The increasing use of Internet according to worldwide stats (2) has undoubtedly changed the way of doing business but contrary to what one might think in the first place e-marketing is there to help build relationships which is a more delicate affair. For instance, companies that continue to handle e-mails, posts or online queries in an unprofessional manner face a high risk of boycott. In the latest Campaign issue (20 February 2009 page 10) (3) Faris Yakob, the chief technology strategist at McCann Erickson New York argues that in the e-marketing age attention has be earned either by being entertaining, useful or nice so as to give consumers a reason to subscribe to social networks such as Twitter. Brands like Innocent, Penguing Books, Vodafone or LG are using Twitter to answer questions and to react quickly to complaints treating it as a cost-savy customer relations tool.
The Uk supermarket industry is a good example e-marketing in practice. To exploit new sales opportunities, major supermarkets started investing in online groceries with Tesco being the most successful (4).
An important step forward in terms of competitive advantage and developing a tailored value chain was made by Barclays in 1997 when it was the pioneer of online banking as part of their to improve customized services (5). The banking industry is among the most vulnerable to customers’ loss of trust with the new technology being a tool to build and maintain customer relationships. Jeff Bezos, president Amazon.com summarizes the importance of ECRM in one very smart scentence. He says: ’If you have an unhappy customer on the Internet, he does not tell his six friends, he tells his 6,000 friends’ (6).
On the other hand, the Internet does not serve only purposes such as online shopping or getting closer to the customers but also adds value, contributes to the saving of costs and extending the brand online (7). Moreover, the long craved accurate segmentation and product or message personalization is made possible and one of the best tools in this respect is Facebook with its targeted advertising offers.
To catch up with the the rising demand for E-marketing professionals, both academic and professional institutions (e.g. Chartered Institute of Marketing) started offering degrees or courses in the topic. But one important aspect is that e-marketing courses need to be delivered in a fashion that matches the nature of the topic itself. Thus, practical, hands-on relationship between students and the online business environment should be encouraged, as well as exposing the students to real life success and failure stories. While academic knowledge gives the scientific basis, hands on experience remain to be the key success factors for future e-marketeers and marketeers in general for that matter.
From the three different perspectives of businesses, customers and educational institutes, online business is an onward vision where the dreams of profits, successful careers and convinient, personalized shopping remain to be fullfilled. Can we really see the future?
List of references:
(1) Sky News (2009) Woolworths To Get Online Relaunch [online] available from
(2) Internet World Stats (2009) INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS
The Internet Big Picture
World Internet Users and Population Stats [online] available from
(3) Campaign 20 February 2009 How Twitter allows direct access to consumers Can Twitter give brands in the UK the sort of boost in profitability that some have engineered in the US by Kate Nettleton
(4) Hackney, R., Grant, K., Birtwistle, G. (2006) ’The UK grocery business: towards a sustainable model for virtual markets’. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 34, (4/5) 354-368
(5) Hughes, T. (2003) ’Marketine Challenges in E-Bankmg: Standalone or Integrated?’ Journal of Marketing Management 19, 1067-1085
(6) Strauss, J., El-Ansary, A., Frost, R. (2003) 3rd edn. E-marketing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
(7) Chaffey, D., Smith, P.R. (2008) 3rd edn. Emarketing Excellence. Oxford : Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann
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