Analyse The Opportunities offered to Businesses Using Internet Marketing (including P3) M2

Communication:

All ASOS’s products can only be viewed through their website this may be an advantage as it allows customers to browse through goods more easily then searching through products in a store also with this benefit ASOS would not have to pay for a store, bills, rent. Even though this sounds like an advantage it also has some disadvantages this is because paying for setting up a website may cost allot. This is because to have a domain name that ends with .com may cost more than .co.uk etc. For a website design is very expensive and just to advertise products in other website too. ASOS needs to pay for the hardware and software’s that are needed to maintain their website and to run the hardware and software will need to be paid for etc.

Above is a screen shot of ASOS’s website home page. To be able to maintain this is quite expensive but it also allows ASOS to place all their products in separate links which makes it easy for customers.

Communication

The internet helps many ways for businesses to promote themselves online; it offers many opportunities for organisations in ways they can use in relation to communication. Below are few examples of what internet marketing provides a business in relation to communication.

·    Domain Name: 

Domain name is a web address that is included in the World Wide Web; it is used by businesses, computers, and addresses on the internet. It is a name that identifies a website, for individuals to gain access to. This is a way of internet marketing offering businesses a way of communication. Businesses have an advantage of having a memorable website address as the shorter the better also having the company name as the domain name makes it more simple

and memorable. Most of the larger businesses have their own company name and product name as their domain name, for example ford.com, sainsbury.co.uk, etc and some businesses use memorable word like British Gas, with house.co.uk. There are many advantages to having a domain name for an organisation as a domain name can only be registered once and for one buyer only so businesses would be able to use a name that can only lead to their organisation website. Having a domain name gives organisation an identity that visitors can always recognise. Domain name shortens the URL address which is a much easier way to remember. It also adds credibility as a domain name can project a professional image of the business and it is a way of marketing.

ASOS is an organisation that is only based online so having a domain name is very important. They chose to keep it simple www.asos.com < this address is very easy to remember. ASOS is shortened for As Seen On Screen and ASOS is pronounced A-sos which helps identify the domain name easily. Also .com is set in the Top-Level domain name where they can connect local area networks to the Internet, run web sites, or create other publicity accessible Internet resources if they wish.

M2, Why is choosing a good domain name important?" The answer is; because it is one of the first and can be one of the most important search engine optimization techniques you can select.

1. Improve Your Marketing and Visibilitythe right domain name allows customers an easy way to remember and find you. It's the businesses location on the web. It's also the businesses email address.

2. Build Credibilityusing the domain for businesses website and to personalize the businesses email helps establish credibility and professionalism. For instance, an email address such as customercare@asos.com is more professional than customercare127@freeemailasosservice.com.

3. Protect Your BrandPurchase the domain name that best represents your business name. Domains are valuable online real estate. Secure the right name and keep it out of the hands of your competitors.

You may also find many attractive domains for your business. Securing more than one helps protect your brand and increase your reach. You can easily direct as many domains as you want to a single website.

4. Acquire More Trafficsome domains already receive traffic. This traffic principally comes from direct type-in or referral traffic. Direct type-in is when an internet user types the domain directly into her browser, such as typing 'www.photography.com.' Referral traffic typically comes from links on other websites that is the best benefit of internet marketing to businesses.

5. As an InvestmentSimilar to real estate, domain names are investments. Domain values increase daily. You yourself can make your domain name more valuable by building and marketing your website.

Social media helps increase the popularity of an internet businesses domain name. Such as facebook, twitter to blogs and forums etc. ASOS uses this as advantage internet marketing. As shown in the print screen below.

Here is an example of how cleverly ASOS promotes their domain name, with twitter, ASOS life etc. ASOS are also being able to advertise their goods and services and communicate with customers and others through facebook.

.com is the easiest and common one to find which ASOS luckily was able to buy .com.

If I was to type ASOS in Google search engine the first link is the most important and as ASOS’s domain name includes their business name gives them the opportunity to be located at the top of all searches as shown below.

·    Search Engines

Visitors online can find web site in other ways such as using search engines. There are many search engines available such as Google. Search engines are designed to search for information on the World Wide Web (www). Some individuals may just use words, sentences or use Boolean searches etc to find what they are looking for. The search results are usually shown in a list of results which are commonly called hits. The list of results can include web pages, information, and other types of files.

ASOS has submitted their domain name and details to search engines, so that potential customers/visitors that are looking for their web site or other related information such as ‘women jeans’ can lead to their website. It is very easy to submit the domain name and it costs nothing so for ASOS it is an advantage as it helps attract more customers which is a way of marketing without having to pay for its services. Also on their own website they have a search engines so individuals have an easy way to search what they looking for through their website. It is way for ASOS to gain an online presence for their business which can gain an easy way of being acknowledged.

As shown with the print screen above of Google search ‘women’s jeans’ shows that without the sponsored links, ASOS is at the top of the other links. This makes their website have more visibility and more customers as wanted.

·    Price Comparison Websites

There are many price comparison websites on the internet where potential customers use a price engine to find a list of a product at different prices within organisations and are able to choose the best offer; this can be a useful promotional tool for an organisation but only if they compare their prices with competitors and offer the lower price. When the internet user is re-directed to the shop’s website, there would be a charge for a ‘click-through’. Some examples of a price comparison website are www.kelkoo.co.uk, www.PriceRunner.co.uk, and www.moneysupermarket.com etc.

ASOS has an advantage of using this method of a promotional tool as they are able to attract more customers through this. However, ASOS might be well known business and very popular but not all their products are lower price than competitors, but customers also go for quality and their image including brand image which does not matter when price comparing.

This above is a print screen showing the price comparison kelkoo.com gave when typing in the search engine ‘black shoes’ as you can see ASOS products on eBay sells much cheaper black similar shoes compared to John Lewis store and also House of Fraser even though ASOS does sell quality goods at high price they also sell quality goods at low price as a special offer which is important for a business to provide for their customers.

·    Marketplaces

Marketplaces are places on the internet where businesses or individuals buy or sell goods. The most common example of a marketplace is www.ebay.co.uk. EBay is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. The majority of the sales take place through a set-time auction format, but subsequent methods include a substantial segment of listings in the "Buy It Now" category. This is a good way for businesses to promote their products as it can reach a wider range of audience also having to bid for a ‘unique’ product or the ‘last’ one could lead to a higher price than usual which is good for an organisation or other people. It enables sellers to reach target markets also to derive some degree of consumer trust through their place in a larger business community. Although there is a sales commission to pay to stay on the site for a certain amount of time etc there is an advantage for businesses as it is very cost-effective.

ASOS has many of their products place on eBay which is being sold worldwide etc as shown below.

This is a good way for ASOS to use market place as an internet marketing strategy to build a better communication method.

·    Banners, Spotlights, Pop-Ups and Sponsored Links

These are also internet marketing strategies used by organizations as it is a way of promoting a website/business/product etc on their own or other websites. These are advertised on the internet in ways where, when ‘clicked’ will open another browser window to the target website. These ways of advertisement can be shown with animation or it can be interactive and often linked with some kind of incentive to ‘click’ as it’s produced to attract more people and persuade them to click on the banner or the spotlight or the pop-ups or sponsored links.

ASOS uses these in a way to promote their business more and attract more and targeted customers. ASOS is located in some banners on other websites and also has a banner of their own website that promotes other website as shown below.

Source: http://issuu.com/emmabunce/docs/asos_seo

In an ASOS SEO presentation, they explain how to get more men to visit their website as well as other techniques they also mention that they use banners and sponsorship to attract those men to their male based goods.

·    Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is a way of spreading a market message by sending an email to existing customers or a target group which then can be forwarded by some of those customers to their friends and then to their friends and so on. This is a very useful tool for businesses to send special offers, new goods or services to existing customers. This is a way of using internet marketing to build a bigger communication network between the business and customers.

ASOS as mention before have social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo etc where they can spread their information through to build communication and attract more customers also they use existing customers email address, home address to send out special offers and their magazines etc which is used by the internet that offers opportunities in attracting more customers. This is a way of spreading information very rapidly at low cost.

Other opportunities include the use of purchase history to tailor offers to individuals and also for customers to have a much more range of customised buyer menus enabling them to have a better accurate response to customer needs and wants; use of internet. And many more...

Above is showing some methods they have use using technology and social networks just for their male customers. This also means they have thought well to use internet marketing for each gender.

This is a review on ASOS by a customer marketing their business on http://www.ciao.co.uk/Asos_com__Review_5673673 which is a way of customers sending feedback and recommending it to other potential new customers.

Product Development

Internet Marketing offers many opportunities to businesses in relation to product development in many ways.

Internet marketing is also known as online marketing where businesses are able to advertise their goods and services via the internet and maybe present it worldwide. It is the latest and speedy advertising strategies in today's business world. Internet marketing covers, public relations, customer service, sales and information management just like any other traditional marketing strategy.

Internet marketing is vital for some businesses such as those that are ONLY based ‘online’. Also is plays a really good role for them and also for other businesses as it provides many opportunities in relation to product development.

One strategy of internet marketing that identifies product development opportunities is that it allows immediate sales of products; this can include banking, insurance policies. Etc. Benefiting to customers as they would not need to ‘waste’ time through waiting at queues; searching for items in crowds; looking for prices etc. Also businesses would be able to gain more customers and enlarge their product awareness etc. Businesses would be able to encourage more sales through this as it includes other marketing strategy in one page of a website, or with few clicks of a mouse for example when searching for a product before purchasing it customers/individuals are able to view other formats of the product such as videos, images, information etc.

ASOS as an online businesses product development is really important as it helps gain a higher status and achieve customer targets; achieve business aims and objectives as it helps give customers their needs and wants. ASOS gives their customers the opportunity to purchase items from their website immediately and easily.

Below is written in 8 steps when purchasing products from ASOS.com.

1. Start Shopping – Make the Most of our ASOS Promotional CodesGo to the ASOS website and start picking out some new clothes and accessories.

2. Review Your PurchasesWhen you are ready to start the payment process click on View Bag in the top right hand corner of the page to take a closer look at your purchases.

3. Go to the CheckoutHere you can check that sizes and colours are correct and everything is as you want it. When you are happy with your order click Proceed to Checkout.

4. Your

AccountHere you will be given two options:

- If you are an existing customer you will be able to enter your email address and password to be taken through the payment process quicker.

- As a new customer you must click create your account to add personal details before you can make a purchase.

Now you must add Your details to open your account. Remember that fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory and not filling them in will mean you cannot complete your purchase. When you have finished click Next.

You now have an account with ASOS, click Continue on the confirmation page.

5. Billing and Delivery Address

Add your Billing Address and click Continue. Your address will now be found from the postcode you have entered and added to your Billing Address. Make sure all of this is correct and click Next.

If your shipping address is the shame check the box below. If not you will be asked for that now, just follow the same steps as above.

6. Payment

You will now be asked to fill in your card payment details, when you have finished click Next.

7. Enter the Discount Code

Now is the time for your ASOS Promotional Code, enter it into section 4 in the discount code box and click update

8. Place Order

The page will now refresh and show you that the discount has been applied. The Grand Total will be recalculated and displayed here. When you have checked the price click place order to finish.

Above image shows that even though ASOS is an only online business and products of theirs can only be seen on the internet they have used the strategy of uploading images of the full 360o that encourages customers to know how the chosen product looks like from back to front, even though they cannot touch the product ASOS has clearly written down all the information/details of the product. Not only have they used internet marketing for uploading images they also added a video showing the product on a catwalk. Also the zoom + button allows customer to zoom into places they want to see closer and the catwalk video also allows customer to pause and play while the video in on.

Even though this is a great advantage for ASOS it is also a disadvantage as not all brands sizes are same. For example with own experience i have notice that New Look size 8 it smaller than BHs size 8 this is why it is an advantage as customers that buy products such as clothes might not always fit!.

Another strategy used by internet marketing for product development is ‘Market development’ this enables the ability to expand markets more cost-effectively. Market development is a strategy of targeting non-buying customers in currently targeted segments and it also targets new customers in new segments. When businesses choose their targeted customers they market their goods/services that will encourage those forward to gain sales. Organisation use internet marketing as a way of advertising in many ways mentioned in the other post on this blog which is also a way of product development. Products will not develop if there were no marketing involved for them, which will mean no sales for businesses. This strategy gives the opportunity to expand customer awareness of a product and another advantage is that it is cost-effective; this is because the internet is based worldwide which gives the opportunity to reach out to more range of people, become accessible virtually anywhere in any country in the world by a potential customer that has Internet access.

ASOS uses market development such as having a worldwide presence which enables more customers; gain more different thoughts and opinions of a product etc. Also it is an advantage to ASOS being an online business as this strategy as mentioned before very cost-effective.

Product development involves researching for ideas, opinions, trend; advertising etc. Internet marketing enables businesses to do this as they allow much information for research. Also businesses are able to use feedback blog, comments page and so on as a way of communication b2c for ideas and opinions on a product recently launched or about to which gives customers a way of satisfactory as it involves them gaining more customers and awareness of a product and many ways of advertising.

ASOS is connected with many social networking sites on the internet such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo this allows ASOS to notice customers needs and wants and their opinions on a product or service. This is a way of product development as ASOS are able to change or add anything to a product using feedback, ideas etc. Also ASOS uses emails as a way of internet marketing giving better and more customer service.

The only disadvantage to this is that ASOS must reply fast and be available mostly all the time to comment back. But ASOS for customer satisfaction as one of their aim they make sure that they are fully aware of feedback and always mostly straight away reply back to customers. As shown below...

As shown on the left, customer: Matthew (11.31 am) had commented and got an instant reply by ASOS: Charlotte (11:32 am)

Internet marketing is available all the time meaning its operating 24/7 so that individuals are able to view products and services any time of the day and week and also businesses are able to allow customers to buy at any time.

ASOS is open 24/7; they also update their website regularly with new products etc.

Another information that identifies product development opportunities via internet marketing is that it has very low entry cost for small businesses. It is very cheap to set up a business online and advertise online as the internet is extremely different from print advertising in that space is cheap. The advertisement can be accessible easily via millions of people for a longer period of time. Also it is cheap as the content can be changed without wasting any money. It is cost-effective just to communicate between potential customer and a sales person.

This is one advantage that ASOS has as they are able to invest in more of their products and services etc.

Internet marketing allows business to use a method called market diversification to build product development. Organisations use this strategy to seek growth by adding products and markets of kind unrelated to its existing products and markets.

Also for a business to develop a product they can use internet marketing to use the method of virtual marketing as this a way of spreading information on product, product feature, new services, sales and much more.

ASOS does this to get more attention for a product etc. They use customer details who gave it to ASOS when signing up for ordering etc. This allows them to spread widely very quickly.

Other opportunities include possibilities of substitute online forms of products, e.g. music, films, radio and T.V programmes, podcast etc.

Business Efficiency

Business efficiency is really important so for online businesses internet marketing helps improve efficiency levels in other ways such as paid for promotion on websites. Businesses do not need to pay for most of the advertising used online.

Internet marketing helps online businesses improve their efficiency levels in many ways. There are opportunities offered by internet market to optimise operational efficiency in order to improve productivity and reduce costs and these can include:

Online businesses able to ensure customers, employees, and suppliers that they get secure access to real-time data to improve business decision making and, ultimately, customer service. It is difficult to understand if a website is secure and does not carry any viruses; or have non-secure pages that can be hacked. Online businesses mostly have a page where customers will need to enter their personal details which can be risky, for a business to show that their company is secure will build up businesses efficiency levels. Internet marketing can do this by securing access with passwords etc.

ASOS is an online business where customers can only buy from their website. This has a disadvantage as some customers find it difficult to share personal information and look for

secure sites that are protected. This is why internet marketing has given the opportunity for ASOS to provide secure login sign that is clearly located on the account page of ASOS.com that when clicked on, it has all the information for customers to gain ASOS’s trust.

And when clicked on...

It is in the law of the UK that businesses must abide by the Data Protection Act that states:

The Data Protection Act protects the privacy and integrity of data held on individuals by businesses and other organisations and ensures that individuals have access to their data and can correct it, if necessary. It seeks to apply eight principles of data protection, namely that data is:

Fairly and lawfully processed. Processed for limited purposes. Adequate, relevant and not excessive. Accurate. Not kept for longer than is necessary. Processed in line with individuals' rights. Secure. Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection.

These are good principles and have to be applied by all businesses regardless of whether they are registered. However in certain circumstances you may be required to register with the Information Commissioner. Registration costs £35. Be wary of any so-called “agency” who tries to make you register and pay more than this.

You may need to review your policies, practices and procedures if you store personal information on clients, employees or other individuals. You may also need to review the terms and conditions that apply to your website.

If ASOS does not abide by these acts they might be fined or may be in other situations. This is why it is important to secure and protect individual’s information.

Another way that internet marketing helps improve business efficiency is that everything is done through maybe one computer or few which will only need one or few employees to check and update their online website, so this means saving money on so many employees; having to train them etc. A business will have the opportunity to motivate their staff more that can build their performance levels.

ASOS has the opportunity of internet marketing to only employ trained employees that check and update their website also it allows the business to be less confused. Updating data is very important which is very easy to do online. Also emails are a way of improving business efficiency as it’s quick and easy to email employees within the organisation and also b2c. The use of electronic communications can also reduce staff costs which ASOS has done by using emails, social networking sites which are all based on internet marketing.

There are opportunities of increasing sales through existing customers.

Online businesses means that they based on the internet which means it can be accessed globally 24/7. This is a great advantage to use this as a promotion method which is cost-effective. Also businesses can work from home or areas where they have internet access. Also internet/computer gives businesses longer hours to work on, increased speed of production as the internet can perform repetitive and complicated tasks more quickly and also be able to check for accuracy and therefore less wastage.

Another way internet marketing helps improve business opportunities in relation to business efficiency is that for online businesses many promotion used within the internet is ‘paid for’ for example search engines can be used as a advertising method which does not cost much and through portals and links etc.

ASOS has their website linked to many advertising method that was very cost-effective helping them improve on their business efficiency level.

Businesses are also able to monitor their competitor’s activity through internet marketing which helps them improve on their own business, they can use price comparison sites to stay ahead and reduce or make the price the same etc.

Another business opportunity offered through internet marketing in relation to business efficiency is that organisation can use the internet to reduce the circle of supply chain. Online businesses only need a warehouse where the entire products are stocked. These stocks will only need to be bought by suppliers to the business (warehouse) and would not need a ‘middle man’ like other businesses.