We want it cheap and we want it now! In today’s culture, we like everything to be immediate. Amazon has taken the idea of shopping online to a whole new level by offering college students the ability to sign up for Amazon prime for free for six months. This allows students to purchase clothing, household items, and even textbooks with free two day shipping. On top of that, Amazon says if a student refers another friend to the program, the initial student will receive a ten-dollar credit to be used at Amazon. With money being tight in a lot of college student’s lives, it is extremely useful that not only can you buy textbooks, but you can rent them as well. You can rent new, used, or digital textbooks. The used textbooks can sometimes be as cheap as one dollar! This helps avoid the marked up prices found at many bookstores.
Amazon has become a well-known and well-established brand over the past few years and their symbol is well recognized by people all over the world. The use of Semiotics has played an excellent role in making Amazon as successful as it is. Roland Barthes created the concept of Semiotics. He said that we as a culture gather information and attribute meaning to various symbols we see and interact with. When a student is looking for textbooks, seeing the accredited swoosh of Amazon’s logo, they feel they can trust and know this brand is a good brand to use.
The key for brands that are marketing to college students is for the brands to show that they are reliable and affordable. Being that it is rare to see a college student without a technological device that allows them to surf the web, it is key for brands to have some sort of online presence where they can sell their products. Amazon has proven to be to be an easily accessible brand that has become a vital resource to college students everywhere. Do Amazon Prime’s new incentives appeal to you?
Margaret Caffaso, Kierstin Geary, Connor Gold, Olivia Sadler, Hannah Zeskind
IMC Hawks Blog 