E-commerce and Consumer Benefits

This assignment delves into the advantages of using e-commerce websites for purchasing products. It highlights key benefits such as convenience, time efficiency, and access to a broader range of products compared to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. The report also acknowledges consumer concerns regarding online security and data privacy.

INTERNET MARKETING IN
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................1
P1. Describe the role internet marketing ....................................................................................1
P2. Describe how selected organisations use internet marketing:..............................................2
P3. Explain the benefits to customers of a business:..................................................................3
P4. Describe the benefits and opportunities:...............................................................................5
P5. Explain how internet marketing has made a business successful and prosperous:..............6
P6. Explain the challenges of globalisation facing a selected business .....................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCE ..................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Internet marketing, or online marketing, refers to advertising and marketing
efforts that use the Web and email to drive direct sales via electronic commerce, in addition to
sales leads from Web sites or emails. Internet marketing and online advertising efforts are
typically used in conjunction with traditional types of advertising such as radio, television,
newspapers and magazines. Internet marketing can also be broken down into more specialized
areas such as Web marketing, email marketing and social media marketing(Roberts, and Zahay,
2012). This report is based on the topic of Internet marketing in business and is on the case study
of Mark & Spencer in which roles internet will be discussed for the growth of company.
P1. Describe the role internet marketing
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(Armstrong, and et. al., 2015). 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. C2C transactions generally involve products sold through
a classified or auction system. Products sold are often used or 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.
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P2. Describe how selected organisations use internet marketing:
Trying to determine the best way to market your business online can be overwhelming. It seems
there are countless different ways to attract peoples’ attention, but unless you know how to
execute any of them properly then standing out online can be virtually impossible. In this blog
I’ll show you seven ways you can break down your Internet marketing so that you can try and
determine more clearly which avenues may suit you the best.
Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a
business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliates own
marketing efforts.
If you have your own products but aren’t great at sales, affiliate marketing is a great way
to get other people to do your selling for you without employing a single person. Take a look at
sites such as Click Bank, Commission Junction and Epic Advertising to see what other people
are selling as affiliate products, and get a sense of if there is a good market for your
product(Andreopoulou, and et. al., 2014).
This works the other way too – so if you’re desperate to get selling online but don’t have
anything to sell you can sign up as an affiliate for other brands and receive a commission for
everything you sell.
Pay Per Click: (PPC), is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which
advertisers pay when the ad is clicked.
PPC is an excellent way to get your advert seen by people, and because you only pay for those
who actually click your link it means that you can be reasonably sure that you are only paying
for people who are interested in what you have. Tools such as Google Adwords allow you to
research relevant keywords to make sure that you are choosing terms that people are searching.
A good rule of thumb is that longer keyword phrases allow better targeting and therefore cheaper
clicks.
SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the Deliberate Organization of your website so it
shows up in the search engine results.
There are a lot of so –called SEO experts around who will promise to get your business to the top
of the search engines(Sozinova, and Fokina, 2015). Whilst SEO does make this possible, there is
usually a lot more to it and if you want your business to rank for a highly competitive term it’s
unlikely that you will find yourself in the number one position overnight. Search Engines employ
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some of the smartest computer scientists in the world and they don’t want to be tricked! For this
reason it’s far better to take a quality approach to SEO.
Create content that is relevant to keywords and phrases that your customers use, again, you can
check Google AdWords to see how many people use certain phrases to make sure they’ll benefit
you. It’s also important to get other sites to link to you to show that people appreciate your
content and want to share it. Good SEO is an ongoing job but will come into its own in the long
run when high quality visitors start to find your site.
Video Marketing: Video is one of the fastest growing areas of online marketing. Not only is it
popular with people who prefer watching to reading, it allows you enormous flexibility to
present your business in a way that just isn’t possible through words alone(Williams, and et. al.,
2010). YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google, and it’s free to host your
videos there as well as many other video sites. Facebook now also encourages videos to be
uploaded directly to your timeline there so that they play automatically in your followers’ news
feeds.
P3. Explain the benefits to customers of a business:
The benefits of the customers in a business could be attain by using 4p's. This helps the
company to make the strategies in order to get the competitive advantage.
 Product: A product is an item that is built or produced to satisfy the needs of a certain
group of people. The product can be intangible or tangible as it can be in the form of
services or goods.
You must ensure to have the right type of product that is in demand for your market. So during
the product development phase, the marketer must do an extensive research on the life cycle of
the product that they are creating.
 Price: The price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for to enjoy
it. Price is a very important component of the marketing mix definition.
It is also a very important component of a marketing plan as it determines your firm’s profit and
survival (Berisha-Namani, 2013). Adjusting the price of the product has a big impact on the
entire marketing strategy as well as greatly affecting the sales and demand of the product.
This is inherently a touchy area though. If a company is new to the market and has not made a
name for themselves yet, it is unlikely that your target market will be willing to pay a high price.
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 Place:Placement or distribution is a very important part of the product mix definition.
You have to position and distribute the product in a place that is accessible to potential
buyers.
This comes with a deep understanding of your target market(Leung., et. al 2015). Understand
them inside out and you will discover the most efficient positioning and distribution channels
that directly speak with your market.
There are many distribution strategies, including:
 Intensive distribution
 Exclusive distribution
 Selective distribution Franchising
Promotion: Promotion is a very important component of marketing as it can boost brand
recognition and sales. Promotion is comprised of various elements like:
 Sales Organization
 Public Relations
 Advertising
 Sales Promotion
Advertising typically covers communication methods that are paid for like television
advertisements, radio commercials, print media, and internet advertisements. In contemporary
times, there seems to be a shift in focus offline to the online world.
Public relations, on the other hand, are communications that are typically not paid for. This
includes press releases, exhibitions, sponsorship deals, seminars, conferences, and events.
Word of mouth is also a type of product promotion(Chaffey, 2010). Word of mouth is an
informal communication about the benefits of the product by satisfied customers and ordinary
individuals. The sales staff plays a very important role in public relations and word of mouth.
It is important to not take this literally. Word of mouth can also circulate on the internet.
Harnessed effectively and it has the potential to be one of the most valuable assets you have in
boosting your profits online. An extremely good example of this is online social media and
managing a firm’s online social media presence.
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P4. Describe the benefits and opportunities:
Equality of opportunity can seem quite a complex area and recruiters and employers can often
look at it from a defensive, legal compliance position.
Diversity takes a wider and more positive outlook. There is still a need to ensure discrimination
and stereotyping play no part in the recruitment and selection process. But as important is
valuing differences between people and understanding the positive benefits for the University of
employing a diverse range of talented people.
A positive approach to diversity allows you to select the best person for the job based on
merit alone and free from bias on the grounds of factors such as age, disability, gender or race
that are not relevant to the persons ability to do the job.
Employers that take this approach are more likely to be seen as a fair, positive and progressive
place to work by the diverse society that they are part of (Fawzy, and Dworski, 2010). This
philosophy underpins the University's Equality and Diversity policy.
"Everyone is different and unless employers take diversity seriously they will fail to
recruit, retain and engage the commitment of the talent needed to sustain and improve
performance" (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development)
The legal angle does need to be taken seriously though as there are an increasing number
of specific areas of discrimination covered by legislation. Decisions that fall foul of the law can
be costly for the University in terms of bad publicity and financial penalties but also time-
consuming and stressful for the individuals involved, and that could be you!
You don't need to be an expert on all aspects of anti-discrimination legislation and case-law but
you do need to understand:
 the principles of what constitutes potentially direct and indirect discrimination in the
recruitment process;
 and why a positive approach to diversity is the best way to avoid problems and attract a
wider range of suitable candidates.
Avoiding discrimination and adopting a positive approach to diversity
Following the principles and practices outlined in the University's Guidance on the Recruitment
and Selection Process will help you to put this into practice(Sozinova, and Fokina, 2015). You
will also find it useful to consider the information on the general legal position outlined below
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and some specific and practical actions to avoid discrimination and adopt a positive approach to
diversity.
P5. Explain how internet marketing has made a business successful and prosperous:
There are many business owners who are unfamiliar with Internet Marketing and how
this can attract more customers for their business. Many businesses are also unsure of how the
internet works and how it can truly benefit their business. Business owners, including yourself,
may be looking for advice and a clear guide on how digital marketing works. You may have
several questions such as how does Internet Marketing work? How is Internet Marketing linked
to the Internet? How does the Internet work? Which Internet Marketing strategies can be used?
 Why internet marketing is important: There are many reasons why internet marketing
can help improve your business success. It is important for any business to start their
online presence by having a website to promote their products or services(Williams, and
et. al., 2010 ). The next step is to get your business found in search engines. This will
allow your potential customers to find your business when they are searching on the
Internet. This will also encourage them to view your website and contact you to find out
more.
It is also important for your business to get new customers through different online marketing
methods. There are a range of online marketing methods you can utilise to promote your website.
To further expand the visibility of your website you can have a Search Engine Optimisation
strategy and a Google AdWords strategy.
 Marketing problems faced by business: It can be very difficult for many business owners
to spend a lot of time thinking about and undertaking online marketing, due to being
heavily involved in completing customers projects themselves and long working hours.
You yourself may be in a very much similar position. You are wanting to ensure that you
are actively going out to close sales so that you can pay all your bills efficiently each
month.
P6. Explain the challenges of globalisation facing a selected business
When focussing on competition through global website visibility, many challenges are faced by
businesses using internet marketing (Berisha-Namani, 2013).Although many challenges occur
businesses have the opportunity to help overcome them. The challenges that business may have
to deal with can include situations such as:
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 Keeping pace with market and technological change: Technology is always changing or
updating to work better or maybe to look better, to attract more people etc. Nowadays
technology is used nearly everywhere and has become very popular. Computers are one
technology that is used for many, many reasons by millions of people throughout the
world. Problems of managing overload of market feedback: Businesses that are situated online
receive more customer feedback than any other businesses. Feedback can include
compliments, complaints, and opinions on something; basically it can be about anything a
customer desires to let the business know(Leung, and et. al., 2015.). Feedback is a very
good way of marketing and most business appreciate customer’s opinions and ideas and
use it to their full advantage to satisfy a customer. Security of site information and payment systems: This issue is a big one, as security
online is important. There are many unreliable sites that contain many viruses, hacker
access etc. Online businesses are faced with this concern all the time as it involves
customer’s personal details and also the businesses itself.
 Low customer confidence in payment security: This is because some customers are
unable to believe that they are giving their money to the right business etc. Customers are
concerned about purchasing from the internet as they have to give out vital and most
importantly heir personal details that can lead to other problems such as theft.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that consumer who use e-commerce websites
to purchase products receive amazing benefits that they couldn't if they didn't use the internet and
went to the store. The major benefit is that it is extremely time-consuming and there is a lot less
effort required because they only have to click a few buttons and enter some details in order to
purchase their new products whilst the process could take long amount of time if they went to the
store.
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REFERENCE
Books and journals
Roberts, M.L. and Zahay, D., 2012. Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies.
Cengage Learning.
Shukla, T., 2010. Factors affecting'Internet marketing'campaigns with reference to viral and
permission marketing. IUP Journal of Management Research. 9(1). p.26.
Armstrong, G., and et.al., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Andreopoulou, Z., and et.al., 2014. Internet marketing for sustainable development and rural
tourism. International Journal of Business Information Systems. 16(4). pp.446-461.
Sozinova, A.A. and Fokina, O.V., 2015. Special aspects of studying the internet as a marketing
communication channel of the service industry. Mediterranean Journal of Social
Sciences. 6(4). p.139.
Williams, M.J., and et.al., 2010. Internet marketing channel optimization. U.S. Patent
Application 12/707,111.
Berisha-Namani, M., 2013. Information technology, internet, and marketing. International
Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies. 4(1). p.103.
Leung, X.Y., Xue, L. and Bai, B., 2015. Internet marketing research in hospitality and tourism: a
review and journal preferences. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. 27(7). pp.1556-1572.
Chaffey, D., 2010. Applying organisational capability models to assess the maturity of digital-
marketing governance. Journal of Marketing Management. 26(3-4). pp.187-196.
Fawzy, L. and Dworski, L., 2010. Emerging business online: global markets and the power of
B2B internet marketing. FT Press.
Online
Internet marketing. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/internet_marketing.html>. [Accessed on
19th July 2017].
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