The 4s web-marketing mix model

This paper reviews the criticism on the 4Ps Marketing Mix framework, the most popular tool of traditional marketing management, and categorizes the main objections of using the model as the foundation of physical marketing. It argues that applying the traditional approach, based on the 4Ps paradigm, is also a poor choice in the case of virtual marketing and identifies two main limitations of the framework in online environments: the drastically diminished role of the Ps and the lack of any strategic elements in the model. Next to identifying the critical factors of the Web marketing, the paper argues that the basis for successful E-Commerce is the full integration of the virtual activities into the company’s physical strategy, marketing plan and organisational processes. The four S elements of the Web-Marketing Mix framework present a sound and functional conceptual basis for designing, developing and commercialising Business-to-Consumer online projects. The model was originally developed for educational purposes and has been tested and refined by means of field projects; two of them are presented as case studies in the paper.\ud \u

From physical marketing to web marketing

Reviews the criticism of the 4P marketing mix framework as the basis of traditional and virtual marketing planning. Argues that the customary marketing management approach, based on the popular marketing mix 4Ps paradigm, is inadequate in the case of virtual marketing. Identifies two main limitations of the marketing mix when applied in online environments namely the role of the Ps in a virtual commercial setting and the lack of any strategic elements in the model. Identifies the critical factors of the Web marketing and argues that the basis for successful e-commerce is the full integration of virtual activities into the company's physical strategy, marketing plan and organisational processes. The 4S elements of the Web marketing mix framework offer the basis for developing and commercialising business to consumer online projects. The model was originally developed for educational purposes and has been tested and refined by means of three case studies

Alter ego, state of the art on user profiling: an overview of the most relevant organisational and behavioural aspects regarding User Profiling.

This report gives an overview of the most relevant organisational and\ud behavioural aspects regarding user profiling. It discusses not only the\ud most important aims of user profiling from both an organisation’s as\ud well as a user’s perspective, it will also discuss organisational motives\ud and barriers for user profiling and the most important conditions for\ud the success of user profiling. Finally recommendations are made and\ud suggestions for further research are given

The perceptions of SME owner-managers relating to ethics and online business practices : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Management at Massey University

The Internet has created many new opportunities for small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and many of these firms are encountering external pressure to have an online presence. E-commerce, however, brings a series of ethical challenges for many businesses, notably issues relating to privacy and security. These ethical challenges need to be met by SME owner-managers in order to ensure that their business competes and survives in today's hyper-competitive environment. To date, there is very little research on ethics and online business, and the focus of this study was to investigate ethical perceptions of SME owner-managers relating to online business practices. The study was qualitative in nature and involved semi-structured interviews with twelve owner-managers of Wellington based SMEs that had an online presence. The exploratory nature of the study meant that rich data was obtained from the twelve interviewees and the findings were grouped into three main themes for discussion, the importance of e-commerce, the underlying values and risk-tolerance of the participant owner-manager and, participant perception of ethical online issues such as privacy, security, intellectual property (IP) and online trust. The importance of e-commerce both now and in the future was highlighted by the owner-managers, and there was also a diverse range of ethical concerns that they had with online business. These findings and subsequent discussion allowed for some interesting conclusions to be made. The complex changing nature of online ethics is highlighted, as well the notion that stakeholders have an important influence on the online ethical framework. This study also concludes that there is a gap between current legislation and an awareness of how this impacts on the owner-managers business. There is also a 'disconnect' between thought and action on the part of the owner-manager in terms addressing some of their online ethical concerns

Integrating customer relationship management strategies in (B2C) e-commerce environments

Creating value and generating a total customer experience(TCE ) is important for E -Commerce in order to attract customers. However, with increasing competition in the marketplace, it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain customers. E-Commerce, therefore, should focus on continuously providing value to the customers to build long-term relationships and reduce customer defections. We have evaluated five E -Banking sites from the UK finance industry and have shown that an organisation whose Web site is usable in HCI terms (that satisfies the Web Design heuristics / E -Commerce guidelines) might not always generate a TCE . It is important that along with usability heuristics, customer relationship management (CRM) strategies are integrated into the design of E-Commerce sites. In this paper, we have applied the service quality (SERVQUAL ) framework from the relationship marketing literature for deriving customer relationship enhancing heuristics which can be integrated into the design of E -Commerce environments

Method of supply chain optimization in E-commerce

Rapid development of technologies and their penetration into all sectors generates a wide range of streamlining of production and trade processes. Electronic commerce is the area in which information and communication technology (ICT) is an essential and indispensable element. It is based on the use of e-commerce systems. An e-commerce system combines several parts consisting of customers, suppliers (sellers, dealers, producers, businessmen, etc.), the web server (web interface), the information system (ERP, CRM, the database system), the payment system, the dispatch system and the legislature itself. All these subsystems must be managed both at the operational level and in terms of the whole e-commerce system. E-commerce systems are tools meant to support the supply chain (SC), the quality of which as well as other parts of the e-commerce system largely depend on management processes representing supply chain management (SCM). The optimal way to ensure the success of SCM is to use the methods of modelling and simulation based on appropriate models and mathematical representation of a real SC. Such models are constructed with the use of process and value-chain oriented approaches or based on the concept of multi-agent systems. Different types of models in conjunction with a suitable mathematical representation allow us to perform the simulation process which outputs can help managers make suitable decisions. The paper aims at presenting contemporary approaches to the supply chain modelling within e-commerce systems. Moreover, the case study emphasized hereby is oriented to present the sample simulation approach in order to find the optimal allocation of resources which are meant to minimize shipping costs.e-commerce system, supply chain, supply chain management, warehouse, allocation of resources

The Role of Internet in Marketing Strategies

The use of the Internet has increased in recent years remarkably. Conducting business in the digital economy means using Web- based systems on the Internet and other electronic networks to do some form of electronic commerce. Many research findings confirm and support being of positive effects of Internet on an enterprise's competitive advantage. In this paper, I will illustrate that enterprises can acquire relational and informational competency through Internet technology, and based on these competencies they can succeed in competitive cyber markets. According to the Internet competencies, Internet marketing strategies can be divided into five categories: Transactional, Profile, Customer-oriented, Relationship, and Knowledge strategies. Choosing and implementing any category of strategies depends on the degree of internet competencies (informational and relational) that a firm has. When both are high, proper internet marketing strategy seems to be knowledge strategies; and when both are low, transactional internet marketing strategies would be the suitable category.Internet marketing strategies; Information technologies; Network computing; Digital economy; Information system.