According to internet portal Statistic Brain1, 53% of European population is using Internet on the everyday basis, spending an average of 66 hours per month online. It is essential, as with the rapid popularization of the Internet many day-to-day operations got a lot simplified. For example - the search and comparison of products, ticket purchase, hotel booking, etc.
Together with the rapid development and usage of e-commerce, online marketing gives an opportunity to better differentiate business and easily find target customers. In addition, availability of behavioral patterns analysis systems allows conduction of the fairly accurate and cheap statistical studies.
As a matter of fact, online business is constantly evolving and improving, as well as online marketing. The best illustration to the fact is the growing amount of companies creating online presence and mass media duplicating the paper content electronically. Therefore, with a growing competition online, website becomes critical, as a main tool of promotion. It has already became a lot more than just a brochure online – at least, it is expected to be interactive, provide up-to-date information and a hub of activities extendable to social networks. And, as has been discussed in the previous chapter, it should not just sell, it should correspond to customer’s needs and provide value and satisfaction. It brings us to the term Internet or online marketing:
“E-marketing is the term used for marketing activities, such as promotion or customer relationship management, that is conducted over the Internet” (G. Hooley, 2004 p. 491)
What to understand under online marketing activities? Modern technologies, for example, provide a wide range of functionality and allow following the visitor from the first time he or she sees the product, to the cart. It enables behavioral tracking and analysis, sensitive information collecting, and even providing personalized service when the customer returns to the website. Real-time manageable data allows usage of dynamic visual and text content, while being worldwide accessible 24/7.
Conclusion
The modern world is changing under the significant impact of technology and commerce needs to follow the tendencies. Introduction of the computers has become a milestone of human history, bringing technologies and communities together through globalization. It was followed by the rapid development of Internet commerce due to the sufficient reduction of information cost. Nowadays, Internet is considered to be more a commodity service and already has become a part of modern economics. Marketing does not stay behind the technological progress evolving with it, and together with Interned gives an additional opportunity to differentiate businesses and find new customers on the global online market.
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