As an e-commerce juggernaut with billions of dollars in sales, Amazon may seem an unlikely source of inspiration for small businesses. But the company’s market value doubled in 2015, and third-quarter revenue from its new business, Amazon Web Services (AWS), grew 78 percent compared to the same period in 2014—enviable successes for businesses of any size. We talked to three small business owners about the lessons they’ve learned from Amazon.
1. Start small.
From dog food to DSLR cameras, hundreds of millions of products are for sale on Amazon. You can also watch streaming videos, set up subscription-based delivery of your favorite items or secure cloud computing services for your business. But it wasn’t always this way. Amazon started as a bookseller, “and for years, even when they were expanding into other verticals or industries, that was all they were known for,” says John Turner, CEO and founder of Users Think, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company that delivers user feedback on websites’ home pages. “Intense focus early on allowed them to win that market, and only then did they really branch out. But they didn’t try to be ‘the everything store’ right away.”
2. Put your customers first.
“Everybody is eating Amazon’s digital dust because Amazon keeps their customers No. 1,” says Scott Lorenz, president of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm in Plymouth, Michigan. “If you look at all the innovative changes Amazon has made over the years, they’re all for the benefit of the customer.” (Think one-click purchasing, free and fast shipping—including same-day delivery in some markets—and low prices.)
3. Help yourself, then help others.
AWS, a cloud-based computing service, may seem an odd offering from a company focused on retail, but “AWS wasn’t some out-of-nowhere pursuit,” Turner says. “It came from Amazon’s own need to build a rock-solid, fast and scalable website. They had to not only buy their own hardware for it, but often had to build their own software to handle the influx of traffic.” Small business owners should examine the solutions they craft for their own businesses, Turner says, and consider how those products or services could become sales opportunities.
Turner founded his small business, UsersThink, after developing the tool for his own use as a Web consultant. “It became apparent quickly how powerful it was,” he says, “and I decided to refine it for public use. It’s now my primary focus.”
4. Ship smart.
Small businesses may not be able to offer two-day shipping à la Amazon Prime or plan for same-day delivery via drones, but “small retailers can learn from Amazon about how to nail the customer experience in regards to shipping,” says Jarrett Streebin, founder and CEO of EasyPost, a San Francisco, California-based shipping company. Providing your customers with order receipt confirmations, tracking codes and email updates about shipping status is simple, but it goes a long way in creating a great customer experience, Streebin says.
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