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By Patrick Mayoh
I needed a new pair of trainers a couple of weeks ago and my natural instinct was to log on to Amazon to find the best deal for my product. I do the same when I need a book or another electronic gadget. I do not mean to say Amazon is the only website I research when I need to buy items online, there are a host of other online shopping services like E-bay to name just an example. I cannot just wait for the time where I will be able to order a burger from mc Donald's or Burger king online.
Well according to a recent edition of the Guardian newspaper that will soon be possible. Google recently commissioned the Business Consulting Group to issue a report about the scope and the share of the online shopping industry in the UK. Online shopping and other related transactions account for more 7% of the total GDP. A bigger share than transports, communications, restaurants and hotels to mention just a few sectors; the UK alone is worth £100bn in terms of online related money transactions.
While the rate of UK Internet related transactions is set to grow by 10% a year according to the BCG report it is worth scrutinizing three key points that already underscore or will in a very near future this recent sector of online shopping.
Business and marketing professionals and practitioners will need to be wary of the following factors with regard to online shopping:
• Advertising
• New job opportunities
• Marketing strategy vs. online Marketing strategy
Advertising
Online shopping means advertising practitioners will need to change and definitely improve what is available on their website. Not only do customers try to research products or services before purchasing them, but they also look at the best possible reviews about those items they desire to acquire before making a purchasing decision. Online advertising could take advantage of the online shopping boom by:
Providing customers with the best possible information on the products or services they are looking to buy. This will mean brevity as opposed to redundancy. In that sense online shoppers will have access to the most relevant content on the products or services they are looking to obtain. Less but precise and specific information will only save time to buyers and may mean they will come for even more products and services. Especially for the websites that will save them the greatest amount of time. Have you ever been on a website where you have to browse through many irrelevant categories only to find out the items you are looking for is more expensive than you thought or worse unavailable?
Secondly targeting specific audience will be instrumental for success in the new online shopping spree area. Online advertising planning and designing is and should be done with the targeted audience in mine. Their demographics, interests, age groups, preferences and shopping habits should be systematically monitored in order to determine the best possible formats for adverts.
Thirdly because the number of websites selling the same items grow at an exponential rate, it is quite difficult sometimes for customers to make purchasing decisions. Most of the time convenience and affordability determine where customers buy their products and why they do so on through a particular website rather than another. Therefore credibility should be given priority when advertising products and services online. If online shoppers and that include me have the assurance that they will receive the goods they order on time, at an affordable price, without any extra hidden charges and even get more value as a result of a transaction like vouchers; there is no reason why they would change their shopping habits or online shopping websites. I have been faithful to Amazon ever since for these reasons.
JOBS
The online industry according to the Guardian newspaper employs 250,000 people and is set to create even more jobs as it grows in the future. Online professionals and marketing managers are very much in demand on the job markets and this is only set to continue with time.
Also new fields are likely to emerge from this as well. Specialists in specific aspects of online shopping will emerge with time and dictate as well articulate strategies to reach out specific online customers and shoppers. Online professionals of various markets across the globe will help international organization determine how they reach out to specific clients in different regions of the world. China with more than 420 million users and 6 million adding each month according to a Mc Kinsey is set to be the biggest online market of the future.
Also new business courses focussing on online transactions and advertising will probably be created. There are already web marketing and online marketing subjects in some Master degree curriculum. But what I am envisioning here is a situation where some leading business schools start creating courses revolving around online marketing or online customer relationship management. More organizations will need such professionals to reach an ever growing online public. Facebook alone is a country in itself with more than half a billion users from diverse origins, tastes, interests, age groups and preferences.
Marketing strategy vs. Online Marketing Strategy
I see organizations in the future creating two different departments or sub departments within a marketing one. New resources allocated to online marketing department to focus solely on online operations. I believe soon there will be a great amount on discussions on a new type of marketing mix. Taking into account more than the four traditional elements of the marketing mix and looking at other factors like demographics and habits which really affect how and why customers buy products.
Also different strategies will need to be articulated as different priorities will emerge between traditional marketing divisions and new online marketing divisions within organizations. More traditional marketing department might maybe focus on local customers while online marketing units will look at expansion and foreign markets to take just an example. Or online marketing department could help reach out audiences that traditional marketing department will be unable to appeal to. Teenagers who like Nike products might not read magazines as adult customers but will probably go on YouTube to discover the latest models for new trainers.
Conclusively even though I might not get a burger through online shopping tomorrow, I think this will be the case in a very near future and therefore I believe Internet users will soon dictate the way marketing should be conducted across organizations.
