Why Discounting is Ruining the Retail Industry?
Discounting merchandise to increase sales has always been an important strategy used by the retail sector. However, in the past few years, the number of times that this strategy has been used has increased manifold. This is the reason why the strategy is no longer as effective as it once was. The entire premise of […]
Desk Research – Methodology and Techniques
As depicted by name Desk Research is the research technique which is mainly acquired by sitting at a desk. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges […]
Introduction to Media – A Brief History
We often hear the term fourth estate being applied to the media. The term refers to the four pillars of democracy and the media is the fourth pillar and an important one at that. Ever since many countries adopted democratic norms of governance, a vibrant and a free media were thought to be the necessary […]
Managing Pricing Negotiations in Consultative Selling
Consultative selling has become the norm of the day in almost all industries. Customers are having a field day. Today s customers are well informed, demanding and difficult to please. Their buying criteria have changed along with their perceptions of value. Therefore keeping in line with the customer demands calls for reaching out to the […]
Designing and Managing Services
The art of brand building is through creating strong brand image and brand awareness with customer. However, the brand building process continues even after the product is sold to the customer. Company can come out to be a winner by showcasing differentiation in services at the point of sell and after sell customer service. Furthermore, […]
We are living in the Information Age. Internet has changed our lives and these changes are irreversible. Slowly every home is being taken over by Internet. People have switched over to paying all their bills online, banking online and even shopping online. Internet is being used by people for various purposes. The more people get on to internet and search for information, the more opportunities begin to develop for e commerce.
Over the years internet has become the highway for online business transactions. From Banks offering online banking to online bookings with airlines, hotels and travel to insurance sectors, all business to customer types of business have hitched on to the highway for accessing millions of customers through the internet. These are not the only businesses that are transacting via e commerce. Most of the large business houses have gone the E Commerce way to do online procurement as well as manage sales orders and Customer management. ERP systems have managed to integrate and bring online, all modules of business operations on web mode. Millions of dollars are being spent by business organisations in upgrading their IT infrastructure, Application platforms as well as re engineering their business processes to be able to get on to the highway of using E Commerce platform for their business operations.
There is no choice for businesses but to get on to the E Commerce way. At various levels from the simple mom and pop shop to the global corporations, all businesses have got to adapt to E Commerce for this is the way the future is going to be.
E commerce brings its own unique advantages and contribution to the businesses. First and foremost internet being a world wide web, opens up the world as a market to the businesses. Businesses can reach out to millions of customers in an instant which is not possible in any conventional mode of marketing. One of the most significant advantages that E Commerce offers is the cost. The cost of marketing online across the globe is miniscule when compared to the actual cost of marketing in the conventional ways. The cost per transaction works out to be very cheap. More over E Commerce promotes paperless offices and processes thus contributing to savings in terms of resources too. These and many more advantages make obvious business sense for Companies to market their products and services online.
In the last few years the speed of internet as well as the applications, software and hardware supporting E Commerce have developed and integrated to make E Commerce a real time business process. Online financial transaction capability has given a significant push to E Commerce. E commerce has not only caught the imagination of B to B and B to C businesses but today we have online trading which has perhaps changed the way stock markets, financial markets and commodity exchanges across the world function.
Today’s customers are net savvy and know what they want. In essence today’s customers are not willing to wait. No matter how good the product may be, speed is the essence here. From online shopping to online dating and searching for life partners, all of the individual’s needs are being addressed by businesses via the web.
Looking at E Commerce from a marketing perspective brings the product or the service closer to the customer. It enables the customer to view, read, download and experience the product. The other significant difference from conventional marketing is that the online marketing enables the marketing company to customise its sales pitch or product offering to the customer. As against the conventional modes which target consumers and markets at large, with internet marketing and E Commerce it is possible to target every single individual making it more personalised and customised offer. E Commerce is just catching up. How E Commerce will develop and grow and its future impact on the way business is carried on cannot be imagined and every business small or big has no choice but to jump on to the E Commerce bandwagon.
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Mapping Customer Behaviour and Pattern is the starting point of E Marketing
February 12, 2025
