The Influence of E-Commerce on Marketing Practitioners and Consumers

The Influence of E-Commerce on MarketingPractitioners and Consumers

Rashad Yazdanifard and Oluwasegun SamuelCenter of Post Graduate Studies, Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Cyberjaya 63000, MalaysiaYazdanifardOluwasegun63000

Received: January 03, 2012 / Accepted: January 30, 2012 / Published: March 25, 2012.201213/2012130/2012325

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AbstractThe paper sets out to examine the influence of e-commerce on marketing practitioners and consumers. This researcher found out that e-commerce brings about a new experience for both consumers and marketing practitioners as both groups try to achieve their different goals that end in an online relationship between the duo. This posses a lot of challenges for marketers who have to adapt and modify their offline marketing strategies to suite and meet the demands of e-commerce bringing about the whole concept and execution of e-marketing.

AbstractThe issue of the benefits as well as trust for online transactions based on the fear of insecurity from the consumers perspective was also discussed. In all, the authors concluded that its important for organizations engaging in e-commerce to come up with proper strategies to address these issues and build consumer trust in e-commerce; aiding it to further adapt to the ever changing needs of the business world.

Key words: E-commerce, marketing practitioners, consumer.1.IntroductionIn the last ten years, the world as a whole has been experiencing an increasing adoption of the internet and by organizations as well as individuals. As a matter of fact, this innovation has contributed to our ability to view the world as a global village reducing the spatio-temporal separation between different regions and enhancing various forms of information to be freely and quickly exchanged [1]. The situation is such that this phenomenon has permeated every almost aspect of the human society especially in the business sector.

Before the advent of the internet, commerce (which is understood as the exchange of goods and service between individuals and companies) was done manually such that people had to come in direct contact with each other for business transaction to take place [2]. With the arrival of the internet however, internet commerce (also known as e-commerce) came to the fore bringing about a new touch to the world of transactions.

1.IntroductionThe emergence and adoption of e-commerce by businesses definitely has impacts on the way businesses are carried out today. It is in the light of this that his academic piece intends to examine the influence of e-commerce on two vital parts of business that has been affected by this change namely marketing practitioners and consumers.

1.IntroductionThe paper is organized as follows: Section 2 examines e-commerce as its operation in the 21st century; section 3 introduces the effect of commerce on marketing practitioners; section 4 is the effect of commerce on consumers; section 5 proposes the relationship between e-marketing practitioners and consumers; section 6 is the general discussion and in section 7, the authors dwell their conclusions.

221345671.Introduction2. E-Commerce and Its Operation in the 21st CenturyThe narrowest definitions of e-commerce refer only to the trading of goods and services online [3]. In the view of Chaffey [4], e-commerce is a mere subset of e-business. He defines the e business as a holistic concept covering the full range of business functions and structures affected via the Internet.

Chaffey2. E-Commerce and Its Operation in the 21st CenturyA more holistic definition of e-commerce has been given by the United Kingdoms department of trade and Industry [5] as the use of electronic network to simplify and speed up all stages of the business process, from design and making to buying, selling and delivery, e-commerce is the exchange of information across electronic networks, at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an organization, between businesses, between businesses and consumers, or between the public and private sectors, whether paid or unpaid.

2. E-Commerce and Its Operation in the 21st CenturyE-commerce technology is increasingly attracting the attention of researchers as well as managers in the 21st century such that the amount of trade electronically has grown tremendously with the widespread of internet usage which gives customers the ability to adjust sites to their different needs, wants and desires [6].

212. E-Commerce and Its Operation in the 21st CenturyE-commerce has been categorized into three types namely inter-organizational (business to business); intra-organization (within businesses) and customer to business [7]. The increasing competition in the business world in addition to increased demands from customers and the rapid pace of changes in technology are forcing companies to review the way they do business, what kind of product and service they offer and the speed with which they release products into the market [8].

;2. E-Commerce and Its Operation in the 21st CenturyBusiness making use of e-commerce in the 21st century are faced with a lot of challenges that calls for modification and adopting new strategies both by marketing practitioners as well as to attract and capture the hearts of customers.

213. Effect of E-Commerce on Marketing PractitionersThe field of marketing has been identified as one the business functions that is most affected by emerging technologies such as the internet ; providing companies with ongoing information, service and support as well as creating positive interaction with customers that can serve as foundation for long term relationships and encourage repeated purchases [9].

3. Effect of E-Commerce on Marketing PractitionersThe impact of e-commerce on marketing practitioners is such that it affects every facet of their activity since there is less or no use of the traditional commerce system. Marketing practitioners have to cope with a market place that has expanded into national and international market such that marketing practitioners can, with minimal capital outlay, easily and quickly locate more customers, suppliers and the most suitable business partners around the world [10].

3. Effect of E-Commerce on Marketing PractitionersE-commerce also aids marketing practitioners in the reduction of the cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing and retrieving paper based information that have to do with customers.

3. Effect of E-Commerce on Marketing PractitionersMore than anything else, e-marketing as a follow-up to the demands of e-commerce does not only include the professional works that the marketing practitioner deal with in marketing operating, but also needs the cooperation by the relation business department such as procurement departments, producing department, financial department, Human Resource department, Quality supervision management department, product developing and designing department etc. and according to the demand of marketing to redesign and recreate the enterprise business standard by using computer network, so as to adapt to the demand of digital management and business in the network knowledge economy era [11].

3. Effect of E-Commerce on Marketing PractitionersIn a nut shell therefore e-commerce challenges marketing practitioners to develop marketing strategies and tactics to realize their marketing goals based on the internet [12].

4. Effect of E-Commerce on ConsumersOne of the opportunities the growth of the Internet has provided is the ability for customers to browse commercial products shown on the Internet, and in some cases to order them over from a computer which is the process of e-commerce [13]. E-commerce enables customers to shop or do other the clock and in any part of the world providing consumers with a variety of options and especially vendors from which they can select from Ref. [14].

4. Effect of E-Commerce on Consumers In the area of information, e-commerce has also helped consumers to have easy access to detailed and relevant information about whatever goods or commodity they want to purchase and also allowing them to interact with other consumers and exchange ideas as well as compare experiences [15].

4. Effect of E-Commerce on Consumers Also, quality e-commerce services help to collect and manage valuable customer related information, including consumer ordering patterns to build a comprehensive database which in-turn sharpens the marketing and promotion strategies of companies. In sum the introduction of e-commerce to consumers has rendered their shopping experience highly fluent and convenient as it is gradually becoming indispensible in the face of shrinking spare time for shopping offline [16].

5. Relationship between E-Marketing Practitioners and ConsumersThe electronic service encounter between the consumer and service provider (e-marketing practitioners) differs from the traditional physical encounters experienced in conventional marketing domains given the absence of sales staff; the absence of traditional tangible elements, and customer self-service. As such, increasing attention has been given to the transition from conventional marketing to e-marketing and consequently, identifying the determinants of success or failure have now evolved from establishing an information-rich web site presence and offering low prices to delivering high quality e-services that attract, satisfy and retain customers [17].

5. Relationship between E-Marketing Practitioners and ConsumersConsequently the relationship between e-marketing practitioners and consumers is such that understanding the specific drivers of consumer behavior outcomes is an imperative for e-marketing practitioners to effectively design e-marketing strategies to ensure that appropriate resources are allocated to enhance customer loyalty and develop long-term relationships [18].

5. Relationship between E-Marketing Practitioners and ConsumersConsequently while e-marketing practitioners look forward to how to attract, retain and get customers to purchase products and services, consumers (or e-consumers as the case maybe) look up to them to guide them towards making the right choices in their purchases that would be beneficial to them.

6. DiscussionIt is no doubt that the advent of the internet has transformed how many organizations communicate and deliver goods and services to their markets. E-commerce or e-service as it is commonly known today is one of the major determinants of success in a highly globalized business world as we have it today.

6. DiscussionAs pointed above, this phenomenon brings about a new experience for both consumers and marketing practitioners as both groups try to achieve their different goals that end in an online interaction between the two. This posses a lot of challenges for marketers who have to adapt and modify their offline marketing strategies to suite and meet the demands of e-commerce bringing about the whole concept and execution of e-marketing.()6. DiscussionAlthough e-commerce has been identified to be very beneficial to organizations and consumers, both parties still have to grapple with a couple of issues such as the characterization of e-commerce by some technological and inherent limitations that restricts the number of people who have access to this revolutionary system. Some consumers have also been found to display some kind of phobia for internet transactions owing perceived insecurity of the system which makes them reserve in disclosing their personal and private information. As a matter of a fact, the legitimacy and authenticity of different e-commerce sites have also been questioned.

6. DiscussionAs a result of this several industry groups, ministries and trade associations have addressed the issue of consumer protection in the context of e-commerce and e-marketing. They have proposed detailed guidelines for consumer protection [19].

6. DiscussionConsequently, e-commerce vendors and marketers should try to adhere to these principles so as to help mitigate the negative issues associated with e-commerce and enhance healthier marketing practices by practitioners in other to better meet the demands of consumers [20].

7. ConclusionsIn all, the effect of e-commerce on consumers and marketing practitioners brings about a new experience for both groups as they try move from an offline based kind of relationship to one that is fundamentally online based. While marketing practitioners try to invent new strategies to meet the demands of e-commerce and by implication attract and win the hearts of customers, consumers also seek marketers to help them make the right choices in their purchases.

7. ConclusionsThe entire issue of e-commerce, e-marketing (marketing practitioners) and consumers raises a lot of issues stemming from the pros and cons of e-commerce especially in the area of consumer security. It is therefore important for organizations engaging in e-commerce to come up with proper strategies to address these issues and build consumer trust in e-commerce; aiding it to further adapt to the ever changing needs of the business world.