Internet Marketing Report: Opportunities and Challenges for ASOS.com

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of internet marketing strategies, focusing on the case of ASOS.com. It begins with an introduction to internet marketing and its various facets, including social media marketing, SEO, and email marketing. The report then delves into the role of internet marketing, its usage, and the benefits it provides to customers, using ASOS.com as a primary example. The analysis covers how ASOS.com leverages internet marketing through social networking, customer data, and website features to enhance customer engagement and drive sales. Furthermore, the report examines the benefits and opportunities of internet marketing, including its role in business success and its impact on globalization. It also explores the challenges faced by businesses in this evolving landscape. Finally, the report evaluates the effectiveness of internet marketing, providing a thorough overview of the topic and its practical applications within the context of ASOS.com.

INTERNET MARKETING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Role of Internet Marketing.....................................................................................................3
P2 Usage of Internet Marketing...................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Benefits to customers of business using Internet Marketing..................................................4
M1 Analysis of Benefits of internet Marketing...........................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P4 Benefits and opportunities of using Internet Marketing.........................................................5
P5 Role of Internet marketing in success of Business.................................................................6
M2 Analysis of Marketing Opportunities and Challenges..........................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
D1 Evaluation of effectiveness of Internet Marketing.................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Through internet a entrepreneur can drive strategies and generate the leads for the
business by various marketing strategies like Social media marketing, Search engine
optimization, Affiliate marketing, Email Marketing and many more. Through Internet marketing
practices various startups have managed to create a good customer base for them and are
working in order to get high engagement from every class of people. The present report deals
with putting emphasis on evolution of internet as a marketing tool and various opportunities that
it has created has been taken into(Kumar, Chattaraman and Henseler, 2013). For this purpose the
organization undertaken here is ASOS.COM.
TASK 1
P1 Role of Internet Marketing
Internet marketing has obviously been talked and written about a lot over the last ten
years and more. One of the aspects of most of these discussions that fascinates me is that Internet
Marketing is usually talked about as if it is just a further marketing and sales channel, in line
with TV, Radio, Print media etc. This is very intriguing, because I think this is both right and
wrong at the same time. Here is why. The Internet obviously enables a company to advertise and
sell its products and services. For advertising, think banner ads (very reminiscent of print ads, by
the way). Obviously, you can also buy things online, Asos.com and others come to mind. But
that is not all. In the old days, you would advertise, so that either people went out of their way
(they called, they went to the shop) to go and get the product or that when they chance
encountered it (had to select one soap in the supermarket, chose one soap over the other) they
selected the product they felt better about(Patwardhan, Pandey and Dhume, 2014). Yes, you
could read magazines and reviews and try to form an opinion, but this was a difficult and
laborious process.
Today, people go and check things out online (I admit, buying a burger, i.e impulse
purchases are somewhat different than considered purchases, like buying a PC). This means that
the connection between advertising and product purchase is broken in many industries. This
means that regardless of where you advertise, the next step for the buyer is very likely to go

online, become informed and THEN to go and purchase the product: All roads lead to the
Internet.
P2 Usage of Internet Marketing
ASOS.com uses Internet Marketing in many ways in which they sell their products. their
approach towards this are in ways through social networking such as Facebook profiles, twitters.
ASOS also uses previous customer information (email/home addresses) that they use to log in
and buy items to send them information about their new products and get them interested.
Facebook allows ASOS to attract more customers towards their online fashion world. As
customers can view their profile including pictures, prices etc. Also other people that do not have
ASOS's profile on their Facebook can view to see what they have in store from friends profile
which gives ASOS a wider range of customers(Ramsaran-Fowdar and Fowdar, 2013). It also lets
them have one to one conversation with customers regarding their products etc which helps them
improve on their customers performance. Also on their website for each of the product customers
can share the product through Facebook or twitter as ASOS has provided a a hyperlink button to
do so.
ASOS provides a linked page on the website to where it leads to a 'Forum' here regular
and new customers can add comments to the product and service they receive or can add
comments to ASOS for further products to be in stock. It is always being updated for example
one comment made by a customer was 'Extra Petite' and ASOS had replied on the same day 'Ta
much for the feedback - I'll be sending it onto our buyers as they're always keen to hear what our
ASOS think, and always looking for ways to improve the site and the range we offer...' this is
another way of attracting more customers and getting them involved with the business making
the organization and the customer happy(Liao and Cheung, 2011). This enables ASOS to have a
better understanding of their customers and improve on their business as they go along.
TASK 2
P3 Benefits to customers of business using Internet Marketing
Convenience & Easiness:

For many people in the world, e-Commerce becomes one of the preferred ways of
shopping as they enjoy their online because of its easiness and convenience. They are allowed to
buy products or services from their home at any time of day or night.
Offer Product Data sheets:
Consumers can also get description and details from an online product catalog. For your
customers, it is very much important to get information about the product no matter whether the
time of day and day of the week. Through information, your customers and prospects are making
decision to purchase your products or not(Alalwan, Dwivedi and Williams, 2015).
Comprise Warranty Information:
No matter whether you are looking to choose including warranty information with
product descriptions and data sheets or providing it from within an e commerce shopping cart,
you need to make sure that customers must be aware of important terms and conditions that are
associated with their purchase.
Decreasing cost of inventory Management:
With e-commerce business, the suppliers can decrease the cost of managing their
inventory of goods that they can automate the inventory management using web-based
management system. Indirectly, they can save their operational costs.
M1 Analysis of Benefits of internet Marketing
Online retailing is growing at an astonishing rate, with online sales now accounting for
around one quarter of the total retail market. Retailers who ignore e-commerce may see their
trade lessening as customers continue to shift to ordering products online. However you need to
think carefully and weigh all the advantages. The best thing about it is buying options that are
quick, convenient and user-friendly with the ability to transfer funds online. Because of its
convenience, consumers can save their lots of time as well as money by searching their products
easily and making purchasing online(Salleh, Hashima and Murphy, 2015). For effective business
transactions, e-commerce is an efficient and competence method. Setting-up cost is extremely
low as compare to expanding your business with more brick and mortar locations. Very few
licenses and permits are required to start-up an online business than physical store. You can save
your lots of money by using fewer employees to perform operations like billing customers,
managing inventory and more.

TASK 3
P4 Benefits and opportunities of using Internet Marketing
 Reach: By marketing on the Internet, you can overcome barriers of distance. You can
sell goods in any part of the country without setting up local outlets, widening your target
market. You can also build an export business without opening a network of distributors
in different countries.
 Personalization: Internet marketing enables you to personalize offers to customers by
building a profile of their purchasing history and preferences. By tracking the web pages
and product information that prospects visit, you can make targeted offers that reflect
their interests.
 Relationships: The Internet provides an important platform for building relationships
with customers and increasing customer retention levels. When a customer has purchased
a product from your online store, you can begin the relationship by sending a follow-up
email to confirm the transaction and thank the customer(Riasi and Pourmiri, 2015).
 Social: Internet marketing enables you to take advantage of the growing importance of
social media. An article on the Harvard Business School Executive Education website
highlighted the link between social networking and online revenue growth. According to
the article, a group of consumers that responded most strongly to the influence of social
networks generated increased sales of around 5 percent.
P5 Role of Internet marketing in success of Business
As the high street flails, ASOS just keeps on growing. Its latest results, showing an 11 per
cent rise in first half profits, demonstrate how the darling of online retail continues to defy the
odds. But arguably its biggest reason for success has been its digital platform, which has always
been ahead of the curve. Its key tools, from the iPhone and iPad app to its Facebook shop,
English-language mobile site and Fashion Finder tool, aren't just extensions of brand ASOS, they
add to the online retail experience. Wherever people are, and whatever people are using, ASOS
is accessible(Berger and Thomas, 2016). A live feed on its Fashion Finder page shows off new
outfits created by community users, and mood boards highlight the latest trends, styles and colors
for inspiration. Naturally, every item is 'shoppable'. This is fashion fodder for ASOS's most
prolific customers.

ASOS's social media channels are exactly what they should be: social. There's a human
being at the helm and it’s the feeds are full of personal responses to tweets as well as
competitions designed get make users engage. It's surprising how many big companies fail to
recognize that creating a personality behind an otherwise faceless (albeit branded) social media
channel isn't just a nice idea, it's crucial. In its interim results today, ASOS mentions how it's
positioning itself as 'a global online community of fashion lovers' And that's the key to its
success: increasingly, the customer base is giving way to the community and companies that can
see that are outperforming(Vásquez and Escamilla, 2014).
P6 Challenges of Globalization faced when using Internet Marketing
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. The internet is very important and many functions within the
internet are used and updated/added to the internet to make ‘life easier’. Businesses that are
based online such as ASOS has a great advantage of using these functions but ASOS also are
faced with the changes being made. Customers like to see things that are modern and ‘in with the
trend’. Home pages for example are the first page people will see and it has to be importantly eye
catching and highlighted in the right way(Miles, 2013). If the technology used behind computers
is changed the employees will have to keep to the challenge and get trained to KNOW the
changes and use it within the website. The market is changing all the time; people’s opinions are
vital and different within age groups; where they come from; etc. ASOS are based online, so
most of their market research are done through forums, social networks etc and they use brands
and make the most available for their customers by providing a huge amount of products and
also including it all in the website.
M2 Analysis of Marketing Opportunities and Challenges
For a business to convert leads into sales they need to attract customers and make sure
that they buy something from them. ASOS can measure how many people have visited their
website but cannot find out how many people have actually purchased from them. It is important

that a business knows what target audience they are aiming their products at. Once they know
this they need to decide what content they should have on their website to keep their target
audience attracted(Sheehan, 2010). It is important that they provide products which are different
from their competitors so they keep ahead of their competition.
TASK 4
D1 Evaluation of effectiveness of Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing enables ASOS to meet the needs and wants of their customers more
effectively as customers are able to access the site and ASOS online store 24/7 which is efficient
and meets the needs and wants of a customers. Internment marketing also enables ASOS to
identify their markets and allows ASOS to do product research as well in order to attract their
potential customers and meet their wants and needs via the online business as they have blogs on
their website which allows customers to write their reviews and suggestions as well as
disadvantages, and therefore there are many disadvantages to internet marketing such as
regularly updating their website to attract customers as well as the difficulty that many customers
may not have access to the web or may not know the procedures of using it(Sheehan, 2010).
CONCLUSION
From this report it can be concluded that the internet now a days have been a major
resource of getting the extra edge in competition such that this should be adopted by business in
order to grow and make the presence in the market.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alalwan, A. A., Dwivedi, Y. K. and Williams, M. D., 2015. Consumer adoption of Internet
banking in Jordan: Examining the role of hedonic motivation, habit, self-efficacy and trust.
Journal of Financial Services Marketing. 20(2). pp.145-157.
Berger, H. and Thomas, C., 2016. SMEs-social media marketing performance. International
Journal of Web Engineering and Technology. 11(3). pp.215-232.
Kumar, V., Chattaraman, V. and Henseler, J., 2013. Data-driven services marketing in a
connected world. Journal of Service Management. 24(3). pp.330-352.
Liao, Z. and Cheung, M. T., 2011. Internet-based e-shopping and consumer attitudes: an
empirical study. Information & Management. 38(5). pp. 299-306.
Miles, C., 2013. Persuasion, marketing communication, and the metaphor of magic. European
Journal of Marketing. 47(11/12). pp.2002 – 2019.
Patwardhan, A. A., Pandey, N. and Dhume, S. M., 2014. Leveraging technology adoption model
for examining internet usage among physicians’ in changing Indian pharmaceutical
marketing context: A structural equation modeling approach. Journal of Medical
Marketing. 14(4). pp.201-211.
Ramsaran-Fowdar, R. R. and Fowdar, S., 2013. The implications of Facebook marketing for
organizations. Contemporary Management Research. 9(1). p.73.
Riasi, A. and Pourmiri, S., 2015. Effects of online marketing on Iranian ecotourism industry:
Economic, sociological, and cultural aspects. Management Science Letters. 5(10). pp.915-
926.
Salleh, S., Hashima, N. H. and Murphy, J., 2015. Instagram marketing: a content analysis of top
Malaysian restaurant brands. E-Review of Tourism Research. 6. pp.1-5.
Sheehan, B., 2010. Basics Marketing 02: Online Marketing. AVA Publishing.
Vásquez, G. A. N. and Escamilla, E. M., 2014. Best practice in the use of social networks
marketing strategy as in SMEs. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 148. pp.533-
542.