Marketing strategy for electronic retailing

The purpose of this work is to clarify and explain the special characteristics of the Internet as a marketing media, to identify and explore the opportunities and difficulties associated with electronic retailing and to suggest a basic model of developing and implementing electronic retailing marketing strategy. An exploratory research design is applied in this study. Primary data contains semi- structured interviews with marketers practicing in the field of electronic retailing. Secondary data contains published sources, reports concerning on-line consumer behavior, seminars, and Internet articles. Theories applied cover corporate strategy, marketing strategy, marketing management, branding, and relationship marketing. The study concludes that interactivity, user initiation, and global 24 hour reach within seconds, are all special characteristics of the Internet as a marketing media. This in turn encourages businesses to apply mass-customization/one-to-one techniques, pull strategies, and puts emphasis on the need for a high degree of service quality. Likewise, the study concludes that a well defined marketing strategy, a strong brand name, and the ability to create and maintain electronic relationships, are crucial areas of concern for on-line retailers, to meet the new dynamics of the marketspace. A cohesive framework is outlined that incorporates all these dimensions into an integrated model of electronic retailing. Keywords: electronic retailing, marketing strategy, business-to-consumer, e-commerce. vui