Introduction
Online marketing is nowadays a popular concept and getting more attention both for the buyers and sellers in Hong Kong. Anon, (n. d.) estimated that “[0]nline marketing, (also known as web marketing, search engine marketing, SEO or internet marketing)” is a billion-dollar industry. “The companies are spending a lot of money to making a website for the development of their business” (Roderick, n.d.). It is very rare to find where online presence is ineffective whether it is a simple page or whole interactive catalogue. To maximize customer engagement online marketing is used as an essential tool for the sellers. “Many large businesses have embraced the power of the Internet and use it to generate huge amounts of revenue” (The Franchise. n.d.).
Research question and Sub-questions
The main question of this study is to find out the benefits and limitations that online marketing offers from the perspective of customers and service providers. The sub-questions are:-
- What types of benefits the customer can get from the online service?
- Does it meet their satisfaction?
- What is the impact of online marketing on customers’ behaviour towards the products and services?
- Is it possible to maintain and continue a better customer relationship online?
Problem Statements: Why this Question is Interesting?
The retailing industry is a vast area for every country as it has a large portion of customers. In the field of retailing, the internet is using as the most powerful advertising and selling-buying media. Pownall (3 July 2008) states that “[f]rom a technology perspective, this might seem surprising – Hong Kong has amongst the highest broadband and mobile phone penetration levels in the world”. It has increased the standard of living as well as reduced the complexity of bargaining during the buying period. “Hong Kong is a very cosmopolitan city with a large middle-upper income group having strong fashion flair” (The People’s Daily Online 25 June 2004). It is traditionally a culture for the citizens to go to the market physically and evaluate the desire products or services. But the situation has been changed as for the growth of internet users and the availability of the internet. “Online consumers and merchants are in dialogue as never before, and consumers are counting on each other for insights in making purchase decisions” (Anon, 17 April 2008).
Relationship to Previous work
According to the article “online marketing guidance – benefits of online marketing” (AICPA, 2008), online marketing efforts cost less than traditional ones. For example; compare the replacing of direct mail campaign with email campaign. In the case of direct mail, the company needs to bear the cost of designing and producing, but in the case of email, there is no such cost that the company has to bear. Online marketing or emails ensure a quick response from the customer to the marketing message. On the other hand, it is time consumable in the case of traditional print advertising or direct mail campaign. Here, the company needs to wait for the direct mail or phone reply. A few keystrokes make it easy to contact the client in online marketing. It is a two-way communication that allows both the customers and the company to share their wants, needs and relevant information.
There is a relation with the previous article as both articles have information about the benefits of online service from the perspective of the company and the customer. But the previous research has not shown any in-depth analysis and example of how the customer can be benefited through online service and also there is the absence of statistical data example. It is not possible to understand clearly the real situation without the statistical data, what is the impact of online service and how it changes the profit margin for the company as well as the customer’s behaviour.
Besides this, the other study shows the benefits regarding customer relationship building. The company can interact easily with the customer and learn basic requirements and prepare potential customer databases (low marketing budget, still I can achieve a better result by Arun July 19, 2006). Shikoh (11 April 2007) shows the benefits of online marketing both for the customers and the company. These are (Shikoh, 11 April 2007):
- Cost-effectiveness and flexibility
- 24×7 presence
- Deeper customer engagement
- Less expensive market research.
- More opportunity for innovative and creative challenges
- Free access to a global audience
Current Impediments of Online-Marketing
There are different types of opinions towards online buying among the customers. There are various types of perceptions are present in the mind of the consumers. Some prefer to buy the products or services with the help of online marketing. But besides this, the other large portion likes to go to the market. In addition, existing opinions are not enough to make a reliable decision. The lack of proper information may be the reason for it. However, Information those are available may or may not be related to the given situation.
Proposed Methods
Primary research
As we know primary data is that which until publish, no one else has access to it. The primary data will be collected through anonymous questionnaires, group interviews, focus group interviews, case studies and internet surveys of a Hong-Kong based company that provides the online service.
During the anonymous interview, the following question will be asked:-
- Type of online activities
- How many employees are involved in this service?
- Who is the target market?
- Does it make any difference?
- Selling and distribution cost; increased or decreased after applying online service?
- Response from the customer: positive or negative.
- Is there any dissimilarity to the company’s expectations?
There will be no use of a traditional telephone survey or something like that. , today the retail business has become a vital economic sector of the Hong Kong economy (Year Book, Hong Kong 2000) and the application of online service is very much related to the retail sector, questionnaires will be based on the retail business. The questionnaire section will be very easy and clear for better understanding.
A sample of the questionnaire
- Name………………………………………………………………..
- Rank(position)………………………………………………………………..
- What is your kind of activities especially?………………………………………………………………..
- How long you have been with this company?………………………………………………………………..
- Does your company provide an online service?………………………………………………………………..
- What are some of the things you prefer about this online marketing?………………………………………………………………..
- What are some of the things you dislike about online marketing?………………………………………………………………..
- Which one you will prefer? Online marketing or traditional marketing.………………………………………………………………..
- If you were given the chance to modify something, what is one thing you would change about online marketing?………………………………………………………………..
- What do you think the organization needs to do to implement your suggestion?………………………………………………………………
Secondary research
The secondary data will be collected via various related internet articles, books, magazines, company’s information and so other possible sources. It is very vital to collect the right information to present accurate figures and data and deal with some fieldwork as well.
Data Analysis
To examine the benefits and limitations of online marketing, an appropriate “face to face” method is proposed to use in collecting data. The independent variable method is proposed to use and there will be the presence of a dependent variable too. The main focus would be mainly on finding out the data, that will represent the advantages and disadvantages of online marketing from both customers and sellers points of view. To understand and identify the key factors causing the satisfaction to the consumers toward online marketing, both the primary and secondary data is important to be more informative and accurate.
Reflections
Potential practical and empirical obstacles
Books from the Library, journals and internet articles are the main considerable resource to run this study. As there is no system to carry out the journals and books outside the library, it will be necessary to go there and to stay for a long time. Sites will be helpful to get related information. The others data will be collected through the internet and from the statistical report of the company. In addition, collecting data from the survey may not be strong because there will be some wrong information given by the customers.
Conceptual and Theoretical Problems and Difficulties
As it is mentioned earlier, it would be difficult to get the right information from the respondents. The respondents may be unaware of the significance of the survey. Besides this, complexity in the data collecting system may hamper the study paper. Multifaceted questions and difficult language is an obstacle to get the proper records. So, easy and understandable language will be used.
Ethics
It is an ethical issue because the report from the researchers is very important. The report should be true and accurate. It is the moral responsibility and duty of any researcher to find out and explain the answer to their question honestly. Many researchers do not follow the ethical issue and sometimes they face problems in determining, whether they should carry on their research. Consequently, because of ignoring the ethical aspects, they feel hesitation and it does not fit their research. So, if there is no awareness of ethical issues, the research study might fail.
It is very important for the researchers to represent the reporting results neutrally and clearly. It is strongly recommended that the report should be presented in such a way so that there will be no cause of arising embarrassment or difficulty. In addition, it needs to remind that, misinterpretation of data can make the results funny and may lead to misleading results. Hence, the researchers should assure the safety of participants.
Political field and reflection
It is very important to accumulate the correct data for analysis. The research for this study is based on the business-related issue. Consequently, there is no mentionable relation with the political field. The data will be collected through books, articles, magazines, newspapers and from doing a survey on a particular company. So, it can be said that the political reflection of this study is not serious.
Conclusions
It is very sophisticated also to maintain and continue the customer relationship by the online deal. But the online service can be used as a supplementary tool to achieve success in the retail business. It can be said that the successful retailer would be those who will continue to hold the marketing knowledge and skills. Online marketing is such kind of process that can lead to the desire position for the sellers. The question is that, is the online buying process really fulfils the buyers’ intention. If yes, then how much and how it does.
Time Frame
The Time Frame is subject to change after receipt of the proposal result from the university.
Bibliography
Anon, (nd.). Online Marketing-How can it help your business?. EXA. Web.
MarketingVOX. (2008). Consumers Return to Online Shopping Sites That Embrace Web 2.0. Web.
Morra, G. Linda., and Friedlander, C. Amy. (n.d.). Case Study Evaluations. The World Bank operation Evaluation Department. Web.
Online Sales Channel. (2008). Insider Marketing: Ramblings of an Online Marketing Maverick. Web.
People’s Daily Online. (2004). Designer stores rush to build int’l brands in HK. Xinhua. Web.
Pownall, Charlie. (3 July 2008).Getting local in Hong Kong. Digital Perspective. Web.
Roderick, Alex. (n.d.). Company-few things to improve your online marketing existence. Web.
Shikoh, Rafi-Uddin. (2007). Online Marketing: Key to Global Ambitions for Muslim World based Corporations. Dinar Standard. Iss. 25. Web.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. (AICPA). (2008). Online Marketing Guidance – Benefits of Online Marketing. Web.
The Franchise. (n.d.). ORCA provides franchisees with great business model. Web.
Anon (17Apr, 2008). Drilling Down: Social Shopping Online. Watershed Publishing LLC and Media Buyer Planner LLC. Web.
Year Book, Hong Kong (2000). Web.
Projected Bibliography
Journals
Huei-Chen, Hsu. (2007). A study of factors affecting the success of private label brands in Chinese e-market. Journal of Technology Management in China. Vol. 2. Iss. 1. 38-53. Web.
Kiang, Y. Melody., Raghu, T. S., and Shang, Huei-Min Kevin. (2000). Marketing on the Internet — who can benefit from an online marketing approach?. Decision Support Systems, Vol. 27, Iss. 4, 383-393.
Lau, Ho-fuk., Sin, Yat-ming Leo., and Chan, Kin-cheung Kelvin. (2005). Chinese Cross-Border Shopping: An Empirical Study. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, 110-133 (2005).
Liao, Ziqi., Cheung, Tow Michael. (200). Internet-based e-shopping and consumer attitudes: an empirical study. Information & Management, Volume 38, Issue 5, 2001, 299-306.
Lomax, Steve. (2006). Securing the eCommerce revolution: safeguarding Internet transactions. Card Technology Today, Volume 18, Issue 6, 2006, 9-10.
Shankar,Venkatesh., Urbanb, L. Glen., and Sultanc, Fareena. (2002). Online trust: a stakeholder perspective, concepts, implications, and future directions. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems. Vol. 11, Iss. 3-4, 2002, Pages 325-344.
Teo, S.H. Thompson. (2005). Usage and effectiveness of online marketing tools among Business-to-Consumer (B2C) firms in Singapore. International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 25, Iss. 3, 2005. 203-213.
Xing, Xiaolin., Tang, Fang-Fang., and Yang, Zhenlin (2004). Pricing dynamics in the online consumer electronics market. Journal of Product & Brand Management. Vol. 13. Iss. 6. 429 – 441. Web.
Yiu, Shing Chi., Grant, Kevin., and Edgar, David. (2007). Factors affecting the adoption of Internet Banking in Hong Kong—implications for the banking sector. International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 27, Iss. 5, 2007, 336-351.
Books
Richardson, Paul, Internet marketing. McGraw Hill publication.
Kotler and Armstrong, (2001). Principles of marketing. 9th ed. Prentice Hall Publication
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