The Tide of Globalization - Essay Example

Introduction The tide of globalization has reduced the world to a village market. The invention of the internet has been one of the factors that have fuelled the wave of globalization. Most companies have also moved fast to embrace the widespread use of the internet. In the recent past, the internet has become one of the leading medium of conducting business transactions. This has promoted the emergence of e-commerce and e-business. This is the face of business in the 21st century which has turned out to be more personalized and customer oriented than the old marketing. E-commerce promotes more personal contact between the seller and the buyer. E-marketing is a part of e-commerce which involves electronic medium which his sued to achieve marketing objectives. It is set of a strategic level which uses traditional marketing and businesses strategies. As was highlighted earlier, many companies have responded to the new marketing styles. This paper will look in details how Hilton.com and rarebits.co.uk have responded to the concept of e-commerce and which approaches it is using to achieve this. (Hashim, Murphy, & Law, 2007, pp 219-230) Hilton.com Nowadays, e-commerce has been developing quickly in most of the developed countries. It is due to this technology that most of the companies have been in a position to adapt it due to its benefits. E-commerce is said to develop quickly and sales volume is said to double every nine months. As a result, Hilton.com uses this technology to double its sales every nine months. (Hashim, Murphy, & Law, 2007, pp 219-230) Hilton.com is arguably one of the leading online stores in the world. It is based in the US and has grown in the recent past to become the leading online book store. It conducts its business online which may be one of the factors that have fuelled its growth with the increased use of the internet. The company has invested heavily on new technology which is aimed at ensuring that it taps the current technology in provision of its services and other and other products online. But it seems to have taken the strategy half-heartedly due to the market response and cost benefit analysis that it has taken. Hilton.com international operates more than 400 hotels across so many countries including Asia, and Europe. It also includes 260 Hilton branded hotels and also additional 140 scandic properties. It was during the year 2002 when Hilton international outlined an aggressive e-commerce strategy and this was to build a series of websites in order to serve its largest markets which included the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany among other developed countries. In addition to this website, it also had the initiative of local website which would also be developed for the Hilton international scandic brand hotels at the Finland and Scandinavian countries respectively. (Hashim, Murphy, & Law, 2007, pp 219-230) Hilton.com had the initiative of implementing translations and interwoven.com solutions. As a result, this company was in a position to implement eight new localized websites and all these websites were supposed to represent the company’s hotel properties across the three continents which also included the seven languages which were used by these companies. The management of the website as well as the content of the online application reservation is through integrated workflows which is said to be provided by the interwoven and translational.com solutions. It is through this initiative that the company is in a position to expand its growth since most of its customers are in a position to access all these services which are provided by Hilton international. The contributors to the website help the company to grow through their corporate support in messaging and branding. Hilton international assists the localized markets through deployments which are much more rapidly for increased competitive advantage. (Hashim, Murphy, & Law, 2007, pp 219-230) Electronic commerce is still continuing to become a pervasive issue for so many companies like Hilton.com. It is due to this technology that Hilton.com has been in a position to grow. Hilton international uses the technology of electronic customer relations marketing to ensure that its services have been accessed by so many people. The company is still doing research on whether their use of the internet used to verify whether customer relationship marketing was being implemented within its online operations or whether its internet presence revolve around the various basic functions of the company of providing hotel reservations and the provision of information. The hotel groups are also aware of the potential of web technologies and the various strategies which are used to carry out this business. Fundamentaly; e-CRM is used by Hilton in order to attract more potential customers. It uses this technology in order to keep and attract economically valuable customers and also to eliminate the economically invaluable customers. It is through this that the company will be in a position to establish a strong relationship with its potential customers hence leading to an increased growth. Today, we have moved from the era of transaction based economy in to a relationship based economy and it is through the use of eCRM initiative which helps this company to have this relationship with its customers. It is through the continuing importance of managing customer relationships in ecommerce which is said to be the stimulus for this company. (Shanshan, Buhalis, & Law, 2007, Pp 267-278) E-CRM technology has been applied by Hilton international so that it can sell more efficiently. It uses this technology in exploding internet distribution and its marketing activities. This business strategy is supported by the web technologies which allow the hoteliers to engage more customers in a more personalized, strong and mutually beneficial interactive relationships and also sell more efficiently. The hotel website has also become the first point of contact for the majority of the hotel customers. 75% of many Americans usually research travel online and also book travel online through the website to come to this hotel. (Shanshan, Buhalis, & Law, 2007, Pp 267-278) Hilton international has also moved an inch higher and ensured that it installs the new technology in the market. In 2006, the company jumped to a venture and spent about $201 million on a range of new technologies in order to keep its services better. In this venture it hoped to create an online money transfer in which it would compete with existing hotel companies. This is not the only venture that the company has taken in the recent past to ensure that it keeps up with the requirements of e-commerce process. These are some of the steps that the company has taken to ensure that it offers a wider range of services and diversified services to its customers. Apparently Hilton international has done much to sell its services online in a digital form. It was hoped that the company would make these services available after acquiring Mobipocket which sells services online in digital form. Customers just get these services from the internet. Hilton international has cited the economies of scale as the leading factor why the company has not been able to offer the same kind of services as offered by its own subsidiary companies. (Shanshan, Buhalis, & Law, 2007, Pp 267-278) In summary the e-commerce process for the company is as follows; a. Its customer oriented in that it is personalized and user friendly as possible. b. The company Makes use of the available technology in the market with a focus on compatibility of their services with the future technology. c. Ensures all transactions are carried out in the website of the company which is customized such that it can be used by all. The website has all information that the customer needs and be easy to browse through. d. The strategy is combative with the legal, political and market environment and able to position itself according to the environment. e. The e-marketing strategy is designed to allow the customer to give their feedback to ensure that the future services are offered according to their proposition. (Shanshan, Buhalis, & Law, 2007, Pp 267-278) Rarebits.co.uk Rarebits hotels are said to be recognized nationally and also internationally as the best in Wales. Rarebits is also a collection of handpicked places to stay with its mission of providing high standard services, best comforts to think of, good and tasty food and also the kind of personal services that many big and corporate hotels are not in a position to provide. As a result, Rarebits uses the new technology to market its products and services. It is by the use of e-commerce that this company has been in a position to market its services hence leading to its diversified growth. Most of the consumers especially the consumers in U.K prefer purchasing their products and services online because it is a cheap method of purchasing. It is through e-commerce that most consumers can spent little or no time in purchasing since most of the services are online. As a result, Rarebit.co.uk uses this technology due to the advantages which are associated with it. The marketing strategies in this case help the company to effectively utilize its resources so that it can have a competitive advantage. It also uses less factors of production since with e-marketing you find that most of the activities are done by the use of internet hence making the company to have competitive advantage. The marketing process for this company integrates merchant model where all transactions are made over the internet which ensures all deals are completed over the internet. The process model also integrates the advertising model like the Portal Model which allows the consumers to access more information that they need about the product or even services in one search engine. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) The process takes into consideration the above requirement of a proper marketing strategy. It is led by customer satisfaction. The strength of the marketing model definitely relay on the customer oriented. This means it has to come up with strategies to adapt to the chain political and legal environment, the economic situation of the people, the social demand, the advance in technology and the environment demands. This can be achieved by ensuring that the company puts in plan a flexible marketing plan which can easily respond to the changing environment. Rarebits.co.uk embraces e-commerce models which take into consideration more than 4Ps of market. This helps to ensure that it reaches more customers and in return produces more satisfying results. This technology utilizes some 7Cs which are all fundamental in internet marketing. This means that the marketing strategy is centred on consumer experiences. This means that the company adopts marketing approach that is from consumer’s point of view. This will also ensure that the strategy will pay attention to all the aspects of brand interaction with the consumer in terms of the design, services in the market, sales and fulfilment process. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) However, the model ensures that the whole cycle takes place instantaneously online, from advertising to delivering of the services. First this will increase the sale of the company in many ways even without attributing the increasing to the number of impulse buying that will be triggered by the procedure. The procedure is simple as possible which means the search tools should be standardized. The process promotes interactiveness of the company with the buyer in a way that they can enquire price and if possible negotiate for the price. Departing from the Porters 4Ps of brick and mortar marketing, the 7 Cs encompass the marketing strategies say the differentiation strategy whereby the company sues the e-commerce to differentiate itself from the other companies hence leading to competitive advantage. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) Rarebits.co.uk is well established in the market. This means that it has wide range of customer having revolution internet shopping earlier than other companies. The point is that embracing the e-marketing technology will move to enhance the position of the company in the market more than it will diminish its sales prospects. However there is need for the company to concentrate more on investing in modern technology. This will ensure that it is well positioned to compete effectively with other players in the industry. Therefore as has been the bulk with other previous marketing strategies, e-marketing pegs it success on marketing and distribution. The two factors have been leading the development of e-marketing but at the same time they have posed a challenge to many companies which have succeeded in entering the global market. Although there is easy access to a wide range of consumers in terms of communication and advertisement, the bulk lies with the distribution channel. Rarebits.co.uk has resulted to physical distribution due to the difficulties that can be experienced from the distribution. A breakthrough in service provision is considered as cornerstone to the development of e-marketing process. Let us look closely on the way in which we can design an e-marketing model for Rarebits.co.uk to help launch its new campaign. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) An efficient e-marketing model does not only involve communication with the buyers but it takes into consideration other aspects like the provision of services, and transformation of the organization and its cooperation to an e-business organization in all aspects. In the early days of its application, many organizations came up with theories of disintermediation as the new drives to the new economy and which were later adopted in the distribution. But there have been weakness which has been identified in these theories in that they don’t take into account the need to new industries whose function are to act as information index or port. This leads to a brake up in the process which leads to inefficient marketing. This has called for repositioning in the provision of services in the business. This means that any new e-marketing process must go beyond the traditional 4Ps of marketing and give distribution an upper hand in the process. For rarebits.co.uk, the subject of change is in the marketing. The company has done extremely well in communication and has been able to take an inch in the market. The company must come up with clearly defined strategies to replace the current physical delivery of its services. This means that the plan should take in factors which will reduce physical intermediaries in the process and replace them with electronic intermediaries. E-marketing should adopt distribution mechanism based on communication channel which should facilitate distribution and delineate from the use of direct zero-level or one-level distribution channel. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) Way forward for the two websites The marketing process must ensure that the current website is utilized maximally. There are a number of ways the two companies can use optimizing the use of the current website. First the navigation tools should be standardized to ensure that many people can understand it. This will make it easy to use. Second it has to enhance the homepage layout to ensure that it provides as much information as the customer needs. Third website browsers must be enhancing to ensure the customers get the services that they need within the least time possible. In the website there must be enough services for the customer to purchase all what they have to understand about the products that the company is offering. In this regard it should ensure that there is maximum search engine optimations. This will ensure that customers can access as much information as they need about a product using one search engine. Lastly the issue of costing the product/service in the site and the presence of outdated contents should also be addressed. These will ensure that the company’s website remains relevant to the consumers. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) Similarities In achieving this e-commerce, the two companies faced similar challenges. This is because the two companies faced the challenges of considering multiple cultures, languages, expectations and also consumer behaviour. As a result, you find that when implementing the e-commerce strategies, it is a hard initiative due to the many challenges which are faced by the company. Another similarity between the two websites is that they both use the e-marketing strategies to ensure that its activities have been done effectively. In this case, the two websites uses the web to advertise its services. It is through the internet that the two websites are in a position to get access of their potential customers since the customers are in a position to purchase these products online. As a result, the two companies have been in a position to expand in growth since it get its services advertised to so many people hence getting many customers. The two websites uses the internet to establish a strong relationship with its customers. It is by the use of e-CRM that the two websites are in a position to create a potential relationship with its customers. It’s through this web that the company can know its potential customers, establish a strong relationship with them and also ignore the non economical clients. Hence, the two websites have been in a position to achieve their goals. (Kim, & Fesenmaier, 2007, pp 255-266) Another similarity with the two websites is that both websites are facing a stiff competition from the other companies. Due to globalization, it has placed so many companies to stiff competition hence leading to reduced growth. These hotel companies are facing stiff competition from other companies say the jolyons.co.uk and thebigsleephotel.com. Since all these are hotel companies, they have all adapted the e-commerce strategy due to globalization hence making the market to be more competitive. As a result, these companies are supposed to differentiate themselves from the rest of the companies by adapting e-commerce strategies which will make them different from the other. Differentiation strategy is one of the marketing strategies which are used by many companies to ensure that they have differentiated from the other hence leading to competitive advantage. The two companies then have to redefine their e-commerce strategies to ensure that they are in position to compete with the other companies. As a result, the companies will be in a position to grow. (Peppers, & Rogers, 2000) Differences One of the major differences between the two companies is that Hilton websites has enhanced its services both nationally and also internationally. Its services are also found in the developing countries unlike with the rarebits.co.uk whereby it only targets the industrialized countries. As a result, you find that Hilton.com is in a position to get more potential customers unlike the rarebits.co.uk hence leading to its massive growth. Another difference between the two websites is that Hilton international had the initiative of implementing translations and interwoven.com solutions. As a result, this company was in a position to have eight new localized websites and all these websites were supposed to represent the company’s hotel properties across the three continents which also included the seven languages which were used by these companies. It is through the interwoven and translations solutions that this company has been in a position to make use of e-commerce effectively. Since one of the requirements with e-commerce is to develop a language and culture to be used by the website, you find that Hilton.com has been in a position to realize this as when compared to rarebits.co.uk. (Peppers, & Rogers, 2000) Conclusion It is clear that if the companies have to enter the e-commerce market, it must design a market approach plan that ensures that it takes into consideration the limitation that are limiting its current practicability. It has to become more customers oriented and responsive to the environment in terms of legal requirements and technology. 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