E-commerce and Online Business Challenges

The assignment discusses the challenges faced by an online business in satisfying customers, keeping promises, and meeting consumers' needs. It highlights the importance of ensuring quick solutions to unhappy customers and providing services that meet their expectations.

Internet Marketing in
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1.................................................................................................................................................1
P2.................................................................................................................................................2
P3.................................................................................................................................................2
P4.................................................................................................................................................3
P5.................................................................................................................................................4
P6.................................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Internet marketing is sometimes treated as a separate type of marketing but, in this unit,
learners will find that the underpinning marketing principles remain the same and are enhanced
and supported by new technologies. The nature of technological development is such that
information and communications technology (ICT) can seem to move faster than the market
itself, so products and technologies are out of date almost as soon as they reach the mainstream
customer. In this unit learners will be introduced to the main areas of marketing that have been
affected by the internet (Bianchi and Mathews, 2016). They will look at how the promotional
aspects have been transformed, how product development has been speeded up and even how
new products have resulted from the existence of the internet itself. They will also learn how
information can be used to enable a better match between the customer and the product.
TASK 1
P1
Internet marketing
Online advertising, also called Internet advertising, uses the Internet to deliver
promotional marketing messages to consumers. It includes email marketing, search engine
marketing, social media marketing, and many types of display advertising. You can also stream
it on your mobile.
B2C marketing
B2C simply stands for business-to-consumer. B2C is an e-commerce business in which
the exchange of goods and services is conducted between businesses and consumers through the
Internet.
B2B marketing
B2B marketing is a short form of business to business marketing. It can be defined as a
marketing technique where a business outsources another business to do its marketing for them.
The marketers must consider factors such as the target group, the product/service and pricing
among other considerations.
C2C marketing
C2C stands for customer to customer (Christiansen, 2011). C2C transactions generally
involve products sold through a classified or auction system. Products sold are often used or
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second hand. For example, Gumtree often sell second hand products and are able to sell them
through other customers which links to the term ‘customer to customer’.
However, companies like Asos are a b2c marketing modem, this means they have
products and are able to sell them to the customers. They collect their products from other
companies whom are called b2b marketing as they are able
P2
Apple and Santander use internet marketing in different but somewhat same type of ways.
Apple
Apple uses internet marketing by getting endorsed by celebrities. By getting endorsed by
a celebrity, all the followers that the particular celebrity has got, watches that the celebrity is
using apple products and therefore they try to get that product as per the trend by the celebrity.
Celebrities are popular people that have the power to market products due to their millions of
followers on social media using their fame and turning the products into trend. They use social
media to promote the product and they obviously get paid by the organisation and everyone wins
in this situation. For E.g. – Steph Curry famous basketball player represented Apple in their
advertising campaign for IPhone 6.
Apple also uses email marketing in which they setup an email campaign where millions
of emails are sent to millions of people regarding the customer care they are offering. This is to
inform all the customers or some people about the services that apple is offering so they can be
up to date about what’s going on with the brand. Apple also uses Email marketing to advertise a
new product that they just launched. Email marketing is also used to let the people know about
the new deals that Apple are offering. E.g. – Apple sent emails to millions of customers to let
them know about their new Mac Book launch. Below is the evidence.
Santander
Santander also uses internet marketing. They use internet marketing in the form of
sending newsletters to the customers or whoever that has subscribed for (Eid and El-Gohary,
2013). Newsletters contain certain information like what the bank is offering, tips or tricks to
save money provided by Santander etc.
P3
Amazon
Comparing and selecting product providers
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Amazon doesn’t let you do a full comparison but it does save your searches. In addition
to that, when you’re doing normal shopping Amazon shows a variety of products at the bottom
of the screen this will allow you to see similar products to your searches so some could be better
or some could be worse it’s just your choice to look at them. There are many comparing websites
so assuming the customer wants a full detailed comparison they should type in comparison
websites on any search engine and many will come up.
Increased bargaining power
Unlike eBay Amazon don’t offer the opportunity to negotiate prices. Despite that,
Amazon do allow customers to search up varies products that are the same, just different prices
or colours so it’s up to you if you pick the right barging. In a way you can compare Amazon to a
high barging power, this is because it’s about who displays their product better (Laudon and
Traver, 2013). There could be 5 of the same products but if you’re showing better images and
have better descriptions of it you’re obviously going to get the most sales.
Comprehensive and up-to-date product information
Amazon constantly have up to date product information on their products. This is evident
on how they have the characteristics of every product on the website. Amazon is also up to date
with their website. This is evident with their product advertisements. As its winter they will show
discounts on many winter wear products or furniture as they know customers would prefer to
relax in doors on a cold day than wear summer wear and go outside.
Opportunities for lower costs through “dynamic pricing”
If you wanted dynamic pricing, then Amazon is the place. This is evident as many people
are selling the exact same product as you. This means that putting the best price will constantly
grab the consumer’s eye. Having higher prices May only gather customers that think that a
higher price means better quality. Amazon is a good online service to shop as there is a variety
with pricing. Many other websites don’t offer that trait as they only have set prices.
P4
Mass Customization
Firstly, I'm going to start of with Mass Customization. This is the process of delivering
wide-market goods and services that are modified to satisfy a specific customer’s need. Mass
customization is a method that enables flexibility and personalization for customers. I’m going to
incorporate mass customization with the company Asos. An advantage of Asos Mass
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Customization is that customers will be more satisfied as they will be able to purchase the
products that they want, tailored to them. For example there are more products online that there
will be online (retail or store). Therefore, customers are more likely to go to the Asos website
then the Asos store can gain more customer retention. Mass production can give a business
opportunity, such as increasing customers (Michaelidou, Siamagka and Christodoulides, 2011).
As if products are being tailored to them and there is more choice, they are likely to return to the
business to purchase other products. This will therefore increase sales and revenue.
Advertising
Secondly another factor is that an important benefit to internet marketing is advertising.
Asos is gaining many opportunities advertising because as we all know advertisement if done
well automatically increases the sales for the company. This leads to the company producing
more of the product because they know its selling well. With Asos they’ve been around so long,
1949 to be precise so their advertising doesn’t have to be dramatic. The advantage of Asos doing
advertising is that it informs the customer about new products, improves the sale of a product
and it is a direct communication with the customer.
P5
Efficient:
Efficiency is the way of performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least
waste of time and effort. The Internet marketing has made Asda become more efficient because
internet marketing is a very catchy way to catch its potential customers through the internet. To
Asda theirs customers are loyal and potential customers, so therefore when an item is coming out
they send an email to the existing customers showing what the product looks like and how it
would be. For the customers that don’t have an email but have a social networking site, they can
see it on the social networking site because Asda has its own social networking site such as
Facebook.
Asos normally update their latest feedback on their. Asos keeps all its customers updated
with new products or if there is any special offer (Morgan, 2012). They do this by sending out a
quick email to the customers or the information will be on the main website. The internet
marketing improves the efficiency of Asda because the website is up 7 days a week and they can
shop anytime it is opened to the customers 24 hours. Internet marketing also helps Asda save
quite a lot of money because it is one of the cheapest ways of marketing. If they save a quite a lot
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of money this means that it will increase the profit so it helps them to use that money to
invested/spend on other required areas. Asos have many social networking sites such as
Facebook and twitter. Most of the customers use social networking sites/internet so this will help
Asda to increase numbers of sales or customers, or possible it may be a way to raise attention to
the product
Effective:
Effective is the ability to be successful in producing a desired or intended result. Internet
marketing has been effective for both Asda and its customers (Peter and Donnelly, 2011). For
The customers the search engines are very effective because it helps them find the exacted
product they are looking to buy in less than 30 seconds .when the customer has found the product
they were looking for but they are not sure how or what the product require.
P6
Security and payment system The way eBay uses payment security is done
by making customers create accounts with the
site which allows them to purchase items. In
addition eBay partners with PayPal which is
also a safe and secure way to pay for products
from eBay (Roberts and Zahay, 2012). Since
the account is created by the customer only
they will have access to login in and purchase
their items using their credit card.
Payment security When a customer creates an account with eBay
their contact information is automatically
saved onto the system. Only people who have
access to the account which would be by
knowing the username and password can
access this information. Therefore making an
account on eBay to purchase an item is safe.
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Overload of market feedback When a customer purchases an item from eBay
the seller will ask for a review from them
(Shaw and et.al, 2012). This could be either
positive or negative as the customers will give
an honest opinion about the experience they
had with the products. They can write their
dissatisfaction or satisfaction to the seller
which will be reviewed by the sellers and
future customers. Usually the sellers will try to
resolve any negative enquires For example if a
product has been delivered broken, the
consumer will write a complaint to the seller
who will then send a better conditioned item
Meeting customers’ expectations eBay meets customer’s expectation by
delivering cheap goods that are affordable and
in good quality (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014).
They also offer a range of products that are
sold from around the world therefore it meets
the need of customers who need to do
international shopping. In addition because
eBay has a lot of stock to sell customers can be
sure to find what their looking for. As a result
customers will go back to purchase with eBay
as they have available stocks.
Disintermediation and channel conflict. If eBay was to have a store of its own, it would
be easier for customers to look at the item in
first hand before buying it. Also they will be
able to purchase the item on the day rather than
waiting for it to get shipped to their house
Keeping pace with technological change The way eBay keeps up with technological
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change is done by creating an app for ebay that
can be downloaded on any play stores/ app
stores. As more people are using their
smartphones rather than laptops and computers
eBay has successfully created an app for
smartphone user
Linguistic and cultural sensitivity On eBay there is an option where the
customers can translate the page into the
language they prefer (Zott, Amit and Massa,
2011).
CONCLUSION
The business might have customers who are unhappy with the services provides,
therefore they will need to find quick solutions on how to satisfy the customers. Keeping
promises is the most important challenge for company. This is because if a customer has been
provided with an offer, company should keep their consistent offers unless they are better offered
to be provided to the customers. Also they will need to make sure that customers are satisfied
with the services provided. company can ensure that customers are satisfied by meeting
consumers' needs and expectations and provide them with the services they would like to make a
use of. Making sure that the online business is running effectively can also help company meets
its customers' needs as this will give consumers a better knowledge on the products and services
provided.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bianchi, C. and Mathews, S., 2016. Internet marketing and export market growth in Chile.
Journal of Business Research. 69(2). pp.426-434.
Christiansen, L., 2011. Personal privacy and Internet marketing: An impossible conflict or a
marriage made in heaven?. Business horizons. 54(6). pp.509-514.
Eid, R. and El-Gohary, H., 2013. The impact of E-marketing use on small business enterprises'
marketing success. The Service Industries Journal. 33(1). pp.31-50.
Laudon, K.C. and Traver, C.G., 2013. E-commerce. Pearson.
Michaelidou, N., Siamagka, N.T. and Christodoulides, G., 2011. Usage, barriers and
measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and
medium B2B brands. Industrial marketing management. 40(7). pp.1153-1159.
Morgan, N.A., 2012. Marketing and business performance. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science,.40(1). pp.102-119.
Peter, J.P. and Donnelly, J.H., 2011. Marketing management: knowledge and skills: text,
analysis, cases, plans. Plano: Business pub., INC.
Roberts, M.L. and Zahay, D., 2012. Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies.
Cengage Learning.
Shaw, M and et.al, 2012. Handbook on electronic commerce. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why
bother?. Business Horizons. 57(6). pp.703-708.
Zott, C., Amit, R. and Massa, L., 2011. The business model: recent developments and future
research. Journal of management. 37(4). pp.1019-1042.
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