E-Commerce/Grandma's Treats - Essay Example

Advantages and Disadvantages of e-commerce The long history and practice of people across different countries and cultural identities could be very overwhelming in the challenge that it presents to business and advertising individuals who have ambitions to take the extra mile of gaining a share of consumers and clients from varying localities abroad. Today the array of possibilities in applying the marketing strategy of international advertising is unimaginable. Instead of taking the technological barriers as hindrance and drawbacks in the international business operations because of the technological divide that cuts across the people from different social status, looking for avenues of more strategic and effective campaigns and treating such drawbacks as opportunities nay result to favorable outcomes.

E-commerce removes the geographical separation between regions, and made dealing with foreign trade a snap. Internet advertising or sometimes called, as web advertising is a type of advertising in which a person can control or customize the information according to his/her interest with the use of internet (Ming-Yi, 2001). Advantages of e-commerceIn an overly secured environment the tremendous growth of technological advancement has become the driving force of contemporary industries. The diffusion of the internet has revolutionized the business arena.

The use of the Internet is changing high-tech marketing overnight while different industries have been trying to use it as part of their marketing strategy. It has not only reconfigured the way different firms do business and the way the consumers buy goods and services, but it has also become an effective instrument in transforming the value chain from manufacturers to retailers to consumers, creating a new retail distribution channel (Donthu & Garcia, 1999).According to Hoffmann and Novak (1996) and Rust and Oliver (1994), the webs interactive nature or the ability of the user to receive and transmit messages leveled-up the communication dynamics of users as consumers of advertising messages since the Internet acts as a "many-to-many" channel of communication.

As such, the Internet as the new communication medium transformed the conventional design and implementation of advertising campaigns along with its effects to consumers’ purchasing considerations and behaviors. Moreover, compared to other broadcasting media such as the television and the radio whose advertising messages are alternately programmed and delivered to the audiences, advertising messages in the Internet is integrated within the editorial content just like in the print media (Dreze & Zufryden, 1998).

The Internet enables two-way communication in which the user can respond to the announcer or even diffuse a counter message and interact with other users in a form of peer-to-peer communication wherein the stimulus and the response can occur on the same medium distinctive from other forms of communication. Furthermore, the Internet allows a potential integration between information seeking and commercial transactions since a user can respond to a web-based advertisement, decide to buy the item, and then buy it within minutes resulting to a significant shortening of the decision process.

Along with minute variations in the short-term reactions to the advertisement among users, Web advertisements can lead to sizable gains in purchase behavior (Chandon, Chtourou & Fortin, 2003). Disadvantages of E-commerce With the advantages of E-commerce come its drawbacks as well because the cyberspace is very open to all types of users. Since the evaluation of the effectiveness of an advertising campaign concludes a successful marketing effort, the importance of accurate and valid assessment of advertising propaganda is highly important.

However, in the case of Internet advertising, widely accepted measurement standards is still lacking despite efforts to quantify and qualify such initiatives. These measures aim to assess the effectiveness of banner ads within the Web-based multimedia environment (Wansik, 2003). But according to Briggs and Hollis (1997) the use of click-trough rates undervalues the Internet as an advertising medium along with other census-based measurement procedures. Dreze and Zufryden (1998) explained the Web advertisements appear in competition with the page content which makes it difficult to capture the users’ attention along with the findings that as the expertise of the Internet user in surfing the Website increases, the likelihood of seeing online banner ads diminishes.

E-commerce for Grandma’s TreatsGrandma’s treats may implement when selling their products the B2C model, a description more in line with customer wants should be used, say for drilling masonry for wall plugs and similar. When buying online, customers are far less likely to request help than they are in the store, cash-and-carry, buying via telesales or even when placing a formal written order (Dreze and Zufryden, 1998). Rather, when buying online, customers who need help. in understanding a product are more likely to abandon the transaction and find an alternative supplier, or even buy through a different channel.

E-Businesses, therefore, need to be particularly careful about describing products clearly in customer benefit terms. The second reason why customers buy products - to get good feelings - is also apt for the e-Business. Other channels such as the retail store or the face-to-face salesperson are often much better at identifying and satisfying customers emotional needs and wants.ReferencesBriggs, R & Hollis, N 1997, ‘Advertising on the Web: Is There Any Response Before Click-Through’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 33-46.Chandon, JL, Chtourou, MS & Fortin, DR 2003, ‘Effects of Configuration and Exposure Levels on Responses to Web Advertisements’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 217+.Donthu, N & Garcia, A 1999, ‘The Internet shopper’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 52-58.Dreze, X & Zufryden, F 1998, ‘Is Internet Advertising Ready for Prime Time?

’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol.38, no. 3, pp. 7-18. Hoffmann, DL & Novak, TP 1996, ‘Marketing in Hypermedia Computer Mediated Environments: Conceptual Foundations’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 50-68.Ming-Yi, S 2001, The future of interactive advertising on the World Wide Web (online). Available at: http://www.ciadvertising.org/student_account?spirng_01/adv391k/ [Accessed: 03/1515/07].