Individualizing Market Attention
- In b2c markets in particular, because a web visit is always an individual choice, a one-to-one relationship’ is possible. Web technology means online businesses can personalize their response to suit an individual.
Amazon is the best-known online business personalization. The screen shot page 14 shows a personalized Amazon paged. Based on information about previous visits to the website. The next page makes individual recommendations, promoting other products that the individual customer may be interested in.
Increasing information and product impact
There are obvious limitations in offering physical product for sale online. Depending on the product customers may prefer to examine the look and feel of products, the web allows businesses to compensate for this by extending products with added information and impact.
Extended online products are done by:
∙ Extensive product endorsements from previous customers.
∙ List of customers.
∙ Warranties.
∙ Money back offer.
∙ Additional customers back up services.
∙ Cross-selling of related or complementary products
∙ Offering expert advice.
Website usually offer detailed product information- including images and customer interaction- allowing customers to compare features, prices and costs.
Reaching Wider Markets:
A glance at the table showing European internet usage is enough to show that by using the internet a business can instantly achieve a far wider and more distant geographic reach than by using other means of marketing.
Mix between online and offline activities:
Much of the continued evolution of e-commerce has built on existing businesses that have established their reputations and customer bases in the physical world. Long- established names like Next, B&Q, Topshop and Tesco now combine online and offline sales channels. These are known as “Clicks and Mortar” businesses, as they have both physical buildings (bricks and mortar) and an internet presence (clicks of the mouse). Many of these businesses also combine their offline and online promotional activities.
Customer Benefits
The increasing availability of so many products and services on the internet have produced many opportunities and benefits for the customer.
Comparing and selecting providers
The internet allows a great deal of price transparency for consumers. This gives them an advantage because they can compare prices easily between many potential suppliers. Prices are stored digitally in databases, and software (robot shoppers, shopping bots, or price search engines) is used to search for the best prices available on the web. (see www.kelkoo.com). Some sites such as the BBC’s internet shopping service at the www.beeb.com provide instant price comparisons, and at www.letsbuyit.com customers can join together in order to lower prices. This has the effect of giving the customers much greater bargaining powers.
Instead of prices being set by businesses and passively received by the market, the internet is capable of turning this situation upside down. Priceline.co.uk allows customers to set their own prices, and at several online auction sites such as eBay, consumers are able to place bids for consumer product after viewing the minimum (reserve) price acceptable to the seller.
