![\"amazon-logo\"](\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/AMAZON-LOGO.jpeg\"){kind=logo}
As an article recently in the New York Times <\/em>pointed out, Amazon is far outpacing its competitors by building a \u201cretail\u201d operation that nobody can effectively compete with, especially at this time of year. Amazon\u2019s stock performance (double in value) this year has outpaced the rest of the market. The big reason is that after years of development and investment in technology and logistics, Amazon works! It struck me as I saw the ads for Macy\u2019s \u201cBelieve\u201d campaign which I still think captures the spirit that made department store the Christmas headquarters for shopping several years ago. I also watched the promotions for the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day parade that has been a tradition at our household for viewing for as long as I can remember. What struck me is that I hadn\u2019t been in Macy\u2019s\u2014or any other department store\u2013 for at least a year and certainly hadn\u2019t purchased anything at the stores for even longer. However, our family has made at least 50 purchases from Amazon (and Amazon Prime) this year. Everything from swimming pool pumps to water filters to books to videos to shoes to toys\u2026and I could go on. And to top it all off, we had almost all of the items delivered at no cost, to our front door, the next day. And\u2026at prices that beat most Black Friday deals this week.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s no surprise why Amazon\u2019s retail sales more than doubled in the last quarter, twice the growth of Wal-Mart who does a far better job of merchandising than all of the department stores put together. Why is this happening? No surprise here either. It\u2019s all about branding. The Amazon brand has gone far beyond the bookstore brand that gave Amazon its beginning several years ago. But the brand goes beyond just expanding what you can buy at Amazon, it\u2019s the way they have developed a relationship with its customers and in the Amazon is a brand that lives up to its promise and exceeds customer expectations at every transaction. It\u2019s communications are more personal than\u2026. well, real persons. And it\u2019s growing in brand preference at lightning speed that will keep the competition far behind for many Black Friday\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n Hope you have a great Thanksgiving and a peaceful Christmas season.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_video admin_label=”Video” src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/xIpSIl5YanI” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Press Play>>> to view Ken\u2019s welcome message for this month. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you have a peaceful, family-oriented holiday and have chosen (as I have) to ignore Black Friday. Despite the billions of ad messages for everything from SUV\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1061,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"amazon-prime\"](\"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/AMAZON-PRIME.jpeg\")
process developed a brand that resonates with so many customers today. That relationship is strengthened by the \u201cpersonal\u201d communication that out performs even the best of the traditional holiday gift stores. First, with a website that makes it so easy to find what you want, when you want, at a great price. Next with a CRM program called Amazon Prime that for an annual fee of $99 you can get free delivery, usually next day, with one click on your keyboard. You\u2019ll get order status, shipping status, delivery status (even from the USPS), and a liberal return policy just in case you order the wrong size or color. Oh, and the return is just as easy to make.\u00a0\u00a0 Want to watch a TV series that you missed on primetime? Prime video makes it easy to watch as simply as Netflix or Apple TV\u2026and it\u2019s usually free to download.\u00a0\u00a0 Want to see if other people have purchased this product and were satisfied? Amazon\u2019s customer rating system is comprehensive and validated so well it\u2019s like calling a good friend who bought the product and is ready to recommend or suggest alternate items. I could go on, but these are just a few reasons why Prime now has over 40 million subscribers and growing every day (Black or not) before the holiday shopping season is over. \u00a0Click on this linkview a great TV spot for Amazon Prime that really supports the brand. \u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/RpW3lfKKxPc<\/a><\/p>\n