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Experiencia EAE
The Amazon Campus Challenge comes to Spain!
20 de December de 2019
On 2nd December, at EAE Business School, Mercedes Fèvre Obarrio presented Amazon’s new challenge for students: the Amazon Campus Challenge
On 2nd December, at EAE Business School’s Madrid Campus, the company Amazon presented one of this year’s most interesting projects: The Amazon Campus Challenge. At the event, entitled Company Meeting Amazon, Mercedes Fèvre Obarrio, the Strategic Account Manager of Amazon Marketplace, gave an overview of the project and an in-depth explanation of the company’s principles and the Amazon Marketplace service.
The Amazon Campus Challenge is a competition in which students and Spanish companies join forces to create their electronic commerce strategy together and start trading on Amazon. As Fèvre Obarrio explained, the objective is to support SMEs and also students to have a real business experience. With respect to the steps to follow in the challenge, participants firstly have to create a team and then find a company with the potential to sell on Amazon, before creating its online sales plan. The winning team receives €10,000, with the first runner-up winning €7,000 and the third €5,000.
Fèvre Obarrio explained that the participants had to be students over 18 years old who are taking a higher education program in the 2019-2020 academic year at an institution in Spain. The competition is scheduled to begin on 17th February and finish at the end of May. However, the period for registrations is open until 20th December. The teams must have between two and five members.
As well as presenting the Amazon Campus Challenge, Fèvre Obarrio took advantage of the opportunity to give a more in-depth insight into the company’s most important principle: passion for the customer. Amazon’s business model is based on a virtuous circle concept focused on the customer. The idea was sketched out on a napkin by Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, and remains one of the founding pillars of the company. The key to success is offering customers the best possible experience. A good experience attracts commercial partners which, in turn, help to expand the selection of products available in Amazon’s stores. A large selection promotes more competitive prices and innovation, generating a positive effect. According to the presenter, the customers are the driving force behind Amazon. Without customer satisfaction, achieved through a number of variables including optimal prices, convenience, selection, a range of payment options and great customer service, the cycle that has led the company to success would break.
The Amazon Marketplace service is a key part of the company’s business model. The service enables small and medium companies to sell their products in Amazon’s five stores in Europe (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.it and Amazon), with the potential to reach millions of customers. Over 8,000 Spanish SMEs sold on Amazon in 2018, with more than 75% exporting their products primarily to European customers and some further afield. In total, all these companies generated export sales of over 400 million euros in 2018.
There is not long before the deadline for registrations for the Amazon Campus Challenge. What are you waiting for? Sign up here!