and mobile commerce are two of the largest sectors of the global economy, and Amazon combines both in its new phone. The company hopes to boost its sales in other divisions by continually marketing via the Amazon Fire phone. If nothing else, this strategy emphasizes a dramatic shift in how retailers reach customers. Those that wish to remain competitive must keep an ever-open channel of communication with buyers.

Photo courtesy of Franky242 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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