E-Commerce Marketing

With the rapidly advancing technologies that are occurring in modern business,
organisations are required to be ready, and able to adapt within their
ever-changing environment. It is true across all diverse industries that in
order to stay competitive, organisations must be able to utilise the various
tools that technology has to offer. Technological factors have been of growing
importance, particularly in recent years. A major factor involved in these
technology issues is the use of the Internet as a major issue to modern
organisations. The Internet has been rapidly growing since it’s inception and is
now commonly used in all sectors of societies, in all corners of the globe. The
Internet has quickly become one of the most valuable assets in modern
technology, and as such, is developing as an integral part of modern commerce.

As with past technologies, the Internet will have future technological advances
develop from its own growth. The task the organisations of in the new century?
Realise future opportunities and threats, and base a strategy accordingly.

“Is it clich? to say that ‘the Internet changes everything’: the challenge
now is to say what, how and how quickly”. (When Companies Connect, 1999,
p.19) The Internet has lead to the birth and evolution of electronic commerce or
E-commerce. E-commerce has now become a key component of many organisations in
the daily running of their business. Simply defined, “electronic commerce
is a system of online shopping and information retrieval accessed through
networks of personal computers”. (Reedy, J. Schullo, S. Zimmerman, K. 2000,
pg. 29) E-commerce challenges traditional organisational practices, and opens
ups a vast array of issues that the organisations must address. By focusing on
the varying levels of an organisation, it soon become apparent the effects that
E-commerce can have. An understanding of the implication E-commerce has on such
organisational divisions can help businesses gain understanding hence plan for
it’s inevitable continuing evolution. In terms of marketing, the modern
organisation must be critically aware of the development of E-commerce, and the
implications that it entails. “Marketers develop their own recipe of
promotional tactics to fit the product lines or industries in which they
compete. Now electronic communications tools are and will continue to be an
important ingredient in the promotional mix” (Reedy, J. Schullo, S.

Zimmerman, K. 2000, pg. 29) In assessing the implications of E-commerce in terms
of marketing, it is important to understand its impact in respect to marketing
strategy formulation. As the Internet, and in turn E-commerce has developed, and
continues to evolve and grow, it is vital that any organisation, in any
particular industry, must base it’s strategic planning around such a rapidly
growing medium. The growth of the Internet is an environmental influence that
must be embraced and understood so to successfully plan for future marketing
implementation. In order to successful realise the impact that E-commerce has in
terms of marketing, it is important to break the area of interest into some key
areas. As most of the issues that arise in terms of E-commerce represent
organisations entering the environment, it seems natural to base discussion
around this. Therefore, the bulk of the literature review relates existing
organisations entering into the E-commerce market environment. In successfully
identifying the relationship between E-commerce and strategy, the issues are
categorised as follows: 1. Strategic analysis ? Understanding the environment
2. Identifying the strategic options/SWOT analysis ? Strategic
Advantages/Disadvantages ? Advertising ? Electronic cost
cutting/publishing/Process 3. Corporate level, Business level, d Marketing level
4. Retailing in E-commerce ? Implementation Issues ? Financial ? Performance
monitoring 5. Conclusion ? Based on current knowledge state To gain a clearer
understanding of the implication of E-Commerce in the formulation of marketing
strategy, it is imperative to gain a clear understanding of the environment and
it’s relevant effects. This helps in understanding the rationale in a developing
marketing strategy, particularly the influences of E-Commerce on its make-up.

The next crucial element is to gain an understanding of E-commerce itself, as
well as the current and possible future developments. In understanding
E-commerce’s impact on strategic foundations, an organisation’s strategies can
be more clearly focused. Once the organisation and E-commerce’s respective
environments are clear it is then possible to understand E-commerce’s
implications in regards to fundamental marketing strategies. By focusing on
tools such as the competitive strategy framework we can gain a better
understanding of strategy formulation. By now it is easy to link E-commerce
ideals directly into the strategic planning sequence, and hence understand its
impact to the marketer. (Brown, 1997) By reviewing these traditional marketing
theories and practices, it’s possible to see where, if at all E-commerce