Tag: Business economics

Marketing campaigns promote products through different types of media, such as television, radio, print, and online platforms. Campaigns are not solely reliant on advertising and can include demonstrations, video conferencing, and other interactive techniques. Businesses operating in highly competitive markets and franchisees may initiate frequent marketing campaigns and devote significant resources to generating brand awareness and sales.

Sometimes the best way to define something, particularly concepts such as campaign marketing, is to look at some concrete examples in action. There are some excellent instances of campaign marketing that have come out of the B2B realm over the past few years, targeting the various different segments of the Inbound Marketing and sales funnel. So, let’s take a look at two of the best of them one that targets the middle and bottom stages of the funnel as well as one that targets the top.

Marketing campaigns bring together several kinds of marketers. Some may specialize in inbound marketing, others may focus on outbound marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, or other areas.

Today, much of this collaboration between different marketers can be achieved using cloud-based applications and tools. As such, it is increasingly common for businesses to have remote marketing staff or hybrid working business models.

Marketing teams can have a mixture of on-site marketers working from the office, and others working remotely. Numerous effective marketing collaboration tools help remote and local marketing teams to achieve the highest level of productivity while working in tandem.

Other marketing tools increase the efficiency of the marketing department through other means. There are many tasks of a marketing campaign that can be time-consuming if done manually. Thanks to robotic process automation (RPA), it is possible for marketing teams to save time on these repetitive tasks and free up resources.

Today, there are also platforms as a service (PaaS) application that simplify many tasks within the marketing department. It is easy to gauge the impact of your marketing strategies using tools like Google Analytics. You can find customer relationship management tools that automate certain interactions with customers in your sales funnel. Other tools, too, assist in automating email marketing.

Components

The components of a marketing campaign include a planning stage, evaluating how the results of the campaign will be measured, determining a target market, how the campaign will be delivered, how to achieve results, and finally, to assess how well the campaign did.

1. Measurement

Creating a measurement criterion to be able to effectively analyze how the marketing campaign has performed is incredibly important. Some measurement tools can be the number of sales, pre-orders, consumer sentiment for the product, shares on social media, or how the campaign is perceived in the news.

2. Planning

During the planning stage, it is important to find the goal of the marketing campaign and understand what it is trying to accomplish. Once these are determined for a campaign, it is easier to build a vision and understand the next necessary steps.

3. Identification of the target market

Determining a target market is paramount to ensure that the right product is being marketing to the right client; this is one of the cornerstones of marketing. An important aspect of picking the target market is understanding what stage the consumer is in the buying process.

If the product is a new innovative technology, the target market should be centered around innovators or early adopters those who are willing and seeking to try new technologies and products. Whereas if the product is entering a developed market space, perhaps targeting an early majority or late majority audience would fare better.

4. Results

To be able to achieve results, it is important to frequently refer to the goals that were set out from the beginning of the campaign. There may not be a set formula to achieve results, as every marketing campaign varies significantly. However, calibrating and perhaps re-calibrating marketing efforts to align with goals is vital in order to achieve desired results.

5. Delivery of the marketing campaign

The delivery of the target campaign should form around the type of consumer that is being targeted. If the target market consists of innovators or early adopters, perhaps the delivery of a marketing campaign would be better suited to a medium that revolves around social media. Whereas if the target market is not as in tune with technology, a low-tech delivery of the marketing campaign may be better suited.

6. Assessment of the marketing campaign

After the marketing campaign has achieved a result, it is important to assess the results of the campaign and evaluate its effectiveness. An assessment can also be achieved from external sources through feedback from consumers.

A common assessment method to release a feedback forum to consumers when the product is purchased and used. Analyzing the feedback from consumers can be incredibly helpful to understanding if the marketing campaign was successful or if the efforts should be re-evaluated.

Podcasts

A podcast is an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient and integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices.

A podcast series usually features one or more recurring hosts engaged in a discussion about a particular topic or current event. Discussion and content within a podcast can range from carefully scripted to completely improvised. Podcasts combine elaborate and artistic sound production with thematic concerns ranging from scientific research to slice-of-life journalism. Many podcast series provide an associated website with links and show notes, guest biographies, transcripts, additional resources, commentary, and even a community forum dedicated to discussing the show’s content.

The cost to the consumer is low. While many podcasts are free to download, some are underwritten by corporations or sponsored, with the inclusion of commercial advertisements. In other cases, a podcast could also be a business venture supported by some combination of a paid subscription model, advertising or product delivered after sale.

People are motivated to create a podcast for a number of reasons. The podcast producer, who is often the podcast host as well, may wish to express a personal passion, increase professional visibility, enter into a social network of influencers or influential ideas, cultivate a community of like-minded viewership, or put forward pedagogical or ideological ideas (possibly under philanthropic support).

Because podcast content is often free or, at the very least, affordable for the average podcast consumer, podcasting is often classified as a disruptive medium, which is averse to the maintenance of traditional revenue models. Long-running podcasts with a substantial back catalogue are amenable to binge consumption.

Vodcasts

A step beyond podcasting, vodcasting, also called video podcasting or vlogging, adds video to the downloadable sound files podcast listeners are used to. Download the video files is a simple matter of subscribing to a vodcast in one of the many freely available directory programs.

After downloading and saving them to a portable video player, users can choose when and where they want to watch the video, making them independent of television programming schedules. A number of vodcasting tools also exist to help turn people from mere video consumers to producers.

Apple added vodcasting support to its popular iTunes software, which lets users subscribe to pod and vodcasts and automatically downloads the most recent updates. Ipodder, another popular service that started with podcasts, also has a vodcast directory.

Vodcasts’ large file size makes a flat rate, broadband Internet connection a necessity to speed up downloads and keeps costs down. Watching the video away from the computer also requires a mobile video player, which are often built into newer PDAs and many MP3 players, including the iPod Video.

• A video file that is posted to some site and which is automatically downloaded by subscribers of the site.
• A video podcast, or video clip distributed on the Internet and available for download through RSS subscription and aggregation for playback on computers or portable devices.
• Also referred to as a Video Podcast, is a syndicated web feed of audio and video files available through the Internet.
• A type of podcast that contains full motion video. VOD, the first three letters of vodcast are an acronym for “video on demand” but when coupled with podcast subscription is better described as a “vodcast.”

Engagement:

Research all you can:

A good vodcast like all other alternatives also requires in-depth research. The finished product is a true replica of the amount of research and study one has done for it and also depends on the success or failure of the podcast. Take inspiration; learn from vodcast examples, vodcast sites to get better.

Choose your channels:

Ensuring you post on the right forums in the next important thing hence make a list of all different medium you can target to publish your vodcast. Since this is a new trend, you will first have to check its flexibility on the domains you’re targeting and then proceed.

Go with a calendar:

Although creating a vodcast can be a pretty exclusive, time-consuming and even costly affair, a calendar can definitely make things a whole lot easier. Try creating goals that can be met instead of burdening yourself with it all at ones. Keep wholesome breathing space between creating a vodcast and podcast since churning them out every week will surely hamper the quality and add to the exhaustion.

Announce your new offering everywhere you can:

Since you’re taking a big step with digital marketing, the fact that vodcasts are being created should be highlighted on your social media so people are aware of what you’re doing. Once your followers know your offerings they will be curious to check it out.

Choose how frequently you wish to broadcast:

Keep a considerable time gap between the days you choose to upload a vodcast. For ease of making, you could create two at a time, depending if you’re able to work up both the script and video together, however, make sure to shoot them only one at a time. Doing too many at once will come forth as being too promotional.

Work on great content:

Although visuals surpass audio content in most scenarios and even for a vodcast the same can be considered, it is definitely important to consider your content with graphics. In this scenario, one can understand the vodcast software they plan to use and how it can merge your content and video in the best possible manner to ensure both shine in their own ways and produce a splendid outcome.

Harness the power of social media

Social media isn’t just a way for your friends from high school to show off pictures of their children or snap photos of what they ate for lunch. It’s also an effective way to promote a website, as it helps businesses reach a diverse audience and build brand awareness.

Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, social media marketing is important for engaging followers. Importantly, posting compelling content increases the chances that your audience will share it which is free promotion for your website. And the more people click on your content, the more chances you’ll have of getting website traffic and improving your conversion rate.

Submit your site to online directories

In addition to optimizing your SEO to help people discover your website, you’ll want to submit your site to online directories. Online directories make it easy for people to find your URL and navigate to your site. Depending on your industry, there may be a directory for your specific business type.

Try guest blogging

Expand your website promotion even further by collaborating with a guest blogger. When another writer in your industry writes a post on your own blog, you expand your reach to their audience and gain quality leads. In addition, connecting with writers who are already established in their field helps you grow your own network. This can bring you more exposure, traffic and social media shares.

Solidify your website SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is one of the most effective ways to promote a website, as it helps improve a site’s ranking on Google and other search engines. Unlike paid search ads, SEO is totally free the competition is open to everyone, based on the quality of the content you publish, the fluidity of the navigation you offer to your visitors, and the number of links you receive from external sources.

You can achieve strong SEO by placing certain keywords and phrases throughout your website, adding alt text to your images and optimizing your headings so that your website can get found on search engines.

Take advantage of email marketing

There’s a reason you always see email marketing placed high up on articles that talk about how to drive traffic to your website. Why? Because it’s proven to be effective over and over. In fact, its average rate of return can be as high as 4400%, or $44 for every dollar spent.

Start a blog

When considering how to promote your website, a good practice is to create a blog to bolster your SEO and increase your site’s rank on search engines. Blogging makes it easier for people to find your site and discover your business. On top of that, it helps you establish yourself as an authority in your field and can dramatically improve your conversion rate.

Electronic commerce or e-commerce legal issues industry in India has come a long way since its early days and has been growing rapidly across the world. The industry has matured and has seen the entry of many new players in the market. India is considered as a profitable market for these e-commerce businesses.

Competition

E-commerce legal issues have seen a generation of new players and the merging and acquisition between several old players. This has enabled development of new services, distribution channels and far greater efficiency in business activities than ever before. This development has the possibility of leading to certain competition issues with respect to the development of strategies for growing the network and maintaining their market power.

Data Protection

Security of the information provided during an online transaction is a major concern.

The Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011 and the Section 43A of the IT Act together provide a structure and guidelines for the protection of data in India.

It is required of the Company to take all reasonable precautions to prevent any corruption, damage, loss or destruction of the private information and/ or data, even upon the termination of the contract between the parties.

The contracts often have specific clauses to deal with such privacy concerns and they bind all employees, agents, and subcontractors.

Security of the information provided during the online transaction is a major concern. Under section 43A of the IT Act the “Reasonable practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information Rules, 2011” have been proposed, which provide a framework for the protection of data in India. Data can be personal, which has been defined as “any information that relates to a natural person, which, either directly or indirectly, in combination with other information available or likely to be available with a body corporate, is capable of identifying such person.” The date can also be sensitive and a sensitive personal data consists of password, financial information, physical, physiological and mental health condition, sexual orientation, medical records and history and biometric information. The entity collecting data should have a privacy policy in place, should always obtain consent from the provider of sensitive information and maintain reasonable security practices and procedures. Unauthorized access to personal information and any misuse of such personal information should be checked by the online goods/service providers.

E-Contracts

Electronic contracts are governed by the basic principles provided in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (“ICA”), which mandates that a valid contract should have been entered with a free consent and for a lawful consideration between two adults. Section 10A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) provides validity to e-contracts. So, both ICA and IT Act needs to be read in conjunction to understand and provide legal validity to e-contracts. Further, section 3 of the Evidence Act provides that the evidence may be in electronic form.

Both the Indian Contract Act and the IT Act must be read in conjunction to understand the legal validity of e-contracts. Thus, e-contracts are governed by the basic principles of a valid contract that mandates that the contract must be entered in with free consent and a lawful consideration between two competent parties.

Also, Section 10A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) provides the validity of the e-contracts.

On e-commerce websites that operate in an online environment, the possibility of minors entering into contracts is very high. Hence, it is crucial for an online business portal consider such possibility and provides a form on the website stating that the individual with whom it is trading or entering into the e-contract has attained the age of majority.

Intellectual Property Rights

E-commerce websites are designed and sometimes operated by other parties specializing in the field. Often the content is also managed by a third party. Thus, unless the agreement between the parties specifically provides the IP rights, there is a possibility of infringement subject to the trademark, copyright or patent on an online platform.

Some others Concern:

• Ensure proper online contracts
• Original documentation in relation to taxation
• Record retention obligations
• Exchange control regulation
• Import-export regulations
• Foreign data protection law
• Terms and conditions must be specific depending upon the nature of the goods & services offered and not generic.
• Reasonable efforts to prevent the unauthorized transaction.

Applicable Laws & Regulations

Other Conditions include:

• Marketplace e-commerce entities will be permitted to enter into transactions with sellers registered on its platform on a B2B basis.
• E-commerce marketplace may provide support services to sellers in respect of warehousing, logistics, order fulfilment, call centre, payment collection, and other services.
• Digital & electronic networks will include a network of computers, television channels, and any other internet application used in an automated manner such as web pages, extranets, mobiles, etc.
• An e-commerce entity will not permit more than 25% of the sales affected through its marketplace from one vendor or their group companies.
• In the marketplace model goods/services made available for sale electronically on the website should provide the name, address, and other contact details of the seller. Post-sales, delivery of goods to the customers, and customer satisfaction will be the responsibility of the seller.
• E-commerce entities providing a marketplace will not exercise ownership over the inventory i.e. goods purported to be sold. Such an ownership over the inventory will render the business into an inventory-based model.
• In the marketplace model, payments for sale may be facilitated by the e-commerce entity in conformity with the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India.
• Similarly, In the marketplace model, any warranty/ guarantee of goods and services sold will be the responsibility of the seller.
• E-commerce entities providing marketplace will not directly or indirectly influence the sale price of goods or services and shall maintain a level playing field.
• Further, guidelines on cash and carry wholesale trading as given in para 6.2.16.1.2 of the FDI Policy will apply to B2B e-commerce.

Note: Many laws applicable in e-commerce and it is in developing stage., Pl Update here in comment section about any latest changes.

Need for E-Commerce laws

The term “brick-and-mortar” refers to a traditional street-side business that offers products and services to its customers face-to-face in an office or store that the business owns or rents. The local grocery store and the corner bank are examples of brick-and-mortar companies. Brick-and-mortar businesses have found it difficult to compete with mostly web-based businesses like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) because the latter usually have lower operating costs and greater flexibility.

Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term brick-and-mortar business is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory production facilities, or warehouses for its operations. More specifically, in the jargon of e-commerce businesses in the 2000s, brick-and-mortar businesses are companies that have a physical presence (e.g., a retail shop in a building) and offer face-to-face customer experiences.

This term is usually used to contrast with a transitory business or an Internet-only presence, such as fully online shops, which have no physical presence for shoppers to visit, talk with staff in person, touch and handle products and buy from the firm in person. However, such online businesses normally have non-public physical facilities from which they either run business operations (e.g., the company headquarters and back office facilities), and/or warehouses for storing and distributing products. Concerns such as foot traffic, storefront visibility, and appealing interior design apply to brick-and-mortar businesses rather than online ones. An online-only business needs to have an attractive, well-designed website, a reliable e-commerce system for payment, a good delivery or shipping service and effective online marketing tactics to drive web traffic to the site. Governments are also adopting e-government approaches, which is the use of online services for citizens to enable them to fill in government forms, pay tax bills and register for government programs online; these services aim to cut bricks and mortar costs (building leasing/purchase and staff costs) and improve services to citizens (by offering 24/7 access to information and services).

Benefits

The presence of brick and mortar establishments may bring many benefits to businesses;

• Customer service: face-to-face customer service can be a big contributor into increasing sales of a business and improving customer satisfaction. When customers can take a product back to the store to ask staff questions or help them learn to use it, it can make customers feel more satisfied with their purchase. Research has shown that 86% of customers will pay more for a product if they have received great customer service.
• Face-to-face interaction: Many consumers prefer to be able to touch products, and experience and test them out before they buy. This is often attributed to Baby Boomers, older Generation X customers and the elderly being used to a more traditional in-person approach when it comes to shopping and preferring to have a demonstration of products or services, especially when buying new technology. Other studies show, given equal prices, a 90% preference for the in-person shopping experience, including among teens, who combine social interaction with shopping. On the other hand, many of these consumers engage in showrooming: trying on clothes or otherwise examining merchandise in-store, and then buying online at cheaper prices.
• Trust: Online commerce presents an increased risk of internet fraud, and thus some consumers may be averse to it.

Attracting More Attention to Physical Stores

Online retailers often find an easier time attracting customers because it takes less effort and time to draw them in. Online sales continue to grow over the years because customers can shop from the convenience of their homes, 24 hours a day.

Brick and mortar stores must employ more tricks in order to entice customers to leave their homes and come and shop in a physical store. The reality is that technology and the internet are also vital to the success of brick and mortar stores in today’s world. Stores that offer the latest in technology-based payment systems, ordering options, and websites are usually the ones that bring in the most business. Consumers are constantly looking for easier and faster ways to shop and purchase the things they want and need.

Brick and mortar stores, while not as necessary as they once were, are still thriving. While online retail stores seem to be taking over, many companies are embracing the changing times and now operate with both online and brick and mortar options.

Bricks and clicks, or omnichannel retail strategy, is a jargon term for a business model by which a company integrates both offline (bricks) and online (clicks) presences, sometimes with the third extra flips (physical catalogs). Many retailers also offer telephone ordering and mobile phone apps, with most providing telephone sales support. The wide uptake of smartphones made the model even more popular, as customers could browse and order from their smartphone whenever they had spare time. The model has historically also been known by such terms as clicks and bricks, click and mortar, bricks, clicks and flips, and WAMBAM, i.e. “web application meets bricks and mortar”.)

Bricks and clicks is a term for a business model by which a company integrates both offline (bricks) which means shops and stores plus online (clicks) presences. Additionally sometimes retailers add a few extra flips added such as catalogue, telephone ordering and mobile phone apps and telephone sales support. The initiation of mobile web has made businesses operating bricks and clicks businesses very popular, because it means customers can do tasks like shopping when they have spare time and do not have to be at a computer. Most of the bricks and clicks customers like to use mobile shopping sites. A common example of the bricks and clicks model is when a chain of stores allows the customer to order products both online and physically in one of their stores, also allowing them to either pick-up their order directly at a local branch of the store or get it delivered to their home.

An example of the bricks and clicks model is when a chain of stores offers consumers a choice of purchasing products either online, or physically, in one of their stores, which may subsequently be either picked-up at one of their retail stores (click and collect, curbside pickup), or delivered. The model has many alternative combinations, as well as the related omnichannel concept of showrooming where customers try on clothing in person but the actual purchased product is ordered in-store on the retailer’s website and delivered to their home later. By the mid-2010s, the success of the model had discredited that the Internet would render traditional retailers obsolete through disintermediation.

Home delivery

The default model in e-commerce is one of browsing and ordering online, with goods sent from a warehouse, or in some cases, a retail store. One of the first known purchases from a company arguably operating a bricks and clicks business model was a Pizza Hut pizza ordered over the internet in 1994. The great surge in adoption of the bricks and clicks model came around 2000, with large retailers, such as Walmart, starting websites that allow users to browse some of the same goods that they would find in store from their personal computer screens.

Advantages

Bricks and clicks is beneficial to various segments. For example, supermarkets often have different customer types requiring alternative shopping options; one group may wish to see the goods directly before purchase and like the expediency of quickly shopping, while another group may require a different convenience of shopping online and getting the order delivered when it suits them. Thus, having a bricks and clicks model means both customer groups are satisfied.

For companies

The bricks and clicks model has typically been used by traditional retailers who have extensive logistics and supply chains, but are well known and often respected for their traditional physical presence. Part of the reason for its success is that it is far easier for a traditional retailer to establish an online presence than it is for a start-up company to employ a successful purely online one, or for an online only retailer to establish a traditional presence, including a strong and well recognised brand, without having a large marketing budget. It can also be said that adoption of a bricks and clicks model where a customer can return items to a brick and mortar store can reduce wasted costs to a business such as shipping for undelivered and returned items that would traditionally be incurred.

For consumers

A bricks and clicks business model can benefit various members of a customer base. For example, supermarkets often have different customer types requiring alternative shopping options; one group may wish to see the goods directly before purchase and like the convenience of shopping in person on short notice, while another group may require a different convenience of shopping online and getting the order delivered when it suits them, having a bricks and clicks model means both customer groups are satisfied. Other previously online-only retailers have stated that they have found benefit in adding a brick-and-mortar presence to their online-only business, as customers can physically see and test products before purchase as well as get advice and support on any purchases they have made. Additionally, consumers are likely to feel safer and have more confidence using a bricks-and-clicks business if they already know the brand from a brick-and-mortar store.

Disadvantages

For firms

A major factor in the success or failure of this business model is in the control of costs, as usually maintaining a physical presence paying for many physical store premises and their staffing requires larger capital expenditure which online only businesses do not usually have. Conversely, a business selling more luxurious, often expensive, or only occasionally purchased products like cars may find sales are more common with a physical presence, due to the more considered nature of the purchasing decision, though they may still offer online product information. However, some car manufacturers such as Dacia have introduced online configurators that allow a customer to configure and order complete cars online, only going to a dealership to collect the completed car, which has proven popular with customers.

“On the other hand, an online-only service can remain a best-in-class operation because its executives focus on just the online business.” It has been argued that a bricks and clicks business model is more difficult to implement than an online only model. In the future, the bricks and clicks model may be more successful, but in 2010 some online only businesses grew at a staggering 30%, while some bricks and clicks businesses grew at a paltry 3%. The key factor for a bricks and clicks business model to be successful “will, to a large extent, be determined by a company’s ability to manage the trade-offs between separation and integration” of their retail and online businesses.

For consumers

• Some argue that online shopping, which makes price comparison easier for customers, encourages a ‘race-to-the-bottom’, where retailers only compete on price, with quality and service deteriorating as a result. This is especially prevalent when comparison shopping websites such as mySupermarket allow prices to be compared without even visiting a retailer’s website.
• The prices listed online may not match the prices listed offline. The reasons for this include mis-management, and economics (overhead cost of an online purchase and an offline purchase is different). This may result in confusion and deviations of expectations for the buyers.
• Buyers may end up buying more items than they need, because online businesses are able to show them more items, more promotions, and more advertisements.

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product’s availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

Internet business models are categorized as business-to-consumer, business-to-business, and more recently, consumer-to-consumer. Business-to-consumer and business-to-business models typically sell goods and services or provide information designed to help visitors make purchase decisions. Consumer-to-consumer models involve consumer-to-consumer information or product exchange.

An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a regular “bricks-and-mortar” retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When an online store is set up to enable businesses to buy from another businesses, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. A typical online store enables the customer to browse the firm’s range of products and services, view photos or images of the products, along with information about the product specifications, features and prices.

Pure-play Internet companies operate solely on the Internet, while click & mortar business models combine a physical presence with online selling or marketing. Click & mortar businesses may operate a website that sells products or advertises those it sells on the high street. The difference between the two business models is reflected in running costs, marketing strategies and customer perceptions. Internet business have fewer overheads but businesses that have a strong street presence inspire more customer confidence.

Marketing:

Pure-play companies have to invest more money, time and effort in marketing than a hybrid businesses. Businesses that have a physical presence, particularly on a national or international scale, are already known to potential customers, whereas Internet business have to advertise their presence more aggressively.

Perceptions:

Business that combine a presence on the street with online retailing may inspire more customer confidence than those that only operate online, according to the Internet Marketing Center. Customers believe that a business is less likely to vanish overnight if it has a customer presence, the website explains.

Benefits to Customers:

Companies that only operate online can sell products at a greater discount to customers because they have fewer operational costs. Clicks & mortar businesses can offer a more versatile service.

A combination of regulatory reform and technological innovation enabled e-commerce to evolve as it has. Although the precursor of the Internet appeared in the late 1960s, Internet e-commerce took off with the arrival of the World Wide Web and browsers in the early 1990s and the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector and innovations that greatly expanded the volume and capacity of communications (optic fibre, digital subscriber line technologies, satellites).

As a result, barriers to engage in electronic commerce have progressively fallen for both buyers and sellers. Earlier forms of e-commerce were mostly custom-made, complex, expensive and the province of large firms. Today, for a few thousand dollars, anyone can become a merchant and reach millions of consumers world-wide. What used to be business-to-business transactions between known parties has become a complex web of commercial activities which can involve vast numbers of individuals who may never meet. In this sense, the Internet has done for electronic commerce what Henry Ford did for the automobile converted a luxury for the few into a relatively simple and inexpensive device for the many.

E-commerce and economic efficiency

The overall economic prosperity of the country will determine the extent of e-commerce activities. Organizations will target developed economy for more internet based transaction as compared to a developing country.

The globalization has encouraged the development of a single international market for trade and commerce. It has reduced the social and the cultural difference between countries. This has promoted culture of standardization of prices and reduction of intermediaries.

Language and culture difference pose a special problem to smaller companies as they do not have enough financial resources to develop a regional specific e-commerce.

A key reason why electronic commerce, especially the business-to-business segment, is growing so quickly is its significant impact on business costs and productivity. Because many of these applications are relatively simple, they may be expected to be widely adopted and have a large economic impact.

Even though some Web sites cost hundreds of millions of dollars, simpler sites can be designed and constructed for tens of thousands. In general, it is less expensive to maintain a cyber-storefront than a physical one because it is always “open”, has a global market, and has fewer variable costs. For exclusively e-commerce merchants who maintain one “store” instead of many, duplicate inventory costs are eliminated.

A key factor in reducing inventory costs is adopting a “just-in-time” inventory system and improving the ability to forecast demand more accurately. Both of these can be accomplished through the adoption of electronic commerce, which strengthens the links between firms. Improved demand forecasting and replenishment of stocks is estimated to lead to a reduction in overall inventories of $250-$350 billion, or about a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in current US inventory levels.

Social Factors

Though the advent of the internet is a universal phenomenon, but the usage pattern is not the same. The level of the internet access and usage directly influence buying behavior of the consumer. The social perception of the internet directly influences its use. The typical perception of the internet can be classified as no perceived advantage, little or no trust in the internet, security risk, cost of usage and utility.

The group of population around above classification are the ones who are not utilizing the internet, thus organization needs to factor them in demand analysis.

The social impact of the internet cannot be undermined. It has greatly influenced our way of life and has brought many differences to the fore-front. The population with income and a certain degree of education is able to use the internet much easily compared to population with costly service or slower access.

Developed countries are promoting the use of the internet and making efforts through social programs. Even people with special needs are able to use the internet to their advantage.

Legal and ethical issues with internet usage

There are certain types of behaviors which are tolerated and accepted by the society around the use of the internet. These generally accepted norms are referred to as ethical standards.

Countries are developing ethics related laws advocating the correct use of the internet. Any organization should be aware of these laws and develop their marketing programs after taking them into consideration.

Among internet users the biggest concerns come with privacy factor. Privacy is described as a moral right every individual, enjoys from intrusion in their personal affairs. The internet users have their online identity through which they perform a financial and personal transactions. Consumers are very much concerned for the protection of this online identity.

Effective e-commerce requires an organization to protect contact information, consumer profile, and behavioral information etc all the time. Organizations should not share or use personal information without prior consumer consent.

The other half of the legal and ethical issue concerns organization itself and its own protection against hacking or industrial espionage.

Technological Factors

The modern digital technology is disruptive in nature. It forces the organization to re-look at its strategies more often. The advent of the internet has seen the rise of online retailers, seriously hampering the function of neighbourhood stores.

The biggest challenge for today’s organization is to access the current technological environment and figure which solution would be the best against the competition. Companies can adopt either of following three courses:

• Cautious approach
• Fast follower approach
• First mover approach

In addition to in-home fixed internet access, the newer addition to technology is the mobile connectivity. This mobile connectivity is through phones, internet enabled devices, digital TV and digital radio. With the availability of so many digital devices, a technology convergence is on the horizon.

Like privacy, security is also a great concern for the organization as well as the internet users. A security fear prevents greater adoption of e-commerce facilities.

Any security system should ensure and verify the following:

• Authenticity of identity of users
• Privacy and confidentiality of e-commerce the parties
• Completeness of transaction
• Un-interrupted continuity

Technology Policy

One of the key features of electronic commerce is the potential system-wide gains in efficiency to be reaped when firms are linked across industries. Fostering such system-wide improvements requires rethinking technology and innovation policies, such as technology diffusion programmes, which tend to focus on one industry, such as manufacturing, while in fact the largest contributions to system-wide gains may come from services, such as wholesale trade, transportation and retail trade. This suggests the need to widen the notion of “innovation” from a focus on high technology in manufacturing to include consumer goods and services and to adopt a more systemic perspective.

Political Factors

The political and the governing environment in the region or country is determined through ruling government, public opinion and pressure/consumer advocacy groups.

The government needs to put a control in place as to monitor the development and usage of the internet. But as internet promotes global collaboration, government agencies across countries need to collaborate to ensure the safety of e-commerce.

The countries are examining the current tax structure to ensure that e-commerce activities do not reduce tax collection of local government and agencies.

Organizations need to monitor its macro environment and make necessary changes as to remain competitive and profitable.