This article deals with the
adoption factors and the associated risks with ecommerce and online marketing.
The purpose of this article is to investigate the different factors necessary
to build an effective ecommerce presence and the risks associated with building
an ecommerce channel. To quantify the results the research paper considers six
factors.
- · Ecommerce Adaptation factor
- · Ecommerce Adaptation Risk
- · Ecommerce and online marketing assessment
- · Ecommerce operational practices
- · Online marketing innovation
- · Ecommerce influence on online marketing
These factors are measured using
hypothesis testing approach using a survey and tested among internal (owners
/partners/managers) and external (marketing experts/consultants /agencies)
groups. Although the results varied between these groups there was general
consensus on the results.
There is a positive correlation
between risk factors and the adaptation and attitude towards online marketing
and that there is a positive correlation between the attitude towards commerce
and online marketing and the relationship between them.
Executives need to re-define
their overall business strategy to include ecommerce and online marketing. Only
by integrating overall business strategy, online ecommerce strategy and online
marketing efforts a company can realize the true power of ecommerce. It is also
important to understand that ecommerce has a revolutionary characteristics
(dramatic transformation) so it is necessary for a business to adapt to these
changes. In order to establish a successful ecommerce channel one must provide
customers access to complete and qualitative information, provide product
return and refund programs, retain customers through loyalty programs, provide
opportunities to customers to customize products and come up with new and
innovative ways to promote products. A company must consider creating and
building online public relations and consider search engine optimization (SEO)
of their company and be able to quickly react to new opportunities.
Based on this article, although
internal parties (managers, partners, owners) think that their ecommerce
strategy is cohesive with their overall marketing strategy this is not the
case. There seems to be a lack of budget and resources assigned to ecommerce
considering the impact it has on ROI. Although the sample used in this study
consisted of a non probabilistic sample consisting of specific industries and
most qualified respondents there seemed to be a lack of professionals hired
specifically for ecommerce. Online shops that had nationwide coverage only had
an average of less than 10 employees. This shows the gap between theory and
practice. Companies should understand that merely creating a web presence in
not enough, the goal should be to create a web business model where there is
interaction among customers, partners, buyers, technical support, and suppliers.
The most effective website should be able to induce a sense of community.
Ecommerce has changed the rules
of the game. It is becoming difficult to differentiate products based on price.
Consumers can easily compare prices online. So competitive advantage based in
terms of price differentiation is becoming a thing of the past. Thus, in
today’s market it is quite common to see innovative approaches of creating
differentiation using social media such as twitter and Facebook. Ecommerce
provides many opportunities which include growing into newer markets, reducing
costs, overcoming geographical boundaries, providing 24-7 service, building and
retaining customer information and building CRM systems but on the contrary it
also exposes a company to many threats including security and
confidentiality issues and the loss of
cost based advantage, international pricing difficulties, international
commercial laws, change in communication infrastructures and the high cost of
initiating an ecommerce channel that can handle these issues.
Ciprian, Adam. "Influence of
adoption factors and risks on ecommerce and online marketing." Proceedings
of International conference marketing-from Information to decesion 4
(2011): 8 Jul. 2012 <http://libproxy.uhcl.edu:2057/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6a9e80d7-9841-4a9e-b72a-50a56c372364%40sessionmgr11&vid=8&hid=12>.ource:
E-commerce is a must in today business world. Allowing customers to buy your products online, at any hour of the day, or any time around the globe is a major business strategy. E-commerce does present a few problems for firms though. Customers can very easily compare prices and purchase that item based on prices. So if your product is not the cheapest, then you will lose some business. That’s why firms, who engage in E-commerce, must be able to differentiate themselves from competitors.
ReplyDeleteFirms must include E-commerce and online marketing into the development of their strategy. As the world continues to move to an online society, firms need to be able to anticipate customer demands and differentiate their product from others, or have the lowest price.
I do agree that ecommerce is important and a powerful tool for a company to use. Many people prefer to shop or research products from home or prefer to hit the pavement with the knowledge of the products they are going to purchase. I for one do a lot of research and online shopping because I have a busy schedule and don't always have time to running around shopping. Many companies that don't offer this option is missing out on a lot.
ReplyDeleteCompanies have to be sure their website is user friendly and very descriptive or having the website could be a waste of time. I find that baffling that companies are not dedicating enough money and staffing for this section of their company. Ecommerce still requires good strong customer service and attention that a free-standing company does, if not more so because when shopping online it takes a bit more work to make the product enticing to the consumer. There has to be enough people available to product quick an friendly customer service.
I agree that part of the budget should go towards e-marketing instead of just incorporating it into the entire marketing budget. Since e-marketing exist in a different channel, it should have its own marketing budget for that channel. In my opinion, the amount of monetary allocation should be based on the percentage of market sales expected in the ecommerce channel compared to all other channels. This will hopefully leave the e-markeing team with an appropriate amount of cash to make the marketing expenditures needed to increase the revenue in that channel.
ReplyDeleteThe society is moving towards online shopping because of its various advantages such as time saving, convenience of ordering the product anytime, home delivery, availability of information for comparing the product on different grounds, and the like. I strongly agree that the companies should allocate separate budget to e-marketing because it is a different business strategy, entirely different from the traditional business strategy.
ReplyDeleteThough, it adds to the costs of business to a great extent due to many factors such as cost of re-defining the company’s business\marketing strategy, initiation cost of website, differentiation costs, additional promotional activities, and so on. The companies need to take steps to reduce their costs and increase their business by attaining the long time loyalty of the customers. The companies needs to make policies at the various organizational levels regarding the interaction between customers and the different levels in the organization; making the product differentiation not only in terms of price but also in terms of simple policies and procedure regarding the ordering of the product, product return and money refund, easy availability of executives on phone for more information about the company and its product whenever need arises, confirmed delivery of the product on scheduled time, customization of the product and its costs, and the like.