Abstract
The rise of e-commerce has revolutionized the way customer shop and the leading actor of the permanent reshape of retailing is the multi-sided platform Amazon. Their size and dominance have attracted millions of customers and brands, demanding them to navigate within the premises set by Amazon. The MSP operates an online marketplace through which brands can sell their products directly to consumers or Amazon acting as a retailer. By selling products through the marketplace it expands the market of available consumers for the brand, however, comes at an expense which among others can be loss of control of the brand. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how brands should expect to sell to Amazon and still grow sales while maintaining control. In response to the research question, a case study on the Danish toy manufacturer Lego has been conducted. Different theoretical perspectives and models of brand management and marketing and multi-sided platforms are included to identify and examine important dimensions and aspects of these concepts, which can help answer the research question. Combined, theory and empirical data reveal six important dimensions for which 5 are within brands control, and the sixth covers an indirect interaction with the MSP Amazon. The framework is designed to provide brand executives with the most important areas to focus on, practices to follow, or be inspired by when working on maintaining control on Amazon. This allows brand executives to strategically plan and execute operations with and without Amazon, to increase the sales and strengthen brand control on the platform. It is argued that brands selling to Amazon can benefit from a focus on these dimensions.
| Educations | MSc in International Business, (Graduate Programme) Final Thesis |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publication date | 2020 |
| Number of pages | 144 |
| Supervisors | Kalina Stefanova Staykova |