Business-to-Consumers eCommerce

E-Marketing ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 1051-1067
Author(s):  
Fahri Karakaya

This chapter focuses on the effective use of the Internet for marketing products and services. The chapter starts by presenting statistics about Internet usage and online sales in the USA and around the world. It then examines the evolution of web sites from a static format to an interactive format with the start of Web 2.0. As a plus to small businesses, the chapter also briefly outlines the steps involved in starting an online business and the advantages and disadvantages of having one. Special emphasis is placed on developing an eMarketing strategy, drawing on the marketing mix, online marketing research, and search engine optimization, as well as social media marketing. The chapter ends by showcasing Amazon.com’s marketing tools as excellent examples of effective eBusiness.

Author(s):  
Fahri Karakaya

This chapter focuses on the effective use of the Internet for marketing products and services. The chapter starts by presenting statistics about Internet usage and online sales in the USA and around the world. It then examines the evolution of web sites from a static format to an interactive format with the start of Web 2.0. As a plus to small businesses, the chapter also briefly outlines the steps involved in starting an online business and the advantages and disadvantages of having one. Special emphasis is placed on developing an eMarketing strategy, drawing on the marketing mix, online marketing research, and search engine optimization, as well as social media marketing. The chapter ends by showcasing Amazon.com’s marketing tools as excellent examples of effective eBusiness.


Author(s):  
Heather Fulford

This chapter reports on a study investigating a community Web site project operating in a UK village community. The aim of the study is to determine the impacts the online business directory component of this community Web site is having on the small businesses in the village, including consideration of the benefits they are deriving from their participation in the directory, the problems they have encountered through their participation, and the effects their involvement is having on their wider Internet adoption strategy and decisions. The findings highlight the value of community Web sites for small businesses, both for those that have already adopted various Internet applications into their operations, as well as for non-adopters of the Internet. It is suggested that existing discussions of small business approaches to Internet adoption might usefully be extended to incorporate the role of community Web sites.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preetika Sindhwani ◽  
Vandana Ahuja

Inbound marketing focuses on producing relevant, audience captivating, high quality content that attracts consumers towards the online presence of a specific organization, brand or product. This study has been conducted using the online marketing research technique called netnography – a qualitative and interpretive methodology for the study of users in the virtual space. As the virtual medium presents a good medium for organization-consumer, bi-directional dialogue, companies can use the online arena for soliciting consumer views for their products, promotion mechanisms etc., hence, making these ideal tools to enable consumer participation in the co-creation strategies of organizations. Co-creation involves the consumers' participation in the creation of the core offering itself. It can occur through shared inventiveness, co-design or shared production of related goods, and can occur with customers and any other partners in the value network (R. Bolton, & S. Saxena-Iyer, 2009). Co-creation occurs when the customer participates through spontaneous, discretionary behaviors that uniquely customize the service experience (beyond the selection of pre-determined options). This was done by exploratory research on consumers' behavior in the online community “My Starbucks Idea”, with respect to updates and responses from Starbucks and their behavior with respect to feedback and suggestions from consumers. Ideas include fresh ideas given by other consumers to Starbucks through posts and the ideas which have been implemented recently in the stores that are updated by Starbucks' employees. Starbucks behavior was seen in terms of the ratio of volume of suggestion posts by consumers and volume of ideas adopted by Starbucks. “My Starbucks Idea” involves the psychological aspects of consumer behavior which are utilized by Starbucks because the ratio of volume of suggestion posts by consumers and the volume of ideas adopted by Starbucks is remarkably high. Another reason of participation of the consumers is the social connection; it is supported by the higher volume of posts observed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Elaine Franks ◽  
Carol Johns

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to identify essential resources that entrepreneurs need; to determine which resources and services are available at public libraries in two Florida counties; and to suggest additional ways for public libraries to increase their value and visibility among the business community. Design/methodology/approach – Information was gathered using structured and open-ended questions, using the Qualtrics survey technology provider, to obtain both quantitative and qualitative responses. Library administrators were contacted to identify relevant library staff to participate in the survey. Pasco County Library System administrators agreed to distribute the survey to their staff. Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative administrators provided email addresses of staff selected to participate. Web sites of the libraries, their counties, and their partners were also examined for additional information. Findings – The results suggest that the libraries are able to satisfy most of the requests of entrepreneurs. One exception was consulting, which was not consistently available, according to respondents, but could be offered at the library by business service organizations. Suggestions for promoting library business resources were proposed, based on survey responses and the websites of the libraries, their counties, and their business service organization partners. Research limitations/implications – This research studied key public librarians and staff employed at Pasco and Hillsborough counties in Florida. Some of the resources identified as useful for entrepreneurs in these counties may not be generalizable to communities outside the state of Florida, or outside the USA. Additionally, the survey did not explore what is not being done or what could be done if the libraries had more resources. Practical implications – This study provides information on the resources and services that public libraries provide entrepreneurs. It also offers suggestions for libraries to become more valuable and visible to their local business community. Social implications – As entrepreneurs and small businesses contribute substantially to economic development, public libraries that provide assistance to them help their communities prosper. Originality/value – This study is a collaboration between an academic reference librarian with a recent MBA degree, and an Entrepreneur Services Manager and Florida SBDC Center Director, who together provide a unique perspective and interpretive value toward promoting economic development.


2004 ◽  
Vol 48 (5.6) ◽  
pp. 671-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Agrawal ◽  
J. Basak ◽  
V. Jain ◽  
R. Kothari ◽  
M. Kumar ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared M. Hansen ◽  
Scott M. Smith

Increasing both survey completion rates and data quality remains an important topic for fields as diverse as sociology, marketing, medicine and history. Thousands of studies have made response quality their central topic of examination, but their focus has largely been to measure response bias through the comparison of early–late wave responses. In this study, an innovative online field experiment tests a two-staged highly interesting question to produce an 8% better survey completion rate and to change sample representativeness by 12% over a usual one-stage highly interesting question appearing at the beginning of the questionnaire. In addition to these substantive findings, a distributional and probability analysis is developed that further refines methods for identifying the extent of non-response bias.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Chandra Mandal Pratap

Abstract Companies cannot take decisions without the availability of proper information. So, marketers need to have the latest information about the target market. Marketers achieve this by collecting information based on traditional data collection methods and online marketing research. The study discusses the various aspects of conducting online marketing research, role of the internet in online marketing research, strategies followed by companies for online marketing research, the ways in which companies communicate and act on the information generated from the research, and the advantages and the disadvantages of conducting online marketing research. The study suggests that companies should conduct online marketing research not only to collect information about customers but also to utilize the insights generated to formulate better strategies and to develop better relationships with customers.


2001 ◽  
pp. 61-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashok Ranchhod ◽  
Julie Tinson ◽  
Fan Zhou

Despite the current development of Internet marketing, understanding the effective use of the Internet still poses problems for academic researchers and marketers (Kassaye, 1999). This research attempts to empirically explore some aspects of the factors influencing commercial company Internet and Web development. The key factors considered for company Internet and Web site development are technology capacity, the use of different developers, company on-line measurement patterns and marketing executives’ Web site knowledge. As a result of a cross-sectional comparative study of ‘effective’ and ‘ineffective’ companies, the findings indicate that companies with better performance from Web sites tend to possess higher technological capabilities for Internet-based marketing. It seems that their marketing executives have more knowledge of technical aspects of Web site development. They tend to be early Internet adopters using a multiple approach to measure their on-line performance. These results help to improve general understanding of company effectiveness in developing on-line marketing strategies.


2013 ◽  
pp. 644-679
Author(s):  
Piers Thompson ◽  
Robert Williams ◽  
Gary Packham ◽  
Brychan C. Thomas

The potential of the Internet to both geographically expand customer bases and provide a source of sales growth has led to a rapid embracement of the Internet by a majority of small businesses in the United Kingdom. However, many studies suggest that much of this adoption takes the form of simple Web sites representing little more than an electronic brochure. Although theories and models have been proposed suggesting adoption and development of e-commerce takes a staged process, with firms moving to more complex e-commerce processes after first mastering simpler forms of Web site, studies have found mixed evidence with regard to this. This chapter investigates the level of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Web site adoption and functionality and how this relates to growth aspirations, specifically the geographical expansion of customer bases. One potential explanation for this slow uptake of true e-commerce is a lack of employees with basic and advanced IT skills. The possibility that Information Technology (IT) skills shortages could explain the gap between the Internet’s potential and the extent of involvement by a vast majority of UK SMEs is explored. Discussion within the chapter is complemented with analysis of data from a large survey of SMEs.


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