Establishing and Promoting a Virtual Store

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The marketer as the merchant should investigate the pitfalls before he begins to extol the potentials of e-commerce and become blinded by its advantages To avoid commerce overconfidence, the general strategy of setting up commercial units should not be any different for e-commerce activities Traditional organizational responsibilities for establishing financial affairs, production concerns and marketing actions should be determined in the same manner for virtual commerce companies

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The virtual marketer must arrange for financing to purchase hardware and software material Establish an office Arrange for personnel and business necessities Rounding out the triangle of finance and operations is the marketing function working to investigate consumer wants and the proper, highly-exposed delivery process for those bundles of benefits

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One of the biggest decisions, particularly for the small company or individual, is how to set up the online store The decision usually revolves around the answers to the following questions:

How experienced in business is the person responsible for setting up the online storefront? How technology-savvy is this individual?

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Intangible qualities in establishing a virtual storefront

Finding a niche to fill Attracting and training good people Creating an attractive company culture

To establish an electronic presence, it will also require some tangible equipment to access the Web

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Whether or not the e-marketer employs a developer or does it herself, the storefront must have reliable access to the Web as well as these elements:

Virtual store-building software Virtual online information sources A 500 MHz or faster PC A large hard disk, perhaps 20 gigabytes of storage or larger 128 or more megs of ROM memory A large color monitor

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Reliable access elements continued

Cable or ISDN modems, or a 56.6 Kpbs modem at minimum A browser Printers Scanners Telephone service and an Internet Service Provider

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Service companies have evolved to produce the entire virtual storefront in a turnkey fashion

The marketer supplies the developer with a marketing plan He directs the company according to his understanding of the target market The developer should design the site for the most popular browsers and specify the necessary equipment to implement the design on the Web

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It is easy to be dazzled by graphics; however, the marketer must ask himself the following questions:

Does the design and copy fit the objectives for the online marketing? Is the design attractive, memorable, and motivating? Does the design ask or require the viewer to do something, such as click through a site, register for a promotion, or visit a dealership or retail store? Is the site reflective of other company marketing materials? Can the site be produced for the budget allotted and within the time frame allowed? Do the site strategies match the corporate strategies of the company?

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After the site is created and the meta tags are tested, the next decision for the marketer is how to maintain an optimal awareness for the site

Step one - register with a variety of search engines so that the consumer can locate merchandise and offerings Step two - assess maintaining a stand-alone site as opposed to participating in the bundling of cybermall retailers

The cybermall is a virtual collection of sites, usually bringing financial, insurance, or automobile sites together that offer the shopper many hyperlinked addresses to follow from one page

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The major benefits of signing on with a cybermall are:

Expanded exposure over and above the efforts of a single site The selection to be found at the cybermalls address The site maintenance services by the cybermall operator
The cost of joining and renting space monthly Heavy competition

The major disadvantages are:

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What are the necessary elements to begin setting up an online presence?

A detailed study of the Internet and the Web as well as the peripheral promotions and communications capabilities nested on the company desktop Proficiency at a word processing program An understanding of advertising procedures, graphics, and copy is also helpful Communicating effectively with advertising suppliers Being cognizant of technology changes in hardware or software

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Elements for setting up online presence continued

Being able to judge if new equipment or applications would improve a sites performance Familiarity with HTML editing, linking hyperlinks, and acquaintance with frames and tables page construction An appreciation of customer service and conflict resolution are pluses A general proficiency in basic communications

The Web master has many duties in maintaining the ecommerce site, and a sense of organization is absolutely necessary

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An ISP is a company that can provide you with a connection to the Internet as well as Internetbased services There are also many types and levels of ISPs:

ISPs can be part-time hobbyists who are inexpensive but not well equipped to handle a business Web site Some ISPs are small businesses that are quite successful and can be well equipped to handle a business Web site that receives moderate traffic Large ISPs often provide many services to businesses and can have in-house technical support
The downfall to using a large ISP is that they may not be as flexible Large providers will most likely have the equipment and the fastest

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connections to the Internet

A commercial provider such as AOL, CompuServ, MSN, and Prodigy

These services may not be flexible enough to run the business the way the marketer wants and within the approved budget Search on the Web Ask others in your area Look in the yellow pages Check an ISP reference service

To find an ISP:

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Considerations when investigating which one to use will depend primarily on why the marketer wants an ISP

If marketer wants one for personal use, a local small business might be better as they may be more helpful If marketer wants one for business purposes, reliable service is going to be a major issue

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Some questions that the marketer might ask when looking at ISPs:

Are you able to communicate with the service representative of the ISP? Are personal and business goals understood? What type of reputation do they have?

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More Questions

Are you able to do everything that you want with this ISP?
E-mail access Host Web sites News groups Scripting

What is the pricing structure?

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More Questions

What type of connection does the ISP provide? What software is provided by the ISP? What type of technical support is available?
Make sure support is available when and how it is needed

See if they offer on-site support

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Once the marketer has chosen an ISP to host the Web pages, there are still a few things the marketer needs to be aware of:

What are the limitations set by the ISP on the size of the Web site? If the site is accessed often, check for limitations and additional fees for excess hits on your pages How will the files be transferred to the ISP and what type of access will you have for editing those pages once they are in place? See if scripts are allowed, or if they are provided by the ISP

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Things to be aware of continued

Is the provider capable of handling the security necessary for your type of site? What statistics are available from your ISP, how easy are they to obtain and in what form will they be provided? Make sure that you have ownership of the design and content of your pages and that you have thoroughly read the contract your ISP should happily provide you

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The twist in online promotion is that no one has a long history doing it right and doing it well, so much experimentation in promotion is ongoing The confusion in promotions is that the Web:

Reads like a newspaper, but it is not. The Web is like television, but where are the programs? It has sound like the radio, but where is the music? Promoters of Web advertising speak of billboards, but try to find one of the huge structures along the information highway.

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Prepare a solid marketing plan focusing on the promotional element to expose the product and display the discipline to follow What are the elements of the online communications marketing plan (your road map to marketing on the Web)?

Online marketing plan Online promotional program

Identify your consumer or business-to-business targets

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The means which the marketer will use to communicate with his primary targets are established online vehicles such as e-mail and discussion groups

Search engine optimization Mail servers and e-mail Electronic or virtual storefronts Advertising Electronic publishing Hard copy publishing

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Means of communication continued..

Conferences venues Cookies Sig files FAQs Usenet newsgroups Cross fertilization between your Web site and your traditional marketing media to increase the success of your Web presence

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The marketer can increase visibility through the following actions:

Register your site with Web search engines, listings, and catalogs Participate in discussion lists and Usenet newsgroups and the use of informative .sig files Make online announcements and use news releases Study FAQs Use cross-linking of your page to other relevant pages

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After the initial visit, activity and interactivity will encourage your visitor to return to your site

Curiosity Item turnover Indispensable tool or resource Unique event or resource Stickiness

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The Internet gives advertising and marketing professionals many resources that are very dynamic, helpful, and informative.

NetPlus Marketing Inc. http://www.netplusmarketing.com/resources.cfm Advantage Solutions Dataquest NetMarket Group Modem Media Poppe Tyson Advertising

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What are the dynamics of consumers actually buying online?

89.3% of the GVU tenth WWW User Survey respondents reported that they have ordered a product or service by filling out a form on the Web Respondents were usually U.S. males familiar with Internet activities Technology consumers are most comfortable in the online environment The internet population is homogenizing and the purchase patterns are changing

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What are the trends in consumer purchases that e-businesses selling online should be aware of for the immediate future?

Computer and accessories Entertainment Securities trading services

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E-commerce markets with the best growth potential are those closely tied to shifting demographics such as

Financial instruments Health Travel Gardening for aging Boomers Apparel, music and entertainment for GenXers

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