The impact of internet marketing in retailing - Essay Example

? The impact of internet marketing in retailing Contents Introduction 3 Internet Marketing Strategies 4 Centric Design: 8 First step in internet marketing- know your users 9 User satisfaction 9 Other useful information 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction In the ultra modern age of today, the most vital area of development would be Electronic Commerce through internet marketing. E-com has already been initiated in Europe and the USA. The concept is simple; when we need an article, we should send an E- mail to the nearest retailer or super market or grocery shop for needs. The information would be sent to the grocery shop through Internet and the grocery would be delivered at our doorsteps. The concept of E- com goes even beyond this; various firms would float their needs, projects and tenders through Internet web. The management consultant, vendors, engineering consultants and other business groups would come online to discuss various aspects of the project. All mandatory information relating to costing, engineering details calculations, and prices would also be shared here on- line. The orders would be discussed and then placed on-line. And the executions would also be done through Internet. The various aspects of information transfer would involve management and engineering information then all types of text, graphics, tables and figures. The process of E-com is getting a big momentum in global industry as a whole unit after globalization. Currently, the most serious application of Internet is in the area of internet marketing. E-mail services are very cheap and are used by businessmen and individuals worldwide for information transfer. This can be used for internet marketing. The next major usage is in the area of sale of Electronic Commerce (E-Com) which would generate a business of US $320 billion in Asia by 2014. This service involves the speedy transfer of business and accounting information worldwide. Other services provided by Internet include cinema, web page design, and latest happenings around the world, guides, education, database browsing and entertainment (Alpar et al., 2001) With the liberalization of the economy and with the emerging business and economic opportunities, the all governments have been considering the creation of a national information backbone, which would be used for national information infrastructure and for the promotion of Internet services. We must get out of the agricultural age and must jump on to information technology bandwagon. The possibilities on Internet marketing are endless. For example, it would be possible to have marketing through voice transmission via Internet. All the major national streams—defense, industry, software development and exports, international trading, bilateral agreements, information exchange and information needs for daily usage—would benefit from this latest technological marvel (Cotter, 2002). Today, there is a lack of a good data transmission networks. According to a survey, there is likely to be a demand of 50, 00,000 Internet connections in the metropolises. Internet Marketing Strategies The major strategies used for internet marketing is as follows: Web design First of all we must have a good web site where we should display the articles to sell. Since there are billions of web pages are there in internet, one should design his web site to catch attention from the customers. The customer should be able to know the various features of the product he wants to know. So, one should be able to display the web site well in style to catch good customers (Armistead & Keily, 2003). Free publicity As internet is a plat form where all the buyers and sellers meet, it offers ample scope to market his products and services. So we can use all social marketing tools for the same. We have face book, twitter and a number of web related plat forms are there to interact with the customers and buyers. Sending effective e- mails is the powerful tool as far as the internet marketing is concerned (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). SEO Search Engine Optimization is the most used marketing tool here in this sector. So using particular key words and product description will make fruitful results. Google, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail etc are the famous search engines and feeding with necessary content will lead to link building to our site. The following are the average Search results from the user community recently(Avlonitis& Karayanni, 2000) So from this we will be able to understand the efficacy and efficiency of SEO tools Pay per click Pay per click programme usually putting advertisement in third party web sites. It will fruitfully make results if the catchy advt is given. The advertiser has to pay the site a nominal fee per click. Affiliate programme Affiliate Programme is a business association with third party web sites for mutual long term business. This would make advantages for both the parties. The user will be re directed to the advertiser’s site from the link given. So, lead generation here makes a lot of results for both the parties concerned. Web hoisting Web hosting makes the customer on hold if the services are up to the mark. No customer would go from our influence unless we do provide adequate services. So presenting adequate web hoisting will make solid impacts here. Media, Research & e-mail tools As far as internet marketing is concerned these tools cater ample scope for the success of the same. Paying more attention will make more and more customers, visitors to our site. This lead generation by using this kind of proper tools will provide a good platform for the user and server in a constant contact. As result marketing becomes easier. By 2012, number of Internet users would rise to 500 million. On the other hand, there are 40 million Internet connections worldwide and eighty per cent of the business is being carried out through Internet (Barua et al., 2001). The software exporters would also witness growth trends and they would demand full blown internet services. International trading and E com would also depend upon internet connections.. The prices of micro-computers are falling every day. We must cash on this opportunity and use this new gift of information technology for the benefit of her citizens. We know that information technology is the fastest growing field in the world. We have a major stake in this field and our software experts, hardware firms and information technology specialists have been contributing a great deal towards this ever- growing field. Let us now discuss what lies ahead. We are already aware of cellular phones, pagers, LAN/WAN networks, thrilling games, Internet and finally, high-quality software for applications related to engineering, sciences and business. However, information technology experts are aiming even further. Let us have a look at the future. The first major area of IT in the next few years to come would be Electronic Mail (briefly termed as E-mail). This is a high of speed communication mode of Internet. An E-mail costs very less per page and can be sent to or received from any corner of the world. E-mail would be the medium of communication for the next generation. It would eliminate the need of courier, postage, and telephonic conversations. Data, picture, tables, text, and all types of special information can be transferred via E-mail. All these are significant factors affecting internet marketing. Customer Centric Design: Let’s take Toyota as an example here for internet marketing. Toyota Web Site It is good example of an effective web presence. It provides links to almost all products and services. The site gives detailed information about each vehicle model. One can find a dealer locator page in this site. Further to that, it gives information about the company and the financing services it offers. Moreover, it gives site search/help function in the site itself. So one can very easily identify the location and have the purchase. Meeting the Needs of Web Site Visitors The site very well motivates of web site visitors through various incentives and offers. The site gives a chance o learn about products or services that the company offers. The site gives a chance to products or services that the company offers. The visitor is able to obtain information about warranty, service, or repair policies for products they purchased. The visitor is able to obtain general information about the company or organization. Payment Systems This can be a better option of internet marketing. The payment can be effectively handled by this option. The broad categories of payment systems or one of the particular products within one of the broad categories, they are used for electronic commerce.Either a broad category like payment cards or else a product like MasterCard can be well utilized for payment purposes. Information technology would make its presence felt in consumer electronics as well. In fact, it has already created new concepts at home and in the office (Day, 1997). First step in internet marketing- know your users There should be a provision to know your users and their needs in the site. That is a better option to make fruitful results as far as the business is concerned. The adaptive website - will record and reminds the preferences of the customers. This feature too could be given in almost all sites. The offers should be based on buying history, which must be given in the site. The availability of utilization statistics could be a punch point here in the web site. User satisfaction As the scope of e- commerce is increasing day by day, there should give much care on customer satisfaction. The major criteria needed to ensure prompt customer satisfaction in the web site are, 1. reliability of the site 2. Clicks to completion 3. Acknowledgement of request 4. request tracking online 5. cookies to fill the form Other useful information The major value points to build confidence and genuineness in the e-customer in our web site are, 1. Terms and conditions of the customer 2. Goods sold earlier 3. Up-to-date press coverage. 4. Person in charge of suppliers 5. HR department and contact details 6. Up-to-date financial news 7. Stock price performance of the company 8. Financial results 9. Management and geographical structure of company 10. Statement of previous history. The site should be deep, good in lay out, structure, content and in almost everything. It should be very much user friendly too. As far as the nature of competition in the market is concerned, it should focus on its customer care very much. Marketing is very much prominent here in the site. The web site should provide strategic and competitive advantages for this organization in terms of customer care, channel strategies, customer retention and sales boost up to a great extent. The company seeks to exploit the ample opportunities of internet marketing by means of its website. But there must be a clear cut strategy formulation is very much necessary to exploit the opportunities in full. As an ever growing sector, many more things to be done with the market to make a well defined channel strategic impact. The distribution chain can be well defined and all levels of marketing can be done linked with this site. This could be the immediate impact of the site is concerned (Hasan & Tibbits, 2000). You may lose potential clients, if your web site seems not attractive at the first sight itself; hence make URL short and simple. If your site takes only a little time to download proper data, it can give a better impression. No user will wait more for data downloading. In fact all pages should be limited to 40k-60k.The pages should be aptly designed. The home page as well as other s should be neatly organized for better reading. In fact the readability factor is very significant to all ages alike. The color pattern, font etc. should be eye friendly. In no way it should be a hindrance to the reader. It is not desirable to ask the customers to download an application tool before entering a site. One on one display is something very attractive for the viewer. The user will be able to view home pages and others alike. It is time savvy too. Conclusion The process of E-com through internet marketing is getting a big momentum in global industry as a whole unit after globalization. Currently, the most serious application of Internet is in the area of internet marketing. E-mail services are very cheap and are used by businessmen and individuals worldwide for information transfer. This can be used for internet marketing. If the internet marketing provides ample opportunities for the interaction, it can be a boom within a short span of time. The site should be able to provide more and more in depth knowledge to the customer since all customers are in exploring nature. The thing is that we should be able to provide him as much as products and services the customer wants to get from the site. Moreover, we have to ensure that the customer should visit our site further more. So customer satisfaction is the basis of internet marketing as well. References Alpar, P., Porembski, M. & Pickerodt, S. (2001). Measuring the Efficiency of Web Site Traffic Generation. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 6(1), pp53-74. Armistead, C & Keily, J. (2003). 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