Marketing Strategy and ECommerce
Introduction
With the rapidly advancing technologies that are occurring in modern business, organisations are required to be ready, and able to adapt within their ever-changing environment. It is true across all diverse industries that in order to stay competitive, organisations must be able to utilise the various tools that technology has to offer. Technological factors have been of growing importance, particularly in recent years. A major factor involved in these technology issues is the use of the Internet as a major issue to modern organisations. The Internet has been rapidly growing since it's inception and is now commonly used in all sectors of societies, in all corners of the globe. The Internet has quickly become one of the most valuable assets in modern technology, and as such, is developing as an integral part of modern commerce. As with past technologies, the Internet will have future technological advances develop from its own growth. The task the organisations of in the new century? Realise future opportunities and threats, and base a strategy accordingly. "Is it cliché to say that 'the Internet changes everything': the challenge now is to say what, how and how quickly". (When Companies Connect, 1999, p.19) The Internet has lead to the birth and evolution of electronic commerce or E-commerce. E-commerce has now become a key component of many organisations in the daily running of their business. Simply defined, "electronic commerce is a system of online shopping and information retrieval accessed through networks of personal computers". (Reedy, J. Schullo, S. Zimmerman, K. 2000, pg. 29) E-commerce challenges traditional organisational practices, and opens ups a vast array of issues that the organisations must address. By focusing on the varying levels of an organisation, it soon become apparent the effects that E-commerce can have.
An understanding of the implication E-commerce has on such organisational divisions can help businesses gain understanding hence plan for it's inevitable continuing evolution. In terms of marketing, the modern organisation must be critically aware of the development of E-commerce, and the implications that it entails. "Marketers develop their own recipe of promotional tactics to fit the product lines or industries in which they compete. Now electronic communications tools are and will continue to be an important ingredient in the promotional mix" (Reedy, J. Schullo, S. Zimmerman, K. 2000, pg. 29) In assessing the implications of E-commerce in terms of marketing, it is important to understand its impact in respect to
Laudon, Kenneth C. Traver, Carol. E-commerce: Business. Technology. Society 3th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle NJ, 2007.
In summary, “Internet activities are not most significant in competition, such as informing customers, processing transactions, and procuring inputs”. (Porter, 2001) significant corporate assets--skilled employees, proprietary product, and efficient logistical systems – these factors are the most important to keep competitive advantages. In fact, it is foreseeable that the Internet's evolution will come up in the future involve a shift “in thinking from e-business to business, from e-strategy to strategy”. (Porter, 2001)Only by integrating the Internet into overall strategy will this powerful new technology become an equally powerful force for competitive advantage.
The future of economic competitiveness for most enterprises relies on entrance and active participation in the e-commerce market. An essential problem with e-commerce is that the controls and organization are different for each site. There is no standard way of building t...
In today's competing world, many organizations are rethinking their strategies in terms of the online business and its capabilities and culture. Organizations are taking advantage of the widespread web to buy and sell goods from other companies and recently from individual customers. Exploiting these opportunities of convenience, availability and widespread reach of the web or Internet, many companies such as Amazon have benefited from the use of web successfully.
Marketing is a core pillar of an organization and contribute significantly in its prosperity through attaining the laid down targets as well as scope of development. The position of an organization is hugely based on its competitiveness and capacity to capture a significant portion of the market in relation to the prevailing needs of consumers. Interaction of the organization with the consumers and the potential consumer in the market arena is attained through the marketing wing of the organization (Ferrell& Hartline, 2012). The preferences of the consumer and avenues of satisfaction are aligned to the established marketing frameworks. However, the success of organization marketing is highly inclined to the marketing strategies formulated and adapted towards coping with competition and eventually enhancing firm competitiveness.
Market opportunities for breakfast cereals is vast, some segments of the market have been neglected, most notably that of the over-50’s. Insightful presentations were given at the “Older, Richer, Wiser” Conference that would suggest the over 50’s market segment is targetable.
Business today is inextricably intertwined with technology, from the smallest home office, to a multinational corporation with multiple monolithic legacy application. It is impossible to be in business today without confronting the issues of technology. The way we do business today is different than 30 years ago. Technology has evolved around the areas of telecommunication, travel, stock market, shipping even around our daily lives. E-commerce a system by which people can buy, sell and deal without even seeing the person on the other side has taken a front seat in improving the economy of countries around the world. Technology today has made it possible for monetary institutions to help locate the customers resources and help solve their problems at any given time through online banking. The Internet, a boon to all business, is playing a part of a catalyst; it links millions of customers to its suppliers and vice versa due to this, manufactures are able to cut the role of middlemen and are able to deal with the customers, giving them the ability for direct input from the customers about their choices and views of their product. The busi...
Marketing is a vital component in the success of businesses. Smaller businesses rely on business advertising, expenses, knowing if the business is networking with the right people, or joining the best organisations which lead to success (EStartup business blog, 2010). Marketing concentrates on customers and what the customers want. Customers are the source of sales and profits. Many small businesses are faced with remarkable hardships due to not developing the right marketing plan (EStartup business blog, 2010). To help these businesses a more appropriate or better marketing plan needs to be designed. Small business internet marketing services can help businesses develop and thrive in a highly competitive market. For the highest quality internet marketing services, hiring an online marketing company to design a customized internet marketing campaign may be advantageous for some businesses (EStartup business blog and contributors, 2010). Identified will be the role that marketing plays in a successful business demonstrated by use of two examples, the importance of developing a marketing plan, and ethical and legal issues that surround marketing practices (EStartup business blog, 2010).
One of the fundamental factors that has affected the process of economic globalization is the improvements in the technology of transportation and communications. This has reduced the costs of transporting goods, services, and factors of production and of communicating economically useful knowledge and technology. There is no doubt that advances in information and communications technology are the most important technological advances of the past quarter century (Mussa, 2000). By far, the most important and business altering advancement is the internet. There is evidence everywhere that the internet has greatly affected international trade. The internet has opened up the world, and brought it right into everyone's home and business. In addition, technology and the internet have greatly reduced the costs of doing business. Even the smallest operation can now go global via the internet at almost no cost. However, there are still some problems that face these e-commerce activities. These problems are shot-term challenges and can be met. The key issues center around two areas:
E-marketing is a fast growing and rapid platform for any form of business. EBay has been highly successful over recent years and this is a perfect example of an online business. The internal and external environments are constantly changing and in order to keep up with these changes, businesses and organisations must make relevant changes, and generate new strategies to keep up with contemporary developments in e-marketing and to also maintain their position in their market in comparison to their competitors.
When developing a marketing strategy, firms must take into account market segmentation, market targeting, differentiation, and positioning. In this short paper, I’ll take unpack these terms in order to explain their importance in order to make a firm’s marketing strategy effective.
Too often, a marketing function is misunderstood, because many people do not understand what is meant by ‘Marketing’.
The Internet has become a key ingredient of strenuous and busy lifestyle. ‘Internet’ has become the central-hub for communication, explorations, connecting with people or for official purposes. Resultantly, Internet growth has led to a plethora of new developments, such as decreased margins for companies as consumers turn more and more to the internet to buy goods and demand the best prices.
The report also talks about the differences between, advantages and disadvantages of e-business and e-commerce. Recommendations and advice have been given in the end for businesses intending to adopt an e-business dimension.
Consequently, e-business and especially online shopping is crucial for retail stores. They should provide necessary infrastructure for selling their products online. By taking advantage of e-business not only they can get competitive advantage of online shopping, but the...