A New Marketing Concept: E-marketing

Marketing is one of the most paramount aspects of business life. It is an attitude of mind and also an approach to business problems that should be adopted by the whole organization. It is actually a business orientation based on “the customer is always right”, which has grown and developed into a management discipline over the years.

As far back as 1775, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, wrote “ consumption is the sole end the purpose of all production and the interests of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. ” in his famous work, The Wealth of Nations. In this statement he has given the essence of what modern marketing is all about. The very word is consumer, as it is the identification and satisfaction of a consumer’s requirements which forms the basis of modern marketing.

There are also other definitions about marketing such as;

Kotler (1980), “marketing is the human activity directed at satisfying human needs and wants through an exchange process.”

Kotler (1991), “marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.”

The Chartered Institute of Marketing, “marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably.”

Mc Carty, “the right product, in the right place. At the right time, at the right price. ”

Palmer, “marketing is essentially about marshalling the resources of an organization so that they meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the organization depends.”

 

All of these definitions are correct, but slightly different. However the basic point is satisfying the customers’ needs and desires by creating products and services.

Therefore, Marketing is a big process where the company tries to satisfy the customers’ requirements and desires. However; it must fit the company’s strategies and all departments must be responsible for it. Basically; marketing depends on selling.

 

Today it is more than selling and all related with price, place, promotions, product, and the other Ps. Although products are perfect, most important factor is to find customers to buy them. Therefore, those points must be occupied in definitions of marketing.

E-marketing:

Today, as the technology changes very rapidly, traditional marketing left its place into online marketing which is being done over the internet. It is also one of the ways of marketing which includes every part of that concept. However the difference is the company’s effort to inform, communicate, promote and sell their products and services over the internet which is called e-marketing (Philip Kotler, 2003)

The internet penetrated popular awareness in the last decade of the twentieth century. In spite of concerns about the privacy and security of information, such as credit card numbers, and fears about reputability of online vendors, consumers have increased the frequency and amount spent on internet-based purchases.

 

E-marketing is also related with e- business and e-commerce. However there are slight differences between them. E-business describes the use of electronic means and platforms to conduct a company’s business. E-commerce is more specific than e-business. It means that in addition to providing information to visitors about the company; its history, policies, products and job opportunities, the company or site offers to transact or facilitate the selling of products and services online. (Eloise Coupe, 2001)

In 2003 the meanings of e-marketing, e-business and e-commerce do not be so much changed such as ; e-marketing means achieving marketing objectives through use of electronic communications technology. Internet Marketing, for its entire mystique, is simply a form of direct response marketing. And the key difference between Internet Marketing and other forms of direct marketing is in the medium. Internet Marketing uses the Web & email. (Mark Sceats, 2006)

As a result the internet offers marketers several benefits that are not available with traditional vehicles for marketing. The internet enables marketers to create flexible information displays, to provide a greater range and depth of information with interactive technology, and to combine the modalities of television, print, and radio into a single presentation of video, text, and sound.

In Porter’s five forces analysis some important points were mentioned which are also related to e-marketing. The idea is based on that a company’s ability to exploit a competitive advantage in its reference market depends not only on the direct competition it faces, but also on the role played by rival forces, such as potential entrants, substitute products, customers and suppliers (Jean – Jacques Lambin, 2000

While doing e-marketing, some potential new entrants can occur. In five forces this point is the most important one. However, there can be possible barriers to entry which are as follows; these are also the advantages can a company has over the other firms which are trying to entry the market by doing e-marketing. (David Jobber, 2001)

·         Multimedia which, through exploitation of the latest technology, customers can use to gain a better understanding of their needs by, for instance, examining 3-D displays of car interiors or selecting the best fabric design for a piece of furniture.

·         Lower prices because it is possible to search for the lowest price available for brands.

·         Lower costs through actions such as replacing retail outlets with an online shopping mall or saving on paper by converting a sales catalogue into an electronic form.

·         Improved distribution because once information-based products such as magazines or software are made available online the company can achieve global distribution without having to invest in obtaining placements in traditional outlets.

·         Relationship building because, via a website, the firm can acquire data on customers’ purchase behavior that can be used to develop higher levels of customer service.

·         Customised promotion, because the firm can develop communications materials on the website designed to meet the needs of small, specific groups of customers.

As a competitive advantage which is the other part of five forces, using of the internet gain some benefits to the companies ( Bocij etc. Al. 2003)

·         Cost reduction; no need for printing and distributing marketing communications material, which is instead published on the web site.

·         Capability; the internet provides new opportunities for new products or services and for exploiting new markets.

·         Control ; the internet and intranet may provide better marketing research through tracking of customer behavior and the way in which staff deliver services.

·         Customer service improvement; provided by interactive queries of databases containing, for example, stock availability or customer service questions.

On the other hand; there are no substitutes available for the internet. Companies cannot use anything else instead of internet. Therefore this is not very important for e marketing. In e-marketing; bargaining power of buyers are more than the bargaining power of suppliers. Because buyers can arrange the conditions, prices and even the distribution ways according to themselves. They can access every company’s websites when they want to buy products or services. Therefore there are lots of choices for them. For instance; in travel industry if someone books his travel before, it becomes cheaper. Customers can also select the type of features most suited to their needs and can decide the price as well. Dell is a good example for that.

E-marketing is very useful while the world is changing and everything is started to be made over internet. When we look at 4Ps (product, price, place, promotion) for e-marketing:

·         People buy goods and services for lots of reasons like appearance, function or status. By internet, it is important if this way of marketing provides an opportunity for product enhancement or not such as customer service.

·         Price is the one which creates sales revenue – all the others are costs. The price of an item is clearly important determinant of the value of sales made. When it is online; online and offline prices are sometimes different such as delivery charges. For example Tesco impose a delivery charge for their home shopping service. However, for some items online prices can be cheaper than selling prices in shops.

·         Place is concerned with various methods of transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for the customers and the technology permits continuous trading, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

·         Promotion is the business of communicating with customers. While doing in internet, promotional mix decisions are the design of a company’s website. Everybody all around the world can visit the websites 24 hours whenever they want.