Should Amazon Deliver Food? — Product Manager Mock Interview (\with Google PM)

Summary

In this product management mock interview, the discussion revolves around whether Amazon should enter the food delivery business. The interviewee explores Amazon's strengths, including its vast logistics network and customer base, and weighs the benefits of building a new service versus acquiring an existing one. Considering regulatory challenges and market saturation, the recommendation leans towards building Amazon's own food delivery platform to leverage its existing infrastructure and potentially boost Prime membership. The conversation also contrasts Amazon's fast-paced, single-threaded approach with Google's more consensus-driven decision-making process.

Takeaways

• 🤔 Amazon is considering entering the food delivery business, with a focus on the US market due to regulatory challenges.
• 🚚 Amazon's strength lies in its established logistics and last-mile delivery network, which could be advantageous for food delivery services.
• 🏗️ The food delivery market is crowded with competitors like UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub, suggesting a need for a unique approach or value proposition from Amazon.
• 🛒 Amazon's customer base is accustomed to online ordering, which could translate well to food delivery services.
• 📊 The food delivery business operates on low margins, which aligns with Amazon's experience in e-commerce, where many categories also operate on slim margins.
• 🔍 Potential risks include regulatory scrutiny due to Amazon's dominance in e-commerce and the potential for low or negative margins in food delivery.
• 🛍️ Amazon could leverage its Prime membership to incentivize food delivery service use, potentially increasing Prime subscriptions and overall customer spending.
• 📝 Amazon's culture emphasizes document writing and single-threaded ownership of projects, which could influence the approach to developing a food delivery service.
• 📈 The recommendation is to build Amazon's own food delivery service, leveraging existing infrastructure and customer base, rather than acquiring a competitor.
• 🏢 The decision-making process at Amazon involves a detailed analysis of market opportunities, company strengths, and potential risks, with a focus on strategic growth and customer acquisition.
• 🔑 Key to Amazon's approach is the potential for strategic expansion into underserved areas and the use of Amazon Business to attract restaurants to the new delivery network.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the product management mock interview?

The main topic is whether Amazon should get into the food delivery business.

What is the initial question posed to the interviewee in the mock interview?

The initial question is whether Amazon should enter the food delivery business, with a focus on either a global or domestic perspective.

Why does the interviewer ask about the focus being global or domestic?

The interviewer asks about the focus to consider the different regulatory challenges Amazon might face in each scenario.

What is the MVP strategy for Amazon's entry into the food delivery business according to the interview?

The MVP strategy is for Amazon to focus within the US due to its familiarity with the logistics and delivery network.

What role does the interviewee assume in the mock interview?

The interviewee assumes the role of a Product Manager at Amazon, presenting to the VP of e-commerce.

What are some of the strengths of Amazon that could support its entry into the food delivery business?

Amazon's strengths include its status as an e-commerce giant, its extensive fulfillment and last-mile delivery network, and its customer base trained in online ordering.

What are some of the potential challenges Amazon might face in the food delivery business?

Challenges include regulatory scrutiny, competition from established players like UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub, and the low-margin nature of the business.

What is the 'customer first' philosophy that Amazon is known for, and how might it apply to food delivery?

The 'customer first' philosophy means prioritizing customer needs and experiences. In food delivery, this could translate to efficient ordering, fast delivery, and high-quality service.

What is the 'two-pizza team' model mentioned in the interview, and how does it facilitate Amazon's operations?

The 'two-pizza team' model refers to keeping teams small enough to be fed by two pizzas, promoting agility and swift decision-making with single-threaded owners for projects.

What are the differences in work culture between Amazon and Google as discussed in the interview?

Amazon is described as moving faster with a focus on writing and document-driven processes, while Google is characterized by a more consensus-driven approach with less emphasis on documentation.

What is the recommendation for Amazon's entry into the food delivery business based on the mock interview?

The recommendation is for Amazon to build its own food delivery service, leveraging its existing delivery network and using it as a strategy to drive Prime memberships.

What is the potential risk of entering a low-margin business like food delivery for Amazon?

The risk is that if the food delivery business does not attract new Prime members or if it cannibalizes existing Prime members without increasing overall sales, it could be a financial burden on Amazon.

How does the interviewee suggest mitigating the risk of restaurant pushback for adding another ordering system?

By strategically targeting areas underserved by food delivery services and offering incentives to restaurants, such as integration with Amazon Business for bulk orders.

What is the potential regulatory risk if Amazon decides to acquire a food delivery company?

The risk is increased scrutiny and potential antitrust issues, especially if Amazon acquires a major player in the market, disrupting healthy competition.

What is the role of Amazon Business in attracting restaurants to Amazon's food delivery network?

Amazon Business, the B2B platform, can offer bulk ordering services to restaurants, providing an incentive for them to join Amazon's food delivery network.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Product Strategy for Amazon's Food Delivery Entry

The video script begins with a mock interview discussing whether Amazon should enter the food delivery business. The interviewee, Yanel, is tasked with considering Amazon's potential strategy in this market, including the choice between a global or domestic approach and the regulatory challenges that might arise, particularly in the US. The focus is set on a domestic strategy given Amazon's logistics expertise in the US. Yanel is positioned as a PM at Amazon, advising the VP of e-commerce on the strategic move into food delivery.

05:02

🔎 Analyzing Amazon's Strengths, Weaknesses, and Market Opportunities

In this paragraph, the discussion centers on analyzing Amazon's strengths, such as its e-commerce dominance and fulfillment network, which are crucial for last-mile delivery in the food delivery business. The competitive landscape is examined, noting the presence of established players like UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub. The script also touches on Amazon's customer base, which is accustomed to online ordering, and the demographic synergy with food delivery customers. The food delivery business is acknowledged as a low-margin industry, which Amazon has experience with, and potential regulatory scrutiny is mentioned as a challenge.

10:03

🚀 Exploring Entry Strategies: Build or Buy?

The script moves on to consider potential strategies for Amazon's entry into food delivery. Two main options are discussed: building Amazon's own food delivery service or acquiring an existing player in the market. The build option could leverage Amazon's existing customer base and delivery infrastructure, while the buy option could face challenges with regulatory scrutiny and cultural integration. The importance of evaluating the potential for synergies with Amazon's Prime membership is highlighted, as well as the need to assess the risks and trade-offs of each strategy.

15:05

🏗️ Building Amazon's Food Delivery Service: Opportunities and Risks

This section delves into the specifics of building Amazon's own food delivery service. It discusses the potential for integrating the service with Amazon's ecosystem, including the UI, connecting with restaurants, and leveraging the existing last-mile delivery network. The risks include the low-margin nature of the business and the potential difficulty of convincing restaurants to adopt yet another ordering system. The opportunity to use the service as a means to drive Prime memberships and the possibility of using Amazon's B2B platform to attract restaurants are also considered.

20:05

🛒 Acquisition Strategy: Targeting Underserved Markets

The script explores the acquisition strategy, focusing on the potential to target underserved areas where Amazon's Prime membership and food delivery services like UberEats and DoorDash have not yet penetrated. It suggests that purchasing a competitor with a presence in rural areas could complement Amazon's existing strengths. However, the risks of regulatory challenges due to monopoly concerns are also highlighted. The discussion touches on the importance of considering the company culture and how it might mesh with Amazon's, as well as the potential benefits of leveraging Amazon's fulfillment network to expand into these areas.

25:06

⚖️ Weighing the Decision: Building vs. Buying

In this paragraph, the speaker leans towards building Amazon's own food delivery service due to the ability to leverage existing Amazon resources and the potential to strategically grow the service. The recommendation includes using the service to attract new Prime members and offering incentives to restaurants to join the network. The potential for the service to act as a loss leader to gain more Prime members is also considered, alongside the mitigation of risks associated with the low-margin business and regulatory scrutiny.

30:07

🌐 Cultural and Operational Differences Between Amazon and Google

Towards the end of the script, the conversation shifts to a comparison between Amazon and Google, focusing on their operational and cultural differences. Amazon's 'two-pizza team' model and emphasis on single-threaded ownership for speed are contrasted with Google's more consensus-driven approach. The differences in documentation practices, with Amazon's preference for detailed documents over slides, and Google's use of their own products versus Amazon's use of external tools, are also highlighted. The speaker shares insights into the decision-making processes and the pace of work at both companies.

Keywords

💡Amazon

Amazon is a multinational technology company known for its e-commerce platform, but it has also expanded into various other sectors such as cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. In the video, Amazon is considered for its potential to enter the food delivery business, leveraging its existing logistics and customer base.

💡Food Delivery Business

The food delivery business involves the service of ordering food from restaurants and having it delivered to customers, often through a digital platform. The script discusses whether Amazon should enter this competitive market, considering its existing infrastructure and customer service strengths.

💡Product Management

Product management is the process of guiding a product from its inception to its launch and ongoing development. In the context of the video, a product management mock interview is being conducted to explore Amazon's strategy in potentially entering the food delivery market.

💡Regulation

Regulation refers to rules and directives made and maintained by governing bodies to control an industry or a sector. The script mentions the potential regulatory challenges Amazon might face if it expands into the food delivery business, particularly in the U.S. where it already has a significant market presence.

💡Logistics

Logistics is the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation or the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption. Amazon's expertise in logistics, especially last-mile delivery, is highlighted as a key strength in the discussion about entering the food delivery business.

💡Market Penetration

Market penetration is the degree to which a product is represented within its market. The script discusses the idea of Amazon penetrating areas where food delivery services like UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub have not yet established a strong presence, particularly in rural or underserved regions.

💡Prime Membership

Amazon Prime is a subscription service offering various benefits such as free shipping, access to streaming services, and more. The video suggests that Amazon could use the food delivery service as a way to drive more customers to become Prime members, leveraging the existing loyalty program to increase customer retention and spending.

💡Two-Pizza Team Model

The two-pizza team model is a principle at Amazon that suggests teams should be small enough to be fed by two pizzas. This concept is used to maintain agility and speed in project development. The video contrasts this with Google's more consensus-driven approach, highlighting the different corporate cultures and operational strategies.

💡Anti-Trust Issues

Anti-trust issues refer to legal concerns related to the suppression of competition by large corporations. The script mentions that if Amazon were to acquire a food delivery company, it might face anti-trust scrutiny due to its already dominant market position in other sectors.

💡Fulfillment Network

A fulfillment network is the infrastructure that supports the delivery of goods to customers. Amazon's extensive fulfillment network, which includes warehouses and delivery systems, is considered an asset that could be leveraged if the company were to enter the food delivery business.

💡Scrutiny

Scrutiny refers to the close examination or critical inspection. In the context of the video, it is used to describe the potential legal and regulatory close examination Amazon might receive if it expands into new markets, such as food delivery, due to its large market share and influence.

💡E-Commerce Giant

An e-commerce giant is a company that has a significant presence and influence in the online retail market. The term is used in the script to describe Amazon's current status and its implications for its potential entry into the food delivery market.

Highlights

Amazon is considering entering the food delivery business within the US due to familiarity with logistics.

The potential for Amazon to leverage its existing last-mile delivery network for food delivery.

Amazon's customer base is already accustomed to online ordering, which could translate to food delivery services.

The food delivery market is crowded with competitors like UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub.

The demographic overlap between Amazon's customer base and the typical food delivery customer.

The food delivery business operates on low margins, which aligns with Amazon's experience in e-commerce.

Potential regulatory scrutiny for Amazon due to its dominance in e-commerce if it enters the food delivery market.

Strategic options for Amazon include building its own food delivery service or acquiring an existing player.

The risk of Amazon's food delivery service becoming a low-margin business without driving Prime membership growth.

Challenges of onboarding restaurants already partnered with other food delivery services.

The potential for Amazon to use its B2B platform to attract restaurants to its food delivery network.

The recommendation for Amazon to build its own food delivery platform to leverage existing resources and drive Prime memberships.

The cultural differences between Amazon and Google, with Amazon favoring smaller, single-threaded teams for rapid decision-making.

Amazon's preference for document writing over presentations, unlike Google's more consensus-driven approach.

The contrast in using Google's own products internally at Google versus Amazon's use of external tools like Microsoft Office.

Insights from an ex-Amazon employee now at Google on the differences in working culture and operational speed.

Transcripts

should Amazon get into the food delivery

business

[Music]

hey everyone welcome back to another

product management mock interview today

we're going to be doing a product

strategy question and we're going to be

doing this with yanel here is the

question the product strategy question

that I would like to ask you today you

know

should Amazon get into the food delivery

business

okay

so I'm just gonna

jot that down

okay and

um

just a few clarifying questions

um

is this should I focus on

globally get involved in the food

delivery uh service or would you prefer

more of a domestic angle on this

um is there a reason why you think

uh Amazon might choose one or the other

yeah I think actually because of um the

reason I ask it is because of uh

regulation and you know with in the US

with Amazon being everywhere uh there

may be I imagine some scrutiny in this

so I guess it can you know it doesn't

completely deter them from going into it

but it would probably like I would have

to think about like the challenges

globally versus domestically what they

would face from a regulatory angle

got it okay

um let's say that Amazon is more

familiar with the logistics and how

deliveries work in the US that's

Amazon's bread and butter so for this

exercise let's say that for an MVP

Amazon's going to focus within the US

and we'd love to hear a recommendation

from you there

sure

okay and should I make an assumption

that yeah I'm a PM at Amazon and

presenting this to the VP of e-commerce

and they want to know what take should

we take what

um action should we take basically

um in moving forward in this decision

yeah so yeah so like leadership someone

from the s team wants to know whether

the delivery this food delivery business

is something that the company should

explore

sure

okay

okay I'm just gonna take

um a few uh maybe two minutes or so just

to jot down

um

a bit of the kind of uh strengths and

weaknesses of of Amazon a little bit of

like the landscape

um and a bit of like the challenges to

just set forward basically

um uh what I think would be needed to

make the right action for this so I'm

just going to jot some notes down uh for

a little bit cool okay yeah I think that

sounds good strengths weaknesses general

landscape and on uh opportunities this

sounds good yeah

okay so

a few of the things um that I jotted

down I first looked at

Amazon as a company and thought about

like the strengths the weaknesses

um of that of the company so

obviously it's an e-commerce giant it

has a fulfillment Network

um both you know for long distance as

well as the last mile for and for this

specific food delivery business

um last mile is super important

um

and then I thought also about

um

then I thought a little bit about the

competition

um within the company or within the

space Sorry I should say so ubereats

doordash

um GrubHub so it's a it's definitely a

crowded space

um within the food delivery business

then then I thought about also uh the

customers

um so I thought about Amazon customers

first and

you know Amazon customers are trained

for ordering right they know how to go

online and and make an order so

um that's an interesting thing to

basically food delivery uh customers

because they're also trained on kind of

making the orders as well so then I

thought about like the demographics and

they kind of tie in together right it's

usually like young adults to older adult

that are making these orders

um so that was like an interesting

Synergy there and then I thought about

the landscape a bit

um

and it's a lower margin business

um uh the food delivery business which

Amazon you know tends to work well

um in lower margin business because a

lot of the

um e-commerce space uh there's a

significant amount of categories that

are running on low margins or zero

margins or negative margins actually so

um so I thought that was an interesting

uh that was an interesting kind of

synergy that's there

um and then

I also thought about

um

I also thought about like the challenges

and we mentioned that earlier with one

of my uh clarifying questions

you know with Amazon in

dominating the e-commerce space and in

various different businesses from Prime

video

um to a lot of different categories and

e-commerce

um and with fulfillment as well

um I think there's definitely going to

be some scrutiny on getting into uh

another space right so I think it'll be

less scrutiny if Amazon does it on its

own but you know if they were going to

possibly make an acquisition then I

thought of like there could be some

scrutiny there uh because these these

companies are smaller so

um that I see that as potentially as a

possible thing that could be done so so

these are some of the things that I

thought about when

thinking about whether to go into the

space

um

The Next Step that I'd like to do is

just distill this a little bit and think

about

um what sort of paths that we could take

and what sort of risks would be there in

in doing each one so I'll pause there

before

um before I continue any further but

that's that's kind of my thought process

um uh right now

yeah thanks for laying out the landscape

there and before we start looking into

possible routes to get to food delivery

I'm curious like while you were looking

through the strengths and the weaknesses

and the opportunities there and the the

threats there was there anything in

particular you were looking for

yeah

um

for the opportunities I'll start with

there I was looking for synergies

between the food delivery business and

Amazon so what Amazon does well so I

alluded alluded to that a little bit of

like okay the customers are going to be

similar so there's a it's probably a

similar customer base if you're most

likely ordering

um on a food delivery service you're

probably or could be an Amazon uh Prime

customer not all probably we'd have to

do that analysis but I imagine I'll make

the assumption that there's probably

some synergies there

um and then

and then the opportunity there if they

weren't

a Prime member customer

I thought you know Amazon the biggest

thing that they try to drive that whole

customer flywheel is getting more people

to buy more services right and through

the Prime Membership if they're able to

get someone to become a Prime member

then it's an interesting opportunity

like if food delivery uh service

customers can be converted into Prime

customers so that's where I was thinking

of like the opportunities there and yeah

and as I mentioned

the strengths that I thought is because

it's an e-commerce you know obviously

the e-commerce Giant and dominant and uh

fulfillment Network as well and shipping

um I thought that could play well into

giving some more efficiencies to the

food delivery business

um so I thought there could be

um an ability there for Amazon to use

this expertise in uh fulfillment to

basically apply to the food delivery

service

um and then I think the

maybe the

the kind of threat or maybe not so much

threat but like a risk is like it is

another low margin business

um which

you know it's it's debatable whether you

want to go into a low margin business

again

um and then I think like

I don't see I didn't see any like threat

from an outside company uh but I mean

the food delivery services for them to

kind of grow past the last mile it's a

big challenge for them to to go outside

of like that Niche so so I didn't see

any major like threats for for Amazon

and like any of the competition that's

working on this

um but yeah that was a little bit of uh

my thought process as I went through

kind of the company the competition the

customers uh the climate or landscape

and like the challenges that um that are

there for them I see so you're looking

at where food delivery might fit into

the Amazon flywheel and you were

thinking just playing a little bit of

Adele's Advocate right like why Amazon

shouldn't get into the business

um so you've laid out this landscape and

it sounds like you you might have some

scenarios in mind right so

um let's let's move there I would love

to hear what some of these scenarios

might be for Amazon to get into food

delivery if that's the recommendation

you're making

sure

sure I'm just going to take out uh take

some time just to lay out these options

and

also think about the risks and

trade-offs that would be made in each of

these options perfect and I would also

love to know what sort of criteria is

needed in order for for us to be

eligible for each one of these scenarios

sure

meaning uh just to clarify like what um

what criteria I would look at for us to

move forward with one of these uh

options yeah so for example yeah exactly

like what are the requirements for us to

choose scenario a or over scenario B

like what has to be

um present

sure

so

okay I think I I split it up basically

into two options here that I thought

about

um and basically those two options are

either build our own service like

um food delivery service or two buy a

competitor that's in the food delivery

service as two options that we could

consider and each of them has their uh

pros and cons and

when I lay these two options out

starting with the build our own food

delivery service

I think the UI we basically add on

another category of like food delivery

which I think is could be pretty easy

for Amazon it's not it's not a huge

um

upfront cost to

um

in the grand scheme of things to

basically add on a new category of of

restaurants that you could order from

for the customer uh I think the

challenge would be more of connecting

the restaurants to the Amazon service

right so uh plugging in uh the Amazon

let's say ordering system to restaurants

around the country so I think that will

be a bit more of a require more of a

deployment by the Amazon team to to

reach the right restaurants and then the

delivery

I think they're

um

there could be there could be an ability

to kind of Leverage the existing Last

Mile Network that's there and I mean

typically this is contracted out to

delivery companies and you know this

could be an additional kind of um

Service uh that's provided for the

delivery company that's contracted out

and at times you know Amazon does have

its own Fleet as well so I think it's a

combo of thinking about what's the best

way to move forward with that

um

and then on the buy option

I think the tricky thing let me pause

here for a second um so it sounds like

it sounds like for the build option

um we'll have full control over the

experience we'll be able to give the

customer like a very delightful

experience there

um there's a chance there's a chance we

might be able to tap into our own

in-house Fleet of drivers right so maybe

that will help improve our margins but

we also have a rich

um like source of third-party

contractors that we've historically also

worked with so that's also another

option

um

and I think what I would add to is um I

think the interesting piece here is

what I mentioned uh alluded to a little

bit before of like Prime members now you

know you could join you could be an

Amazon customer and not be a Prime

member and

um

so I think what this could help Drive is

maybe thinking about how Prime can be

a distinguishing factor for using this

food delivery service right if you say

Hey you get further

discounts on like shipping than

um this could be an interesting kind of

um

way to get more Prime members because

Prime members typically are buying more

um items within the e-commerce catalog

so so I think that's an interesting I

think that that could work for the build

and you know there's kind of a different

way as well in the in the buy option as

well

I see yeah I I can definitely see how

Prime subscriptions are very important

especially I mean just as a subscription

right this is recurring revenue and the

Amazon's gonna get and there's there's

studies done that show that people who

have Prime memberships do spend more so

that also impacts the bottom line for

Amazon

um and yeah like uber doordash all these

other food delivery apps they also have

subscriptions where you can get like

free delivery or some stuff like that so

um definitely gels well with the flight

with Amazon's building

um what are the risks that

um are present if Amazon were to

in-house build their own food delivery

Network

so

I thought about this and

with it being

a low margin business and

I think what we would have to kind of

see

if

if we build all of this out and

um

as I mentioned before when you know this

would be something of like some analysis

we would need to do

um

if we build this out and we find that

like okay everyone that's ordering is

already a Prime member like there is no

net benefit of like getting these

customers onto Prime and it's a low

margin business or it could be even like

uh

um

a negative margin business here like

then I could see that as a risk of just

launching

you know another it's basically another

low margin category right so and if all

those customers are already Prime

members like it's not pushing the needle

on that flywheel that we want to pursue

right so so I think this could be

um this could be a risk of just kind of

spending spending money on a business

that like we have already acquired those

customers as Prime members

um so I see that as potentially a risk I

could also see a risk of

restaurants

you know they're already plugged into a

lot of these as well right like you go

to any restaurant and you'd see like

GrubHub you'd see doordash you'd see

ubereats like all these restaurants are

already inundated with a lot of like

ordering systems that they have to work

with so to kind of go in and ask a

restaurant hey can you put a a fourth or

fifth ordering system in

I could see pushback on that where you

may not get like the restaurants that

you need right if like you know the most

popular restaurants already are plugged

in and if you as a customer can't find

that restaurant working with Amazon then

I could see that as a fail like if you

don't get the the big population of

restaurants to use this then I could see

that as a big

um a big fail in this service so those

are the two that come to mind actually

yeah it's interesting and there's

probably ways that we can mitigate this

and we can probably talk about this

later on but one um just just for the

sake of time just wanted to call out

just as a maybe brainstorming partner

one could be finding just underserved

areas in the US where there aren't many

Prime members and also Uber and doordash

haven't explicitly penetrated yet

um and maybe maybe like those are places

where even if this is a low margin

business just the fact that Amazon has

um allowed food delivery there or or is

dry food delivery there that might be a

good place for Amazon to enter and also

just even if Amazon is losing a little

bit of money here as a low margin

business maybe this is just a loss

leader for us to get more Prime members

but I I'd love to move on and hear your

other routes which is I think you

mentioned buying buying another service

right

yeah

actually like the point that you just

hit on of like um of areas that haven't

been penetrated so

you know knowing a little bit of the

space of like ubereats doordash GrubHub

I believe you know they've also tackled

different regions within the United

States and I thought about in a similar

angle it's like okay well if you

purchase one of um

these competitors and you picked a

location that Amazon does not have

strong Prime members uh in and that's

typically more in like the rural areas

outside the cities and then when I think

about you know some of these competitors

I believe like ubereats Postmates they

were more in like a city concentration

and I believe either doordash or GrubHub

we'd have to look at exactly which one

but I believe they had more of outside

some of the big cities yeah which I

think could play yeah the Prime

Membership angle yeah I think Uber

started out in in cities like New York

City or downtown areas and I think

doordash was the one that started off in

suburbs and I if I walk up correctly I

think ubereats started off with large

chain restaurants and doordash started

off with like Mom and Pop sort of like

small businesses in the suburbs

um so so what you're proposing here is

expanding into rural underserved areas

where doordash and Uber haven't

penetrated yet in the U.S

and perhaps leveraging our existing

Fleet of drivers perhaps or or are you

thinking of other ways to

um sort of bring in Amazon's strengths

when we do buy another service in an

underserved area

yeah I think that one um

that one we'd leverage we'd want to

leverage the Amazon uh fulfillment

Network to basically and delivery

service basically to go to those

rural areas to basically

um

to basically get yeah more customers

that wouldn't necessarily order from

Amazon uh from before and but now you

know this service is available to them

and if they join as a Prime member they

can maybe have a reduction in like you

know typically as a Prime member you

don't get charged for uh delivery

service so so I think that could then

spark away for getting

getting those customers

to order on Amazon and then introducing

them to

um different deals and different

categories that they could then shop

from so so I thought yeah like if they

targeted let's say doordash as we said

is maybe more concentrated outside the

um the city locations then that could be

an interesting play for them I think you

know um

anytime you're making a purchase you

always have to think about the culture

of the firm as well

um so Amazon has like a unique culture

that needs to mesh well with the

um with the company that they're buying

I think overall my sense is that a lot

of these companies they do run in a

scrappy way and Amazon is kind of known

to be frugal and

um they kind of do more with less so I

don't see that as a major

um

major problem but I think you know if

because there are a few of them I think

it's it's a mix of culture it's a mix of

probably more importantly of like which

area are they operating in and um that

could complement

um the non-prime members that we could

bring on I think as I mentioned the

challenge here too is uh regulation and

like maybe Monopoly issues that could

come up if like Amazon is just going in

and purchasing one of these the space

that's has healthy competition

um I could see that getting a lot of

scrutiny so I think for this one that

that I would call out as the biggest

obstacle

um so unless like

we're willing as Amazon to take on that

legal risk I would probably

um steer away from this one but if we

were to kind of go ahead but I guess

there's there's ways to mitigate it as

well if you purchase like you know the

number two or number three uh operator

in the space will probably get less

scrutiny

um so I think there there's ways to

mitigate that but it's definitely

something that needs to be considered

when making uh making this choice so so

it sounds like like because of these

Anti-Trust issues you're leaning more

towards building is that right

yeah I'm leaning more towards building I

guess yeah I'm leaning more towards

building because I think we could

leverage a lot of what we already have

at Amazon

um and it's a category that we can

we can easily put in in the existing

ecosystem and build out over time uh so

it doesn't have to be like something

that

um

you know it's going to take time to

connect with

um with the with the restaurants but I

think there could be ways of making it

you know with the margins so thin maybe

it'll be more appealing to work to go to

restaurants and say because Amazon is

capable of withstanding these low

margins versus a standalone food

delivery service I think they could

actually

they could actually get more restaurants

if they share more of the margins with

the restaurants right

um and then we could strategically we

could strategically target areas that we

know may not be uh an area where Prime

members are and this could be a foot in

you know the door to get some of those

food delivery customers to convert into

Prime so I would lean towards

um building our own service and

growing it out slowly with some of the

things I mentioned of

um it'll probably be a loss business but

it could convert a lot of new

um a lot of new customers to Prime

members and then I think what's

interesting because Amazon is so big in

the e-commerce space like you know if

you join up if you're a restaurant and

you join up as

um a restaurant that will use our

ordering system like there's also Amazon

business that's the B2B platform that

Amazon has and that basically allows

places like restaurants or businesses to

order things in bulk and you know like

so Amazon can basically attract

restaurants and that was one of the

risks that I called out but they're able

they can be able to attract restaurants

by providing different incentives that

uh would have them join the network

cool so just to summarize what I'm

hearing here

um you're recommending that Amazon does

get into the food delivery business

um you're recommending that Amazon

builds their own platform and I think

this is mainly for three reasons one is

that we can find we can use this as a

way to offer customers free delivery if

they have a Prime membership and we can

use this as a way to drive Prime

memberships like overall and it's been

shown that customers who have prime

prime memberships do purchase more on

Amazon overall I think the second reason

was that we already have a healthy

network of fulfillment drivers who whom

we can leverage to deliver the food and

food delivery basically is a three-sided

network uh marketplace right you have

old people ordering food the restaurants

and also people delivering food so we've

already taken care of one side of the

marketplace by by leveraging our our

drivers and then it sounds like what you

just mentioned the um the supply side of

the marketplace which is going to be the

businesses the restaurants

um we're going to be able to

make sure that they're successful on the

network by leveraging Amazon business or

Amazon's B2B arm so it sounds like like

these are going to be the three reasons

you're going to give the leadership team

as to

why Amazon should get into the food

delivery business is that right

yeah absolutely yeah that's uh that

would be my recommendation

um to leadership on this okay cool uh

well thanks so much

um just looking at the time here

um I do have one just quick follow-up

question uh thanks for the the awesome

mock interview I'm sure the audience

learned a lot from these this product

strategy question

and I would just love to learn

um you know taking off our interview

hats just as someone who recently

transitioned from Amazon to Google you

know two of the largest companies most

applied to product companies

um in at least here in the US and

probably all around the world

um what maybe I just pick one of the

largest differences that you've seen

um working at Amazon versus working at

Google and just talk a little bit more

about that

yeah sure

um

yeah I think the the biggest thing that

um that comes to mind

um I could probably share a few things

about uh

um the the first one that comes to mind

is

you know Amazon tries to be they try to

move fast and I think actually you could

probably make an argument that they do

move faster than Google in in uh in

certain regard and certain things

um and the way they try to do that is in

this two Pizza team model and where they

also try to they try to have single

threaded owners on projects and usually

led by

you know someone it could be someone

senior but like that kind of um that

mode of thinking drives a lot of the way

they do things and and it helps them to

move fast so it's like okay I'm the

single threaded owner for growing Prime

video and this is what I'm gonna focus

on and the two Pizza team model is

basically

hey your teams should make up

um if you brought two pizzas into the

room and you fed those two teams like so

that's the idea of like each person gets

two slices

um and you would feed the you would feed

the team so like roughly more or less

like that's the size of the teams that

you have so so that's how they try to

move fast whereas like

Google

um basically I think

it tries to get everyone involved and

it's kind of like a it's kind of like

Community Driven almost certain like by

consensus of like this is what we should

do so it's a different approach where

you know obviously both successful

companies

um but where you find the differences

that like

if you have everyone involved and

everyone is like giving their opinion

and like things are scrutinized and all

the different teams are involved

um then it takes a little bit longer to

kind of surface up as far as like what's

the right decision to go to when we want

to move forward so so that would be like

the two the differences I see between

the two firms

um

few other things real briefly is just

like you know at Google you're going to

use a lot of the Google products and

Amazon you know they don't have a Google

workspace or you're probably going to

use Microsoft's uh work or something

external

um and yeah that's that's uh that's kind

of like uh another and one one other

thing I'll quickly share too is uh you

know Amazon actually focuses on a lot of

Doc writing right so everyone kind of

knows uh this is out in the public that

we don't really like Amazon doesn't

really do slides it's not kind of in

their nature unless like you uh are

presenting externally but typically

you're writing like six page docs four

page docs and Google is much less of a

doc driven company and more of like a

presentation and slides so so that also

gives you a sense of like how things are

done in like meeting wise and

um how you present your ideas so hope

that helps and uh the differences yeah

I've definitely heard from some other

exponent students that working at Google

things do move slowly like there's very

large community consensus driven debates

like you mentioned about even just

changing like the color of an icon or

something like that and yeah I've also

heard that at Amazon very very writing

heavy culture right like there's

meetings you'll start like a 30 minute

meeting and maybe just the first 15

minutes is just pure silence you're just

reading a dog and then the second half

of the meeting is just a discussion uh

but thanks thanks for coming on and

sharing these insights and for walking

through that product strategy mock

interview with us

um that concludes our video for the

audience watching at home good luck with

your upcoming PM interview

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