Issues In Internet Marketing

The Internet, and its incorporation in what many of us refer to as ‘‘traditional’’ marketing management, presents marketing mangers and academics with as many challenges as it does opportunities. Personally, I believe we could have avoided much of the hype and cut to the reality of what was really happening and evolving much sooner. In many ways the Internet simply presents other ways of doing what we have always done. However, many viewed the Internet as a panacea for falling sales or loss of market share. So the euphoric gold rush to embrace the technology, the countless millions of dollars, pounds, Francs and Yen that were thrown at it and the cataclysmic crash that ensued could all have been avoided. It appeared that we had learnt little from historical accounts of business growth, shakeout and eventual ‘‘winners’’. In our collective nai¨vety we believed there were going to be clear winners in each market, industry, sector or product class. Inevitably, then, the bomb or, as I prefer to call it, the ‘‘World Wide Waste of money dot con’’ was going to happen. It was simply a matter of time and, unfortunately, money! On a more optimistic note, my own research has highlighted a gradual shift in firms’ approach to Internet-based marketing. Increasingly, they are adopting a more strategic perspective with fewer firms viewing it as a tactical ‘‘because we can’’ or ‘‘because they have’’ issue. Working with Stewart Adam I have also come to rationalise Web presence down to three broad categories: 1 communication; 2 transaction/logistics; and 3 relationship enhancement. Not all are appropriate for all firms, nor is progression sequential. It is quite acceptable for a firm to do nothing more than communicate and for others to start by communicating and then progress to a relationship building focus, totally missing out transactional and logistics issues. Transactions and logistics may not be of interest or appropriate for many firms. In the light of research into customer relationship management and, more recently, customer satisfaction management, the Internet facilitates that shift in focus from revenue generation to integrated business support. The challenge to marketers is to clearly identify and articulate Internet objectives as integral constituents of a successful strategy and its implementation. Too often objectives are non-specific and there are no identifiable or quantifiable measures of success. Establishing such metrics is an emerging area of research and one that is being investigated by two of my own doctoral candidates. So when Michael Thomas and I first talked about this special edition, ‘‘Issues in Internet marketing’’, I felt both thrilled and challenged. From the comfortable perspective of 20:20 hindsight I can confidently say the experience was first class. I would like to acknowledge the considerable help