Digital Marketing Unit 24: E-commerce Growth and Marketing Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the digital marketing landscape and the influence of e-commerce growth on marketing practices, using ASOS as an example. It critically evaluates digital marketing's positive and negative aspects, including global reach, measurable results, personalization, and potential drawbacks like training requirements and time consumption. The report compares online and offline marketing concepts, highlighting key consumer trends driving digital marketing's development, such as mobile convenience and personalization. It also examines the evolution of omnichannel marketing and the development of a coherent digital omnichannel marketing plan. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting to changing trends and leveraging digital tools to meet organizational marketing needs, while also acknowledging the challenges and opportunities presented by the shift towards e-commerce.

Submission Front Sheet
Programme BTEC HIgher National Diploma (HND) in
Business (RQF)
Unit and Title Number Digital Marketing (Unit 24)
Unit RQF level/Code Level 5 / D/508/0538
Credit Value
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Name/email
Project set date
Distribution Date
Project Brief Code
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Student name and ID
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Is this a first sub mission
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3

Analysing and evaluating digital marketing landscape and how E-commerce growth is
influencing marketing practices-..................................................................................................3
Comparatively, analysing offline and online marketing concepts with key trends that drives
the growth of digital marketing and what are the challenges and opportunities faced by this
marketing.....................................................................................................................................5
Key consumer trends that drive the development and growth of Digital Marketing.......................6
Analysing key digital tools that are available to brick-and-mortar other physical channels
required to meet organizational marketing needs and differentiation between E-commerce
digital marketing, and other physical channels ...........................................................................8
Evolution of Omnichannel Marketing.......................................................................................10
Development of a coherent digital Omnichannel marketing plan including multichannel
strategies....................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the process that is done by the businesses around the word. It
involves selling and promoting of the products and services. Digital marketing is linked to the
brand advertisements and promotion activities that are done to connect with the potential
customer base by using different online platforms and digital communication. This not only
includes social media, email marketing and web-based advertisements, but also other multimedia
messages and texts (Giovannoni., 2020). This is also called as online marketing and internet

marketing. With the help of this marketing a business can spread a global awareness and can
easily execute the marketing on mobiles, social media and on other websites. Asos, a cosmetic
and fashion, British brand with a very wide established online network. The company ships to
196 countries from its fulfilment centres and has over 850 brands on its website. The tag line of
the brand itself states that it is engaged in selling the products that are seen in the films and on
the television. Asos has also started a new line of business which has home appliances and
furnitures in it.
Following report will comprise analysis of online and offline marketing, how E-
commerce growth is influencing the marketing practices and the digital marketing benefits that a
firm gets.
MAIN BODY
Analysing and evaluating digital marketing landscape and how E-commerce growth is
influencing marketing practices-
Critical analysis of digital marketing-
Digital marketing landscape refers to a huge collection of hardware and software,
including social networks, websites, sales channels, brand generated content, and upcoming
technologies which are continuing to shape the digital infrastructure (Behera. And et.al.,2020). A
proper understanding of digital marketing landscape can help Asos to keep an eye on its
competitors and to keep its digital assets updated with time. As the time has evolved, various
other things have evolved with it. Of which, the retail business industry evolution showed the
shift to online platform from offline platform. These digital marketing advertisements and plans
can help the other companies and Asos to
 be aware of how to make money in the current market with the present business
 helps to understand how IT system have an impact on profits
 helps in getting aware of the customer’s interest
 makes a business turn itself into customer centric business
 and in better understanding of the costing
But on the same hand, when it comes to critically analysing the digital marketing landscapes, it
has both positive and the negative aspects. Here are some aspects mentioned below
Positive Aspects-

 Global reach- With the help of digital marketing a business can spread its awareness
across the globe with a very little investment. Asos with the help of these marketing
landscapes has made a global existence and has already started serving to a widespread
network.
 Measurable and trackable results- In this the business's plans and marketing is easily
tracked by using the web analytics to realize the productivity and effectiveness of the
campaign. Using this tool or other metric tools Asos can benefit itself as it can the brand
how the customers are using the websites and responding to the advertisements it is
giving.
 Personalization- Under this when a customer visits to the website of the business, the
business can see what the customer is looking for and can give them more offers
accordingly (Desai., 2019. Digital marketing). Asos by using the right marketing
landscapes can also start offering personalization to every customer that comes to its
website and can communicate with them. This can help in refining the customer profile.
 Good conversion rate- Having the websites can make a business get quick orders as the
customers do not have to waste time in phone calling and enquiring of the products. For
them, making an order is just a click away. Asos already has a good, developed website
which has a very efficient working and has proved out to be beneficial for the brand.
Negative Aspects-
 Training and skills- For the efficient working of digital marketing landscapes proper
trained and skilled workforce is required as the trends keep on changing constantly so it
becomes very hard to be up to date. Asos to get a good response on its established
website should keep updating its programmes and software, because when not done, it
can affect the effective working of the company.
 Time consuming- optimizing online advertisements and creating content is a very time-
consuming and a headache job for the creators. Also, for the Asos it can also get very
time-consuming for giving its new advertisements and sometimes may lead to delays.
 Complaints and feedbacks- As the online platforms hold good visibility, so any content,
showing feedbacks can directly leave an impact on the brands sales. Complaints and
negative feedbacks tend to affect the customer behaviour in a very bad way. Asos may
also get affected because of its online transparency that it holds.

Evaluation of digital marketing
Digital marketing is a concept which has its own pros and cons. Where the digital
marketing has proven out to be very beneficial for the businesses in the present world as it
provides the business with a good recognition around the world, it has also turned out to be very
difficult for the companies to adopt it, as it involves a huge costing and trained workforce. The
entire marketing is very effective and has shown beautiful results to many businesses but the
marketing also involves a lot of time which is dreadful for the companies, and they have to
higher a different department for it.
Channels and tools used in the digital marketing
As digital marketing refer to a broad term of online promotion techniques, there are
number of tools and channels that help in doing the marketing efficiently and smoothly. Here are
2 of them.
Email marketing-This tool offers a personal sense of connectivity to the customers. Email
marketing stands out the business amongst others as it directly collect attention from the
customers and provide to the business.
Search engine optimization- This enables a business organization to rank itself higher on the
websites such as Bing, Google etc. Using this way the business can get good amount of visibility
and heavy traffic on its doors.
DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN DIGITAL MARKETING AND
PHYSICAL MARKETING
The similarities between both the channels of marketing are that they both uses marketing
techniques in order to attract sales and both the channels use 4Ps of marketing. The difference
between both methods are that traditional marketing is not good when it comes to creating a
brand and the effect is very difficult when it comes to measuring but the digital marketing helps
a brand to build fast and the effect is also easily measured by different analytics tools.
E-commerce growth affecting marketing practices-
E-commerce is a term associated with trading online. This means running a business
online and dealing with all the aspects online. The new trend of online shopping has made the
customers to shift their interest from traditional shopping to modern shopping. With this, they
can shop in their comfort (Gyenge. and et.al., 2021). But as the pattern of shopping has evolved

it became very important for the businesses also to change the pattern of their marketing and
advertising as well. With this shift, traditional marketing has limited its scope and the new
concept of online marketing has emerged. These online practices of marketing involve all the
advertisements that are done making the use of social websites, google, emails etc. The brands
are driven more towards the changing trends of the marketing rather than the old traditional style.
Asos is also engaged in online marketing. So yes, the marketing practices has completely
evolved along with the E-commerce and are highly influenced by the new concept of doing
business (Guercini. and et.al., 2018). This new pattern of marketing can also have other brands
and Asos to locate its customers early and helps them to reduce their cost which is used in
making, processing, outsourcing etc. Through this the company can also save paper and indulge
itself in nature curing practices.
Comparatively, analysing offline and online marketing concepts with key trends that drives the
growth of digital marketing and what are the challenges and opportunities faced by this
marketing
Marketing is defined as the process of promoting and attracting the customers towards
the brand's products or services. It can be done both online and offline, but nowadays as the
complete trading process has been taken online this has made several brands engaged in online
marketing. Mentioned below is the comparative analysis that is done on the online and offline
marketing
Online VS Offline marketing techniques
Competition between the online modes of marketing and offline modes of marketing is
very strong. With the good accessibility and other facilities, the internet has adversely affected
all the traditional marketing practices. And all the online opportunities the customers are having,
being in their comfort zones and shopping has really affected offline market and sellers both
(Aragoncillo. and Orus., 2018). Online brands are expanding their operations by giving a lot of
time and money both in the advertising that can help the brand to increase its sales. But the cost
of online marketing is comparatively very less than the offline marketing as it involves the cost
of banner, newspaper advertisements, TV advertisements etc. The trend is constantly changing
and thus, the business to sustain longer and retain its customers, are spending a lot of time in
their online marketing. With the help of this new trend the customers can place order anytime in
24 hrs.

Looking at this drastic change Asos also started its online marketing, through its website
and is giving its most of the time and efforts in advertising of the brand. The online marketing
has resulted very good for the brand and the brand can even expand more and more in the new
areas (Chiang. And et.al., 2018). But this online expansion has left and all the offline markets in
dreadful situation by showing a declination in the sales.
Key consumer trends that drive the development and growth of Digital Marketing
There are number of demands or trends in the society that has changed the complete
geographical area of shopping. Digital marketing has completely taken the traditional way of
shopping down and has shown immense growth in past few years. Asos is also engaged in digital
marketing practices and has framed its services according to the customers interests. There are
various factors that have influenced the growth and lead to the development of digital marketing
and has given good growth to the company's business. Here are some consumer trends that have
framed digital marketing
 Mobile convenience- Online websites are easy to access they can be used from anywhere
in the world using a mobile phone, which is a very handy device and something which
every person has. When the consumers find something easy, they tend to use it more
frequently. Asos should also make websites that can be easily used using the mobile
phones.
 24 hours accessibility- Consumers have a busy life schedule, and they don't get enough
time to go out and shop for themselves. Digital marketing offering such services of
anytime shopping gave it a good growth and thus a change in consumers behaviour were
observed. When found, that on Asos also they can place anytime orders it can have a
good impact on the sales of the brand.
 Feedback wants- Before making a purchase consumers tend to have a look on the
feedbacks of that product. Through the online marketing consumers can easily avail
feedbacks on the products they are interested in and thus, it leads to increasing demands
for online shopping. Asos can also keep a transparency by showing all the honest reviews
as that can leave a good image of the brand on the customers.
 Easy return policies- Through digital marketing, brands offer good policies of return by
providing a complete satisfaction to the customers. With such features the demand for

digital marketing is growing day by day. Asos, can also increase its demands by offering
such satisfactory features to the customers using digital marketing.
 Detailed features- Every product that is sold online has specific features mentioned
below. This gives the customers complete information about the product and a certain
kind of confidence before buying. These details and small-small conveniences have
influenced the growth of digital marketing. The brand also shows the product details
which is turning out to be every effective for its sales.
Evaluation of the key drivers-
With the evolution of technology alongside time, the society is becoming more advanced
with the upcoming and latest trends. Everything they want is in their comfort zone. This very
approach of the consumers is making them want the best for themselves and the digital
marketing is helping them in getting them so. The 24hour accessibility of the mobile phones, the
non reliance on the convenience, easy returns and everything else is giving the customers more
than they ever imagined. Driven towards these benefits the consumers, could not help but are
eventually driving the growth of digital marketing.
There are various opportunities and challenges that are faced by the digital marketing landscapes
as these are updated day to day according to the new trends (Katsikeas. and et.al., 2019).
Opportunities and challenges faced by digital marketing landscapes
Opportunities Challenges
 Good consumer reach which is driving
huge traffic to the businesses just by
using the mobile phones
 Global advertisements leading to a very
good awareness of the brands by
simply appearing daily on the mobile
screens
 Easy to promote brands as it involves
low costing and helps the businesses to
spend less
 Consumers convenience charges are
 Advanced competition of the brands as
with the evolution of technology the
brands compete in much advanced
ways
 Limited conversation leading the
customers to doubt about the products
and its after services
 Limited products advertisements
leading to low traffic and low sales
 Hacking risks as the hackers in today's
world can get access to anything even

zero as they only have to pay for the
standard shipping and can get things
done any time in the 24 hours
 Frequent advertisement displays which
eventually convert the people to
customers
 Low costing giving a benefit of great
revenue and savings to the businesses
the sensitive informations of the
business
 Opposing brand activities leading to
huge criticisms as everything is
displayed on the websites which can be
read by everyone.
Analysing key digital tools that are available to brick-and-mortar other physical channels
required to meet organizational marketing needs and differentiation between E-commerce
digital marketing, and other physical channels
As seen, the world is moving more towards digitalization, leaving behind all the
traditional methods, it is observed that maximum brands are indulging themselves into online
practices. Where the online shopping is dominating the traditional shopping, demand for more
digital marketing has arisen in the market. There are certain tools that pave way for the online
marketing, in both software and hardware, of which some are
SOFTWARE
 WASK- It's an all-in-one digital marketing software which gives a free trial for 15 days
and is suitable for beginners as well as professionals.
 Active Campaign-It includes marketing, CRM, sales automation, and E-mail. This has 14
days of free trial and is suitable for professionals and big marketing agencies.
 Google's analytics- This includes analytics and marketing both. It has a free version and
is used for deep insights and analytics.
 Augmented reality tool- This is used by Asos and can be very beneficial for the brand in
the future as it shows the models wearing the cloths, which can really help the customers
in their purchase.
HARDWARE
 Computers- With the help of computer and internet, all the marketing can be started and
even at a lower cost.

 Mobile phones-This is the cheapest source to start an online business or marketing and
can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
Tools Strengths Weaknesses
WASK Good results Requires a lot of training
Active campaign Good and dynamic email
content
Takes time for the result and
free trial is of only 14 days
Google's analytics Most reliable source which
provides the best
determination of the
marketing.
Sometimes lead to confusion
and becomes tough to find the
purpose
Augmented reality tool Gives a benefit of sharing real
time experience with the
people in the long distance
Sometimes become
inappropriate in many
situations
Computers Provides searching for various
information at one time
Huge cost in installing
Mobile phones Very handy and can be used
anywhere
Does not allow looking for
multiple things at once
WASK MODEL
Strengths- Good results as with the help f this software all the advertisements are managed,
created and published from one platform. It also provides the users autopilot and scheduler
which help them to plan and process the advertisements accordingly.
Weakness- To sue the particular software is not an easy task and therefore requires skilled
employees who can actually make use of the software. This software also requires a lot of
training.
Active campaign

Strengths- Good and dynamic email content. The tool is extremely affordable and does the best
in marketing automation. It also has a leading score feature and is able to segment the specific
customer list..
Weakness- Takes time for the result as the software performs slow sometimes. One more
drawback of the software is that the free trial period is of only 14 days.
Google's analytics
Strengths- It is one of the best strength of the software that it is the most reliable source which
provides the best determination of the marketing and is really of the companies in order to target
the customers and make the best of strategies.
Weakness- This software also required skilled workforce and training. Sometimes the software
also leads to confusion and it really becomes tough to find the purpose.
Augmented reality tool
Strengths- This particular tool is used by number of businesses worldwide as it gives a benefit
of sharing real time experience with the people in the long distance and provide them the sense
of the services.
Weakness- The only weakness this software has is it can be used for every purpose and
sometimes it become inappropriate in many situations.
Computers
Strengths- The computers provides searching for various information at one time and on one
screen. It serves multiple purpose and help to identify number of things in seconds.
Weakness- The only drawback of the computer is that it involves huge costing and is not very
affordable for every business.
Mobile phones
Strengths- The smart device facilitates number of things in a very short time and is very handy
and can be used anywhere and anytime.
Weakness- It does not allow looking for multiple things at once I.e the feature of showing
multiple things at once is not possible with the mobile phones and therefore can only serve one
purpose.