Marketing Research and Analysis Assignment

This assignment focuses on analyzing various aspects of marketing through a set of provided academic journal articles. It requires students to comprehend concepts related to technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), e-customer behavior, visitor relationship marketing, international marketing, risk issues in public relations, the marketing mix paradigm, internet marketing of bariatric surgery, crisis communication, and postmodern consumerism. Students are expected to synthesize information from these diverse sources and demonstrate their understanding of key marketing concepts.

INTERNET AND E-
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Environment of e-business and Types of business transactions...........................................1
1.2 Benefits and Barriers of online business...............................................................................2
1.3 Security and legislative issues in e-business.........................................................................2
1.4 Modes of communication and its application in e-business..................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Internet technologies and their importance...........................................................................4
2.2 Features and format of HTML..............................................................................................4
2.3 Functions of client servers and browsers & role of the search engine..................................5
2.4 Use of Intranets and Extranets business communication aspects.........................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Models of e-business.............................................................................................................7
3.2 Models Capacity to Generate Revenue.................................................................................7
3.3 Developments in E-business Models....................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Elements of Web Design Structure.......................................................................................8
4.2 Impact of Website to E-business...........................................................................................9
4.3 Issues Related to Website Usage...........................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
In now days, internet has become backbone of every organization. The growing stage of
online businesses is very fast. They are expanding their businesses in various locations. For
describing the internet and e-business, Asos Company has been selected. The various types of
business transactions have been discussed. The report covers security and legislative issues for
online businesses(Omar, 2009). The internet technologies and its importance in Asos Company
have been focused. The features and format of HTML are to be covered. The functions of client
servers, browsers and role of search engine while data presenting to the user's screen have been
explained by this report. The communication aspects of intranets and extranets business and
basis for the improvement for security and efficiency have been disclosed. The various models
of e-business and their capacity to generate revenue and the development opportunities for these
models have included . The key elements of good web design structure have been recommended
TASK 1
1.1 Environment of e-business and Types of business transactions
E-business is a very broad term which is known as the Electronic business. It is not only
restricted to buying and selling of goods and services but also providing services to the
customers, collaborating with business parties and organizing electronic transactions .
Types of business transactions:
There are different types of business transactions in the corporate world such as business-
to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), customer-to customer (C2C), customer-to-
business (C2B). Asos deals in fashion industry and offers large number of varieties in clothing. It
is leading online fashion retail in UK(Rosenbloom and Dimitrova, 2011). They not only sell their
own brand but also other renowned brands at Asos.com. It also gives opportunity to boutiques to
sell their products at this website. It has adopted two types of business transactions which are
B2B and B2C. Business-to-Business (B2B) – In B2B transaction, there is involvement of two businesses
with mutual agreement. Asos provides option to other famous brands to sell their items.
So, it is required to collaborate with other business partners for providing various
alternatives to the customers.
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 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) – B2C business transaction defines that there is a direct
connection between business and the customer(Salant and Santry, 2006). Asos sales their
products directly to the customers and also provides best possible services to them.
1.2 Benefits and Barriers of online business
Online business has benefits as well as barriers too. Asos is an online retailer so there are
various benefits which provide them opportunities and barriers that which they have to face.
Benefits of online business:
 Customer of Asos enjoys greater flexibility in services.
 It is cost saving option to the business.
 There is fast delivery of products to the large extent.
 It also helps to increase professionalism.
 There is minimum work on papers, so wastage of paper is less.
 There is an opportunity of managing business from any part of the world.
Barriers of online business: Security - The main barrier in the online business is the security. As this involves details
of customer so it is the responsibility of owner of e-business to keep the details
confidential. Trust – Building trust among customer for online purchasing is also very difficult. Most
of the people do not with online buying because they trust in offline shopping which
gives them physical visibility.
 Hidden cost – There is a hidden cost in online business like free shipping charges,
discounts, cash back offers, managing the cost of delivery staffs etc (Simmons, 2008).
Asos has to bear all these costs.
1.3 Security and legislative issues in e-business
As per the security point of view, Asos has developed firewalls, digital signatures, digital
certificates, anti-virus software. To build faith in mind of customers they follow all the aspects of
security. They build trust into the mind of customer and ensure them that their personal details
are in safe hands.
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There are so many issues which are faced by the organization that is threat to the data
security such as virus, spyware, hacking, DOS denial of services etc. These all affect the data
security of the company and due to this entities are facing many issues. These threats destroy the
data of the organization or misuse it for the commercial purpose. That affect the brand image of
the corporation to great extent and that decrease satisfaction level of the consumers as well.
Electronic security protection is the way through which companies can keep secure to
their personal information. Digital signature is the tool that helps in identifying the status of
electronic document and transaction. Authorities can consent by the signer and can keep its data
protected. By this way individual can pay for its transaction safely. There are some legislation
that helps in reducing the issues of data security such as data protection act, computer misuse act,
that assist in reducing such type of activities. Computer misuse act explains that unauthorised
access to the computer is not legal and individual can get tough punishment for the same. But
their many hackers those who are doing this activity and authorities are unable to track them
because they are technical sound. Virus harm the files of the computer and in this point nobody
can do any thing so this act is creating issue for the e-commerce business and they are unable to
keep their data secure. Copyright, design and patent act explains that no one can use any soft
ware without the license. But still some people are using the temporary software and
downloading the files from the internet. Electronic protection is the act that helps in reducing the
issues of data leakage.
The legal issues occur in e-business are E-contracts, data protection, Intellectual Property
Rights (IRR), efficient delivery system, effective supply chain, service management, advertising,
and competition(Taylor and England, 2006). Asos has to face these issues at the time of
operating the business. But, they believe in themselves that they can manage all the problems
very effectively and efficiently. In this way, they have maintained goodwill and faith in the mind
of customers.
1.4 Modes of communication and its application in e-business
Company like Asos can make its communication effectual with different types of
electronic communications. The various types and their application are as follows: Email – With the help of electronic mail, company can provide any type of information.
This is the most widely used method by the organizations(Baloglu and Pekcan, 2006). It
is more appropriate and fool-proof mode of communication.
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 Instant messaging – This allows one-on-one interaction with customers who are far away
from the company. Instant messaging can be done by windows live messenger, skype
messenger, or Gmail chat. It is more viable way to communicate information or any type
of offer to the customer. As people are more active on instant messaging. Video chat – It is one of the modes of communication which is used in online business
like Asos. With the help of video chatting, company can manage its deals or meeting with
the party which is far away. It makes the business transactions easier. Blogs – Currently, the most preferred way of communicating openly is blogging. It can
also brief about specific topic or niche(Brace, 2008). Through this, Asos can post daily
updates, offers, or new products into its blog.
 Social networks – This is the excellent mode of promoting websites and businesses. As it
targets broad range of audience and due to this it is also considered as a wonderful
business tool. By this, Asos can float its messages or information to large number or
customers.
TASK 2
2.1 Internet technologies and their importance
Internet technologies – Technologies which are used in transmission of data and
information through different servers and systems are known as internet technologies. It is the
basic need of e-businesses without these it can not be imagined(Constantinides and Fountain,
2008). In this network of each computer is recognized by a unique address which is called as IP
address.
Importance of Internet technologies:
For every business internet technologies are important for making it successful in the
market. And in case of online business like Asos, it is like life blood for them. Everything has
depended on technologies only and they has to updated by all these. It helps in maintaining all
the required data and informations which can be used whenever needed. More the upgraded
technology will generate more revenue for e-business. It is also very helpful as per the security
point of view. As company does almost all the transaction through online, so it make sure that all
the online data to stay secure until accessed by the proper channels. With the help of improved
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technologies, the market area of Asos has increased globally(Elliott and Boshoff, 2007). It
secures the IP address, File transfer Protocol and all the related protocols which are confidential
for the company.
2.2 Features and format of HTML
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is the language which is used for
creating web pages for display in web browsers. It is the language of www (world wide web).
There are five features of HTML which are as follows:
 Web workers – Some of the web applications use heavy scripts for performing functions.
In that case web workers are used as separate background threads which helps in
processing. This does not put any impact on the performance of web page.
 Video – Without third party proprietary plug-ins one can embed video. Video becomes
easy similarly like embedding an image.
 Canvas – Canvas gives an option to web developer to render graphics on the fly. Like
video, there is no need of plug in.
 Application caches – On the visitor's computer, web pages will start storing more and
more local information. This feature allows for more larger files in the form of cookies. Geolocation – It is coming with HTML5 and it is best known for use on mobile devices.
Format of HTML:
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Presentation of HTML:
Four document an HTML have, which is composed of three parts:
1. a line containing HTML version information.
2. a declarative header section (delimited by the HTML element).
3. a body, which contains the document's actual content. The body element can be executed
by the 'BODY' element or the 'FRAMESET' element.
Before or after each section, white space may be appeared. Section 2 and 3 should be
delimited by the HTML element.
2.3 Functions of client servers and browsers & role of the search engine
There are various functions of client servers and the role of search engine when
presenting the data to fit the user's device screen in Asos company.
Functions of client servers and browsers:
 Centralize management – Servers and browsers are used for the centralization of
management. This helps in managing all the things which are happening in the
business(Howard and Hussain, 2011). The antivirus servers , however download one
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version of the update virus definitions on he internet and then distribute those to the client
for which it is responsible.
 Increase security – Browsers work like intermediary between the internet and a private
network. It increases the security system as server's interaction with the internet.
 Simplify use – Server makes the websites very simple to use by the user. Like a picture
and client from across the nation can view that picture through connecting the
server(Koehler and Mishra, 2005). It simplifies the interaction between two clients from
anywhere in the world. Lower costs – Servers and browsers lower the costs of the business. Price savings
sometime serves as a selling point for the users of server-based systems.
Role of the search engine:
The role of search engines while presenting the data of Asos company is that allowing the
internet users on the basis of keyword for getting the specific information which is entered by the
user. It provide databases for the customers who are seeking for information which can be found
on the web page.
2.4 Use of Intranets and Extranets business communication aspects
Asos uses intranet and extranet in the communication takes place in business activities.
Use of Intranet:- Intranet fulfils the digital communication needs of an organisation. It also
serving as a secure space for storing, accessing and developing electronic materials. Certain
applications of intranet which includes network folders where different employees can access the
same files. Before going live functionality can be tested by offline websites, digital databases are
looking for facts and figures.
Use of Extranet:- Multiple intranets are connected through extranet. Therefore, their major use in
business world to facilitating the coordination between different companies on their joint
projects, initiatives and information sharing. As compare to internet, it allows company to
connect with customers in a more controlled way. It also allow various companies to use network
services provided by other company such as data-processing application that other company can
utilize on their own intranets.
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By using both into the business activities of Asos which helps in improving the security
and efficiency in business communication.
TASK 3
3.1 Models of e-business
The different models of e-business which can be used to generate revenue for a business
are: Business - to - Business (B2B), Business - to - Consumer (B2C), Consumer - to - Consumer
(C2C), Consumer - to - Business (C2B), Business - to - Government (B2G) and Government - to
- Business (G2B). Business models used by Asos company are: B2B and B2C model.
B2B-: This involves two business into the same platform by using the internet to conduct
transactions with one other. B2B model helps in generating revenue from direct sales.
B2C-: It includes business and customers in which selling of products directly to retail
consumers online(Kwan, Fong and Wong, 2005). This model helps in generating revenue from
processing fees and direct sales. Freemium e-business model: It is the e-commerce model that provides products and
services to the consumers. The term free is used by the entity to reach to the mass
audience and premium term is used by the entity in order to enhance the services of the
organization. It helps in attracting more people towards the brand and by this way
company can gain high profit and its sales volume can be enhanced. It is the model that
gives more media coverage to the entity that helps in attracting more people and creating
positive image of the company in front of costumers. Affiliate e-business model: It is one of the most essential business model in which
consumer can sign up to the network to sell the products and every time individual get
paid by the company. This helps in increasing revenues of the entity and by this way
overall profitability of the organization get increased. For example; money saving
experts, datingadvice.com etc . are great example of these sites.
 Subscription e-commerce Model: It is another model that offers a host of advantage.
That is beneficial and save times and efforts of the organization. It is simple and effective
model. It is the framework that ensures that business is retaining the large consumers and
all its consumers are retaining with the organization for longer duration. By this way
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people be loyal and they give positive feedback to others. That helps in attracting new
consumers as well and that helps in increasing revenues of the entity.
3.2 Models Capacity to Generate Revenue
E-business model is a type of business model which shows how a company operates, how
the product ans service is availed to its customers, how the revenue is generated, creation and
adaptation of new market and technologies. A E-business model has four traditional components:
concept, value, revenue, resources or capabilities. To be successful all these models should work
together in supportive way.
 Concept: This defines the role of business, its vision, mission statements, products
offerings from which it will earn revenue(Murdy and Pike, 2012). For Asos.com their
concept is to deliver the best quality fashion to the twenty plus shoppers and fashion
lovers. Through which they want to generate revenue.
 Value proposition: It is the value that company delivers to it customers. with this
element a firm attempts to provide better value than its competitors so that customers get
the most from the product which they are selling.
 Sources of Revenue: An e-business can generate revenue through so many things. For an
instance Asos.com can generate revenue through Advertising, agent commissions, sale
commissions, subscriptions, sponsorship's, affiliations.
Subscription Model is the great model and beneficial for the organization. It offers higher
payment safety to the business. With the help of this model company can keep good records of
the automatic online transactions. By this way company can receive the regular payment of its
sold products. Better cash flow management is the major advantage of this model that helps in
increasing the revenues of the organization. It is the great concept in which company gets
opportunity of marketing. Regular email campaign helps the organization in increasing selling.
By this way overall revenues of the firm can get increased.
Affiliate Marketing model is another effective tool that gives opportunity to the
merchants to sell its products at the wider place. More consumers can be attracted towards the
brand that help in increasing sales revenues of the entity. To work in this plateform company
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needs not to invest much amount thus overall cost get reduced . Thus, it is effecive model that
helps the e-commerce firm in increasing its sales revenues.
3.3 Developments in E-business Models
E-business that is online business has been the buzz around the world this time. Due to
increase in digitization and technological growth with it, online business ratio has grown 50%
more as it was before. This is the scenario of digital world, with everything going on internet
every firm even the small shopkeepers are setting their websites so that they can intake more
orders from different cities and this is growing with lightning fast speed. These days a new
concept has came to which is known as internet marketing or we should say digital marketing
apart from traditional marketing, through digital marketing a company can reach to a person
who is very far away from the place company is and can interact to them. Through various
websites now we can pay the bills, pay for the product we have purchased. These developments
have created Online enterprise the first choice for the entrepreneurs to do businesses.
For the further development in the e-business model companies are required to plan the
activities systematically. Each aspect needs to be considered and after all things planning should
be done. Once planning has been done then company is required to manage the activities and
organize it in systematic manner. Mobile e-business model is the further development model that
helps the organization in increasing its revenues. Mobile e-commerce describes the sales
transaction of the company through online medium. With the use of this model organization can
make its operations more smooth and can gain high profit.
TASK 4
4.1 Elements of Web Design Structure
One thing online businesses need to sell its products to its customers i9s to have a good
website which not only sell the products but also make customers comfortable to reach to that
product. That's why to have a Good website designed for Asos.com is crucial in maintaining its
reputation among its potential customers(Regester and Larkin, 2008). Some of the elements a
Good website should have are:
 Good visual Design: That's what a user interface is all about, How a companies website
speaks to his customer, in which manner or up to how much level a customer is able to
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understand the structure of website is what drives the sales and perception of customers
towards a company.
 Content: Content is the life blood of any firms website because it is content only through
which a customer is able to know what a company is what its vision and mission are?
Making its content Asos.com should keep in mind the simplicity but uniqueness of words
that creates a first sight impression on its customers when they gonna read the content.
 Call to Action: Call to action are those set of words on companies website which make
customer to take an immediate action on the website(Salant and Santry, 2006). Here the
key is to continuously work on the words which customers like to see on the website like
discount information will urge them to take action in the form of buying the products.
 Search engines comprising head or title: It is involved in the web design structure in
which consumers can search for the product and can buy it. If the website is offering
many of the products and services then consumers can select its products from the search
engine and can pay for it online.
 Description: It is another element in the web design in which consumers can get full
description of the products what consumers wants to buy. It includes features, range, size,
colour, price etc.
 Download: Once consumers has paid for its online transaction then there is a feature that
helps the clients if any trouble arise in future related to payment. For example if payment
do not get received by the merchant then customers can present this download document
to the company and can prove its evidence.
4.2 Impact of Website to E-business
Websites have created a great impact on e-businesses as it was discussed earlier that now
a days due to increase of online business there is one thing which has come over all is web
designing domain. This domain has generated huge no. of jobs in the world in the recent times.
Through websites an online business can speak to its customers, can show variety of services and
products firm is dealing in, can take feedback on its services, a customer can know the location
of company(Seeger, 2006). A Great website has the capability of driving a companies target
audience into its customers. Main roles of websites is to engage with visitors, generate leads for
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businesses, support customers and many more. Through proper set of strategy Asos.com can
make their website more user friendly which eventually will make them move towards their
desired goals. Asos.com can bring change to their structure, adding color combinations in such a
manner that speaks to audiences as attractive.
Web design impact on the e-business in both positive and negative ways. If the design is
good and people are getting sufficient details without any trouble then it helps in increasing the
satisfaction level of the persons,. By this way people spend more amount in online shopping and
that enhance the business of the e-commerce industry. On other hand, there are troubles like data
leakage, fraud calls etc. That creates fear in the mind of target audience and they do not prefer to
buy the products online. Due to this company image gets down and that decrease its sales
revenues as well.
4.3 Issues Related to Website Usage
When there are opportunities to make business through websites then how come
problems or issues remain at the back side of the scenario. With positives comes negatives, with
rose petals come thorns and with roads come barriers(Wilson, 2011). So is the case with
opportunities which comes with problems. When customers use websites issues which arrives
are:
 Problem with data: The data gathered through all engagements is to be stored
somewhere and thus it is a huge a task for firms to store those data with utmost security
because it has the personal information's of the customers.
 Consumer Privacy: Information privacy of customers is the main issue for
firms(Denton, 2015). personal data of individuals need to secured in order to have a good
reputation in the industry.
Company's website can be improved by thinking from the perspective of consumers. If company
pays attention of the data leakage and adopts effective electronic protection tools so it will
enhance the satisfaction level of the consumers and they will buy the products online. Sometime
website does not have sufficient details and it does not deliver the products on time. So company
needs to improve this issue, it is required to add the description element in the website so that
people can get to know about the products and after getting in-depth information they buy the
products.
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CONCLUSION
It has been concluded by the presented report that internet and e-business makes the
organisation effective and efficient from all the aspects. The benefits of online business helps in
achieving objectives and generating revenues. For this business has to comply with the
legislative rules and regulations for the purpose of security.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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upscale and luxury hotels in Turkey. Tourism Management. 27(1). pp. 171-176.
Brace, I., 2008. Questionnaire design: How to plan, structure and write survey material for
effective market research. Kogan Page Publishers.
Constantinides, E. and Fountain, S. J., 2008. Web 2.0: Conceptual foundations and marketing
issues. Journal of direct, data and digital marketing practice, 9(3), 231-244.
Elliott, R. and Boshoff, C., 2007. The influence of the owner-manager of small tourism
businesses on the success of the internet marketing. South African Journal of Business
Management. 38. pp. 3-15.
Howard, P. N. and Hussain, M. M., 2011. The role of digital media. Journal of democracy.
22(3), 35-48.
Koehler, M. J. and Mishra, P., 2005. What happens when teachers design educational
technology? The development of technological pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of
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Kwan, I. S., Fong, J. and Wong, H. K., 2005. An e-customer behavior model with online
analytical mining for internet marketing planning. Decision Support Systems. 41(1). pp.
189-204.
Murdy, S. and Pike, S., 2012. Perceptions of visitor relationship marketing opportunities by
destination marketers: An importance-performance analysis. Tourism Management. 33(5.
pp. 1281-1285.
Omar, O., 2009. International marketing. Palgrave Macmillan.
Regester, M. and Larkin, J., 2008. Risk issues and crisis management in public relations: A
casebook of best practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Rosenbloom, B. and Dimitrova, B., 2011. The marketing mix paradigm and the Dixonian
systems perspective of marketing. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. 3(1).
pp.53 – 66.
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Salant, T. and Santry, H. P., 2006. Internet marketing of bariatric surgery: Contemporary trends
in the medicalization of obesity. Social Science & Medicine. 62(10. pp. 2445-2457.
Salant, T. and Santry, H. P., 2006. Internet marketing of bariatric surgery: Contemporary trends
in the medicalization of obesity. Social Science & Medicine. 62(10). pp. 2445-2457.
Seeger, M. W., 2006. Best practices in crisis communication: An expert panel process. Journal
of Applied Communication Research. 34(3). pp. 232-244.
Simmons, G., 2008. Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon.
European Journal of Marketing. 42(3/4). pp.299 – 310.
Taylor, M. J. and England, D., 2006. Internet marketing: web site navigational design
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Wilson, A., 2011. Marketing research: an integrated approach. 3rd ed. FT Prentice Hall.
Online
Denton, J., 2015. Sainsbury's leapfrogs Asda to become UK's second- largest supermarket as
Aldi and Lidl go from strength to strength. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2908159/Sainsbury-s-beats-Asda-2nd-
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