Evaluating Internet Marketing Impact: A NEXT Case Study in UK Fashion

This case study assesses the impact of internet marketing within the UK fashion industry, focusing on NEXT. It explores the background of the company, analyzes factors contributing to the popularity of internet marketing, and addresses challenges faced by the changing nature of online promotion. The study investigates opportunities provided by internet marketing, its potential impact as a promotional tool, and issues from a digital marketing and consumer behavior perspective. It also aims to identify the importance and influence of Internet Marketing for the Fashion Industry in the United Kingdom, examine factors related to online marketing, determine the major factors influencing the sales of Next company related to online marketing and discern recommendations in relation to current marketing strategies. The research questions address the importance and influence of internet marketing, defining factors related to online marketing in the U.K. Fashion industry, major factors influencing sales of Next company and recommendations in relation to current marketing strategies.

Assessing the impact of internet
marketing within the UK fashion
industry- a case study of NEXT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
Briefly explain the selected organisation background. Analyse and evaluate the factors that
have contributed to the popularity of marketing tools in the current digital environment with a
clear focus on internet marketing................................................................................................4
Background of the company.......................................................................................................4
Analysing and evaluating the factors that have contributed to the popularity of marketing tools
in the present digital environment in terms of internet marketing..............................................4
Task2:...............................................................................................................................................5
You need to consider the changing nature of internet marketing and address the challenges it
faces via research objectives and questions................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Organisations are keen to explore the opportunities provided by internet marketing and the
potential impact it has a promotional tool...................................................................................6
Opportunities given by internet marketing for organisation.......................................................6
Impact of internet marketing as a promotional tool....................................................................7
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................1
Recognise some issues from digital marketing and consumer behaviour perspective regarding
internet marketing.......................................................................................................................1
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................2
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION............................................................................2
TASK 6............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
In the present time, marketing has seen great evolution in its ways and tools to promote
various products and services in the business world. In simpler words, marketing is defined as
activities that helps an organisation to successfully promote purchasing and selling of products
and services. It also includes various tasks such as selling, advertising and selling products to
customers and many other businesses (Aydınocak, 2022). The modern business is concerned on
the strategies considered for promoting and marketing services and products online or by any
digital mediums. It includes variety of online tools, platforms and content delivery system such
as website design and content, email marketing and social media.
Research Aim, objectives and questions
Research Aim
To assess the impact of Internet Marketing within the United Kingdom fashion industry.
A case study of NEXT
Research Objectives
 To identify the importance and influence of Internet Marketing for The Fashion Industry
in the United Kingdom.
 To examine factors related to online marketing in the United Kingdom fashion industry.
 To determine the major factors influencing the sales of Next company related to online
marketing in the U.K. Fashion industry.
 To discern recommendations in relation to current marketing strategies
Research Questions
 How important and influential is Internet Marketing for the Fashion Industry in the
United Kingdom? Does Next take full advantage of this modern marketing method?
 What are the defining factors related to online marketing in the U.K. Fashion industry?
 What are the major factors influencing the sales of Next company related to online
marketing in the U.K. Fashion industry?
 What recommendations can be made in relation to current marketing strategies?

TASK 1
Briefly explain the selected organisation background. Analyse and evaluate the factors that have
contributed to the popularity of marketing tools in the current digital environment with a
clear focus on internet marketing.
Background of the company
The chosen organisation for the present research report is a British multinational
footwear, home products and clothing retailer. The company was founded in 1864 in Leeds and
founded by Joseph Hepworth. The headquarters of this multinational company is located in
Enderby, England. It has more than 700 stores out of which circa 500 are located in the United
Kingdom and circa 200 are situated across the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Next is known as
the largest clothing retailer in terms of sales in the United Kingdom. It has overtaken Marks &
Spencer in early 2014 and 2012. Next Plc is listed under London Stock Exchange. Next company
uses variety of marketing practices for advertising and promoting their products and services and
to grab attention of large number of customers (Balaji and Roy, 2017) .
Analysing and evaluating the factors that have contributed to the popularity of marketing tools in
the present digital environment in terms of internet marketing
Marketing is defined as activities that an organisation focuses for promoting and
advertising purchasing and selling of products and services of the organisation. Nowadays the
practice of marketing is done with the assistance of different digital tools and internet (Zhu, G.,
& Gao, 2019). There are various good factors that greatly influence the concept of marketing in
the current digital environment. Any organisation working under the concept of marketing gets
signals from the market place. The present digital environment shows that customers of the
organisations are greatly active on different online channels and with this company take
advantages of internet marketing to reach out larger number of customers and prospective
customers (Bedi, Bedi and Singh, 2022). Some of the major factors of the that have assisted in
the popularity of internet marketing are:
Changing technology: Earlier when digital era was not there, organisations have only
used conventional advertising that is print media or television. It is being identified that target
customers use mobile technology and this has helped in increasing internet marketing. As people

have started uses smartphone, it has increased scope for internet marketing because people are
using their smartphones with internet.
Changing trends: The other significant factor that helps in the popularity of marketing
tools especially internet marketing is changing trends. Internet marketing is becoming more
popular day by day for promoting products and services of the organisation because people
attract when the marketing is more personalised and interactive. With this organisation put more
interactive and personalised content so that challenges of customers could be resolved at right
and get more information about the products and services as per their needs and preferences.
Multimedia: The other important factor that plays major role in the popularity of internet
marketing is multimedia. As with the assistance of internet marketing, companies can easily
engage more number of customers with great marketing materials that simply combine multiple
kinds of content involving audio, video clips and photos (Brandsma, 2018). Internet marketing is
far easier for incorporating all content kinds in comparison any other kind of marketing.
Task2:
You need to consider the changing nature of internet marketing and address the challenges it
faces via research objectives and questions.
Internet marketing is changing drastically with the time. This change occurs due to
adoption and innovation that happens on constant basis on developing new technology in the
organisation which helps them to market their product in more effective way than that of their
rivalry. Internet marketing changes the way business sell, communicate and interact as well as
the customer buy things. The foremost drastic change that happens is the way Search engine
optimization looks. Earlier in the search engine taskbar the individual only write for what they
are looking for but know a day SEO also move to voice and image search. This is the recent
change in the internet marketing. The net change that happens while going for online marketing
is adopting various social media sites to reach with the target customer (Dilham, Sofiyah and
Muda, 2018). Through this business can make an engagement with the buyers and can
communicate with them about their products and services they offer. Effective communication is
not only the option but it also helps organisation to attract more new buyers towards their
company. Another change in digital marketing is that by using social media company can also
use customer service method. Sending email or making phones call to solve the query is also

being address by this (Yeh and et. al. 2017). One of the prominent change that occurs in internet
marketing is that organisation can track and analyse their marketing activities. Through online
marketing new lead are generated which help the business to know how effectively there are
working while using digital platform to advertise their goods and service.
There are certain challenges that are being encountered while using internet marketing.
These problem hinder the performance but if they are carefully analyse before they occur than
company can gain advantage. Some of the issues that are faced in internet marketing are social
media management. Before going to the social media platform the company need to face the
issue of how they will prepare content, which platform will be used, who will responsible and
what will be strategy (Ghoreishi, Happonen, 2022). Managing the social media is the biggest
problem when the company decide for marketing their goods and services through online mode.
The another problem that is encounter by them is getting lead through search engine
optimization. If the company ranks in SEO platform reduce then generating leads and earning
revenue becomes problem. So for that company need to invest large capital in ranking their
website on top in Search engine optimization bar. According to one of the report is been
observed that booming volume and standing out of the reach while promoting goods and service
is the vital problem that need to be addressed by each and every company. Internet marketing
also become challenging when the organisation could not target the right audience in effective
manner. As the number of online marketer enhance day by day targeting the right buyers is
problematic. Another challenge that can be faced is deciding the budget and rate of return on it.
TASK 3
Organisations are keen to explore the opportunities provided by internet marketing and the
potential impact it has a promotional tool
Opportunities given by internet marketing for organisation
Overall marketing is particularly not a new concept but there are many distinct
differences in marketing tactics and strategies considered in previous decades. With time
marketing has evolved and organisations have changed the way they promote their products and
services. Internet marketing has become more popular in the current time among many
businesses operating around the world (Jayaram, 2017). There are many opportunities that are
provided by internet marketing to organisations and which are explained in detailed manner.

 Low cost for operations: One of the greatest opportunities of online marketing for many
organisations is its decreased operating cost. Company could easily advertise their
products and services cheaply with the help of internet marketing. With the assistance of
online marketing, company could quite easily receive a free listing in wide variety of
business directories. Internet marketing helps organisation to contact and engage their
customers more in comparison of traditional methods of marketing. Global marketing: The other biggest opportunity provided by internet marketing to
companies is global marketing. It increases the ability of organisation to market their
products and services globally. With the help of internet marketing and under this
aggressive SEO, companies could secure million of viewers and reach large number of
audience and prospective customers across the world (Kumar and et. al. 2022). Company
could easily reach each corner of the world in shorter time wherever there is internet.
With the help of internet marketing, company goes beyond their geography for offering
products and services to audience worldwide. Diversified advertising and marketing: While targeting audience by company,
diversification plays significant role in advertising and marketing campaigns.
Diversification defines that an organisation could use several type of tactics and strategies
with the motive of reaching large number of prospects. With the assistance of marketing,
diversification has become very easier.
 Better sales relationship: Earlier when there was trend of traditional marketing,
companies used to give pamphlets and business cards to their consumers after a sale.
Nowadays it is not effective because people easily lose these cards. So, this is the place
where internet marketing holds great importance as marketers easily gather email
addresses of their buyers as well as potential customers which they could simply use to
reach out and form great relationship with customers. Companies use this email addresses
for providing their consumers with valuable data about their bought product, available
discounts on the products and services, introduction of new product and many more.
Impact of internet marketing as a promotional tool
Internet marketing has become one of the greatest tools for the success and development
of the whole business. As internet is an unstoppable and irrevocable trend. Companies have brick
and mortar business but they take full use of internet marketing for making their online presence

effective and efficient. It is determined that when businesses are not on web then there are more
chances customers will more likely to get attracted with the products of competitor company.
Advertising through online channel is easy as well as cheap in comparison traditional methods of
marketing. Impact of internet marketing is positive as a promotional tool for companies as it is
quite inexpensive because putting ad on internet is generally free. Companies can put
information about its products and services on its webpage through internet and provide
consumers wealth of data (Moid and Dixit, Eds.). This clearly states that customers do not need
to pick up their phone to have their questions responded and internet marketing has also made
working of organisation easier as they can easily approach customers. Companies can easily
attract large number of customer by putting consistent content through internet on different
channels. By adopting internet marketing company promotes the products and services and this
ultimately assists in driving sales of the company. With the help of internet marketing,
companies could easily launch an ad campaign and see great spike in sales.

Task 4
Recognise some issues from digital marketing and consumer behaviour perspective regarding
internet marketing
Marketing problem: There are different types of marketing problems such as
communication issues, marketing advertising issue, lack of market research, social media and
many others. In this, advertising the products and services through the internet marketing is
biggest challenge because sometimes it creates negative publicity that turn to impact in
decreasing business performance and growth. Communication is another problem faced by Next
while communicating information about their products and services through internet marketing.
Poor communication impacted on company profitability and sales (Nguyen and Simkin, 2017).
Lack of market research is another challenge because having inaccurate knowledge regarding the
market, Next Plc can have faced the issue of decreased customer base and trust towards the
brand. Social media is also considered another problem for Next plc because it takes maximum
time and cost as well as provide negative views about the products and services to the customers.
Therefore, all these are main marketing problems that have impacted over business growth and
success of Next Plc.
Consumer behaviour: There are different factors that influence customers to purchase
product from the specific brand. These factors are social, marketing, personal, psychological and
many others. Psychological factor includes motivation, perception, learning, attitudes and beliefs
etc. Personal factors are age, income, occupation etc. Cultural factors are social class, culture and
many others. All these are main factors that impact on the consumer buying behavior. It is
important for the Next plc to identify the factors that influence customer behavior (Oberoi, Patel
and Haon, 2017). 7 O’s is a framework that would be used by Next Plc because it helps them in
identification of the customer behavior towards the Next Plc. This will also facilitate them in
increasing their sales and profitability within less time. Along with this, identification of
customer’ needs and preferences will assist company in increasing customer loyalty towards the
brand.

TASK 5
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
Internet marketing plays an important role in increasing the market presence and reaching
large number of audience. It helps in enhancing the profitability and growth of business. Through
internet marketing, company can generate more qualified traffic and also target the leads
specifically by different characteristics. Internet marketing mainly includes the strategies which
can be implemented by organisation in order to promote their products and services online
(Semerádová and Vávrová, 2016). There are various types of internet marketing which helps in
improving the reach of company and also enhance the customer base. It includes varieties of
online platforms, content delivery system and tools which increases the profitability and sale of
business. Internet marketing plays a vital role in increasing the sale of fashion industry in UK as
it helps in connecting with audience and also provides relevant information about the products
and services of NEXT plc. It also creates huge revenue for the brand by acquiring value of
company and customers. The few examples of internet marketing are pay per click, social media
marketing, banners ads and email list. With the help of internet marketing, company put content
about its product consistently so that attention of customers could be grabbed.
Internet marketing is important because company believe there are many other ways
through which they can promote its products and services. There are various advantages which
can be experienced by Next with the help of internet marketing such as inexpensive, gives
customised promoting approach, helps to take benefit of social media, gives a path to build
relationships and allows reaching more number of people. Internet marketing is inexpensive as
organisation does not need to make great amount of budget to adopt internet marketing. It helps
in giving customised promoting approach through which they give importance to their own
needs as well as customers. Through internet marketing, NEXT can also take advantage of social
media. There are many channels of social media that help in reaching customers. It gives a path
to build relationships between customers and the whole company (Rosokhata and et. al., 2020).
Company is fully taking advantage of modern internet marketing as they attract large number of
customers and promote its products at greater level. There are various factors which influence
NEXT to adopt online marketing strategies such as multimedia, influencer engagement,
affordability, mobile access and expansion. Multimedia influences the online marketing

strategies as with this company is able to put marketing materials by combining multiple kind of
content involving video clips, photos and videos. The other factor which influences online
marketing strategy is influencer engagement. It is an approach that is used to promote products
and services of the organisation. NEXT must focus on identifying the right influencer who has
great image in the market and power to influence the decision of buyers. There are various
influencers that focus on promoting the product and increase the sale of business. Affordability is
the other major factor that influences company to adopt internet marketing as it is less expensive
in comparison of different methods of marketing. Customers can easily get access on internet
marketing and identify the right brand for purchasing the goods and services. Companies can
also easily create their page on different platform of social media and reach to large number of
people for increasing their sale and productivity. Another factor which influences the
organisation to adopt internet marketing is mobile access. It becomes easy for consumers to get
access of the brand in which they have interest. They can easily collect the information of the
products and services which they want to buy. There are various benefits of mobile access as it
provides services for 24*7 and also they get instant result for the information they want to
collect. NEXT can also gain the advantages of mobile access as it helps in building stronger
relations and they can also easily track the response of consumers. It is one of the convenient
methods which helps in reaching to wider number of audience and also have huge viral potential.
Expansion is the other major factor because this way company can easily reach thousands of
customers (Dangi and Malik, 2017). Through expansion, company can enhance its market
presence and also increase their customer segment.
There are various factors that influence the sale of NEXT related to online marketing in
UK fashion industry such effective advertisement, strong brand reputation, customer behaviour
and customer engagement. Customer behaviour is one of the major factor that influences that
sales of company because online marketing changes the behaviour and perspectives of
customers. In order to enhance the sale and gain competitive advantage in market it is necessary
for organisation to identify the behaviour of customers while purchasing the goods and services.
By understanding the behaviour of consumers, company can frame effective strategies that help
in improving the brand image and productivity. Effective advertisement is another factor which
creates an impact on the sale of NEXT as company could easily advertise the products of the
organisation. It is one of the major factor that influence the sale of business, organisation must

focus on offering attractive content that connects with potential customers and also attract them
towards the brand. The advertisement should be short and simple that provides relevant
information about the products and services. Strong reputation is also a factor which affects the
sale of business as company can stand out uniquely in front of competitors. Customer
engagement is the other significant factor because through online marketing company grabs the
attention of customers and this directly increases the sales of organisation in systematic manner
(Bheekharry, 2021).
For improving the internet marketing strategies there are few recommendations, company
must focus on posting and building strong content consistently, understanding needs and
preferences of customers, creating and optimising website of the company and segmenting
audience. Posting and building strong content consistently is the greatest recommendation for
improving internet marketing strategies. When company consistently they engage customers
with the products of business. Organisation must focus on posting right information on social
media platforms that doesn’t hurt the sentiments of customers and attract them to buy the product
and services of NEXT plc. It is important for organisation to understand the needs and preference
of customers as it helps in boosting the sale and productivity of business and also firm can gain
loyalty of consumers (Ismail, Nguyen and Melewar, 2018). By understanding the need and
preference of customers, NEXT can produce items according to their taste and gain competitive
advantage in market. Creating and optimising website of the organisation plays important role in
internet marketing as it could simply increase the traffic in the website. It is essential for
company to create attractive website that provide valid information related to the product and
services. Consumers can easily access the website and also solve their issues. Organisation must
ensure that customers doesn’t face any issue regarding the product and services and also make
their purchase decision promptly.