Zahra Begum's blog

Does Internet Marketing Enable More Effective Targeting And Segmentation? - P1

By using internet marketing businesses can can become very famous and popular. They gain more customers just because of the way they operate as a business, which would be from online. Internet marketing can make businesses reach the top very quickly if they do everything right and the way customers prefer it. As internet marketing has become very famous as the years are going pass, more and more people use the internet to fulfil their needs, so those businesses who operate from online will be in an advantage.

Internet marketing does allow ASOS to enable more effective targeting and segmentation. The reason to support this is that ASOS are only an online business and everything they do is from there onwards, this includes advertising, feedback, emailing and much more.

ASOS offer their customers a wide range of products to choose from, this includes both for men and women, that to with a wide selection of sizes to choose from. This then allows them to focus on a certain target market and try to make as many sales as possible. ASOS have a certain target group they focus on and internet marketing helps them to maintain theses customers by always keeping them updated about anything latest happening and by informing them about any new products that ASOS think they might be interested in keeping in mind what they have purchased before from them. This can all be done just by sending current customers an email which ASOS do all the time and the main reason for them doing this is to build good relationships with their customers. It is internet marketing that allows this to be possible and quick, which is why businesses do it all the time.

Another form of internet marketing that enables more effective targeting and segmentation is the fact that everything can be done with just a click. This means ASOS don't waste any time in informing their customers through email about any latest product they have in stock, so that it persuades them to buy it. They also email their customers about product ASOS think they might be interested in keeping in mind what they have purchased before from them. This can only be possible because of internet marketing and how far it has developed.

ASOS also use internet marketing to get more involved with their customers, and they do this buy allowing people to join them on Twitter, Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. From this we can see that ASOS can be joined to from more than one place, which is an advantage because at this present moment technology is getting developed further and peoples choices keep on changing. For example someone might be using Facebook only, but after a while they might get bored of it and want to change to something new, such as MySpace. But since ASOS are joined with more than one, it means there are higher chances of them having more people/customers joining them.

Segmentation

Businesses can find it very hard at times to find out exactly what their customers want and how to satisfy their needs. So to make it easier for themselves they try to divide their business into smaller segments, so that its easier for them to judge their customers and fulfil their needs. This is known as segmentation, and there are many kinds of different ones. For example, Geographic Segmentation, Demographic Segmentation and Lifestyle Segmentation.

Geographic Segmentation is all about trying to divide the market into different parts to make everything a lot easier to see and understand. if data is divided into these categories businesses seem to find it much straightforward to see trends and patterns between them. The groups they are divided into are; countries, city or town, size of the population and so on. Geographic segmentation is also very important for businesses because it helps them when they are advertising and promoting their products as they realise what sort of products are famous in what sort of place. ASOS will have to make sure they are meeting all their customers needs properly because they are a very large business who do deliveries all around the UK. This will also help them realise that different people from different places have different taste in the products they buy. This will then help them to find out what their customers want from them, and if they can provide them with it, it will automatically increase their sales and profit made.

Demographic Segmentation is all about the changes that take place in the environment, such as changes in the number of people that live in that certain area (population change), status, age, income, employment, space, size and so on. Demographic segmentation is also very vital for businesses as it makes it simpler for them to see what their customers expect form them and they also find out what sort of people buy what sort of products. Then they can target those specific people with products that suit them the most, rather than targeting the whole lot and only getting some customers attention back. ASOS can do this sort of segmentation as it will be very useful for them because they can find out what kind of customers like what sort of products, then they are target them with things of their choices, 100% sure they will get a response from them. 

Lifestyle Segmentation is all about separating customers into different groups, all based on their hobbies, interests, opinions, attitude and other aspects of their lifestyles. This then allows them to find out more about their customers which will then help them find out what sort of products they prefer and would purchase. ASOS can also use this technique to find out what their customers want and desire, so that they provide them with exactly what they want.

How Does Internet Marketing Help Achieve Business Objectives? - P1

Aims and Objectives of ASOS are:

Objective - To become the leading fashion website in the UK and attract growing numbers of overseas customers. ASOS have 3 smaller aims which they have set for their business that will help them achieve their objective.
Aims - Uncompromising Presentation, Incredible Choice and Delivering Impeccable Service.
At the moment in the top 10, ASOS are the second most visited online website after Next who currently are first, and they own 5.13% of the market. ASOS are in twelfth place in the top 50 UK shopping websites.
Uncompromising Presentation - ASOS believe that their website is their shop window and they must continue to develop it to ensure that their customers will enjoy their time on the website and that they don't face any problems finding their way around. To make sure this happens ASOS maintain their website well and try to keep everything very simple so it’s easier for their customers browsing through it. The ASOS website received a complete overhaul in March 2009 and they introduced a number of new things. This includes, new navigation features to enable quick and easy browsing of the extended product ranges, 360 degree view of all shoes and accessories and lastly, they introduced catwalk for menswear and for ASOS outlet. Another change they made which makes things easier is that they allow their customers to shop by brand so they don't have to look through everything if they want something that is a specific brand. This then saves a lot of time as the customer would be shown products that they have searched for.
Incredible Choice - ASOS offer their customers the latest fashion with a target of over 30,000 options for the Autumn/Winter season. The products will be of their own label as well as branded products. ASOS have over 100 branded products available to all the customers. These include beauty and accessories products as well as clothes. This gives the customer a variety of products to choose from.
Delivering Impeccable Service - ASOS try and give their customers as many delivery options they can, and they still are trying to increase them. ASOS want their customers to be happy with the service they are providing and wish that their goods reach the customer who purchased them as soon as possible, because once they are pleased with the type of service they provide customers are more likely to return to them again and make more purchases. ASOS provide their customers with many different kinds of delivery methods and services. This includes, next day delivery, standard delivery promise which is 2-3 days, Saturday delivery, nominate your own day of delivery and weekend orders are delivered on Monday. The impeccable service they provide is that they send email and text alerts to inform customers of their deliveries, 85% of the orders made are trackable, customers care is available 24/7 and that next day delivery cut off time is 6pm so if customers don't get the package before that time they know it wont arrive today rather than waiting for it all day. ASOS are still trying to improve their delivery service and they are doing this by extending their next day delivery service and by allowing customers to place orders up to 6pm. This then includes a Saturday delivery for orders placed on Friday. They will also be introducing a super saver option and same day service within London.
Internet marketing allows ASOS to achieve their set objectives. For example, their first aim is to deliver uncompromising presentation to their customers, and the way internet marketing can help them to meet this aim is by giving them a wide range of ways they can have their website designed and maintained so that they are successful in impressing their customers by delivering uncompromising presentation to them. Also ASOS must have employed specialist people who know exactly what to do to make a website perfect enough to meet their first aim. Their second aim is to offer their customers incredible choice and internet marketing can be used for this to happen. For example, ASOS can allow their customers to play and pause catwalk videos that they have available on their website for customers to watch so that they can see what the product looks like once someone’s wearing it. This is done by using internet marketing and showing customers what a wide range of products ASOS have to offer them with. Their last aim it to deliver impeccable service. This can also be done with the help of internet marketing. For instance ASOS allow their customers to choose the type of delivery they want and at what day. Also with the help of internet marketing ASOS are working harder to improve their delivery service making it much more better, improved and enhanced for their customers.

Does Internet Marketing Contribute To Or Highlight The Need For Effective Identificataion Of New Product/Market Development Opportunities? - P1

Internet Marketing does contribute to the need of effective identification of new products and market development opportunities because it allows ASOS to find out what sorts of products are the most popular at the moment and what most customers are willing to buy and after doing some research on that, they can then develop their products which will meet their needs so they are 100% sure that customers will be willing to buy their products. All this is done by doing research using the internet and as internet marketing is all about making your product available to your customers, this is a good way of finding out exactly what they want therefore when ASOS advertise their products to them, they will be expecting some good results.

Also another way that internet marketing helps ASOS identify new products or market development opportunities is by them finding out whether or not their customers are happy with the kind of service they are provided with and if they believe any improvements can be made to their website or anything else. This can be done through email to gain customer feedback and the way this will help ASOS identify new products is that is cutsomers don't buy something or give it negative feedback, ASOS will then know cutsomers are not interested in this certain product, so to make it sell they might make improvements on it and changes so that cutsomers like it and are willing to buy it. This way ASOS will be developing new products. ASOS are also available on facebook and twitter which allows customers to give their feedback there and then so its easier for ASOS to find this information out. Through this they can also talk to their cutsomers directly and ask them for any new ideas they have in mind so that ASOS can take further action and make their ideas come true.

The 7 P's - P1

Price - In marketing price is about setting a price that serves the customers well and provides the business with a profit. The
price is the set amount of money that customers have to pay in order to purchase the goods they want to. It is the amount that businesses charge for their products but can change so it’s not a fixed price. Businesses have to make sure they charge the right amount of money for the right things. So if something doest need to be expensive, businesses have to make sure they charge an amount that customers are willing to pay for it. Businesses have to also make sure they know what price their competitors are selling their products for because they wouldn't want to be selling their products to cheap or far too expensive. Price is a very important factor because it’s a way of attracting customers, but it’s only if the business is selling their products at the right price which customers are happy with.
ASOS (Price) - ASOS keep their prices at a very standard rate but some of their products are expensive as they are known for selling clothes that celebrities have worn so they can’t sell them at a cheap price. Even though they are not a cheap place to shop at they have times where they offer customers discounts on many of their products. For example they might have 10% off or 20% and even half the price. All these products will be the ones that are not for the current season; therefore to get rid of them ASOS put them on discount as it gets customers buying them. ASOS keep their prices depending on what the product is, so if its worn by someone well known, than ASOS will charge their customers a high price for it because they know customer would want to have it no matter what even if the pricing is high, that's how they are successful as a business because they earn a lot of revenue.

Product - The product is the most important thing for a business as that is what decides if they are making a loss or a profit, because the more products they sell the more revenue they are making. A product needs to be very eye catching and something new and different altogether in the market to be able to sell properly. That is the reason why over time businesses decide to re-develop their existing product to give it a new meaning which hopefully attracts new customers. Another important factor of the product is its appearance and it has to be almost perfect so it can sell right and just how the business thought it will. The way the product is packaged and branded also matters as well because many customers look at a products brand and the way its packaged in order to decide if they should buy it or not. Also many customers think that if a product is well packaged and branded it is likely to be good because of its appearance, that's why businesses focus on the way their product looks from the outside as well as the inside.
ASOS (Product) - ASOS have a collection of products available to their customers, all something that's related to celebrities. At ASOS you can find a variety of products for both men and women. They also sell beauty products as well as accessories. ASOS have grown rapidly and have begun to sell clothes for children and babies. ASOS have designed their website well and have kept all the products under categories so it’s easier to see for the user. This means they have separated the women and men section, so it’s not much of a problem and they have also separated accessories and their beauty products. If you go to the ASOS website at the top they show you what sort of products they have available, for example women, men, designer, beauty and kids. From this we can see that ASOS have a wide range of products for their customers, overall they have over 100 different brands that customers can choose from.

Promotion - Promotion is all about the way businesses decide to advertise their business, products, services or whatever they have to offer to their customers. There are many different types of ways a business can advertise their products, this includes, print advertisements (newspapers, magazines, posters, fliers) outdoor advertisements (billboards) and broadcast advertisements (television, radio, internet). Businesses try and promote all the special and unique features of their products because that's what attracts customers and over time a unique selling point is created. Through promotion businesses try and create awareness of themselves and whatever they have to offer with the hope that they will be successful in persuading and informing their customers.
ASOS (Promotion) - ASOS advertise their business and products through their own website, for instance they have a small section on their website which gives customers information about themselves, and also about what they have to offer to them. They also give a brief description about their history and how they started out, this is promotion because ASOS are promoting their business to the world, which includes their customers as well as their competitors because the website is there for anybody to use. ASOS also have a section for investors, which once again is promoting their business, but this time it focuses on a group of people known as investors. These are the people that would want to invest with ASOS and be a part of them. Their website is packed with information about their products and what’s good about each and every one of them. This way they are promoting their products to the people who are browsing through their website. Customers can be a part of ASOS because once they make a purchase from them they have to give their email address and once ASOS have gathered this information they send various emails to their customers keeping them informed about any new products they have in stock and about anything new that's happening at ASOS. People can forward these emails to other people in their contact list so it’s promoting ASOS to other people making more and more people aware of them.

Place - In marketing place is all about making your product accessible to your customers/consumers. Businesses will need to think carefully about the place they decide to locate their business at, because they have to locate it at a place where it’s easy for their customers to get hold of their goods or service. Location is very important, and every business has to think about many different things because they can decide where to situate their business at. For example they have to think about, car park, the way the place looks (clean, tidy), whether it’s local or not, if their competitors are close enough. After thinking about all these things and more is when they come to a conclusion.
ASOS (Place) - ASOS are an online business and only function from there. This means they do not have any shops which customer can visit and purchase their goods. ASOS operate from a warehouse in which they store all their stock. But they do have a headquarter that is situated in London, England, UK. This is the online place ASOS can be found at since they do not operate from shops or any other buildings apart from their warehouse.

People - Every business must have the right people working for them in order for it to run properly. This includes recruiting the right staff and providing them with appropriate training so that they can deliver the right service to customers. Everyone working for the business known as the staff, should also have the right interpersonal skills and service knowledge so that they can provide all their customers with the service they should and what they are paying them for. In the marketing mix the people are the employees that work for the organisation, they must have certain skills and manners because they must give their 100% at all times and try to make the business succeed at all times.

ASOS (People) - ASOS employee many people because they want their business to run properly. In total they have 1000 employees working for them. ASOS need specialised people working for them that can look after the website and make changes whenever they need to. This includes adding new things as well as removing certain out of date information that is not needed any more. For this to happen ASOS would need to recruit specialised people who already have the right training. They must also have people who can deal with customer complaints and try to sort them out. For this to happen ASOS must employee people that will make things better for themselves as well as the customers because they are very important people for the business, and they also have to make sure that the customer walks away happy, because happy customers will always come back. The bigger the business the more people are needed to manage everything, but as ASOS operate from online only, they need more specialised staff with the right training.

Process - This is the process by which the product is either manufactured or passed on to the final user (customer). It includes all the stages that are followed for this procedure to work out. This includes the delivery service if required.
ASOS (Process) - The process that takes place at ASOS is completely different to the process that customers would have to go through if they went to a shop. As ASOS is an online business, customers would have to visit their website to shop at them, and the procedure they have to follow to make purchases is completely different to the procedure they have to follow elsewhere. For starters customers shopping at ASOS can only see the product they cannot touch it or try it on as everything is seen through the computer screen. The payment methods are done by using a credit card just like you can do at a shop but the only different is that you would have to do everything yourself with no help. Once you have made a purchase with ASOS you will have to wait until the delivery comes through the post.

Physical Evidence - This section of the marketing mix is all about making sure that businesses take care of the physical appearance of their business making sure it looks as friendly as possible. Businesses also have to make sure that where their customers go to purchase their goods looks welcoming as it reflects the businesses status. If customers found the place to be very clean, tidy, welcoming and friendly with a nice atmosphere they would most likely go back and be part of it again. On the other hand if they walk into a shop floor with it being messy and no friendly appearance to it, they won’t really go back to that sort of place, instead they would want to go elsewhere. This way the business is not making any profit at all. These shows how important it is for businesses to make their shops, buildings or where ever they operate from a nice, clean and well decorated place.
ASOS (Physical Evidence) - ASOS do not have a building where customers can go to shop, so they don't really need to worry about this section of the marketing mix. But they do have headquarters that can be found in London, which they have managed very well, as that's the place they mainly operate from because that's the only building found to be with them excluding their warehouse. On the other hand ASOS have a website which they have to maintain instead. They have done this really well because their website is well designed, everything is where it should be which means nothing is out of place, they have made it very colourful with videos and images, they have sound once videos are being played. ASOS have recently received a complete overhaul in March 2009, and they have introduced many new things to the website improving it more.

How Does ASOS Use Internet Marketing? - P1

ASOS are UK’s largest online store; it was launched in 2000 by Nick Robertson. There head quarters are situated in London, UK. They have 270 employees working for them, and are making revenue of £81,044,000 with a net income of £7,311,000. ASOS stands for “As Seen on Screen” They only operate from online only, so you won’t find ASOS’s products and goods elsewhere. They are specialised for selling affordable fashion clothes and accessories worn by celebrities. ASOS have many of their own brands such as ASOS Outlet which are products of the previous season that are sold at a discount of 75% off. They also have Little ASOS, which has everything for babies up to 24 months and girls and boys aged 2 to 6. This collection was recently launched in mid February 2009. Another one of their collection is still to be launched in the second half of the year 2009, and will be called ASOS Marketplace. This will allow customers to sell their own clothes and accessories on the ASOS website, whether it’s just them recycling unwanted belongings, or trying to earn some extra cash ASOS will except it all.

ASOS use the internet to advertise their products to their customers, and they do this through their own website. ASOS have designed their website well which makes it easier for their customers when they are browsing through it and it is all done using the internet. For example, when a user on their website clicks on a product they want to see, automatically a cat walk will start playing which allows them to have a closer look at it. They can also stop and pause the video whenever they like. This gives the customer a better view of the product as they can see all the different angels of it, so it increases the chances of them purchasing the product as they know exactly what it is like so they won't find any faults in the way it looks once it arrives. ASOS are on Twitter as well as Facebook and they allow their customers to join them by going on to their website, this is another use of internet marketing. Through this ASOS will keep their customers updated about any new products they have in stock. Customers will also be able to find out as much information they want to and give their own opinion, just by joining them on Facebook or Twitter. ASOS also sends emails to their customers keeping them up to date about everything that’s happening also informing them about any new products. Once ASOS have sent the email off, the receiver can forward the email to anyone in their contact list informing more and more people about ASOS, this will then be promoting their business as well as their products. Another technique of internet marketing is the PDF magazine. This is the online catalogue that ASOS have available on their website for customers to browse through which is over 100 pages long. This is a very good way of using the internet to promote your business because it's something new and different which will attract a lot of new customers. ASOS have done this well because they allow their customers to zoom in and out of pages so that they can have a closer look at the products, and they also give information about certain products and about anything that’s on discount or sale. The PDF magazine is produced well by ASOS as it is available in two different sections, one for women and the other for men. This is useful because if the person wanting to look at the magazine online is a woman, she can just look at the catalogue that focuses on women wear. Customers can also make a request for the catalogue and receive it through their post. On their website ASOS have a banner that’s positioned at the top of the webpage which keeps on changing from one things to the other and is another use of internet marketing because its advertising other businesses, and the user can click onto the banner to find out more about the business or product that’s being advertised. Overall, ASOS use internet marketing in several different ways to promote their business and their products to customers.

What Is Internet Marketing? - P1

Internet marketing is the marketing of products and services which is done using the internet as its main source. The importance of internet marketing has grown with the expansion of the internet. Online advertising spending in the UK has overtaken television expenditure for the first time. In the first half of 2009 online advertising has grew 4.6% to £1.752bn, while television spending shrank 16.1% to £1.639bn. Examples of online advertising are e-mail campaigns, classified adverts, display ads and search marketing. Internet marketing is also known as i-marketing, web marketing, online marketing or eMarketing.