National Economic University

- Advanced Educational Program -

Project
Topic: CURRENT SITUATION
OF ONLINE ADVERTISING

Group 11: Tran Thuy Linh (1113233)

Vuong Thuy Linh
Tran Hoang Khanh Linh
Class: Advanced Finance 55A
Instructor: Tran Thi Thu Trang, MA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction..................................................................................
................................................2
I.1. Topic
Area...............................................................................................................
.......................................2
I.2.
Rationale(s)...................................................................................................
................................................2
I.3.
Purpose(s)......................................................................................................
................................................2
I.4. Research
Questions.......................................................................................................
.............................3
I.5.Methodology.............................................................................................
.....................................................3
II. Literature
Review...........................................................................................
..........................6
II.1. Overview of online
advertisement...............................................................................................
.....6
II.2. Online advertisements impact on
people......................................................................................7
II.3. Suggestion for online advertisements
users................................................................................9
III. Finding and
Discussion.....................................................................................
....................10
III.1.
Overview........................................................................................................
............................................10
III.2. Impact of online advertising on
people........................................................................................14

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III.3.
Recommendation...........................................................................................
.......................................19
IV. Conclusion.....................................................................................
..............................................24
V. References....................................................................................
..............................................25
VI. Appendices....................................................................................
.............................................27

I. Introduction
I.1. Topic area: Nineteenth-century retailer Wannamaker (n.d) was
responsible for perhaps the most repeated line in marketing: "Half the
money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don't know which
half". Today, marketers are grappling with the Wanamaker Paradox: The
more we learn which half of advertising is working, the more we realize
we're wasting way more than half. It raises a question about the true
effectiveness of advertisement. Therefore, we especially carry out a
research on a unique and popular type of advertisement nowadays, called
online advertising. Basically, this research will work on a group of students
in many universities around Hanoi, especially AEP students from NEU to
study their behaviours as well as opinions toward online advertising, and
this project has lasted about one and a half month.

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I.2. Rationale(s): Today, online advertising is becoming more popular
than ever before. People consider it as the most useful tool to satisfy their
needs. An easy, fast, and convenient shopping progress that asks for
nothing but one click on the mouse is definitely the one that a customer
has ever wanted. The development of networking technology has made an
evolution in the world of advertising. It may seem perfect at first but
lately, the problems appear. The more people enjoy online advertising, the
more companies jump into this potential market. Online market is
becoming so chaos as every firm wants to have a stable stand. For
example, some have failed so they tried everything to make up for their
loss in revenue, even by luring customer to buy lower quality product,
which is totally different to the one shown on their Ads. This raised a big
doubt: Should people really trust in Online Advertising?. This problem is
considered as a very appealing topic as problem of marketing online is one
of the hottest issues at this moment. During the first week jumping into
this problem, a lot of interesting information about the reality of online
marketing are found. More and more questions are made: how the
smallest move can make the biggest change in marketing strategy, take
all buyers attention just at the very first moment they see it? How can
consumer be smart in online market and find out the right product they
want without making mistake? and so on. Therefore, group 11 decides to
look for the answers.
I.3. Purposes: On doing the research, authors do not only want to seek
for appropriate answers for the question raised above, but also want to
bring the information to many people. Firstly, students in general and
Advanced Educational Programs students in particular, we find a need to
provide them with a new and crystal, clear look at the advertising
activities. Therefore, they can broaden their mind and understand
thoroughly the subjects they are studying since advertising is one of
important factors that is related to economy. Secondly, authors bigger aim
is to raise people, both consumer and producer, awareness of online
advertising. Henceforth, consumers base on that to make a wiser choice
and to avoid any traps whenever doing transaction online, while producers
can carry out much better advertising campaigns via internet. Only by that
way, the internet advertisement itself could eliminate the disqualified
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advertising and make a progress to contribute to the worlds economic
growth.
I.4. Research questions:

1. Why is online advertising getting popular today?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of online advertising

brought to both customers and producers?

3. What are the solutions for all the customers and producers to deal with
the ineffective online advertising?

I.5. Methodology:

Having been carried out for about a month, the research aimed to
students from various universities in Vietnam such as National Economic
University, Foreign Trade University, Hanoi University, and so on. The
reason why the participant focused on university students is the
approachability, the excessiveness of them and the diversity of their
responses could help provide sufficient information needed for the
construction of the research. In addition, the research subject was mainly
focused on Advanced Educational Program students of National Economic
University.

The research was conducted on the basic of 2 main resources. Primary

data is gathered from surveillance, interview and observation while most
of secondary data is obtained from Internet, magazines and former
researches about online advertising. Because of the newness of the topic
in Vietnam, it was difficult to search information from primary data like
books; henceforth the data needed was attained by surveillance. The
detailed look at the survey about online advertising is going to be
described as below:

It was built from 12 questions on the purpose of learning more detailed

perception of the research subject about the topic to answer the research
questions What is online advertising and how many types does it have?
Why is it getting popular today?, What are the advantages and

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disadvantages of online advertising brought to both customers and
producers? and What are the solutions for all the customers to deal with
the ineffective online advertising as well as the solutions for all the
producers to increase the utility of online advertising?. The first 5
questions are to give a general view of the popularity of online advertising.
The rest of the survey is separated into 2 parts. The first part including 4
questions is for people who have intention of shopping online or already
shopped online. The second part including 3 questions is for people who
have intention of doing business online or already did business online. The
survey was sent and shared with plenty of people via social network,
especially on Facebook and via email. Genders do not mean anything and
this research type, so it was opted out of the method. The expectation is to
see the current activities of using online advertising of people from both
consumers side and businessmans side. Henceforth, it can be easier to
testify the effectiveness of the type of advertisement, the satisfaction of
users and the awareness of the risk online advertising could bring. There
were not many responses initially. After long waiting time, 100 responses
were attained in the end.

From the survey and collected responses, the research started being built
in more details. Firstly, it would base on the Quantitative or the figures
derived from 100 responses to build graphs and/or charts. Secondly, it is
built by a type of research called Descriptive. This research type would
help describe the graphs and/or charts constructed from the survey to see
the trend related to the topic. Analytical which is another type of research
builds the research by analyzing, comparing and deriving from the trend
illustrated by charts and/or graphs. It would give a clear look at the
information provided by the survey. Based on what has been concluded,
the research would give a prediction about the topic by using Predictive
type of research to see the scope of it.

Apart from primary data, secondary data even was searched before the
topic was chosen. Source for this kind of information comes from previous
research reports, newspapers, online presses such as Wikipedia and some
international websites. In case of this research, secondary data should

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focus on opinions of specialists about the scope of online advertising as
well as examples of effectiveness with this kind of advertisement. Again,
however, on account of the newness of the topic, the reference source
primarily came from international websites such as Linkedin, Buzzle, etc.
Also, the number of reports and magazines discussed around this topic are
very limited in term of quantity and quality as well. Especially, noticed that
most of them referred for the world situations rather than currents in
Hanoi or Vietnam. Anyway, all of these findings would be considered in
process of answering 3 research questions in addition to results from
survey discussed above.

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 II. Literature review

In this section, we are going to discuss about 3 main parts which are the
definition and classification of online advertising today with the reason for
its popularity, the effects as well as the recommendations for all the
customers and producers.

II.1. Overview of online advertisement

II.1.1. Definition

Online advertising or Internet advertising, is a form of advertising which

uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to
consumers. Like other advertising media, online advertising involves both
a publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content, and an
advertiser, who provides the advertisements to be displayed on the
publisher's content. Other potential participants include advertising
agencies who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server who
technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics, and advertising
affiliates who do independent promotional work for the advertiser.

II.1.2. Classification

There are various ways of online advertising, which are classified into 5
main types. The first one is also the most popular one, display advertising,
which conveys advertising message visually using text, logos, animations,
videos, photographs, or other graphics. Moreover, the web banners or
banners advertising are one of the oldest forms of online advertising,
which are the graphical advertising displayed within a web page, normally
delivered by a central advertising server. In addition, today, most people
are getting accustomed to pop up advertising, which displayed in a new

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web browser window that opens above a website visitors initial browser
window, and also floating advertising, which is a type of rich media
advertising that appears superimposed over the requested websites
content. Last but not least, the trick banner, a banner ad where the ad
copy imitates some screen element users commonly encounter, such as
an operating system message or popular application message, to induce
ad clicks.

II.1.3. The reason for its popularity

The technology has been rapidly remarkably advanced and brought plenty
of benefits to people. One of the typical examples is the birth of Internet
which has helped people to interact with each other much easier than
ever. Nowadays, more people use Internet as one of the most effective
tool to carry out different activities including shopping online. The demand
for a fast, convenient, not time-wasted way of shopping is rising higher
than ever. Spotting the potentially fertilized market, hundreds of producers
have found a new way to promote their products and make more profits
than ever. They found that online advertising not only helped them
approach their potential clients or customers quickly but cost them much
less than advertising on any other kinds of media. The demand and the
supply side, together have created the new century for online advertising
bloom, which indicates many hidden drawbacks aside with advantages.

II.2. Online advertisements impact on people

II.2.1. On producers

Everything has its two sides effect, and so does online advertising
impact on producers. It can bring back a huge amount of revenue for
them, but take them to be broken immediately. Therefore, with an aim to
making the most of online advertising, any producers should be aware of
its advantages as well as disadvantages to deal with the aroused problem.

In particular, online advertising is an ideal choice for every business when

its come to marketing. Online advertising can reach a wide range of
customers who would be specifically interested in buying their product. It
is highly informative as provide detail about the product: features,
durability, method of use, and so on, which allows customer to purchase

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the product in the fastest and most convenient way. Besides, the cost
effective and easy-to-use features also make online advertising one of the
most growing mediums to watch out for.

One disadvantage of advertising on the Internet is that marketing

materials are automatically available for anyone in the world to copy,
regardless of the legal ramifications. Another one is the fact that the
Internet-advertising gold rush has begun to introduce ad clutter to the
Web. Web users are so inundated with banner ads and spam email that
they have begun to ignore internet advertising just as much as ads on
traditional media, which could result in a big loss of potential customers.

To conclude, since each company has its own problems in online

advertising, it should consider its own problems and solve them in this
potential, but also competitive market.

II.2.2. On customers

Today, customers try out a new way of shopping through Internet, but at
the same time, experience the negative feelings of money loss, privacy
invasion or low qualified products. The more Internet develops, the more
advantages and disadvantages arise, which requires the awareness of
customers to prevent themselves from being human rights invasion.

There must be some reasons why customers are so indulged in online

shopping. Firstly, Internet makes it so convenient that you can shop from
any computer any time while avoiding the need to travel, pay for parking,
queue in-store etc. Secondly, there are always more choices in shopping
online than any high street or shopping centre. The increasing in number
of competition between retailers also brings down prices, keep the goods
at a cheaper price. Next, the accessibility feature will allow those with a
disability that limits their mobility can choose to have goods delivered.
Finally, you will find it easier than ever to compare prices and product
details in order to get the best deal on the Internet.

Besides the advantages, there are still some drawbacks when customer
uses online advertising to meet their need. Firstly, the fraud and security
concerns happen when customers are given the lack of ability to inspect
merchandise before purchase which would put them in higher risk of fraud

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than face-to-face transactions. Second is the lack of full cost disclosure
when sometime it may not be easy for customer to see the total cost up
front. Additional fees such as shipping are often not be visible until the
final step in the checkout process. Finally, privacy of personal information
is a significant issue for some consumers. Many consumers wish to avoid
spam and telemarketing which could result from supplying contact
information to an online merchant.

In conclusion, like the producers, the customers should protect themselves

from the Internet, as well as make sure to maximize their profit while using
online advertising.

II.2.3. Different cultures, different behaviors toward online advertising

This study is going to concentrate on the basis concept of online

advertising, not going too deep into any particular platform due to the
differences from each culture. For instant, in Western countries, human
rights are highly honored. Before any decision, both producers and
consumers are always considered their rights and obligations to make sure
the trade can maximize their own profit. Purchasing tool as the credit card
is also managed very tightly since users do not want any serious troubles
to occur such as privacy invasion or money loss, and they can be
protected by detailed law system. Since the online market there is
developed, it also contain many hidden, sophisticated problems, which
results in many public articles help the users to protect themselves
individually. In the contrary, online market in Vietnam somehow is the new,
potential one, therefore, the way it works appear to be simpler. In Vietnam,
sometime the matter is only about these two questions: If I were the
seller, how much money can I get? or Is the good I purchase really worth
my money?. The people tend to solve the small problems by accepting or
negotiating, but not many bring the matters to article or law, which results
in most information about solutions of online advertising is very limited.
Due to that difference in perception, authors will stay focused on the
general situation of online advertising and try to get readers a better
understanding about this topic, and recommendations will be classified
carefully to be more suitable for Vietnam market.

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II.3. Suggestion for online advertisements users

II.3.1.Customers: Many shoppers nowadays are cheated by clever scram

artists, and shoppers should be aware of protecting themselves from
brick-and-mortar stores. Basically, these tips below will help the customers
to get out of the troubles that annoying, tricky online advertising brings
back. First of all, customer should make sure that they shop at secure
websites which has a green symbol on the link. Furthermore, research the
website before you order to make sure that they do business with
companies they have already known. Thirdly, reading the websites privacy
and security policies and be aware of cookies and behavioral marketing
are 2 things that the customers should have paid more attention. In
addition, Vietnam customers are suggested to get used to shop online
through credit card. Remember to disclose only the bare facts about
customers information, and use shoppers intuition carefully before
purchasing anything.

II.3.2. Producers: From small restaurants, instrument stores to many well-

known brands such as Universal or Mercedes Benz, these businesses had
made the most of online advertising and therefore, improve their bottom
line. In general, their success stories lead to some points in online ads.
First of all, online advertising should tell an unique story with a specific
message, deliver a clear solutions to target customers problems. Knowing
the target customers and utilizing their call-to-action appear to be the best
solution. Do not never ignore the advantages of a visually appealing ad
with engaging headline, but at the same time, consider the relevance of
this ad: make sure to advertise products or services on the websites which
mostly your potential target audiences will visit.

III. Finding and Discussion

III.1 Overview

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Hereafter are charts based on the survey conducted along with description
and analysis. They are going to provide a general view of online
advertising.

According to the chart, it is easily seen that the number of people having
used online advertising accounts for three quarters of the pie chart, while
there is only just below 30 percent of people who have not used this kind
of advertisement. It is clear to derive from the figure that online
advertising have become more and more popular to people.

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This figure is mostly about the behavior of consumer. It can be easily
pointed out that many people are not yet used to or really keen on this
type of advertisement. The evidence is, on the pie chart, there is a
majority of people using online advertising only 1-2 times a year, and just
below 30 percent of people using it once or twice a month. The most
frequent usage of online ads which is 1-2 times per week only accounts for
12 percent. The rest of people involved in the survey, which accounts for
almost 10 percent, use online advertising more or less than the given
number.

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The table provides us figures that exactly a half of people using online
advertising express the neutral attitude toward this kind of advertisement.
Besides, there are 40 percent of people saying that they are satisfied when
utilizing online ads. By contrast, the number of people interviewed and
having bad experience with online advertising accounts for only small
proportion.

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The table shows that the social networks which account for just above 80
percent are the fertilized places for online ads since those websites are
more and more popular among people. The reason is those are places
where people share their thoughts daily and connect to hundreds of other
people online every day and every minute. To consumer, if glancing just
for a while, there are hundreds of online advertising placing in and outside
those webs. To firm, every click of like and share button could help
them earn a lot of profits. That is why they are favorite places not only to
consumers but to firms as well. Other websites, such as market websites
where people do transactions, account for less than the social network.
The number of people keeping updated to online ads or doing business
via email has just a small proportion, almost 10 percent.
From those figures, it can be derived that the coverage of online
advertising on social network is much larger than other websites.

Table 1: The influence of the level of attraction of online ads on

peoples decision:

Band score 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1

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 0

Percent of the influence of 0 2 5 9 9 2 8 1 1 9 7

the attraction level of online
1 6 5
ads

These figures are mostly about consumers. The table indicates that the
number 5 is marked by the majority of people to the level of influences
attraction of online ads on their decision. The other part of people giving
high band score ranging from 6 to 10 are larger than the lower score
which ranges from 0 to 4. Online ads attraction level partly affects
peoples decision. To some others, it does a huge impact.

Though online advertising is beneficial to both consumers and firms,

sometimes it causes lots of troubles to merely consumers. The pie chart
shows that every type given is also annoying, but the most irritating one is
the second one pop-ups or pop-under. Those are types that people
cannot stand because they bring usually sensitive and unexpected
contents, annoying sounds and even virus that is unintentionally or
automatically downloaded to consumers computer. Other minus points
are they sometimes show up repeatedly and are hard to shut down, which
could slow down all the system of a computer. The other types are the

16
types that people can tolerate. They do not cause a huge impact on the
consumers such much as the pop-ups or pop-under type. They only
bring a little distraction and can easily be handled.
It is clear to derive from the above figures that online advertising has
become more and more popular to people. The reasons for its
pervasiveness are plenty. Since the birth of internet, numerous things have
developed magnificently, and it is inevitable that advertisement will be
involved in the revolution. Thousands of people access to Internet every
day, which made it so easy to encounter any online advertisings. Seizing
this opportunity, firms have carried out various online advertising
campaigns. It is because not only the accessibility of online advertising but
also its inexpensiveness, creativity and comfy. To consumers side, online
advertising is trendy because it is time-saving, fast and convenient for
people to do transaction. This fact is also similar to the conclusion we
mentioned in the overview part of Literature Review.
III.2. Impact of Online Advertising on People
In this 21st century, the age of massively technology outburst, it is hard to
find things that will not be sold online. Online advertising seems to be the
hottest deal that marketers have ever received. But things always come
with both pros and cons. The benefit that Online Advertising carries is
certainly undeniable but this type of advertising is also brings some
drawbacks which may cause some unpleasant feeling for the producers
themselves along with their customers. The survey that has been
mentioned above is aimed to investigate in the attitude behavior of people
using online advertisings, for both buyers and sellers, about what they
feel, what they want, and how they react in the Online Market.

III.2.1. Advantages
III.2.1.1. Customer side
In the 20th century, the online shopping world started to emerge, create an
incredibly huge success for the market. Online advertising seemed to carry
all of the best services that customers need. Since then, the survey is
designed to estimate the level of consumers satisfaction toward each
avail they received, from level 1 to 6, relevant to the level of satisfaction,
from the less to the most happiness feeling.
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Figure 7: Online Advertising advantages on Customer

Most of respondents enjoy using online advertising because of its

convenience feature. 60% of them gave this avail very high point (5 points
and up) with over 30% for maximum satisfaction. The Variety of choices
takes the second place with over a half account for 5-6 points and followed
by Form of transaction with exactly 40% of high point. Other feature like
Lower Price and Informative data seemed to receive less attention from
the buyers since the responses for those are quite neutral.

Corresponding to the theory mentioned previously, Online Advertising is a

smart choice of marketing simply because it is really understand
customers demand. No more time wasted on the way going the mall, no
more money wasted on car parking or any unnecessary activities. With
Online Advertising, just a click on the mouse and everything will be ready
in a minute. Online Advertising also brings a variety of choices which allow
customers to shop with pleasant feelings since there is no supervisor
trying to capture every single movement of buyers. Furthermore, it carries
many fast and easy transaction forms that people can comfortably choose
based on their condition. The bar chart also indicates the fact that both

18
Competitive Price and Informative Data features have less remarkable
impact on customers. This is pretty easy to understand because today, it is
not hard to get the information or to compare price of the offline-selling
products since those kinds of things are always provided from a wide-
range sources of many advertising platforms.

III.2.1.2. Producer side

Customer is not the only one who is satisfied with the emergence of Online
Advertising. Producer is actually the one that mostly benefit from it.
Similar to Customer side, the survey is also carry a question to estimate
the level of Producers satisfaction toward each avail they received when
using Online Marketing, from level 1 to 5, relevant to the level of
satisfaction, from the less to the most happiness feeling.

Figure 8: Online Advertising advantages on Producer

As reported by the bar chart below, online advertising can hold businesses
attention firmly because of the Wide range customer feature, which
received over 60% of high point (4-5 points). The rest feature such as
Lower cost; Time saving; faster transaction; and easy-to-use feature
seemed to get correlatively result with about 50% of good points.
However, among them all, Easy to use feature and Time saving are
considered to be at the second grade with almost 60% of high point, then
come to the Lower cost which lay around 55% of high point.

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At first, the target is to measure the difference of producers satisfaction
for each advantage they may get. Yet, the numbers turn out to be quite
disappointed. As the bar chart has illustrated, it is pretty hard to tell the
difference between those avails since all of them received almost
resembling level of satisfaction from respondents with Producers view.
However, Wide range of customer can be easily noticed as the most
remarkable feature among them all. It is the very first benefit that firms
will notice when they look for the help social network for their marketing
since the purpose of Internet is to connect people from all over the world
together without a hitch. Besides, the cost for Online Marketing is much
cheaper than most of the usual marketing forms, not to mention cost of
time or effort they might have to pay on those platforms.

III.2.2. Disadvantages

III.2.2.1. Customer side

Though the avails that customers received is impressive, Online
Advertising still have some drawbacks that make consumers hesitate to
put 100% of their trust on it. In the following study, the three most
noticeable drawbacks of online advertising are listed out and people are
asked which one of those is the barrier for them when it comes to online
shopping.

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Almost half of interviewed people are aware of the goods actual quality as
they were unable to check it directly in advanced. Over a quarter have
sense about unexpected fees the total cost up front. Only 1/5 of people
see the privacy of their personal information as a significant issue.
As the pie chart represents, not many respondents with customers view
have conscious about putting their personal information online. They
seemed to care more about the quality of goods and the amount of money
they were about to pay than the trouble they might have to face in the
future such as spam, telemarketing which could result from giving their
contact information to online merchants.

III.2.2.2. Producer side

Along with many wonderful avails marketers may get, online advertising
also brings numbers of disadvantages which form into a huge high wall,
prevent firms from getting near to its goals. Thence, the three most
recognizable obstacles are listed out and respondent have to decide which
of those three would make things devastated when it comes to online
advertising.

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As reported by the pie chart below, almost half of the responses complain
about the irritating figure of Online Ads which makes many customers so
unpleasant. Over a quarter of people have conscious about their
customers trust, only 1/5 worries their marketing material could be
burgled.

Firms have a great concern about the fact that many customers reject
online ads right at the first sight as they find those ads is nothing but
disturbance. Choosing the advertising appearance is a big issue because
even if it looks good, not all customers find the way it suddenly pops out of
their computer screen captivated. Furthermore, because it is Online
Advertising, consumers think they are doing online businesses, everything
is just about the computer, they will be taken to the perception that they
are in charge of nothing, so sometimes uncertainty in purchasing goods
may lead to some unroyal behaviors which causing firms loss. Not to
mention that the Online Advertising market is obviously a serious battle
for every business, that is why some firms start to raise awareness to their
product copyright.

III.3. Recommendations
III.3.1. Customer side

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This pie chart illustrates the students as the customers solutions toward
the annoying Online Advertising. These answers somehow point out the
trend of most young people from Vietnam, their rights are violated, but
they are not truly aware of it.
In detail, the idea of getting out of that advertising immediately provided
most of the solution for the advertising at nearly 50%, followed by the
suggestion of ignoring it, which accounts for just over a quarter. Similarly,
one fourth of the students believe that using every software or IT
technique to stop it permanently is the best answer, and only 1% agree
with other idea. According to these figures, it can be seen that despite the
fact that people get annoyed with the online ads, people have a trend to
be not fully aware of the privacy invasion, virus, and money loss and so
on, which could be brought back by online advertising. Indeed, the action
of getting out of it immediately appear to be convenient and safe for the
customer, but the fact that people click it or see it for once, which surely
satisfy the producers aim and accidentally increase their revenue.
Moreover, getting accustomed to these annoying advertising seems to be
the worst idea, since again, the producers achieve their aims and the
customer suffer the bothersome feeling concurrently. Last but not least,
only a quarter of interviewed people choose to prevent it eternally, which
shows their wise choice as a customer, but remains a small amount of
people.
To compare with what have been researching, these behaviors and
attitudes are very common among customers in general, their rights are
being threatened, but they are not truly conscious of it. Therefore, some
recommendations, which were examined and modified to suit with
Vietnamese customers, would be provided below to protect the online
buyers from being privacy invasion, money loss or negative feelings due to
low quality products. First of all, about privacy problems, customers
should keep in mind that they have to choose to shop at secure websites,
which use encryption technology to protect their information from hackers.
The next solution is thing that most customers dismiss or ignore, but
remains very important: read the websites privacy and security policies,
customers may find out that merchant intends to share their information
23
with a third party or company. Furthermore, consumers should be aware of
Cookies and behavioral marketing, which is an online tracking system that
attaches pieces of code to Internet browsers to track the sites their
potential customers may visit, which can reveal the profiles. Disclose only
the bare facts when ordering, do not fall for phising messages, as
legitimate businesses never ask for sensitive information via email,
especially about financial information ! Next, there are few suggestions for
whom are being afraid of money loss or unexpectedly low quality products.
Before deciding to purchase any goods or services, customers should not
forget to research the website carefully by different ways, starting with
inexpensive order to check the quality of that company. Credit card is not
yet popular in Vietnam, but is highly recommended as the safest way to
shopping online, because by this way, the customers are protected by the
law, and they can completely dispute charge when something went wrong
(with the quality, the extra fee and so on). However, even customers use
the credit cards, they should be wary of identity theft by checking their
credit card bills carefully, order credit reports at least once a year and
check the accounts whether they have been opened without owners
permission. Before deciding to purchase any goods or services, they
should not forget to research the website carefully by different ways,
starting with inexpensive order to check the quality of that company. Last
but not least, customers ought to use shoppers intuitions: look at the
website with the critical eye and remind yourself that: If it looks too good
to be true, it probably is.
There is no better method rather than the people truly care and awareness
of the current situation. These attitudes of ignorance are becoming
unexpectedly popular, which should be stopped immediately, unless more
and more customers would be cheated and resulted in many bad
consequences.

III.3.2. Producer side

Figure 12: Producer solutions

24
There are 80 out of 100 interviewed people have taken online advertising
as a seller before. These figures indicate the trend of the producers
solutions when they are struggling with the way to create effective and
appealing online advertisements. As the interviewed sellers are mostly
students with small businesses online (mostly in Facebook), their answers
toward the problems are considered innocent
Most of them believe that the visually attractive ads (more than one fifth
people) and the quality of products and services (more than 30 people) are
two of most importance factors with 5 points. In fact, when carrying out
the research on the books and Internet, surprisingly, these things are
considered problems, rather than solutions, since there have been many
companies with amazing goods and attractive ads, but the question here
is: How can it be not as successful as expectation? For instance, the social
enterprise named SECO in Vietnam produce the 100% fresh, clean, and
succulent meat with reasonable prices and a marketing group from
students have committed to create the creative slogan and up-to-date
images about fresh meats and post it on Facebook every single day. There
were some problems and they solved it immediately, however, the results
came out not very great when the revenue did not raise much, and the
enterprise decided to transfer from retailer to wholesaler. This example is

25
just among many other examples, which point out that, the formula of
successful online advertisings cannot be limited within the border of
appealing advertising or good products. Secondly, more than 30 others
people go with the idea of finding the target customers and understanding
their attitudes and behaviors. It is a common belief that a good advertiser
means a good knower, who capture clearly about their target customers
characteristics such as income, buying activities or demanded features for
a specific kind of product. The next factor, which more than one fourth of
people voted for 3 points, is lesson from previously successful online ads.
Nowadays, not only the customers can become more aware of purchasing
goods by learning from others experiences, but also the producers can
learn from flourishing businesses such as the tips for marketing of
prestigious brands like Apple or Starbuck. This should be encouraged,
especially for the students starting small and flexible businesses, as it
could be better for their future career when they got experiences and
lessons from their own mistakes. Unexpectedly, the online activities hold
for the customers every month to make the customers become the
promoters came with least points (almost 10 people considered it with 1
point). Not many people pay attention to the online activities to promote,
which is a big loss as this is one of the fastest ways to spread their
popularity. Since the advertising words are under advices or suggestions
from friends, most customers will be influenced and have an idea of
searching or paying more attention to the goods and services.
These troubles raised above can be more easily to solve when the
students learn after some tips. These factors should be considered
carefully and combined in each appropriate time. Their advertising should
tell an unique story with specific message, which utilize the call-to-action
of the customers due to the curiosity or belief. These messages should
directly deliver clear solutions to the target customers problems.
Moreover, further surveys to approach the customers are necessary to
ensure the ability to advertise on the websites which mostly the potential
target audience will visit. The most important thing is that before
conducting any advertisements, remember to answer the question Why.
Why should we choose this kind of advertisement? Why is it necessary to
know about that characteristic of the customer? Why should we combine
26
these 2 activities. These kind of Why questions will give producers clear
direction about what step to take next to achieve their precise aims in
each period.
In conclusion, for both the customers and producers, the most important
solution is their serious attitude and awareness of their situation. Research
more about their own problems, seriously find the way out by themselves!
Especially, the businessmen as students are encouraged to experience
more and find their own problems, which could be a memorable practice
to not only understand their abilities better, but also help build their future
career, no matter how this online advertising job is successful or not.

27
 IV. Conclusion:

This study wholly focuses on the main topic, not reach out for any. During conducting the
research, there were still difficulties in collecting primary data along with some limitations of
the survey conducting process. Thus, the result might not be absolutely accomplished.
However, it is considered to have a good cover on the three main ideas that have been
mentioned at the beginning and are the reasons for online advertisings popularity, its impact
on people, and the solution for both customers and producers.
The answer is briefly summarized as follow.
Today, Internet is considered as one of the things human can barely live without. The outburst
of Social network keeps Online Advertisings in track with every activity of network users.
Providing that an extensive range of information resources and services, online advertisings
eventually getting successful more than ever.
To achieve that splendid victory, online advertising not only need to distribute tons of favor
but also to understand customers demand. Though, it is not an entirely perfect advertising
pattern as some drawbacks still make users feel disturbed. With many pros and cons appear at
the same time, online advertising requires both customer and producer to have a school of
thought before making the final decision.
Fullfilling the purpose of using online advertising is totally not an easy-to-deal matter. Before
making the final decision, customers always wonder whether the good they would purchase
really worth their money while money is always the thing that turns down all most producers.
Are there any perfect plans to maximize their profit when using online advertising?
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a model recipe for everyone to apply. Carefully
considering each sides own situation is the basic principle that has been drawn out of this
study but it can only help to conquer the target. A smart customer should be wise and have
critical eyes under any circumstances. Besides, a successful producer should be the one who
dares to take risk, firmly knows about the online Market, and also is ready to be bold and
different.
As Gass (n.d) noted that Social media is a savior not a nemesis, an asset not a liability, a time
saver not a time killer", marketing agents should carefully determine before publishing their
product so anyone who uses Online Advertising will conceive it not only as a trades useful
tool but a truly friend who can either bring him happiness or enjoyment as well.
(6741 words)

28
V. References

1. Ingram, D. (n.d). The Advantages & Disadvantages of Advertising on

the Internet. Retrieved September 15, 2014, from Chron Website:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages- disadvantages-
advertising-internet-4029.html
2. Joiner, A. (2014, September 04). 6 tips to make your online ads more
effective. Retrieved September 10, 2014, from Linkedln Web site:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140904183232-
62176131-6- tips-to-make- your-online-ads-more-effective
3. Online advertising. (2014, September 14). Retrieved September 15,
2014, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_advertising
4. Wannamaker, J. (n.d). Are you wasting half your marketing budget.
Retrieved September 10, 2014, from Yellow Pages Web site:
http://www.yellowadvertising.com.au/knowledge/blog/are-you-
wasting-half-your-marketing-budget.html
5. Wang, W., & Sun, S. (2010) Assessing beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral responses
toward online advertising in three countries. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from ISI
Articles Web site: http://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/2122.pdf
6. Gass, M. (2012) 28 Stimulating Digital and Social Media Marketing Quotes.
Retrieved November 22, 2014, from Fuel Lines Web site:
http://www.fuelingnewbusiness.com/2011/02/23/28-stimulating-digital-and-social-
media-marketing-quotes/
7. Tips for effective online ads. (n.d). Retrieved September 10, 2014,
from Apostle Advertising Web site: http://www.apostle-
ads.com/online-ad-tip
8. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. (2014, January). Online Shopping Tips:
E-Commerce and You. Retrieved September 10, 2014, from Privacy
Rights Web site: https://www.privacyrights.org/online-shopping-tips-
e-commerce-and-you
9. Dogra, A. (2011, October 5). Advantages of Internet Advertising.
Retrieved September 15, 2014, from Buzzle Web site:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-of-internet-
advertising.html

29
10. Success stories. (n.d). Retrieved September 10, 2014, from
Google Ads | AdWords Web site:
http://www.google.com/adwords/success-stories.html
11. Online Shopping. (n.d). Retrieved September 15, 2014, from
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shopping

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 VI. Appendices.

Online advertising

Hi everyone, we are group 11 from National Economics University and recently, we are
carrying out a research on a very typical type of advertising called online advertising. In
general, we truly want to know students behaviors toward this issue, especially opinions from
Advanced Education Programs in National Economics University. Hope that you can spend a
little bit of your time to help us answer all of these questions below. Thank you very much!

* Required

1. Have you ever used online advertising for transaction purpose before? *
a. Yes
b. Never
2. If yes, what is your tendency of using online advertising?
a. 1 2 times per week
b. 1 - 2 times per month
c. 1 2 times per year
d. Other
3. What is your level of satisfaction when using online advertising? *
a. Very satisfied
b. Satisfied
c. Neutral
d. Unsatisfied
e. Very unsatisfied
4. What is your most popular websites to keep updated to the online ads or to use for
business?
a. Social Network (ex: Facebook, Twiter, Instagram)
b. Website specialized in transaction (ex: Muare, muaban, chotot, 123 mua, enbac)
c. Official websites of some typical brands (ex: Mango, Charlies and Keith, g2000)
d. Email (ex: yahoo, gmail)

* Questions for whom has used online advertising as a customer (even having the
intention)

31
5. Mark the scores for the influence of the level of attraction of online advertisings on your
decision: (in this question, students can mark from 0 to 10 scores)

6. What are the types of online advertising that annoy you most?
a. Web banners or banners advertising
b. Pop-up or pop-under advertising
c. Floating advertising
d. Other

7. What advantages did online advertising brings back for customers in your opinion?
1 2 3 4 5 6
a. Convenience
(requires only
Internet access)
b. Variety of
choices
c. Lower prices
due to
competitive
market
d. Reasonable
form of
transaction
e. Informative
data

8. What about the disadvantages?

a. The lack of ability to inspect merchandise before purchasing goods or services
b. Invisible additional fees.
c. Privacy invasion
d. Other

9. What did you do to deal with annoying advertising?

a. Using every possible software or IT technique to stop it permanently
b. Getting out of that advertising immediately
c. Ignoring it
d. Other
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* Questions for whom has used online advertising as a producer (even having the
intention)

10. What advantages did online advertising brings back for sellers in your opinion? (mark the
feature below, 1 point is least, 5 points is maximized)

1 2 3 4 5
a. Potential market with
wide range of customer

b. Lower cost

c. Easy to use and

convenient, effective
feature

d. Time saving

e. Faster transaction

11. What about the drawbacks?

a. Piracy on marketing material
b. Customer loss from annoying online advertising display
c. Unexpected crack orders

12. What did you do to increase your advertising effectiveness? (mark the feature below, 1
point is least, 5 points is maximized)
1 2 3 4 5
a. Visually
appealing
advertising
b. Knowing about
target customers
c. Quality of
products or
services
d. Organizing
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various online
activities to make
the customers
become the
promoters
e. Lesson from
previously
successful
advertising

34