Amazon’s Playbook for SMEs: 8 Strategic Moves
Hi, I’m Aby
Welcome to The Strategic Billion Dollar PEN, your weekly business strategy newsletter designed to equip SME business owners and entrepreneurs with the clarity, confidence, and competitive edge to grow and scale with purpose—successfully.
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Then it’s time to turn strategy into your superpower—the fuel behind every bold move, every sharp pivot, and every win that leaves your competition scrambling.
What Amazon Can Teach SMEs About Strategic Growth
Last week, we unpacked Amazon’s strategic playbook and what it can teach SME business owners and entrepreneurs about scalable growth. This week, we continue the series with a sharper focus: how customer-centricity drives revenue — and how SMEs can attract and retain customers with strategic precision.
Let’s take a page from a company that does it best.
Amazon’s Customer Obsession: A Blueprint for SMEs
Amazon’s mission, established over 30 years ago, is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. Founder Jeff Bezos famously said:
“We’re not competitor-obsessed, we’re customer-obsessed. We start with what the customer needs and work backwards.”
— Jeff Bezos
From AWS to Prime, Whole Foods to Kindle, every Amazon move was a response to evolving customer needs. SMEs can apply the same logic — not by doing more, but by doing what matters most to their customers.
Strategic Layering: Through the Eyes of Your Customer
Start by mapping your customer’s journey. Where do they feel friction, confusion, or risk? Then layer solutions that remove those barriers:
- Infrastructure: Build backend tools that simplify client workflows.
- Loyalty: Create subscription models or bundled services.
- Adjacency: Offer complementary services they already seek elsewhere.
- Innovation: Repackage insights into formats they’ll actually use.
- Acquisition: Partner or acquire capabilities that deepen your value.
Strategic layering isn’t about complexity — it’s about clarity. It’s how exponential value begins.
Amazon’s Customer-Centric Moves — SME Translations
| Amazon’s Customer-Centric Moves — SME Translations 1. AWS – Infrastructure-as-a-Service Customer Principle: Solve hidden pain before they ask SME Action: Build backend tools or dashboards that remove friction (e.g. automated reporting, client portals) 2. Prime – Loyalty + Convenience Customer Principle: Make repeat engagement effortless and rewarding SME Action: Create subscription models, loyalty tiers, or bundled services that feel like a win 3. Whole Foods Acquisition Customer Principle: Expand into adjacent needs your customer already has SME Action: Identify complementary services/products your clients buy elsewhere and offer them in-house 4. Kindle – Innovation Engine Customer Principle: Continuously reimagine how your customer consumes value SME Action: Package insights into new formats: diagnostic tools, webinars, templates, or interactive scorecards 5. Smart Acquisitions Customer Principle: Acquire capabilities that deepen your customer relationship SME Action: Partner or acquire firms that fill delivery gaps (e.g. bookkeeping, onboarding tech, CRM setup) |
Flight 78910™ SME Spotlight: Codie Sanchez
WATCH Video Feature: How She Made $50M Buying Boring Businesses | Codie Sanchez
This week’s spotlight shines on Codie Sanchez, who scaled her customer base from thousands to millions across multiple platforms — all through a relentless, customer-centric approach.
Her unique proposition in a crowded market helped her build a $50M portfolio by buying “boring businesses” and turning them into cash-flowing assets. Codie proves that strategic clarity and customer obsession aren’t just for tech giants — they’re for every founder ready to play a bigger game.
1. Customer‑Centric Growth Scales Faster Than Channels
Codie’s rise from thousands to millions of followers shows that SMEs who prioritise customer insight, feedback loops, and audience‑first content can scale faster than those relying on platform hacks or paid acquisition alone.
2. A Clear, Differentiated Value Proposition Cuts Through Crowded Markets
Her “boring businesses” thesis demonstrates that SMEs with a sharp, memorable USP can stand out even in saturated industries — especially when the offer solves a real, overlooked problem.
3. Cash‑Flow‑Focused Strategy Builds Resilient, High‑Value SMEs
Codie’s portfolio proves that buying or building simple, profitable, operationally sound businesses can create sustainable cash flow and long‑term enterprise value — a model any SME can adapt.
Apply the Playbook →
Every Blueprint and Spotlight in this newsletter is a strategic lever.
Which one will you use to build a stronger, more competitive SME?
Strategic Growth Is Customer-Driven
SMEs Take Away
Growth or Scale to a 7 ,8, or 9 figure business requires:
- A crisp financial target
- A relentless, strategic mindset
- A daily commitment to understanding and serving evolving customer needs
Amazon doesn’t center its strategy on products or competitors — it centers on customers. Its mission is a living document, shaped by innovation and growth. SME founders can embed the same mindset into their culture and delivery DNA. Customer acquisition and retention isn’t a quarterly goal — it’s a daily discipline. Especially for those driving revenue and profitability toward ever-expanding or massive targets
Conclusion
Across Codie Sanchez, Amazon, and Kogan, the pattern is unmistakable: strong, growing SMEs don’t scale by accident — they scale through clarity, discipline, and customer obsession. Whether it’s Codie turning overlooked businesses into cash‑flowing assets, Amazon treating customer understanding as a daily ritual, or Kogan using data and innovation to meet unmet needs, the strategic levers are the same.
A crisp financial target, a relentless strategic mindset, and a commitment to serving evolving customer needs form the foundation of every 7‑, 8‑, and 9‑figure business. When SMEs embed these principles into their culture and delivery DNA, they create more than growth — they build sustainable competitive advantage and long‑term enterprise value. That’s the real path to becoming a stronger, smarter business with the momentum to reach 7‑8‑9‑10.
References
- About Us | About Amazon
- Amazon & Customer Experience: 13 Quotes from Jeff Bezos – Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Feedback Management for NetSuite
- Israeli, Ayelet, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins, and Sabir Semerkant. “Should Your Company Sell on Amazon? Reach Comes at a Price.” Harvard Business Review 100, no. 5 (September–October 2022): 38–46. View Details
- amazon’s mission statement established year – Google Search
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Until next week—
Set bold strategy. Set big targets. Take massive action. Measure what matters.
About the Author
Aby Rufus
Business Investor Strategy Expert Entrepreneur with an MBA in Strategic Planning—offering billion-dollar strategic solutions for SMEs.
