Successful E-business Strategy - Essay Example

E- Business Report E-business Introduction In today’s society, e-business has become popular among businesses as the world has evolved to become digital. E-business can be described to be a process through which businesses are conducted through the use of internet. An example is the use of mobile marketing which is part and parcel of e-business. Mobile marketing can be described as advertising messages which are related for promotional purposes and are done majorly through mobile phones. Have you ever received a message in your phone informing you of a particular product? Or have you ever been advised on paying such things like bills through the use of your mobile handset? An example of mobile marketing is safaricom which is a company based in Africa where goods and services can be purchased by customers using just a key in their mobile handsets. The focus in E-business is also laid on short messages services, but includes such methods like use of emails amongst other channels. Mobile marketing is an emerging issue in today’s developed and developing economies and as such should be properly addressed as it has a positive impact on e-marketing. Similar to mobile marketing, e-marketing greatly relies on the use of the internet to market and promote goods and services. E-business has made this process of e-marketing easier as it has allowed consumers to access internet activities through their handsets without having to use the traditional desktops and laptops commonly used in the past by individuals. Advancements in e-business have seen a change ‘towards the use and application of mobile phones among organizations and people who wishes to pass messages for various purposes and intended audiences. Today, many organizations are adopting me-marketing because they are seeing as an efficient way of marketing their products effectively than the earlier methods they used. However, in spite of e-business being an emerging issue in today’s businesses, using mobile channels is still a challenging issue to those who have not known the dos and don’ts of e-business. Laws and consumer behavior which were witnessed decades ago have drastically changed towards e-business. The mobile marketing forms currently being adopted are direct e-business, modern enabled marketing and traditional media marketing (Pasqua & Elkin, 2013). In e-business, the strongest potential towards service is always inclined towards the messages servicing whereby the voice services always become a commodity. Therefore, I consider e-business to be an effective marketing tool because it is always reliable and available for many. Contrarily, use desktops and laptops are quite common amongst the twenty first century because of either the cost or time associated to accessing them. The use of the toll has further been on the rise because of its portability and affordability therefore providing a universal platform through which various parties interacts and share their perceptions on different topics, products or services. Most mobile companies have invented mobile handsets which are cheap and can be owned by anyone even those from poorest. In addition, the number of phones being produced by different mobile brands has tremendously increased making them easily available to families around the world. Moreover, the use of SMS and MMS has further added to the spread of e-business because they encourage individuals and organizations to make enquiries or share their perceptions towards a given product or service being sold by an organization or message being passed by a marketer. This is always so because they cheap to use, private as the messages being passed is always between the sender and recipient and an effective way of delivering message to intended audience. Moreover, MMS has been a significant trend in e-business because of its evolution from the old versions text messages which were previously being used by individuals thus widely used by major operators and industry players both locally and intentionally. Successful e-business Strategy Retail mobile strategies that are successful in many cases are those who have mastered different target customers. For every successful marketing strategy, demographics characteristics are extreme importance because it helps the marketers in deciding which methods to use in reaching prospective customers. An example is that twenty first century teens are known to be computerized, they are always accessing the internet using different mediums and mobile phones are on top of the channels they use to access various products and services. This has involved looking into different trends like those population segments who like texting, tweeting amongst other characteristics. However, when used in the retail environment, e-business becomes a challenge because of the intrusive nature of mobile phones and the screen sizes available for use for different mobile brands. However, this can still be changed when mobile markers adopt the permission based system where intended customers are always the ones to select the medium through which they communicate. This always cannot work when strong value propositions are not used or applied in the process of e-business especially e-business. In addition, e-business through word of mouth is also an effective strategy in promoting e-business use amongst organizations and for various purposes as they give permissions to customers to review various products and services being marketed (Martin, 2011). E-business through word of mouth creates awareness amongst prospective customers through mobile traffics of existing customers. Product matching has also been an effective channel of e-business because it has the potential of retaining existing customers who have preference on e-business trends. This helps in retaining the customer’s loyalty therefore making it difficult for customers to switch to other platforms. In light of these, most retailers have viewed e-business as a tool which is used to retain and promote loyalty among customers (Steinbock, 2005). Ethical Issues in e-business E-business as e-business tool has ethical issues that when not adhered to changes the whole concept of e-business. This is always because currently mobile users are always concerned about the privacy of their personal information. Cases of customer’s personal information being used by fraudsters have always been reported and in most cases those who always bear the consequences are those whose information are used for such kind of activities (Hawknis, Mothersbaugh & Mookerjee, 2011). Secondly, mobile pricing is also an issue that affects e-business for those using it as their preference marketing tool. Most mobile operators are reported to charge unreasonable prices for accessing their services and this does always not go well with different parties involved in e-business (Murphy, 2005). Lastly, online satisfaction and loyalty is also an ethical issue where little research is known. This affects customers and operators of e-business because customers are always not sure whether they will receive satisfaction after transacting for either a good or service via e-business tool. This therefore has raised questions which how e-business retailers should communicate through their social networks and what product placement strategies are available to marketers. Challenges of e-business Individuals concerned with e-business face the challenge of acquiring, enhancing and retaining their existing mobile marketing customers. This is always so because retailers in the e-business sector because they lack a proper understanding of social networks surrounding their customers or prospective customers. Secondly, privacy and security is a challenge to many e-business operators as they also faced with the challenge of ensuring that the privacy of their customers and guaranteed. Thirdly, allocation of marketing spending is also a challenge facing e-business operators as at times they are always faced with the difficulty of determining how much they should use for their mobile marketing activities to attract more clients to purchase their goods and services through e-business. An example is that few marketing operators have gone at loss because of their investments in e-business strategies to attract consumers from different backgrounds. Fourthly, mobile mediums brand also poses challenge to most operators of e-business. This so because they are confused on issues relating to invest on retailer brand assets or consumer based assets. An example is that in cases where they have invested in retailer brand assets, customers always find it difficult because they discover that the products or services they are looking for are not shortlisted in the retailer brand assets they are looking for in the different applications they are using (Ciaramitaro, B. L. (2012). Lastly, e-business is a core issue in most of the organizations. The issues are always centered in culture being practiced in organizations and the inability of using and adopting the mobile lifestyle within an organization. Most mobile retailers using e-business face challenge in bridging the gap between use of mobile devices between managers and consumers. This is always so because of the differences existing in demographic nature between organizational managers and consumers who in most cases are always teens. The difference existing between the two groups is that the teens have adopted the mobile culture whereas the organizational managers do not believe in the mobile lifestyle. Therefore, making the managers is in harmony or agreements with the use of mobile phones within organization are a challenge to many mobile operators thus posing a challenge to mobile marketing as e-business tool (Zichermann & Linder, 2010). Future Research Scenarios and Avenues in e-business There are promising fields in the future as with regards to e-business. Advancements in technology is top of the list because as technology improves, the future of e-business is reshaped in various different ways making it a tool of preference for various stakeholders. This is because emergence of new technologies will reshape the manner in which such issues like communication, computing and entertainment strategies are applied in the field. Improvements in mobile technology like the newly invented iPhone 6 has greatly promoted e-business because of the new features which are availed in the handsets by the mobile operators like the screen size which makes user accessibility and use much easier as compared to other brands where user interface was limited due to a number of reasons like speed of accessing such things like the internet and other applications (Shankar & Carpenter, 2012). In addition, marketing applications which have been installed in mobile phones by a number of mobile companies has further fastened e-business because these features allows for users or customers to make direct purchases without searching the internet for the specific product or service in question. However, for this to be successful, operators of e-business will have to conduct research on the field in order to better understand how changes will affect their operation at different sectors. This will enable them to expand on their knowledge of e-business as they will be able to understand mobile technology (Unhelkar, 2009). Recommendations for Use in e-business For any organization or individual to succeed in e-business, the organization in question must put and prioritize its goals. This simply means that one planning on using e-business as a marketing tool has to think of the intended purpose before embarking on campaign to ensure that they stay clear on the course. An example is that a retailer who has a good or service that he or she wants to just places an ad of the item using e-business may not succeed compared to the person who draws a goal of this product and the intended audience before advertising it using e-business. His advantages is that he or she will know his intended audiences, therefore succeed in convincing prospective customers in purchasing the product or service in question. Secondly, in using e-business, an organization or individual undertaking the exercise must think SMART to ensure that the e-business campaign is not a failure. This has to take into consideration specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goals. Good marketers are differentiated from unsuccessful ones by how well they plan their goals and activities. SMART goals are a perfect way of achieving desired results for any successful marketer wishing to succeed in his marketing campaign. Thirdly, e-business strategy that is to be used should be properly defined to ensure that the process is a success. There are different e-business strategies and only those which are properly defined can stand the competitions and emerge successful when faced with competition. Lastly, retailers should have in mind that for e-business strategy to be successful, the message being passed over to consumers is well designed in order to match the different needs of the intended audiences. Conclusion In conclusion, the 21st century has done away with the process where marketing in the past was done from door to door or other traditional forms of advertisements. The invention in internet has improved the results from good to better as everyone who is able to use the internet accesses or performs marketing activities via it. Presently, e-business has encompassed a large sector from educational activities to promotional of goods and services. Earlier on before the advancement in internet, most organizations used to advertise for their goods and services or relay messages through ads sin the internet, but currently they use e-business to reach their customers in an efficient and effective way as most customers are in capacity of accessing a mobile device. Mobile devices have greatly contributed to major changes seen in the marketing and sector especially in e-business. Partnership existing between various operators and mobile brands has promoted marketing through mobile phones because companies are now making brands which have features that are relevant for transaction through e-business. Its advantages to the government and various stakeholders cannot be measured because it generates revenue which is used for various developmental purposes. E-business involves a two way communication where retailers advertise their goods and services via mobile applications and consumers makes purchases online without bothering themselves on such expenses like travel costs amongst others. E-business has thus changed the paradigms of retailing from one consumer to a number of consumers being able to practice their activities without limits or limitations. Therefore, the paper has addressed various e-business frameworks and issues related to consumer activities, challenges amongst other dimensions which affect e-business. Therefore, mobile marketing is an important aspect to marketing as tool in spite of there being several types of mobile advertising possibilities. E-business operators should therefore capitalize on the available analytics and tracking that are provided by different mobile brands to promote their business activities through mobile gadgets or phones. Bibliography PASQUA, R., & ELKIN, N. (2013). Mobile marketing an hour a day. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=64101. HAIG, M. (2002). Mobile marketing: the message revolution. London [u.a.], Kogan Page HAWKNIS, D. I., MOTHERSBAUGH, D. L., & MOOKERJEE, A. (2011). Consumer behavior: building marketing strategy. New Delhi, Tata McGraw Hill. MURPHY, P. E. (2005). Ethical marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.], Prentice-Hall. CIARAMITARO, B. L. (2012). Mobile technology consumption: opportunities and challenges. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference. ZICHERMANN, G., & LINDER, J. (2010). Game-based marketing: inspire customer loyalty through rewards, challenges, and contests. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. SHANKAR, V., & CARPENTER, G. S. (2012). Handbook of Marketing Strategy. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Pub. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=894610. UNHELKAR, B. (2009). Handbook of research in mobile business: technical, methodological, and social perspectives. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference. STEINBOCK, D. (2005). The mobile revolution: the making of mobile services worldwide. London [u.a.], Kogan Page. MARTIN, C. (2011). The Third Screen Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile. London, Nicholas Brealey Pub. Analysis of Messages As seen in my messages to Simon, I was instrumental in my post as I shared information about anonymous being the famous hacker group in the United States. I felt good at being able to share information which I had gathered to someone who knew about the topic but was not exact on specific company to talk about. This was really fulfilling as also learnt a few new things in my discussion to him. In my message posts on ( Protection, Security- firewall), my participation of group related interactions was good as I was able to share information with them about other issues which were cause to the problem being discussed and I encouraged them for the factors they raised as I did not find a course to oppose the factors they had given. This further encouraged them to make research on the topic hence opening up new avenues for them to increase and expand their knowledge on the topic.On my message post to HiHi, I adequately participated in task related interactions as I was able to assist HiHi in clarifying key ideas which he considered were affecting e-business. This was particular good on my post as it provided him with additional information which was necessary for him to take actions in his course for research. On my message post on How Twitter is Revolutionizing Business I was instrumental through my post as I was able to assist others who were on the discussion board by sharing and clarifying key issues on the idea. Further, this opened a new avenue where related information was shared amongst the groups and the end result was an increased knowledge on both sides of how Twitter is revolutionizing business. On my message post to Satbir, I was very involved in the discussion because I wanted to get knowledge of the key issues which were being discussed therefore requesting help for the difficulty I was experiencing in understanding some key issues raised. On my message post on Relationship improvement, I was instrumental in the discussion because I assisted other members in the discussion board on ways on task related activities by giving them purpose and sharing ideas which they might have lacked initially. On my message post to Steve, I was instrumental in sharing ideas with Steve as I had read the information he had shared and felt it necessary to share a bit of the information I possed with him to encourage him to research further on his ideas or topics. Lastly, on my messages on what is e-CRM? I was of extreme use to others especially those who did not know what the topic was about because I shared information on what e-CRM was to others therefore providing avenues through which they were able to improve their own learning on the topic. Appendix Omikrons -> Microsoft Annual Report by Tsz Yeow - Monday, 9 March 2015, 6:51 PM   The key issues in work shop 2: 1, Mobile Marketing 2, Customers need encouragement to contribute 3, Mistrust due to misdirection 4, Hacking 5, Lack of customer censorship   After I read through the Annual Report of Microsoft, First of all, I find out that customers need encouragement to contribute can apply to Online (P14). Microsoft provide online service for customers through their products, such as Office 365, Outlook, Windows Phone store, etc. This is a contribution way for customer to interactive with Microsoft. So that Microsoft company could able to get customers attention in their update activities.   Secondly, mobile marketing could apply to device operating system in page 18. The reason is some of the apps cannot be uninstall due to the window’s system setting. Source:  Microsoft Annual Report 2014  http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar14/index.html   See this post in context 3. Key Issues arising for E-Business -> Idea collection zone -> Re: Idea collection zone by Tsz Yeow - Saturday, 28 February 2015, 2:33 PM   Hi Simon Anonymous is one of the biggest hacker group in the world. In 2014 Sep - Nov, Anonymous group hacked into HKSAR Governments website  Anonymous group declares war against Hong Kong Police, this website shows hackers can able to against the government and do what ever they want. In my opinion, nothing can stop hackers to hack. furthermore, not all of the hackers are bad, Anonymous group helps HKSAR citizen to flight for the justice.  Please open the website and watch the youtube video. This video encourage HK citizen that anonymous is support them, even in different country.  http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1607579/anonymous-hacker-group-declares-cyber-war-hong-kong?page=all   Show parent See this post in context 3. Key Issues arising for E-Business -> Idea collection zone -> Re: Idea collection zone by Tsz Yeow - Friday, 27 February 2015, 5:22 PM   Hi guys   I slight agree with the key issue ( Protection, Security- firewall) The reason is I read an article mention that IBMs website has been hacked.  In this case, IBM is ranked 31th in the global top 500 in 2011, one of the biggest company in the world can be easily hacked by someone. So that I think it the key issue can be another idea.  Resource  http://www.computerworld.com/article/2512250/security0/ibm-developerworks-site-hacked-and-defaced.html   Show parent See this post in context 3. Key Issues arising for E-Business -> How Twitter is Revolutionizing Business (Reading 4) by Tsz Yeow - Friday, 27 February 2015, 4:57 PM   HiHi I discover that customer base could be the key issue in e business. According to How Twitter is revolutionizing business(2009), I find out that the key issue is customer base, which is one of the market research method. Customer base is very important in E-business, the reason is businesses can collect all the customers data and understand what customers need. Furthermore, after the company analysis the data, they could consider to launch another new service or products to specific customers, so that the company can expend and innovate. How Twitter is Revolutionizing Business (Reading 4)   See this post in context 3. Summaries of Core Readings -> How Twitter is Revolutionizing Business (Reading 4) by Tsz Yeow - Friday, 13 February 2015, 11:45 PM   Hi This is the summary- Innovation of twitter. Core reading 4 which is “How Twitter is revolutionizing business, by Jason Ankeny, entrepreneur, Dec 2009. This article is about how twitter innovates and how people use twitter to gain products awareness.   The article is related with this module, it is because John Battelle, (founder of The industry Standard and more recently founder and CEO of Federated Media Publishing) said that twitter is a new way to do customer relationship management. In my opinion, this is E-CRM, the reason is twitter is a social networking platform. Companies, people and celebrity users use twitter to share their personal feeling or business updates.   Within the article, there are some recommendations that users should or should not do. 1. Try to understand what other people thinking before speaking, the reason is people would like to hear something interesting from you and they like to share things with people who have the same interests. 2. Do not be boring, listener might get bored with what you write all the time, audience would like to hear something interesting from the companies or users. 3. update daily, this idea can give your audience a reason to follow.   There is a good sentence that I think is very useful to the people who use twitter. “ By listening and responding to your followers you can create value.” Say John Battelle ( who launched ExecTweets, a Twitter tool.) the value is how many followers following the company or a person. Once the company has new products to launch then the company could share the details of the product on twitter. At the same time, audiences are able to look up the products. This idea could attract customers’ attention.   After I read the article, I think twitter is very useful. Users and companies can interact with others and receive feedbacks in order to improve the users’ personal behavior or products improvements for companies.   See this post in context Part B: Workshop 1 Learning Set 3 -> Organisational differentiation between websites that use and do not use E-CRM -> Re: Organisational differentiation between websites that use and do not use E-CRM by Tsz Yeow - Monday, 2 February 2015, 3:42 PM   Hi Satbir   I agree your  attributes, but I think customer profiling and collaborative filtering are the same. Could you tell me what is the difference between these two attributes?    Show parent See this post in context Part B: Workshop 1 Learning Set 3 -> Organisational differentiation between websites that use and do not use E-CRM -> Re: Organisational differentiation between websites that use and do not use E-CRM by Tsz Yeow - Monday, 2 February 2015, 3:35 PM   Relationship improvement Website provides customer service, for example, aftersales service and online support. Online support is available 24/7.   Profiling customers The system can make recommendation for customers, in order to reduce their time. Because the system monitor what customers are doing.   Low cost communication Company can email their loyalty customers seasonal and discounts product, in order to gain attractions.   Mass customization Provide similar products to customers according to what customers need.   Customers segmentation System will collect customers data, what they interested in, how much can they afford to pay, etc. this could help the company find out what products or service should provide to the customers.   Show parent See this post in context Part B: Workshop 1 Learning Set 3 -> Organisational differentiation between websites that use and do not use E-CRM -> Re: Organisational differentiation between websites that use and do not use E-CRM by Tsz Yeow - Friday, 30 January 2015, 6:00 PM   Hi Steve, I found out something which can add into your ideas Improved relationship:   Amazon is one of the largest online retailers in the world, the company can improve their relationship with customers, it is because they provide different support service for customer, for example online chat, phone chat and by email. On the other hand, the company Apple does not provide any online chat support for customers.   This is an interesting thing that we could also discuss. Why does apple company can be success without a common support technique? And the company can retain a lot of customers?   Show parent See this post in context Part A: Workshop 1 Learning Set 3 -> What is e-CRM? -> Re: What is e-CRM? by Tsz Yeow - Friday, 23 January 2015, 5:56 PM   e CRM is also about customer retention, selection, acquisition and extension. Customer retention is to understand what customers need and develop a good strategy for them, furthermore, the business could make special offer to those customers in order to improve customer relationship.  Customer selection is to identify who the target customers are and where can target those audiences.  Customer acquisition is to find out the right strategy and target them Customer extension is to find out what the customers interested in and what do they respond.   Show parent Read More