Marketing Strategy In E-Commerce
Marketing Strategy and E-Commerce Introduction 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 cliché 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.
