2013

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA SHAHIRAH KHAIRUDIN 2009497848 MKT 420

[E-COMMERCE: MARKETING
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG INTREPRENEURS IN MALAYSIA]
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INTRODUCTION The emerging of e-commerce for the past decades has transformed the marketing and business environment. The internet has fundamentally changed customers notions of convenience, speed product information, and services. As a result, it has given marketers a whole new create value for customer and build a relationship with them. The evolution in business environment invites more and more young entrepreneurs to get involve in the online business.

According to Turban et al. (2

2, p.!", #the e-commerce is an emerging concept that describes

the process of buying, selling or e$changing products, services and information via computer networks, including the internet.% &-commerce brings the benefits where effective of the product promotions, cost savings, timely information, shortened remittance times, information consistencies, better customer services, better customer relationships, customi'ation of products, competitive advantages and conveniences of doing business ((unasekaran ) *gai, 2 +"

According to the survey conducted by ,alaysia -ommunications and ,ultimedia -ommission (,-,-" on 2 .., among all the internet users, it has been reported that 2!.+/ users use the internet for online shopping and among them0 the most enthusiastic shopper comes from 1utra2aya with percentage of 3!.4/. 5nline shopping in ,alaysia is in its infancy. -ommitting a transaction online in ,alaysia is not as popular as in western country. 6ence, the right marketing approach is needed to get more involvement from ,alaysian in online business transaction (#6ousehold 7se of The 8nternet 9urvey 2 ..,% n.d.".

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MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES ON T E !EB The four ma2or online marketing domains include business-to-consumer (:2-", business to business (:2:", consumer-to-consumer (-2-", and consumer-to-business (:2-".

Targeted to Consumers Initiated by Business B-to-C

Targeted to Businesses B-to-B

(business-to-consumer) (business-to-business)

Initiated by Consumer

C-to-C (consumer-toconsumer)

C-to-B (consumer-to-business)

Adapted from: Principles of Marketing 14th Edition by Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong

Business"to"#onsumer *owadays, consumers can buy almost anything online ; from clothing, airline tickets, mobile prepaid, gadget and merchandise and etc. According to the survey conducted by ,alaysia -ommunications and ,ultimedia -ommission (,-,-" on 2 .., users between the ages of 2 to 3! are the most active users on the net. 6ence, there are a wide range of product can be sold via the internet for e$ample garment and accessories, electronic gadget, as well as food delivery. ,ore and more businesses are discovering the internet as a fundamental communication tool used to conduct daily business. <arge and small businesses are embracing the internet to communicate with current and potential customers through the internet with ease and cost saving (=iani, .>>?".

Business"to"business :usiness environment in the recent world has changes and it is e$pected more cooperation will take place among the businesses in the future. At the present time the main purpose of businesses in communicating on the internet is to increase traffic to their sites. According to

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=iani (.>>?", there are three different ways to make traffic in a website and there are@ (." link #from% other sites0 (2" link #to% other sites0 and (3" going under one roof.

Link from other sites (etting back links or link from another website to our own business website is the most effective way in improving the website ranking (Aalters, n.d.". According to =iani (.>>?", businesses in physical shopping malls benefit from the traffic flow of multitudes window shopping. The analogy of business environment in virtual world is similar to the physical business environment. To be most effective, a website should be use in con2unction with several active forms of marketing as belows@ i. ii. iii. To advertise to the webpage from the same industry To be active in forum marketing 7sing search engine optimi'ation (9&5"

Links to other site 9ending people away from our own site could invite a lot of traffic. 9ites that actively send people to other sites are hubs. A hub sites that delivers great and plentiful information to people who are thirsty for it, would invites people again and again to the sites (=apotin, n.d.". 8t can be done by linking to sites giving more relevant information to the products or services (=iani, .>>?".

Going under one roof The emergence of virtual malls and ba'aars can be seen as an opportunity for companies to be gathered virtually under one roof to benefit from the traffic flow of mall and ba'aar visitors (6offman et al., .>>+0 5=eefe, .>>+". 5ne of the e$amples is Bashion Calet that sold garments that comes from various online businesses like 6ouse of Doll, 9eEoci and etc.

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Consumer"to"#onsumer 8nformation technology makes it easier for businesses markets their products. 8nternet has become huge sources of information and a medium of communication among customers. Armstrong and 6agel (.>>F" suggest that commercial success in the on-line market will belong to those firms that organise electronic communities to meet multiple social and commercial needs. According to =ier'kowski et al. (.>>F, p. .4", #The more consumers invest time and develop familiarity in interacting with others, the less likely they are to start building these virtual relationships again elsewhere. This e$plains the growing emphasis among digital marketing application developers on communities of interest%. Armstrong and 6agel (.>>F" categorised the various types of electronic communities into four distinct categories@ (." communities of transaction facilitate buying and selling of services and products and deliver the relevant information (e.g. gadget hubs"0 (2" communities of interest bring together participants who interact with one another on specific topics (e.g. shopping"0 (3" communities of fantasy where they create new environments, personalities, or stories0 and (!" communities of relationship around certain life e$periences that often are very intense and can lead to the information of deep personal connections (e.g. TT- mothers forums". 7sually marketers focus narrowly on consumers needs within the parameters of their product category0 at best, a marketer may analyse a few related categories. :ut what should be done is to analyse the business of companies in unrelated industries that are targeting the same customers.

Consumer"to"business ,arketing today has learned that the probability of purchase by a repeat buyer is much greater than that by a randomly mailed household who has never been a customer. 5nce an individual or firm becomes a customer, the marketer begins to collect information to manage the relationship. Bor e$ample, identifying the products already being bought and determine the customers response to a specific promotion. #1rofiling% allow firms to learn more about the consumers interests and products or services desired (:lattberg et al., .>>!0 =iani, .>>?".

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Con#$usion :usiness environment has changed dramatically since the e$plosion of information technology. Goung entrepreneurs should take this as an advantage to starts as well as e$panding the e$isting business. 9trong relationship among every participant in online business environment is vital. This could create another successful young entrepreneur in the future.

RE%ERENCES (unasekaran, a., ) *gai, &. A. T. (2 +". &-commerce in 6ong =ong@ an empirical perspective and analysis. nternet !esearch, 1"(2", .!.;.+>. doi@. ... ?H. FF22! +. +> 333 6ousehold 7se of The 8nternet 9urvey 2 ... (n.d.". Ietrieved from http@HHwww.skmm.gov.myHskmmgovmyHmediaH(eneralHpdfH6ousehold-7se-of-The-8nternet9urvey-2 ..J +.2.2.pdf =apotin, A. (n.d.". The ! 1s of ,arketing in the 8nternet Age ; Artem =apotin K emarsys. Ietrieved from http@HHwww.emarsys.comHenHblogHblogHthe-!-ps-of-marketing-in-the-internetage-artem-kapotinH =iani, (. I. (.>>?". ,arketing opportunities, #(2", .?+;.>!. Aalters, ,. (n.d.". 6ow Does <inking To 5ther 9ites :ring Gou ,ore TrafficLM -ontent -uration 9oftware. Ietrieved from http@HHcurationsoft.comHhow-does-linking-to-other-sites-bring-youmore-trafficH

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