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Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 1 (2002) 5776

www.elsevier.com / locate / ecra

The 4S Web-Marketing Mix model

Efthymios Constantinides Department of Technology and Management, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

Accepted 10 April 2002

Abstract

This paper reviews the criticism on the 4Ps Marketing Mix framework, the most popular tool of traditional marketingmanagement, and categorizes the main objections of using the model as the foundation of physical marketing. It argues thatapplying 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 thebasis for successful E-Commerce is the full integration of the virtual activities into the companys physical strategy, marketingplan and organisational processes. The four S elements of the Web-Marketing Mix framework present a sound and functionalconceptual basis for designing, developing and commercialising Business-to-Consumer online projects. The model wasoriginally developed for educational purposes and has been tested and refined by means of field projects; two of them arepresented as case studies in the paper.

2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: E-Commerce strategy; E-Commerce marketing; Web Marketing Mix; 4S model

1. E-Commerce landscape in transition

A recent report [1] predicts a Web population of overthe 1bln users in 2005, while many indications point to an upcoming fast growth of E-Commerce revenues and agrowing consumer willingness to engage in onlinetransactions [2,3].

For the 210 Internet companies (a large percentage of them publicly traded) that shut their virtual doors in the

year 2000 and the one dot.com that daily goes out of business since the beginning of 2001 [4,5] this kind of

news sound a bit besidethe point. In the Internet

after-the-gold-rushperiod many of the first

E -mail address: [email protected] (E. Constan-tinides).

wave Web gold seekersstruggle for survival bydownsizing, streamliningprocesses and cuttingcosts, while academics,consultants, analysts,managers and journaliststry to figure out whatwent wrong andascertain the lessons to

be learned from thepresent Web dejection.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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Learning is particularly important for the survivals of the crisis and the incumbents, who will be the next to

join the virtual marketplace [6].Analysing the causes of the Internet crisis Christ-

ensen [7] argues that the major factors for E-Com-mercefailures are the lack of awareness by many of the

Internet players as to thebasis of their industrycompetition and thefailure of severalbusinesses to exploit newtechnologies in a

sustainable manner [8].Lack of strategy and clearobjectives [9], old-fashion productorientation, limitedunderstanding of cus-

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1567-4223 /

02 / $ seefront

matter

2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rightsreserved.

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58 E. Constantinides / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 1 (2002) 57 76

tomer needs and poor commercialcompetencies are also frequentlymentioned as issues having con-tributedto the continuing dot.com demise. Anim-portant, though less visible and oftenoverlooked source of problems for theInternet players is the weakness of thetraditional marketing paradigm,embodied in the well-known MarketingMix frame-work proposed by Borden[10] and popularised as the 4Ps (Product,Price, Place, Promotion) by McCarthy[11], to provide an adequate platform forE-Commerce marketing management.

The assump-tion that the 4Ps framework is widely used by E-Marketers as theunderpinning of their marketing planningis based on the high degree of acceptanceof the Marketing Mix by marketingpractitioners as the universal marketingparadigm. Gronroos [12, p. 323] arguesthat the 4Ps framework has won anoverwhelming acceptance amongmarketing prac-titioners, noticing that .. . Marketing in practice has, to a large

extent, been turned into managing thistoolbox . . . , a point shared byGoldsmith [13, p. 178] who argues thatthe . . . time-honoured con-cept of the4Psthe Marketing Mix . . . is theheart of the contemporary marketingmanagement.

The shortcomings of the 4Psmarketing mix framework, as the pillar of the traditional marketing managementhave frequently become the target of

intense criticism. Despite the fact thathardly any marketing textbook avoidsmentioning the 4Ps, more than 75% of marketing academics are not satisfiedwith it as a pedagogic tool [14, p. 9]. The4Ps framework is also criticised byresearchers who identify severaldeficiencies in dealing with themarketing realities of today. A number of critics even go as far as rejecting the 4Ps

altogether, proposingalternativeframeworks. Ohma[15] re-views the 4Psfrom the StrategicManagement per-spective concludingthat no strategicelements are to befound in the model.He proposes that threeCs shape themarketing strategy:Customers, Com-petitors andCorporation. Bennet[16] suggests that the4Ps are focused oninternal variables andthere-fore form anincomplete basis formarketing. Hesuggests five Vs(Value, Viability,Variety, Volume andVirtue) as the criteria

of customerdisposition, whileLauterborn [17] findsthe model too productoriented arguing thatthe customer must beplaced in the centre of the marketingplanning. One of themost

outspoken critics of the 4Ps from theRelationshipMarketing angle isGronroos [12] who isidentifying severalreasons against usingthe 4Ps as a planningtool for marketing. Heargues that the modelhas become amanagementstraightjacketvictimising not onlythe marketing theorybut also the customer.Godin [18] considersalso the MarketingMix as an obsoleteproduct of the massmarketing, unable topromote thepersonalisationrequired by modernmarketing.

2. The need fornew E-commerceconceptualframeworks

Essentialdifferences betweenthe virtual andphysical commercehave prompted callsfor a re-evaluation of the existing marketingprinciples, whendealing with E-Commerce.According toHoffman and Novak [19] . . . marketersshould focus on

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playing an active role in the constructionof new organic paradigms for facilitatingcommerce in the emerging electronicsociety underlying the Web, rather thaninfiltrating the existing primitive me-chanical structures. Such suggestions,added to the objections raised on the roleof the Marketing Mix as the basis of thephysical Marketing Management, haveprompted several academics andpractitioners to question the potential roleof the 4P model for the virtualMarketing. These questions arefrequently debated in E-Commerceforums and in a growing number of marketing management textbooks, aca-demic papers and press articles. Twomain streams are visible in this literature:

(1) Most writersaddressingprimarilypractitionersaudiences, areusually focussedon outlining andoptimising themanagementprocesses byiden-tifying bestE-Commercepractices [2025]or advising onWeb design tips[26]. A basicallydescriptive andprocess-focusedmethodology is

followed byChaffey et al. [27]outlining the

E-Commercemarketingplanning as aprocess based oneight decisionpoints. Seybold[28] had earlierproposed a similarapproach whileOliver [29]identifies seven E-Commerce laws asthe basicparameters of theE-Commercestrategy.

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E. Constantinides / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 1 (2002) 57 76 59

(b) Contributions of academics andpractitioners focused on E-Commerce marketing have yielded agrowing list of articles and books.Some writers focus their attention onvalue creation [30,31] while othersdistillate on the differences andsimilarities between traditionalcommercial practices and Webbusiness models [32] or processes[33]. Angehrn [34] proposes astrategic model of a merelydescriptive and explanatory nature,suitable for diagnosing the maturityand strategies of E-Commercesectors as well as structuring anddetecting opportunities in individualcompanies. Another modellingapproach is suggested by Huizingh[35] who delimits the onlinecommerce issues by the StrategicInternet Applications Model(SIAM), the Customer InteractionCycle (CIC) and the Accessibility,Design, Offer and Fulfilment(ADOF) model. Lawrence et al. [36,p. 79] propose the Marketing Mix asa proper basis of E-Commercemarketing activities.

Despite the growing attention onstrategic model-ling there are still,according to Chaffey et al. [27, p. 152], . . . a few appraisals of methods of imple-menting an Internet marketing plan froman academ-ic viewpoint. Writers

attempting to develop such a viewpointoften choose for a conservative approachby resorting on established MarketingManagement concepts and suggestingways to convert existing frameworks intousable concepts for the online Marketing.This approach often emphasises the roleof the Marketing Mix 4Ps model as theproper basis of the MarketingManagement planning in virtualenvironments. A number of writers

suggest that the 4Pmodel could constitutethe conceptualplatform for E-Commerce marketingplanning virtually un-changed [36,37].Others suggest a fewtransforma-tions inorder to adapt themodel to the digitalmarketplace [38],while OConnor andGalvin [39] arediagnosing Marketingin a condition of amid-life crisis andargue that newtechnologies canimprove and optimisethe 4Ps-basedmanagement process.The obviousexplanation for theloyalty of manywriters to the 4Ps

model is itsundisputed record,intrinsic simplicityandcomprehensiveness,making it a verypopular tool amongpractising marketersas explained earlier.

3. The traditionalMarketing Mixparadigm isincompatible with

E-Commerce

The Internet, ascommercialenvironment, em-braces some of themost substantialdevelopments thattook place in themarketing landscapeof the last 40 years.

The virtualmarketplaceepitomises theevolution process fromthe mass markets of the 1960s to theincreasinglysegmented, niche-domi-nated or evenmass-customised,highly interactive and

global markets of today. The effect of thenew setting is that thefocus of marketers hasshifted towardssatisfying individualand personalisedrather than collectiveneeds while placingmuch more emphasison customer retention,

customer service andrelationship marketing.Such changes followclosely the shiftingbehaviour patterns of new gener-ations of individualistic, betterinformed, wired andwealthier consumers.Consumers

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increasingly de-manding more controlover the marketing process [40], valuethe personalised approach and preferproducts or services that can be promptlyadapted to their constantly changingneeds.

Having analysed the criticism on therole of the Marketing Mix as themarketing paradigm in the physicalworld one could argue that this criticismis reconfirmed when attempting to applythe 4Ps in the virtual environment. Oneobvious weakness is the fact that themodel does not explicitly include anyinteractive elements [12, p. 324], whileinteractivity is the basis of the InternetMarketing. It can be argued furthermorethat two more important points areindicating the limitations of the 4Ps in

the virtual marketing.(1) Applying the

Marketing Mix modelin tradi-tional marketsimplies that the four Pparameters of themodel delimit fourdistinct, well-definedand independentmanagementprocesses. Despite theconsistent effort bymany physicalbusinesses to dealwith the 4Ps in anintegrated manner,the drafting butmainly theimplementation of the

P policies remainslargely the task of various departmentsand persons within theorganisation. Evenmore significantthough is the fact thatthe physical customeris typicallyexperiencing theindividual effects of each of the 4Ps indiverse occasions,times and places, evenin cases thatcompanies take greatpains to fully integratetheir marketingactivities internally.

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Unlike the physical world , in thevirtual mar -ketplace the four elementsof the mix are not detached from eachother . They are heavily interrelated and for all intents and purposes

jointly experienced by the onlinecustomer , being merely parts of thecontent of the Company Customer interface , better known as the WebSite .

This suggestion has importantimplications for the customers buyingbehaviour. While the traditional buyerbehaviour model [41, p. 161] considersthe 4Ps as the controllable factors likelyto influence the conventional consumersbuying decisions, it is the WebExperiencethe Web experience is thecon-sumers impression about the onlinecompany [42] the factor under themarketers direct control likely toinfluence the buying behaviour of theonline consumer. From the customersperspective the Web site depicts the veryaspects likely to prompt his reaction tothe online offering, the 4Ps being merelya part of the site based Web Experienceand as such simultaneously experiencedby the customer [48].

3.1. Product

The Web site is the prime onlineproduct and brand of the onlineorganisation. The customer should

become aware, develop interest and beper-suaded to search for the site / productbefore going on looking into thecompanys detailed online offering.

3.2. Price

The majority of commercial sitesfunction as price lists for the companysphysical product assortment. Besidesthat, the Web site is perceived by the

online prospect andcustomer as a costelement (due toconnectivitycost,transaction costs,time and oppor-tunitycost). Although thiscosts will be in mostcases lower than thecost of performingthese activitiesphysically, thecustomer willcompare these withthe cost of findingother onlinecompetitors and doingbusiness with them.

3.3. Promotion

The Web site is thepromotional mediumas well as thepromotional content.The communicational

and emotional impactof the Web site is animportant part of theWeb experience and amajor factor inattracting andretaining onlinecustomers.

3.4. Place

For the majority of E-Commerce casesinvolving any form of online interactiontransaction, the Website is the counter,helpdesk and salesoutlet where the actualcommercial or non-commercialtransaction takesplace. Moreover forproducts delivered indigital form (music,information, softwareand online services)the site fulfills eventhe task of the physical

distributor by allowingthe product deliveryonline. The aboveanalysis suggests thatattempting to approachthe 4Ps in isolation inthe Web environmentis not a sound strategy,since online customersby and largeexperience them in asimultaneous anddirect manner, aselements of the Website-based customerexperience. ForInternet customers thisexperience willinclude many other

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elements like findability of the site, easeof navigation, prompt replies to e-mailsand easy to use shopping and paymentprocedures and will be the criterion forthe customer to come back to the site ornot.

(2) The 4Ps Marketing Mix paradigmhas been developed as an operationalrather than a strategic tool andconventional marketers have alwaystreated it as such. In the physical worldthe strategic management aspects are ineffect separated from the commercialoperations due to the very nature of thestrategic management itself. Mostmarketers regard therefore the corporatestrategy as an external vari-able over-imposed to their marketing mix.

Applying the 4PsMarketing Mix modelas the sole planningplatform for E-Commerce operationscould mean that thestrategic aspectswould remainunderexposed ordisregarded altogether.An option for definingthe strategy of anonline organisation isto follow theconventional strategicmanagementprocedure [43,44] buttwo hitches make such

an option oftenunattractive for Webmarketers:

1 Theconventionalstrategic processis by nature timeconsuming andtime in the Webis often in shortsupply.

2 The volatile,fast changingand constantlyevolving natureof the Internet

can rapidly

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outdate conventionally developedstrategies making them abruptlyobsolete [29].

The customary strategic managementprocesses is in other words timeconsuming, inflexible and in effectinappropriate for the dynamic andunpredict-able online markets. Theshortcomings of the classic strategicapproach can explain the obviousaversion for strategic planning by themajority of dot.coms [45]. Most brick-and-mortars entering the Web on theother hand would presumably find itmore convenient to apply their existingstrategic model to their Web operationsrather than delineating a new E-Commerce strategy. In some cases such apolicy is sensible, in other cases not.British Airways (BA) learned the hardway that competing online on the basis of the existing strategic model with Easy-Jet.com and other value-oriented airlineswas im-possible. After the initial poorresults of the new BA Web site as a ticketcounter the company drafted a newstrategic approach by launching the low-cost offshoot airline Go to compete in theonline low-budget market.

A way of solving the Web strategyproblem is by integrating the onlinestrategic planning into the operationalmarketing planning, this way buildingmuch more flexibility into the system.This would mean introducing an E-

Commerce micro-strategy that while inline with the corporate physical strategywould be flexible and easily adaptable tofast chang-ing online conditions.

4. The Web-Marketing Mix (WMM)model

The Web-Marketing Mix modelidentifies the online marketing critical

elements andaddresses the main E-Commerce strategic,operational andorgani-sational issuesin an integrated andmanageable manner.The WMM is anappropriate basis forthe Web Strategic andMarketing planning,especially intended forclick-and-mortarsoperating in the in theBusiness-to-Consumersegment. The tool isdesigned primarily forconventional, physicalcorporations planningto establish an Internetpresence. The modelcan be also useful topure-plays or existingonline organisations inre-evaluating their E-Commerce presence,provided that suchorganisations already

have or areconsidering having aphysical presence nextto the virtual one.

The WebMarketing Mixapproaches themarketing planningprocess in an integralmanner, on differentlevels:

On strategic levelthe model identifiesthe main strategicissues to be addressedin order to build up aflexible, value addingand potentiallysuccessful E-Commerceorganisation. Themodel emphasises thefact that onlineactivities should beassigned their ownstrategic objectives inline with the corporateones. Next to that itrecommends thehighest possibleassimilation of theonline venture into thephysical corporatecommercial strategy inorder to capitalise onthe existingorganisationsstrengths and competi-tive advantages.

On operationallevel the WMMproposes a meth-odfor drafting realisticand consistent Webmarket-ing plans. Theprime objective of theoperational planningis the development of

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a market-oriented, effective, flexible andunique online presence.

On organisational level the WMMaddresses the issue of building up theproper organisational, human andknowledge infrastructure necessary for asmooth online operation. The modelidentifies areas where a high degree of integration of the virtual business intothe corporate infrastructure is necessaryin order to maximise the synergiesbetween the virtual and physical businessand improve the overall organisa-tionalefficiency.

Next to these three main focus areasthe WMM denotes the need for furtherimproving the competi-tiveness of theonline organisation by seeking syner-gies

with complementorsi.e., third parties orindustries. Thesecomplementary firmshave beenrecommended byShapiro and Varian[46] as the sixth forceto be added to Portersfive competitive forcesmodel in order to fullyunderstand the com-petitive strength andcompetitive positionof firms operating ininformation markets.

Finally the modelidentifies the main

technological andadministrative issuesthat will underpin E-Com-merce activities.

The above-mentioned issuesdescribe the succes-sive steps of the Webcommercial planningmeth-odology and areclassified in fourgroups. Each group islabelled by a wordbeginning with theletter S namely theScope, Site, Synergyand System

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(Exhibit 1). The content of each S-groupis based on the previous steps butfeedback during the planning process isnecessary for fine-tuning of each step.The final resultthe Web Strategic andMarketing Plan will become the basisof the Internet project, the groundwork of a process including several more stages:the development of the technical andorgani-sational infrastructure, thetechnical implementation, the testing of processes and the commercialisation of the Web site.

Finally, it should be mentioned that thefast changing character of the Web makesit imperative that the planing procedure isfrequently repeated the frequencydepending on the branch, the marketdevelopments and the competitivereactionsin order to maintain thecompetitive advantage of the onlineorganisation overtime.

5. Description of the Web-MarketingMix model

The Web-Marketing Mix identifiesfour online marketing strategic,operational, organisational and technicalcritical factors: the Scope (strategicissues), the Site (operational issues), theSynergy (integration into the physicalprocesses) and the System (techni-calissues) (Table 1).

5.1. Scope

This content of this element is of primarily strategic character and outlinesthe decisions to be made on four areas:

(1) the strategic and operationalobjectives of the online venture;

(2) the market definition including

measuring themarket potentialand theidentification / classifica-tion of the potentialcompetitors,visitors andcustomers of thesite;

(3) the degree of readiness of theorganisation forE-Commerce;

(4) the strategic role

of E-Commercefor the organi-sation.

More specifically:

5.1.1. ObjectivesThe online

activities must pursuetheir own, clearlydefined strategicobjectives, in line withthe

corporate mission andstrategic goals. Thisway the onlineoperation will be ableto generate additionalvalue and assist thephysical organisationto attain the corporateobjectives.

Online strategicobjectives do notessentially differ fromthe traditional onesand are subject to thesame quality criteria.Such objectives canbe: enhancingprofitability,improving thecompany image,raising revenue,reducing operationalcosts, expanding the

customer base,increasing thecustomer retention oraugmenting theproduct and brandawareness among

new groups. The Webobjectives will formthe basis for outliningthe operationaltrajectory of the E-Commerce venture,based on differenttactics orcombinations of tactics. Increasingrevenues, for example,could be realised by

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online promoting the company brandsand company products and expand-ingthe brand awareness while at the sametime launching promotional activities inorder to attract new and existingcustomers to the physical sales outlets.The same objective could also bereached by a retention-oriented siteaiming at improving cus-tomer serviceand customer relations or even byestablishing an online sales outlet.

5.1.2. Market analysisIt is of vital importance for Web

companies to identify their marketdomain, market potential, the profiles of potential customers and the onlinestrate-gies of competitors. The globalcharacter of the Internet, the fast growth

of online businessesand users numbers,the changingdemographics of theonline population andthe limited familiarityof many mainstreammanagers with E-Commerce makes themarket analysis achallenging task. Theanalysis, however,will yield a clearpicture as to themarket size, customerprofiles, competitivesituation and futuretrends. It will alsoreveal new market

oppor-tunities, assistthe budgeting processand provide creativeideas as basis for theonline marketingactivities.

Identifying thepotential onlinecustomer and his orher needs is the task often posing mostdifficulties. This dueto the fact that thepotential online buyercan be quite a differentindividual from thephysical

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Table 1The Web-Marketing Mix

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customer who traditionally buys thecompanys products and services. Webclients can be persons with differentbuying motives, cultural backgrounds,needs, demographic, technographic orlifestyle pro-files from the conventionalcustomers. Moreover, online clients canbe located outside the geographical areaswhere the company normally operates, afact by itself raising serious logistic, legaland adminis-trative problems.

In case that market research data is notavailable, a number of initial, basicassumptions must be made as to the mostlikely profiles, needs, motives, attitudesand demographics of the potential Webcustomers. These assumptions will helpthe online marketer to identify potentialmarket segments and decide the initialsite positioning, unique sellingproposition, style, design, structure,product assortment policies and pricingstrategy. Assumptions made in this initialstage should be constantly refined usingonline as well as physically collected

customer and market information.

5.1.3. Internal analysisAdoption of new technologies can

have sustaining or disruptive effects onorganisations, depending on the firmsresources, processes and values [8]. Theinternal analysis should be focused onthese three factors in order to identify thedegree of company readiness toassimilate E-Commerce and assess the

possible effects of it on the organisationalvalue chain [47]. Based on the internalanalysis the man-agement will furtherrefine the Web strategic objec-tives andwill identify the proper Strategic Role(see Section 5.1.4) of the online activity.The manage-ment will obtain a clearinsight into to the real costs of theoperation not only in financial terms butalso in terms of disruption of theestablished physical processes and

infrastructures. It islikely that in somecases the outcome of the internalassessment will be aNo-Go decision, duefor example to thehigh degree of organisationaldisruption, low addedvalue or extremelyhigh expenditureagainst low expectedbenefits. In such casesthe managementshould consideralternative options,one of the possiblealternatives beingseparating the Weboperations from theexisting corporatebody. While such astrategy seems oftento be an attractivesolution, such options

must be always treatedwith caution [9].

5.1.4. Strategic roleThe strategic role

describes the tasksassigned to the onlineactivity and will bereflected on thefirms online model.

Web marketers canchoose between anumber of genericstrategic roles, themost common beingthe informational,educational, serviceoriented, promo-tional, relational andtransactional ones.The actual strategicrolethe businessmodelis frequentlybased on acombination of moreof these generictypes.

An example: thestrategic role assignedto the Web presence of an insurance companycan be an in-

formational one (anonline brochure), i.e.,simply informing thesite visitors about thecompany and assistingpotential customers tofind information aboutits products and dealer

network. The role,however, will be atransactional one (anonline insuranceagent) if the companychooses to sell itsproducts online.

The strategic roleas defined here, willhave important

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consequences for the site identity, posi-tioning, style and atmosphere, content,structure, functionality, organisational / technical infrastructure and any otherelement of the Web Experience. Theobjective of the E-Marketer must be todifferentiate the site and create a WebUnique Selling Proposition appealing tothe target group(s), conveying customervalue and consolidating competitiveadvantages. Such a proposition must be:

1 proprietary, hard to be imitatedby competitors;

2 able to produce winwinsituations with the existing

businesspartners;

3 flexibleenough to beeasily adapted tochanging marketconditions andexternaldevelopments.

5.2. Site

The Web Site isthe companycustomer interface,the prime source of

customer experienceand there-fore themost importantcommunicationelement of E-Commerce.

As explainedearlier, the Web site isthe virtual productdisplay, promotionalmaterial, pricecatalogue and sales / distribution point.The Web site istherefore thefunctional platform of communica-

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tion, interaction and transaction with theWeb cus-tomer.

The prime mission of the Web Site isto attract traffic, establish contact withthe online target mar-kets and brand theonline organisation. Next to this genericmission the Web site can be assigned amix of commercial objectivesbut oftenalso non-com-mercial ones like personnelrecruitment, shareholders info, etc.andtasks, depending on the previouslydefined strategic role. Some of thecommon site objectives and tasks are:

communicating and promoting theE-business image, labels andproducts / services;

providing company information tocustomers and stakeholders;

1 effectively communicating thefirm physical or virtual promotionalactivities;

2 providing customer service andhelpdesk func-tionality in order toenhance the customer loyalty andretention;providing sales leads and customer /

market data;

1 allowing customers tocommunicate and interact with thecompany as well as creating onlinecontent;

2 allowing direct sales andfacilitating online payments(transactional sites).

A number of Internet-specific aspectslike domain names, site and transactionsecurity as well as privacy policies arecritical parameters of the Web site andthe Web experience. Online privacy andprotection of personal data are oftenoverlooked by online businesses despitethe fact that millions of consumers seemto be very concerned about the way theirpersonal information is used. Accordingto Forrester Research this lack of

confidence repre-sented as much as$12.4 bln in lost salesin the year 2000 [45].

It is obvious thatthe Web site isexpected to fulfill avariety of roles notcommon to any singleconven-tionalmarketing instrument.Assigning roles to aWeb site whilemaintaining itsfunctionality and userfriendliness is adelicate processdepending not only onthe available fundsand technologicaloptions but foremoston good knowledge onthe potential cus-tomers motives,needs, expectationsand behaviour.

Special attentionmust be finallyplaced to aspects

like the sitefindability and sitespeed, keeping inmind the averageusers skills, availablebandwidth and othertechnical limitations.

5.3. Synergy

For the purpose of this analysis wedefine term Synergyas the integratingprocesses necessaryfor

realising the virtualorganisationsobjectives. Suchsynergies can developbetween the virtualand the physicalorganisation as well asbetween the virtualorganisation and thirdparties.

The abovedefinition implies thatthe following analysisis appropriate fororganisations withboth physical andvirtual presence, i.e.,brick-and-mortarsengaging in E-Commerce or Internetcompanies willing toestablish and developsome type of physicalcommercial andorganisationalpresence next to thevirtual one.

This Synergy factorembraces a widerange of issuesdivided into threecategories: The Front

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Office, the Back Office and the ThirdParties.

5.3.1. The Front OfficeThe Web industry usually refers to the

front office as the web site itself. In thecontext of the Web-Marketing Mix modelthe Front Office refers to theconventional corporate communicationand distribu-tion strategies. The FrontOffice element underlines the need toexamine and identify ways that wouldfacilitate the full integration of the Weboperation into the companyscommunication plan, corporate style aswell as the existing physical retailchannels.

Incumbents intending to establish an

online pres-ence mustanalyse the extent,magnitude and finan-cial cost of theadjustments necessaryin order toaccommodate andintegrate thecommunication of thevirtual activities intotheir currentpromotional plan. Theeffort must be focusedon utilising existingcommunicationstrategies, brands,tools and channels inorder to promote and

support the Weboperation during theintroduction stage. Theobjective of thiscommunication is toinform existing as wellas potential customersabout the future Webactivities and outlinethe advantages of doing business online.

The need forintegration andsynergy between theonline and the physicalcommunication plan isobvious. Utilisingexisting promotionalactivities and

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capitalising on embedded customergoodwill is econ-omical, less timeconsuming and more effective thanlaunching new promotional campaignswith the purpose of establishing newcommercial concepts and brandidentities. Furthermore existingcustomers are more sensitive than non-customers are to com-panycommunication and most probablywilling to make use of the onlinefunctionality.

The synergy of the online operationwith the Front-Office activities willobviously not be limited to theintroduction stage of the E-Commerceproject. One should expect that in thelong run in the majority of cases thedependence of the virtual business on thephysical business will be graduallyreduced while the dependence of thephysical busi-ness on the web will mostlikely increase. A mature onlineoperation will be able to support thecorporate marketing strategy as a low-

cost source of customer and market dataas well as a retail outlet and an efficientcommunication instrument.

In addition to the promotionalintegration the web operation must beable to operate along the existingdistribution framework adding value to it.Traditional distribution channels areoften resisting on line sales fearful of profit cannibalisation. Empiricalevidence, however, reveals examples of

successful integration of virtual businesswith existing distribution channelswithout serious disruption of existingbusiness [7]. A good example (butcertainly not the only one) are mail-orderor telephone sales firms who have beenable to fully utilise existing logisticsinfrastructures since the similaritiesbetween their conventional and virtualbusiness models are obvious [6]. Thetask of the Web marketer is to find ways

to minimise thechannel conflicts byrecognising possiblemutual benefits andtranslating them intowinwin situations forall parties.

5.3.2. The Back Office

This Back Officesynergy embraces awide set of issues,including:

1. the integration of E-Commercephysical supportactivities(customerservice, orderprocessing,fulfilment andreverse logistics)into the existingorganisationalprocesses;

2. the legacyintegration;

3. integration of theonline operationinto thecompanys valuesystem [43].

Making existingorganisationalinfrastructuresavailable to the onlineoperation is a moresensible option thancrating new ones. Nextto the obvious costaspects, the onlineorganisation is likelyto benefit fromeconomies of scaleand learning effects.Whenever changes inexisting infrastructuresare necessary, in orderto meet the usuallyhigher qualitystandards of the Weboperations, suchchanges will bebeneficial for theorganisation as awhole, phys-ical andvirtual. Therefore, E-Commerce canbecome a catalyst of organisational re-engineering andchange. In more detail:

1. Organisationalintegration.Integration intothe existingsupportoperations isnecessary for theonline firm inorder to be ableto provide the

fulfilment and

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Back Office support expected byWeb customers. Back Officeefficiency is essen-tial from the verymoment the Web operation goes liveand customer data, queries andonline orders begin streaming in.With competitors only one click away, customers disappointed orfrustrated by poor fulfilment andservice need to put very little effortto bring their business elsewhere.

Online service, the Achilles heelof many Internet businesses, is anextensive domain where a widevariety of problems and situationscan occur. Poor Web servicepractices range from simple failure toreact or overdue reaction to customere-mails to more complex problemslike frustrating ordering and returnprocedures, lack of order tracking,

inefficienthelpdesk

support, poorafter-salesservice. Failureto meet deliverydeadlines, non-delivered goods,incor-rect orinferior qualityproducts anderroneousinvoicing arealso commonfulfilment flaws.

The Webmanager shouldevaluate thephys-ical ValueChain [9] and itscapacity to

facilitate the WebBack Officeneeds. Such anevaluation,utilising thepreviouslyconducted Scopeanaly-sis (seeSection 5.3.3),will revealpossibleweaknesses andoutline thechangesnecessary inorder to upgradethe existing Back Office to thenecessary qualitylevel. Constantmonitor-

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ingrequiring efficient auditingmechanisms, benchmarking andclose monitoring of customerbehaviourmust detect flaws andinitiate cor-rective action.

2. Legacy integration. Integration of online ac-tivities into the existingInformation Infrastruc-tureincluding Management InformationSys-tems (MIS), Efficient ResourcePlanning (ERP) Systems, databasesand data warehouses is vital for themanagement and administration of E-Commerce activities. Efficientutilisation of the company IT legacywill result in cost advan-tages,improved decision-making and moreeffi-cient information management.

3. Integration with the company ValueSystem. In cases of transactionalsites the Back Office integrationprocess should expand beyond thecompany boundaries and include allexternal participants in the firmvalue system: inter-mediaries,

suppliers of raw materials and anyother parties directly or indirectlyaffecting the production, distributionand logistic processes. Onlineordering, typical for transactionalsites, requires Efficient ConsumerResponse (ECR) strategies:synchronised production, JIT andefficient inventory management.Such tactics demand a high degreeof efficiency within the Value

System. Moreover Intranet andExtranet replacing expensiveproprietary EDI and EFT systems asfunctional platforms will allow costreductions and higher efficiency.

5.3.3. Third partiesNext to the synergies described above,

success in the virtual marketplace oftenrequires co-operation with Internet

partners outside theorganisation and itsvalue system. Thisnetworking aim atstrengthening thecompetitive positionof virtualorganisations and thenetwork must be seenas complementary tothe traditionalpromotional activities.Candidate partners forsuch online synergiesare:

Search enginesand Webdirectories.Thesepartnerships canincrease theexposure of theonlineorganisation intothe Webmarketplace byallowing onlinecustomers tolocate and easilyaccess the site.Learning the waysearch enginesand Webdirectoriesoperate anddelineating

search enginestrategies canresult insubstantialincrease of theWeb siteexposure,attracting a

substantialpercentage of Web users whouse such toolswhen searchingfor onlineproducts,information andservices. Thesearch enginestrategy is basedon a combinationof activeregistration andthe effective useof techniques andprogrammingtools (for examplemeta-tags)increasing thechances of theWeb site to belisted in highpositions insearch queries. Asound searchengine strategyprovides finallyfor mechanismsallowing thefrequentevaluation of thesite findabilityand if necessaryfast correc-tiveaction.

Affiliatenetworks.Affiliatenetworking is a

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5%) are perceived by manyadvertisers as low but the questionwhether the click-through rate is asufficient basis for evaluating theeffect of online advertisement in itstotality, has not been fully answeredyet.

The selection criteria of partnersfor online advertising are obviouslymore stringent that the criteria forappointing affiliate partners whileefforts to relate fees to actual andmeasurable results will sooner orlater become the subject of a widerindustry debate.

Next to the careful selection of partners other success factors of online advertising are theoriginality, capturing power andtiming of the advertising copy.

5.3.4. SystemThis factor identifies the technological

issues as well as the site servicing issuesto be addressed by the E-Commercemanagement. In the early days of thecommercial Web, technology was widelyconsid-ered as the main driving forcebehind the Internet growth. This factoften led to technology overkill,undermining the strategic andcommercial principles that shouldunderpin any online organisation. Tech-nology overdoses can result in customerconfusion, dissatisfaction, diminishingWeb experience and lost business.Despite the fact that ICT remains thefunctional backbone of the E-Commerce,the role of technology must be put intoperspective and technol-ogy should neverbecome the starting point of onlineactivities.

The main areas where the System-related deci-sions are to be made are:

1 Web siteadministration,maintenanceand ser -vice.Availability of technical andservice per-sonnel on a 24-h, 7-days a week basis is the basicrequirement fora reliable site.

2 Web server hosting and choice of the

Internet ServiceProvider.External hostingis a popularoption mainlyfor small andmedium-size or-ganisations.

3 Siteconstruction.Constructing anabove theaverage,transactional E-Commerce siterequires asubstantialinitialinvestment.Outsourcing thisactivity is usual,there arehowever many

edit-

ing tools availablefor low-budgetsolutions.Presentationquality, userfriendliness, easynavigation,browserindependence andspeed areimportant successfactorsdetermining thechoice of programming anddevelopment tools.

Content management.Importantelements of contentmanagement arethe frequentreviewing andupdating of thecontent inresponse toconstantlychanging customerneeds, marketconditions,competitivestrategies andmarket trends aswell as thedecentralisation of the Web siteupdatingprocedures. Thelater requirestraining andempowerment of employees of differentdepartments inmanaging the sitedata under theirresponsibility and

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is needed for avoiding bureaucraticprocedures harmful for the contentquality.Site security. Protection against anyforms of malicious attacks as well astransaction and customer data safetyare paramount concerns of E-Commerce managers and onlinecustomers alike. Identifying the propersecurity level for each content categoryis a sensitive issue since increasingsecurity levels usually result in re-duced functionality or diminishinguser friendli-ness. A good approach iscustomising security levels on thedifferent site elements thereforeavoiding unnecessary safety overdoseswhile the sensitive data is adequatelyprotected with minimum functionalitysacrifice.Transaction functionality. The mainelements here are the construction of

communicationinterfaces, thechoice of thetransaction andpaymenttechnology, thetesting andadministra-tion of the system.

1 Collection, processing and dissemination of the Web site trafficand transactiondata. These type of data fulfill, next totheir administrativesignificance, animportantcommercial role asthe vital input forevaluating the siteperform-ance,

testing new ideasor assessing theeffect of promotionalactivities.

2 Systembackup . A soundback-upmechanism isvital for Internetorganisationsexpected to beoperational on anaround-the-clock availability basis.Technicalproblems andsystem failuresmust be quicklyaddressed withthe minimumoperationaldisruption.

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Finally the site technical managementmust regu-larly and in collaboration withthe commercial management identify andevaluate new technologies and newavailable products that could upgrade thesite performance, enhance the customerexperience and effectuate operationaleconomies.

6. Implementing the Web-MarketingMix: two exploratory cases

6.1. The background of the casestudies

During the second half of 1998 makinguse of a sabbatical leave I accepted theinvitation of a con-sulting firm in Athens,Greece, to work as E-Com-merceconsultant for a period of 6 months. Thisappointment was an excellentopportunity to test in the field theapplicability and practical value of the 4Smodel as the basis of E-Commercestrategic planning. The two casespresented are summarizing the mainissues resolved during the planningprocess of the E-Commerce activities,based on the Web-Marketing Mix model.The planning process pro-duced astrategic and operational blueprint thatbecame the basis of the whole E-Commerce project.

The case studies explain how the 4Sframework has been applied in the field

and outline the main empiricalconclusions drawn from these particularprojects. The purpose of the case studiesis assist the reader to understand how themethodology works rather than evaluatethe actual commercial or other results of the online activities in question.

6.2. Case 1: the ABC Portfolio* case

6.2.1. The Web presence of ABC

Portfolio*ABC Portfolio* is a

Portfolio Managementfirm based in Athens,Greece. The firm wasat that time a newplayer in the Greek financial market andcom-mencedoperations in 1998.The company manage-ment decided tointroduce a corporateweb site that would belaunchedsimultaneously withthe first of thecompanys products,the ABC MutualFund*.

The 4S Web-Marketing Mixframework was usedas the platform fordrafting the Strategicand Market-ing planfor the companyonline activities. Thisplan would providethe framework fordeveloping and

commercialising thecorporate Web siteand inte-grating theonline with thetraditional companyoperations.

Prior to theintroduction of thefirst of ABC MutualFund* products, thecompany launched amass mediaadvertising campaign.The objective of thecampaign was tocreate brand andproduct awarenessand to position theABC Mutual Fund*as a new investmentfund managed by ahighly skillful anddynamic managementteam. Next to themanage-mentqualities other keywords of thiscampaign were theterms Teamwork,Information,Openness andReliability.

The basic problemsto be addressed indesigning andcommercialising thecorporate site were:

how the Webpresence can addvalue to thecompany andwhat role the siteshould play as acompany strategicelement;how the Web site

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could attract and retain visitors;how the Web operations would be

evaluated.

Having defined these problem areas adetailed strategic and marketing plan wasdrafted based on the 4S framework. Dueto the limited time available, most of therequired market and customer infor-mation was obtained by means of desk research and expert interviews.

The main elements of the plan basedon the 4Ss were:

6.2.1.1. Scope (strategy)Potential site visitors would be

portfolio managers, shareholders, private

investors and thepress. The targetmarket was primarilythe Greek market butalso English-speakingindividuals.Considering thenumber and profilesof Internet users atthat time in Greecethe objective as to theaverage number of potential visitors of the site was estimatedto be between 1000and 5000 daily.

One of the main

difficulties at the timewas the limitedInternet experienceamong the majority of the potential users atthat time. Mostpotential userspreferred thetraditional sources of information andtraditional ways of contact withinvestment funds.Turning to the Internetcould be a difficultstep if that involvedcomplicated and time-consuming processes.

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The main motive for visiting the sitewas thought to be finding reliable and upto date market in-formation and access tomarket analyses that would reduceinvestment risks taken by visitors:portfolio managers, investors andstockholders. Other type of informationinteresting to the potential visitor wouldbe company news, and the actual price of the funds stock closing price. Next tothat site visitors should be able to find adaily update on the funds net asset valueand portfolio composition. The last twoele-ments were a major innovation for theGreek market, considering thatinvestment funds are obliged by law topublish this data on quarterly basis.

Major factors influencing the sitevisitor to use it and return to the sitewould be the high quality of theinformation found in the site as well asthe speed, easy navigation and userfriendliness.

The main strategic objectives of theABC Web site were formulated as

follows:

(1) To become the prime source of market infor-mation about the AthensStock Exchange.

(2) To become a source of companyvalue as a promotional and relationalsite. This should be achieved byassisting the overall marketing effortin communicating the companybrand and products as well as

attracting and retaining a number of site users that would become, onbasis of their own consensus, theprime prospects for future companyproducts.

6.2.1.2. Site (operational aspects / webexperience)

Based on the above strategic analysis itwas decided that the site experience

should be based onthe followingelements:

Informationwould be thestrategicproduct offeredby the site. TheUnique SellingProposi-tion of the site becamethe Power of Infor-mation, aposition thatwould appeal tothe target group.Openness,honesty andrespect for thecustomer werealso basicelements of thesite positioning.The site designshould allowease of use andvery speedydownloading(less than 20 s)of the home pageand the otherweb pages. Allin-formationshould beaccessible with amaximum of

three mouseclicks.

1 The sitecontent would becontinuouslyupdated.

2 The sitewould bebilingual (Greek and En-glish).

3 In order toincrease thecustomerretention the sitewould offer tofrequent users theoption of getting

access to asecond layer of specialised andhigh-qualityinformationprovided by theanalysts of thecompany bybecomingmembers

of the ABCClub*.Membership tothe club wouldprovide userswith a number of attractiveprivileges. Nextto the retentionelement of thisstrategy, directpromotionalactivitiesregarding futureproducts would bepossible using theclub database.

A secondinstrument of customerretention wouldbe an educationalsection providing

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a frequently updated educationalcontent partly based on actualcustomer questions and inter-ests.

6.2.1.3. Synergy (organisationalaspects)

(a) Front Office. The Web site becamea clearly visible part of the promotionaland PR campaign prior to the launchingof the fund and one of the basic elementsof the official presentation to the public.The site address was also visible to alldocuments and communication materialof the com-pany. An extended direct mailcampaign would support the siteintroduction.

(b) Back Office. A team of analystswould be responsible for the updating thesite content, daily market comments and

analyses while amarketing team wouldhandle the contactswith the users, andwould be responsiblefor the management of the ABC Clubdatabase and theonline commercialactivities.

(c) Third parties.An extensive effortwas made forregistering the siteURL with the majorsearch engines, meta-search engines andWeb directories. Alsoadvertising banners

were placed in anumber of high trafficweb sites.

6.2.1.4. System(technical and technological as -

pects)

Important elementof the site design wasthe browserindependency andsimplicity. It wasdecided that forreasons of efficiencythe company shouldhost the site itself.Important aspects tobe addressed

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were the content management, thecontinuous techni-cal improvement andthe management of the incom-ing userinformation and inquiries. The securityrequirements were moderate at the initialstage with the only protected area beingthe ABC Club* section. Also specialattention was placed in moni-toring of the site performance.

6.3. Creative process and evaluation

Based on these guidelines a detailedsite map was drafted indicating the mainelements as well as the details of the sitecontent. In the initial form the site wasextremely simple to use as well as fast,some-thing that was obviously very muchappreciated by the user. The first majorrenovation of the site was done after ayear.

The combination of advertisement andPR as the main promotional instrumentsin combination with an originalpositioning proved to be fairly successful

and the site received a lot of freepublicity prior to the launching. The mostimportant elements of the evaluationsthat took place after the site launchingand later on were:

The 4S framework covers all majorstrategic and operational areas of theWeb operation of ABC Portfolio*.

1 The Strategic and Marketingplan based on the 4S framework

allowed the site designers toconcentrate on the technical aspectsof building the site, saving themfrom a lot of time in planning andresearch work. The constructiontime was very short.

2 The synergetic effect of thepromotional cam-paigns and the PRactivities attracted within 3 weeksan average of around the 16 000 hits

per day. Thisnumber was atthat time thehighest for aGreek commercial site(excluding thesites of InternetServiceProviders).

3 The ABCClub* becamehighly popular ina short time; thenumber of theregistered users

after a yearreached the 35000 persons.

1 The numberof the daily hitsafter a year wasclose to thenumber of theregistered ABCClub* users,indicating a high

degree of cus-tomer retention.

2 The group of users registered inthe ABC Club*

became a veryvaluable targetgroup for futureABC Portfolio*.

*ABC Portfolio,ABC Mutual Fundand ABC Club arealiases.

6.4. Case 2: theFidelity

Insurances** case

The FidelityInsurances** is a mid-sized Greek insuranceorganization with agood market positionand reputation. Thetime the FidelityInsurances** decidedto enter the E-Commerce arenacoincided with somedifficulties thecompany experiencedin marketing a line of innovative products(special types of insurances, servicesand credit cards, etc.),some of them uniqueto the Greek market.The existingdistribution channel(agents) was showinglow interest for thesenew products, that likemost innovations inthe services sector,required a lot of pusheffort and personalselling.

The Web projectwas the first seriousInternet operation of the company. The

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provide the agent network with salesleads, this way reducing the chances of channel conflict and ensur-ing thesupport of the network to the onlineproject. This database would be used alsofor direct market-ing and other types of traditional promotional ac-tivities.

(2) The competitive analysis indicatedthat all major insurance players in Greecehad already an online presence. A closerlook however revealed that the Web sitesof the vast majority of competitors weremuch less professional than one wouldexpect. A common element of almost all

sites was a brochure-like presentationwith massive texts, very slowdownloading times, limited interactionand no online transaction possibilities.The effort of most companies wasobviously to impress the online visitorsby presenting them with a bulk of infor-mation about the organisation, itsservices and financial achievements, infact doing nothing more than providingthe type of information that most web

users would find annoying or irrelevant.The product information was often basedon long texts, some-times containingeven the contract fine print.

(3) Research on the Internet usersdemographics was combined with thecompany information as to customerprofiles in order to identify market seg-ments and potential target groups. Thestudy iden-tified a number of prospectivetarget groups for the online products

among Fidelitys customer popula-tionand non-customer segments. The marketpo-tential was estimated to be the 4% of the Greek households at that time.

(4) The strategic function of the Webpresence was defined by a combinationof Transactional, Promo-tional andInformational roles, with themanagement placing more emphasis onthe first one of them. The study revealed

though, that theexpectations as toonline sales should bevery limited, given thestage of developmentof E-Commerce atthat time in Greece.This warning wasindeed confirmed bythe subsequentexperience.

The strategy asdescribed abovewould be re-viewed inregular intervalsconsidering the fastchanging marketconditions andtechnological de-velopments.

6.4.2. Site(operational aspects

/ web experience)Based on the above

strategic issues theoperational elementsof the study werefocused on identifyinga

number of elementslikely to play a majorrole in the site design.These elements were:

1 the onlinecustomerprofiles andtheir needs;

2 thecustomersmotives tosearch for andpur-chaseinsuranceproducts;

3 the waypotential sitevisitors are likelyto search theInternet for thesite products andbrowse theinformation in it;

4 the physicalversus the virtualinteraction pro-cess and theemotional issueslikely to affectthe customerexperience.

Based on theseaspects the followingsuggestions weredrafted:

(1) Security,Advice andReliability werethe genericconcepts thatwouldcommunicate the

sites emotionalpositioning.These attributes

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were also in line with the physicalcompany image.

(b) The Web presentation would bedifferentiated from the competitionby means of user friendli-ness, focuson the site visitors needs, value, andefficient service.

(c) Important elements of the WebExperience were the content, theinteractivity and the service offeredonline. Information about thecompany, its network and financialswas also available but only as abackground options.

(4) Since assurance products aretypically requiring personal selling

one of the site objectives was tosimulate as much as possible theconditions of

the physical interaction between thesales rep and the customer and toguide the online cus-tomer through

an interactiveprocess thatwould lead to thesuccessfulconclusion of anonline sale.

(e) Considering thetechnicallimitations of thattime, it wasevident thatmultimedia was afuture option andin the initial stagethe online pre-sentation was tobe based on moreconventional webtools. Importantelements of thepre-sentation

were:

Ease of navigation.Necessarycondition wasthat allavailableinformationcould beaccess-ible tothe site visitorwith amaximum of three mouseclicks. Asimple andvery easy touse start menuwould savetimeeliminating

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unnecessary searching while themaximum page download timeshould not exceed the 20 s for anaverage user.

Easy access to information aboutthe products and services. Theproduct information was to bepresented in three layers startingfrom a short description of theproduct, followed by a summaryof the main product attributes andin the third layer offering anextended product description forpotential customers interested indetails. Potential visitors couldidentify this way very early in thesearch process whether a specificproduct or service was interestingand minimize this way thesearching time.

In all information layers thecustomer had access to acalculation tool and an order / information request form. Thecustomer was also presented the

option to be contacted by a salesrep and ask for online assistancein filling in the order form.

Easy ordering procedures andspecial incen-tives (discount) fornew customers ordering productsonline were aiming at loweringthe threshold of engaging inonline transactions.

(6) An important issue was the selectionof a domain name. Since the original

Greek brand name translated inEnglish was yielding a dif-ficult toremember and write word, a newdomain name was found.

6.4.3. Synergy (organizationalaspects)

(1) Front Office integration. A detailedintroduction plan was drafted

combiningtraditional media(Direct Mail,advertisement,PR) andelectronic media(onlineadvertisement,multimedia pre-sentation) forsupporting thesite during thecommercialisationand the initialstage of its onlinepresence. Thecampaign was tobe fullycompatible withthe existing andfuture market-ingactivities. Themessage of thecampaign shouldbe focused onvalue andadvantages of doing businessonline that wouldbe attractive forthe target groups.The onlineactivity should bealso integrated asmuch as possibleto every futuretraditionalpromotionalaction in order toincrease themarket awarenessas to companysonline presence.

(2) Back officeintegration. Theinternal processes

and resources hadto be reviewed inorder to spot thepossible areas of conflict and theweak points of theexistingorganisation(partly) migratingto an online-basedenvironment. Thereview iden-tifiedthe mainorganizationalissues to be ad-dressed andproduced anumber of suggestionsfacilitating thesmooth integrationof the web activityinto the existingbusiness.Important topicsaddressed werethecommunicationpro-cess, theintegration of E-Commerce withinthe infrastructurelegacy, the siteadministration,order fulfilmentand the contentmanagement.Other essentialissues were theproblems of theonline customerservice and theefficient as well asfast handling of transactions,customer prob-lems and e-mails.Such issues

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indicated the need for forming aseparate E-Commerce organiza-tional unit. Finally special attentionwas placed on the management of the databank and the site traffic data.

(c) Third parties. The site was registeredwith all major web directories andsearch engines while specialattention was placed on increasingthe findability of the site by the, inthat time, growing number of meta-search engines. During theintroduction stage some onlineadvertisement activities aiming at thegreater possible exposure of thebrand would also take place.

6.5. System (technical and technological aspects)

The main technological parameters of

the project were notmuch different thanthe previous case,with a few newdimensions, namelythe settlement of theonline transactionsand the increasedsecurity re-quirements.

Other importantissues were thehosting of the system,that the company keptin-house rather thanoutsourcing it, thetechnical support of the E-Com-merceapplications and thecriteria for selecting

the designer andconstructor of the site.

6.6. Evaluation of the Fidelity

Insurance** project

FidelityInsurances** becamethe first Greek and oneof the pioneering sitesin Europe to offerinsurance services forsale on the Internet.Like the previous case,one of the mainadvantages of the 4Smethodology was theimportant time savingin site-

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building time and the realization of aninnovative and clearly positioned onlinepresentation. The site attracted a lot of attention in Greece and became anexample for other insurance sites.

Although no financial or traffic datahave been released the managementconsidered that the site had achievedmost of its strategic objectives, becominga valuable marketing tool andmaintaining its original, initial form foralmost 3 years. The long life cycle of thesite could be attributed to the fact that thecomprehensive strategic and operationalanalysis as the foundation of designingthe Fidelity Insurance** site, gave to thesite a long-term competitive advan-tage,saving substantial amounts by preventingfre-quent changes and experimentation.

**Fidelity Insurance is an alias

7. Summary

The paper reviews the criticism on the

role of the Marketing Mix 4Ps model asthe paradigm of the traditional marketingand evaluates its role in E-Commercedefined markets. The frequent criticismof the 4P Marketing Mix model as thebackbone of the traditional, physicalmarketing management is also applicableto online marketing management, whiletwo more factors further undermine theeffec-tiveness of the model as themarketing management platform in

virtual environments:

1 The very role of the 4Ps in anonline environ-ment is quitedifferent than their role in a physicalmarket setting. The 4Ps are not thecritical factors of the virtualmarketing process but ratherelements of the total WebExperience. In this respect the effectof these factors on the consumers

decision makingprocess is muchmore limited inthe virtualenvironment thanin the physicalone.

2 The 4Ps areoperationalparameters.Manage-ment of E-Commerceactivities basedonly on the 4Pframework ignores thedynamic strategicelements of theonline marketingprocess that areextremelyimportant forsurvival in thevolatile and fast-changing virtualmarkets.

As an alternativeoption the paperproposes the 4S

Web-Marketing Mixframework that allowsthe web marketer tosolve the strategic andoperational issues of the Internet marketingin an integral andefficient way. Theproposed framework emphasises the need

for a new approachtowards the onlinemarketing, by fullyintegrating the virtualactivities within theexisting companystrategy, marketingand operations. Thepractical objective of the paper is to helpestablished or futureE-Businesses toutilise the Internettechnology and theonline marketpotential in anefficient way, addingvalue to the overallcompany operations.The methodologyproposed is, however,the subject of furtherresearch and empiri-cal testing.

The review of twofield projects outlines

some interestingaspects. Thecompanies in questionhave experienced bothprojects as successfuland both projects havebeen also seen as veryinnovative in theGreek Internet Market.Yet the purpose of presenting these cases

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is not to evaluate their com-mercialmerits (measuring the ROI of online ac-tivities is a notoriously complicatedissue) but rather to explain how the Web-Marketing Mix methodology can beapplied in practice.

Summarizing the cases we canidentify the follow-ing mainconclusions:

1 The 4S framework defines themain elements of an E-Commerceproject in a simple and practi-calway. It offers a platform for draftinga comprehensive Strategic andMarketing plan for the fastchanging Web environment.

2 E-Commerce plans drafted onthe basis of the 4S methodologysave considerable time in designingand completing the online project.

Presenting webdesigners with astrategic andoperationalblueprint allowsthem to focus ontheimplementationaspects of theproject

3 A deep andextensivesituationanalysis and theconsequentidentification of the 4S factors islikely to yield aWeb site thatcan maintain forlonger time its

proprietarycompetitiveadvan-tages,reducing the costof upgrades andup-dates.

4 Planning andimplementing anE-CommerceB2C projectinvolves aconsiderableamount of classic marketingeffort. TheScope, Site andto a lesser extendthe Synergyelements of themix

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require clear strategic vision andmarket orienta-tion.

The Web sites competitiveadvantage must be based on itsmarket orientation and the custom-ers Web Experience rather thantechnology. E-Commerce musttherefore be considered andapproached primarily as a marketingmanage-ment problem rather than atechnological issue.

Acknowledgements

The earlier version of this paper waspresented at the HICSS-35 Conference,Big Island, Hawaii, on January 2002.

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Additionalliterature

R. Amit, C. Zott, Strategiesfor value creation in E-Commerce: Bestpractice in Europe,European ManagementJournal 18 (2000).

L. Bielski, E-Businessmodels stress puttingthe customer first, ABABanking Journal, July2000.

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4. Kosiur, UnderstandingElectronic Commerce,Microsoft Press, USA,1997.

25. Malhotra, 1997.Internet EnterpriseStrategy and Design: AReal-World Introductionto Electronic CommerceAn OnlineGuide for NetEntrepreneurs and

Managerial EndUsers.http: /

/ www.brint.com / enterprise.htm

1. Ranchhod, F. Zhou, J.Tomson, FactorsInfluencing Marketing

Effectiveness on theWeb, InformationResources ManagementJournal (2000) 412.

T. Robinson, Modelling forSuccess: Why StrategyComes First, ArthurAndersen Consulting,2000.

L. Tompson, E-Commerce:Changing the rules of strategy im-plementation. Strategy

and Leadership (2000)3539.

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