P1- The role of internet marketing
P1- The role of internet marketing
Terms of Reference:
My name is Maha Abu Nofal and I'm going to prepare a report for the attention of the management team for two contrasting organisations; (dell.com and fiat500.com/eng.). In this report I will be introducing the unit of internet marketing, define what internet marketing is about and the role of internet marketing. Also I will provide a section on which ways internet marketing is used. This report will also include information on how customers can benefit from the online services and the online business itself.
Procedure:
In order to produce the report successfully, I will use relevant websites such as: www.dell.com www.Fiat500.com/eng this will help me to check how well both businesses are operating online and how they promote their online business. Also it will provide me with information such as;
The products detail Prices and the way of how they have promoted the products.
Also I will be using class handouts and business book to provide me with more information regarding the internet marketing.
The Role of Internet Marketing:
The internet marketing introduces the products and services online. Businesses that aim for profit intend to market their products through the internet because it's a beneficial way of increasing the organisation's profit, sells and also increase the number of their customers. Marketing in the business world is about finding out what customers want and expect from the business, therefore its important to provide the best and easiest way to operate the business. Internet is a quick way for the business to connect with its customers. Businesses tend to go online because they can easily promote their business into the global level using inexpensive way. Internet marketing can also help the business achieve its smart objectives, for example increase online sales by 15% by the end of 2009 or increase customer retentions by 20%... The SMART objectives are specific as it gives full information on what the business needed to do in order to achieve its objectives. It's also measurable to see whether the business is achieving the objective successfully or not. Smart objectives can also be Timely, realistic and achievable.
Online business tends to use the marketing mix in order to break the aims and objectives and achieve them successfully.
Products: this includes the types of products both Fiat and Dell provide for their customers, for example dell provides laptops, computers and software, and Tesco provides good products and house equipments.
Prices: this includes the prices of the products sold, or the prices that Fiat and Dell set to sell their products. Both businesses set their price list after checking the prices of other similar businesses to theirs. They can either set the prices lower or higher.
Place: this is where the products are going to be sold in i.e. where the business sells their products. Dell sells its products through the internet and stores such as PC world. Fiat sells its products through the internet as u can customize the products online, and can also be sold through the Fiat showrooms.
Promotion: this is where both businesses are going to attract people's attention to buy the products and make them aware of the products in the market. It includes advertisements and promoting the products such as offering special offers for the customers
However operating online will require three additional marketing mixes: people, processes and physical evidence. The 3Ps been added to the marketing mix as operating online does not require any physical products, i.e. they are selling services or products that we cannot actually touch or feel.
People: this refers to all the customers, employees, employers, suppliers and all the people involved in the business. It's very important for the business to meet the satisfaction of its people because the reputation of the business is in people's hands. This also includes contacting with customers via email. This will help the business to stay in contact with the customers and find out their needs and expectations.
Processes: this includes the amount of time that will take the customers to purchase a product or services. It involves a lot of questions such as: How Long it will take the customers to buy the product or how many clicks does the customer have to perform before ordering a product online. The longer the process, the less effective it is for the customers.
Physical evidence: this includes how the business is promoting the products and how it's displayed on the internet. How the website looks? Colourful? Boring? Also why is it attracting customers? Also it ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Processes: this includes the amount of time that will take the customers to purchase a product or services. It involves a lot of questions such as: How Long it will take the customers to buy the product or how many clicks does the customer have to perform before ordering a product online. The longer the process, the less effective it is for the customers.
Physical evidence: this includes how the business is promoting the products and how it's displayed on the internet. How the website looks? Colourful? Boring? Also why is it attracting customers? Also it will addresses to how simple and easy the website is to use, e.g. providing search engine and add to basket.
Segmentations and targets: this relates to the customers. Customers have different preferences to what they want from the business. For example most people are looking for a dell laptop, however not all customers all looking for the same features and colours. For example we could have girls who are looking for laptops that have pink colours and less software than a businessman. By segmenting the market, customers will be able to find out what all their customers want. Segmentations and targeting online is carrying out a number of different variables such as demographics, economic and psychographics.
Demographics trends, this change from time to time. It includes gender, age, race, disabilities and employment status. This explains for the population change. For example the age population may increase or decrease over time.
Psychographics: this is linked to customers lying on liking and disliking the products provided. In other word, it shows if the customers are satisfied with the products provided or not.
Economics: this is linked to people's earning. Whether they are in, say low income or high income positions.
Usage based: this data notifies the business owners about how the internet is used in different countries all around the world.
Internet marketers use different techniques to make a good use of the online business. Online promotion is one of the main techniques that internet marketers use to take advantage of the internet market. Using different methods for online promotions will work successfully for the internet market. Using a search engine as Google or Yahoo and making sure the user has entered the correct key words will help the customers find relevant searches. For example entering the word Dell will bring up a wide variety of results that people can choose from. Banner advertisements are also a good method for promoting the products. Banner advertisement usually appears on the top of the page when viewing a certain website. Dell can use it to promote the new products that have been entered into the business. This will make customers aware of the new products and offers that dell provides. Fiat can also make customers aware of the new updates by using banner advertisements can advertise their products on certain websites. Affiliation is another way of internet marketing. This is used when businesses are tending to build a strong relationship and associate with other businesses in order to sell their products through different businesses. Dell for example are associating with PC world to sell their products, because they are tending to divide their products and sell them through other businesses, they also sell their products through E-bay or Currys.
Internet marketing opportunities are there for different uses such as:
* Relationship Marketing and mass customisation: this outlines the aim of the business and that is based on building a strong relationship with the customers by making them get involved in the business and share their own ideas and opinions and customise their own products depending on their own preferences. For example Dell.com gives a chance to customers to design their own products and have the features they want on the products they are interested in. customers can choose the colour of the laptop they want, features, function, size of the memory, size of the products and warranty. Fiat provides the same features for their customers; customers can customise their own car online, by choosing the model of the car, colour, and features. Relationship marketing is also based on collecting feedback from the customers regarding their services and products. By collecting feedbacks from the customers, businesses will be able to work towards providing better services and products for the customers, in other words it will help the business to add any new improvements if needed. Looking at dell.com, customers can build their own computer by following few quick steps to order and customise the products that they want. Following the four steps on Dell.com will results in building the laptop the customers are looking for. The customer starts will select the system they need, for example the software, operating system, the LCD options and the memory drive. The second step is linked to the warranty services and support. The third step is about selecting the accessories the customer desire when purchasing their product. They can select the network they are interested in, the external storage and the software. The fourth and last step is to confirm and view the laptop they have built from the three previous steps.
* Reaching wider and more distant markets: by using the internet, businesses can surely reach a wider range of customers from all around the world. This is because any person from any country will have the ability to view the online business and order any products without having to travel. Both Dell and Fiat can reach wider range of audience as they operate online. Customers from all around the world can visit Dell.com and order any product they want. For this reason Dell has expended their business without having to open new stores or employ new staff.
* Development of new products/ services: business can easily check the top seller products through the internet. This is done by checking what the customers are viewing and ordering. There is also the rating check which will enable the business to examine whether the customers are interested in a certain product
or not. Dell can check which products are more preferable by checking the feedback and the rating of the products. If customers are interested in the products, Dell can work towards improving the products and add more features and functions because customers will increase their interests toward the products.
P2- Benefits of internet marketing to customers:
Introducing the online business has offered different benefits to the customers and it allows them to take advantage of these benefits. They can benefit from the prices set for the products because sometimes businesses sell their products cheaper online than selling it at the actual stores. They have a wider range of products to choose from, this is because few organisations do not supply their stores with all the products due to the lack of space. Businesses such as HMV provide a download section where they cannot provide in the stores, this will make it easier for the customers to go online and download a single track rather than buying the entire CD. Another example is Dell.com, customers can download any software they wish to have by clicking on few links rather than visiting the actual store and buy the products. Customers also benefit from jet.com, because they can check flight details and purchase tickets online, as they will receive the ticket via email few seconds after purchasing it. Therefore customers find internet marketing beneficial for different reasons such as saving time because it's quicker for download or purchase products; also they are full details regarding a product or services. Customers can also benefit from the internet marketing in many additional ways, for example:
Opportunities to compare and select suppliers: the internet gives the abilities for customers to compare products and prices between different suppliers. There are websites that compare the best prices available for certain products such as robot shoppers. Customers can also select the provider of the product after finding the best lower price.
Product information: one of the main advantages for using the internet is to provide full information regarding a product or a service. This allows customers to find out all the details needed about the products while businesses do not provide a lot of information at their stores. Customers do not have the chance to touch and smell the products therefore businesses set full details about the products online to provide all the information needed. The details could be a description about the product, the colour of the products, promotion details, i.e. where the products is in the business e.g. in the top 10 best sellers category. It's very important for the business to provide the right information about the products, and it's essential to design the website well to make it easy for the customers to find the right products and details.
Prices: customers can benefit from the internet by saving a lot of money when buying goods or services. They can compare the prices of the products in different businesses. Some businesses offer special sale on their online goods, and they offer free delivery, i.e. they deliver the products to the customers for free. It's also an easy way for the customers to test the new prices for the products online by checking people's bidding on a certain product. For example E-Bay is one of the online businesses that enable customers to sell their products online. By posting the products, the seller can check the highest amount of money the buyer is willing to pay for the product. By providing cheaper products online, the business will be able to increase their online sale, as customers will save a lot of money by buying online rather than visiting the stores. Dynamic pricing are changeable according to the market requirements. It enables online businesses to increase or decrease the prices of their products rapidly.
Instant transaction: cusotmers can reach for the products easily through the online business as they can search for the products through any search engine or the optional choices available at the business's homepage. Therefore it's important to provide a well designed website that is easy to follow and use by consumers. Having a very boring, complicated website will resutls in cusotmers leaving the web as soon it loads up or appears. Products should be organised in different catogorise regarding to its funcations such as a sperate catogory for electronic equipments from food products. Also the best products should be promoted online, i.e. products that have high selling entries should be added to a best selling catogory. This will help the cusotmers to check which products are more acceptable in the market by checking consumer's feedback and ratings. By providing an attractive website for the business, consumers will be convienced that the business is offering good and organised products/services for them. Providing the right details about the products will also make the purchasing process of products faster because customers will not need to ask a member of staff questions regarding the functions of the goods. Ordering goods online will not require the customer alot of effort, as they can purchase the products in few minutes and recieve them few days later. Where on the other hand, visiting a store will require traveling and going around finding the right products and compare them to other products in the business. It's also easier for the cusotmers to order online as they will recieve the products by the delievery services. However businesses have more offers on ordering services online. Consumers can recieve the service they have order in the next minute such as a software or music trackes.
Customers Discussions and Complaints: Online customer services are the most important feature when operating online. By offering a good online customer service businesses will stay up to date will customer's complaints and disscusions regarding the business or products which will help them take quick actions to improve the service. by
operating online customers will have the chance to any question at a 24 hours. Other businesses might provide similar products and services, therefore online businesses are not based on only providing the best products but it's also based on delivering a good customer services for the customers to use. There are two different ways of getting feedback or recieving complaints from the customers. The first way is including digital complaints online. This has been proved that it can help cusotmers to lodge a compliant about any product or service. Customers can benefit from this by adding their complaint to other cusotmer's complaints as it will increase the voices of those who are not happy with the products or the services provided by the business. The second way to make contacts with cusotmers is using online chat. The internet will offer consumers to participate in real time online chat groups. This is very beneficial because customers can recieve a quick replied from the staff and it will help them read other opinions by other cusotmers.
Additonal information to M1- criteria:
Cusotmers can gain alot of benefits of having online businesses. for example; the products available at the physical stores contain detials on what the products is about, how it works and what it does, however having the same product displayed online will give the opporunity to customers to find more about the products, because businesses usually set more details of the products online than on the actual store. This is vecause businesses have the space and the place to write and display the information. its also beneficial when it comes to products comparisons for example; a customer is searching for a certian product, it will only need one click to display the results of similar businesses providing the same product, where in stores cusotmers will need to find the product, go around and compare it with other products in the same business, or it might even take them more time to look for the same product at similar businesses, also they will need to look for a memeber of staff to confirm few information with them. therefore its quicker on the comparison side.
Conclusion: in conclusion i have found out that it's very important for the business to operate online. This is because of the following reasons:
* It could save them alot of money by not recruting staff and rent premisses to display the products
* They can build a better relationship with their cusotmers by offering services that could not be offers at the actual store, such as reciving the services at the same time it has been purchased.
* They can recieve quicker feedback from customers which will help them work towards improving thier products and services.
* By operating online, businesses can reach a wider range of customers. This will help them increase thier sales.
* Cusotmers can customise and build thier own products online, where operating the business in a store will not provide this service for consumers.
* By operating online, customers can compare the prices of the products and it will enable them to select the suppliers of the products.
* Customers can also find full details about the products and if not, they can easily ask the staff through the chat services.