Academic Journals

An empirical study of the use context and usability problems in mobile internet..

Abstract

Mobile Internet, which is a combination of the Internet with mobile devices, has become popular recently. Mobile Internet is primarily different from stationary Internet in that it may be used in various contexts, whereas stationary Internet is mostly used in predetermined environments. However, it is far from clear in what places and situations Mobile Internet has been used frequently and what the impact of the contexts has been on the ease of use. This paper proposes a framework for studying the use context relevant to Mobile Internet. It then presents the results of an empirical study of the use context and service usability for Mobile Internet by using monitoring methods. The results indicate the use contexts of Mobile Internet are of a concentrated type rather than being widely diverse. Moreover, the different contexts present unique usability problems. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the results.

Source: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/HICSS.2002.994090

Adoption of WAP-enabled mobile phones among Internet
users


Abstract
This paper examines the attitudinal, social and perceived behavior control factors that are associated with the adoption of WAP-enabled mobile phones among Internet users. An online questionnaire is used to gather data. The results show that attitudinal and social factors rather than perceived behavioral control factors play a signi2cant role in in3uencing intentions to adopt a WAP-enabled mobile phone. In particular, perceptions of relative advantage, risk, and image are found to influence adoption intentions. In addition, reference groups too play an important role in shaping adoption intentions. Implications of results and directions for future research are examined.

Source: http://www.websm.org/uploadi/editor/888.pdf


The Mobile Internet Needs Better Search To Thrive


Abstract
The article highlights the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain in February 2007. With the advent of this mobile technology, Google and Yahoo, leaders in PC-based search market, are already constructing their mobile business model. The congress will have heavy emphasis on getting people connected to the mobile Internet. Wireless providers are already desperate to get customers on mobile data to ensure future growth

Source: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=24135886&site=ehost-live

news article

3 opens up mobile internet
3 mobile network release £5 unlimited internet access for all

Source: http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/7285/8309/3-Mobile-Internet-Windows-Nokia.phtml

News Article

The mobile internet rip-off

Source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bbphone/article.html?in_article_id=418475&in_page_id=182

News Article

Battle opens for control of mobile internet

Source: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1950242,00.html

20% of UK Subscribers Search Internet Via Mobile Phones

Source: http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Feb2007/4267.htm

Mobile internet use 'increasing'

Mobile phone users in the UK accessed the internet via their handsets about 15.9 million times throughout December 2006, says the Mobile Data Association.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6309593.stm

News Ariticle

Mobile Internet? Only Brits are stupid enough?

Source:http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=8575

WAP Browsing Statistics - UK

source: http://www.consumer-preference.com/2006/04/wap-browsing-statistics-uk.html

UK Statistics

A new study from the UK says that just 11% of British mobile users have “browsed the Internet on a mobile”, compared to 28% worldwide.

Source: http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2006/05/10/hiding-the-mobile-internet/

Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is Microsoft's operating system that powers newer handheld PDAs and mobile phones. This operating system from Microsoft includes a host of features, such as a web browser, email application, media player, diary, address book and a whole load of other useful applications.
There are two key versions of the Windows Mobile Operating system:
Windows Mobile , Pocket PC - Desdigned for PDAs and mobile phones with touchscreen
Windows Mobile, Smartphone Edition - Desgined for mobile phones. No touchscreen

This page also has a lot more useful information about Windows Mobile

Source: http://www.filesaveas.com/windowsmobile.html

3G

UMTS, or 3G services will require a completely new communications technology to be deployed by GSM operators. To allow for this new technology, also labelled W-CDMA, the 2GHz frequency band has been allocated, which will provide sufficient spectrum for the services to be fully exploited.
For example, one 5MHz UMTS carrier will be able to handle mixed services, ranging in speed from 8kbps to 384kbps or faster, while UMTS terminals will be able to access several different services simultaneously. Orange won its UMTS licence in April 2000.
Prior to the arrival of 3G, it is expected that a growing number of GSM operators in Western Europe will deploy high speed data services based upon HSCSD and/or GPRS over the next three years. The remainder, who probably have low penetration rates, are unlikely to invest in either technology and will await the arrival of 3G in around 2003.
For the majority of operators, 3G must be considered as a strategic option, assuming they have been granted a licence by their national regulator, to offer comprehensive multimedia services to mobile customers.When 3G becomes available, operators and users will experience a radically enhanced experience:
Support for both packet and circuit switched services at enhanced data rates
Variable and high-speed data rates up to 384kbps and faster
Multiple simultaneous services in each mobile terminal
Up to eight times more traffic per carrier compared to existing systems
Enhanced international roaming
3G technology will also introduce other improvements to the functionality of the overall system, primarily aimed at increasing capacity. These include:
Support for adaptive antenna arrays, which will optimise the antenna pattern for each individual mobile device
Support for multi-user detection, which will eliminate interference within a cell and improve quality
If 3G is initially only deployed in high usage 'hot spots', then it will need to co-exist with other mobile technologies to provide users with a good experience. 3G has been designed to support environments that employ a new handover method to allow 3G to inter operate within existing 2G networks.
This particular feature will provide users with an identical or similar user experience when they are roaming compared to when they are in their home network. There are handover mechanisms inherently available within the 3G specification which support handover between 2G and 3G networks.

Source: http://www.net4now.com/support/about_mobile.asp

GPRS

With GPRS you are able to access email and the Internet from a phone or from a laptop or PDA using your phone, while maintaining a constant connection. The peak data transfer speeds range from 26kbps - 52kbps depending on the hardware used.
Examples of applications that require or are suited to GPRS include: - Sending and receiving email. Large attachments may download more slowly than text-only email. - Internet browsing As you will be connected with GPRS for long periods of time, you are generally only charged for the information transferred. You can add a GPRS bundle to your existing Service Plan.
One megabyte = 500 wap pages = 20 web pages = 25 emails with a one page document attached = one emailwith a powerpoint presentation attached.

Source: http://www.net4now.com/support/about_mobile.asp

GPRS Speed

GPRS runs faster than standard mobile phone dialup (which is normally 9.6kbps). GPRS speed depends on a number of factors (all to do with how many of the 8 'timeslots' are assigned by the network operator) - the maximum possible speed is 171kbps, but you're unlikely to ever get anywhere near this speed. Our tests show average speeds of around 25 to 40 kbps (still around 3 times faster than dialup).

GPRS

GPRS, stands for General Packet Radio Service, and is a protocol for passing data over a mobile phone network. GPRS offers what has become known as "always on" data connection for GSM mobile phones, allowing for faster browsing of Internet content, and faster access to online services such as WAP and email.

As well as being faster than the older dial-up method of connecting from a mobile, the main advantage is that you don't pay your online time per-minute, you pay for the amount of data you transfer. Another bonus of GPRS, is that sessions can be suspended when an incoming voice call is detected, so you don't lose calls.

GPRS is avaliable on Vodafone, o2, orange, T-mobile, Tesco-mobile, Virgin and BT mobile.

Source: http://www.filesaveas.com/gprs.html

GPRS

Enabling wireless Internet access is one of the upcoming challenges for mobile radio network operators. The General Packet Radio Service is the packet-switched extension of GSM and was developed to facilitate access to IP-based services compared to existing circuit-switched services provided by GSM.

Selection of WAP sites

www.google.com - Every WAP browser's dream. Search engine, plus web pages over WAP wap.tfl.gov.uk - Current problems with London Transport, tubes, buses
www.ayg.com - Great WAP portal with loads of links
wap.ananova.com - Pick your subjects and create your own news page
wap.click4wap.com - Directory and mobile infotainment portal
wap.o2.co.uk - o2 Active, portal for those using o2's free service.
wap.upmystreet.com - Upmystreet Location services
mail2wap.com - Mail2WAP lets you read your POP3 email from your Wap phone www.vodafone.co.uk/live - Vodafone Live / Vizzavi portal
Portals - BTopenworld , Tiscali Mobile, Yahoo

WAP

Most of today's mobile phones, smartphones and PDAs come with a built in WAP browser (WAP, incidentally, stands for Wireless Application Protocol). With a WAP browser, you can access dedicated WAP pages while on the move.As WAP phones have smaller, often black-and-white screens, content is often fairly basic, and are often text-based pages without any images. The upside of this is that the pages are quite efficient and downloaded fairly quickly, but the downside is that WAP can be a fairly bland experience when compared with surfing the Internet from a web browser. WAP is supplied as a service by most mobile phone operators. Recently, GPRS Wap has become available, allowing faster browsing via an always-on connection. With GPRS, you are billed by the amount of data you send, where standard GSM circuit-switched WAP found on most WAP mobile phones, is billed by the length of time you are online looking at WAP content. Some UK operators, notably o2 online, offer an inclusive GPRS WAP allowance.

Source http://www.filesaveas.com/wap.html

welcome

hello and welcome to the the "Mobile Internet" part of the virtual marketing blog, hope you find this useful.

eCRM Conclusion

Understanding customer expectations and segmentation (based on products, channels, and industry) is the right place to start. Already, 32 percent of online shoppers name customer service as the most important component in choosing an online retailer; 39 percent name price. At the very least, any company with a Web presence must guarantee that e-mail aliases shown on the Web site are monitored, and that e-mail queries sent through these aliases receive a prompt response. On the self-service side, offering at least a few static FAQ can improve the customer experience. Such basics are still beyond the current offerings of one- third of U.S. retailers based on a survey conducted by Talisma in June 2000. Out of more than 700 leading e-businesses surveyed, 33 percent do not respond to basic e-mail queries regarding their policies and companies.

Once the basics are in place, companies will be able to quickly expand their relationship capabilities in the direction of marketing and sales, using more advanced tools such as proactive and reactive chat, dynamic FAQ, and electronic campaigns. In this respect, eCRM is very similar to past eCRM initiatives focusing on improving other aspects of a business’ operations. eCRM is more of a process than an end state, and carefully selected incremental approaches yield the best returns.

Source: Talisma™ eCRM Suite Best Practices White Paper

eLoyalty Academic Journals

Here are some academic journals on eLoyalty:

Methodology and Investigation of an eLoyalty Metric, Consumer Bookmarking Behavior
Authors: Jamie Murphy & Charles F. Hofacker
Context: This paper discusses an indicator of a website appeal as well as the relationship between a firms and its consumers, using bookmarking facilitation. Uses comparisons and data/results from hospitality websites and a geneaology site.
Source: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue1/murphy_hofacker.html

The effect of acquisition channels on customer loyalty and cross-buying
Authors: Peter C. Verhoef, Bas Donkers
Context: Acquisition channels are important characteristics of a B2C relationship customer loyalty. It examines this through a financial organisation and finds that retention rates are highest amongst website and less against other forms of mediums such as radio, TV and direct mailings.
Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110433892/ABSTRACT

Website Trust Academic Journals

Here are some academic journals on Website Trust:

Consumer Trust in an Internet Store: A Cross-Cultural Validation
Authors: Sirkka L. Javenpaa, Noam Tractinsky, Lauri Saarinen and Michael Vitale
Context: Trust has played an important part in stimulating customer purchases and that most of the speculation has been around US consumers from US sites. Customers from different countries have different views as to what makes a website trustworthy.
Source: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol5/issue2/jarvenpaa.html

Online peer and editorial recommendations, trust, and choice in virtual markets
Authors: Donnavieve Smith, Satya Menon, K. Sivakumar
Context: Customers that purchase items from the Internet take other things into consideration, and this paper examines that. Customers also take into consideration peer recommendations before editoral recommendations and website trust.
Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110557813/ABSTRACT

Signaling the trustworthiness of small online retailers
Authors: Sijun Wang, Sharon E. Beatty, William Foxx
Context: Small online retailers have a major challenge against the big boys and that is consumer trust and proposes a new concept named "cue-based trust" on 5 different cues which are, seals of approval, return policy, awards from neutral sources, security disclosures, and privacy disclosures
Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/107583956/ABSTRACT

eCRM Academic Journals

Here are some academic journals on eCRM:

The Impact of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Loyalty: The Moderating Role of Web Site Characteristics
Authors: Assion Lawson-Body & Moez Limayem, July 2004
Context: This paper discusses the impact of characteristics of websites on the relationship between customer relationship management and customer loyalty in which the data has been comprised from 170 Canadian IT organisations. It showed that there is a strong correlation between CRM and customer loyalty and agrees that using the Internet to support CRM increases customer loyalty.
Source: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue4/lawson_body.html

Adaptive learning and proactive customer relationship management
Authors: Baohong Sun, Shibo Li, Catherine Zhou
Context: This paper discuss the CRM methods that firms can introduce in order to get profitable customers and introduces two key themes of "adaptive-learning" & "proactive" CRM decisions.
Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/113508002/ABSTRACT

When Customer Relationship Management meets Data Mining
Authors: Venkatesh Shankar and Russell S. Winer
Context: $5.7bn of CRM software applications were sold in 2005 and expected to rise to $11.2bn by 2010. CRM is closely related to data mining. Data mining is processing large volumes of data to find relationships and patterns, and generally useful information.By bringing together data mining and CRM, this creates powerful tools for CRM strategy creation.
Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/113507996/PDFSTART

Customer relationship management in financial services: towards information-enabled relationship marketing
Authors: Lynette Ryals, Adrian Payne
Context: CRM is becoming more and more important for business and this paper examines this for the financial services sector
Source: http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/content/a4h6xk6m7y8apubt/

Video Demonstration Of Neogia An eCRM Application

Neogia ERP/CRM Physical Inventory Process:



Neogia ERP/CRM : Purchase order approval workflow:



Neogia ERP/CRM : Sales order shipment splitting:

A Successful eCRM Consists Of:

5 C’s for Companies to attract Customers:

Enable Combine Customized Content, Community and Commerce

4 R’s for Providing Helpful Advice:

Provide Relevant ratings, reviews and recommendations

3 P’s of Choice for Consumers:

Consumers will select your product/service for its Personality, Profile, and Performance

Success Stories Of Implementing eCRM

The benefits of using eCRM are exemplified when the big phone giant Nokia hired an eCRM solution company called Salesforce to implement a eCRM system. SalesForce created a universal reporting system for Nokia’s Americas, APAC and EMEA divisions. As a result Nokia discovered that the eCRM system provided more consistency across different regions and functions. Improve collaboration and productivity between its sales departments. There was also better communication and reporting across global team and the eCRM enabled Nokia to better understand customer buying behaviour.

Source: http://www.salesforce.com/products/democenter-landing.jsp?d=70130000000CowK

Advantages and Disadvantages of eCRM

Advantages

• Dynamic content. The contents of the knowledge base are limited only by what is thought will not be asked. Therefore, self help tools are often very robust, cover a wide range of topics, and must be constantly updated by adding new articles, and removing articles determined by user survey as incomplete, incorrect, or not relevant
• Good coverage. Many topics can be covered and many users can use the tool.
• Low cost. Relative to other electronic interaction channels, the cost of purchasing, implementing, and administering is low.
  

Disadvantages

• Mixed resolution rate. Some questions, due to their nature, may not be answered.
• No engagement. No human follows up or clarifies. What-you-see-is-what-you-get.
• Impersonal. Does not easily recognize user or patterns of user. Source:

Source: http://www.crm2day.com/library/EpFkEyuEZuUJuzDoud.php

Source: http://www.crm-strategy.net/crmpres.htm

Marketing Features of eCRM

To use an effective eCRM for marketing scope, a suitable application is required to support Service and Sales modules and the following features:

Automated marketing process - it offers an adaptive rules engine covering different aspect of marketing such as: targets, opportunities, and orders, which can be used to streamline the creation, management, execution, and tracking of marketing processes in an organization.

Campaign management – its functionality allows automation of the flow of campaigns. Also it defines and plans the use of workflow, customer profiling and segmentation, personalization of content. Also offers facilities such as scheduling of events and mailing lists, response management, and analysis tools.

Graphic Workflow – this application captures the logic of the campaign and enables the user to define, schedule, run, and manage campaigns. Also it allows businesses to conduct a variety of campaigns such as loyalty programs, seasonal offers, sweepstakes, cross-sell, up-sell, product launches, partner and channel schemes, trade show registration, newsletters, and so forth.

Customer Profiling, Segmenting, and Targeting – A customers can be profiled, segmented, and targeted in base of its demographic and psychographic information available on the database. This information should allow the creation of static or dynamic mailing lists that are used in a complex and advanced query builder. While static lists are suited for targeting niche segments, dynamic lists are used to target segments that need frequent updating.

Scheduling Events and Mailing Lists -­­­­­ scheduling events using the wait function based on date and time elapsed is another valuable feature to look for in eCRM technology. It can also be used to schedule mailing lists to participate in campaigns at pre-determined intervals.

Source: http://www.crm2day.com/library/EpFkEyuEZuUJuzDoud.php

How does eCRM work?

eCRM uses the latest technologies such as VB, VB.NET, ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server and Web Services to communicate effectively with customers. eCRM systems enable customers to do business with the organisation the way the customer wants - any time, via any channel, in any language or currency—and to make customers feel that they are dealing with a single, unified organisation that recognises them every step of the way.

The eCRM system does this by creating a central repository for customer records and providing a portal on each employee’s computer system allowing access to customer information by any member of the organisation at any time.

Through this system, eCRM gives you the ability to know more about customers, products and performance results using real time information across your business.

Diagram of how eCRM works

Source: http://www.mmv.vic.gov.au/uploads/downloads/ICT_Projects/eCommerce
/ElectronicCustomerRelationshipManagement.pdf

Why Have Customers Become Soooo Important?

4 reasons why customers are not your average customers - customers are becoming the dictators!!!

1. Production Increasing Rapidly - customers have much more information at their fingertips and many more options for the products and service they buy

2. Price Comparison Sites - Don't put up with inflated prices, find the price you want to spend

3. Good and services qualities are higher due to technology improvements therefore lack of productdifferentiation, and harder for companies to differentiate their products.

4. Faster pace of life - out of the "norm" or "cocoon", customers are now unwhiling to accept rubbish services, thereforecustomers can always switch whenever they like.

Objectives of eCRM

Following are objectives of eCRM:

• Reduce costs of marketing
  
• Improve accuracy and relevancy of recommendations, customer satisfaction, conversion rate, i.e., Turn browsers into buyers. Increase customer retention, frequency, order size and customer response.
  
• Provide competitiveness through differentiation
  
• Increase profitability hence ROI
  

Why Bother With eCRM?

Because:

• It costs six times more to acquire a new customer than keep an old one.
  
• The odds of selling a product to a new customer are 15%, while the odds of selling it to an existing customer are 50%.
  
• One dissatisfied customer typically tells eight to ten people about his or her experience.
  
• 70% of complaining customers will do business with the company again if it quickly takes care of a service snafu.
  
• More than 90% of existing companies do not have the necessary integration of sales and service processes and systems to support e-commerce.
  
• A company can boost its profits 85% by increasing its annual customer retention by only 5%!
  
  Source: Sybase Customer Asset Management, www.sybase.com

What is eCRM (Electronic Customer Relationship Management)?

eCRM is the process of acquiring, retaining and growing profitable customers to establish a dialogue with your customers, to understand and anticipate their evolving individual needs and maximize the life-time value of this relationship.

The above diagram illustrates the cycle of activities by which an organisation analyses its customers, targets potential customers, targets potential customers makes them aware of its offerings, acquires those customers, managers interactions with them, delivers value to them, develops a relationship with them over time and resolves their issues when things go wrong.

Welcome....

....to our part of the Virtual Marketing blog named eCRM or Electronic Customer Relationship Management
Hope you find eCRM useful, enjoy!!

What is price?

The amount of money, or other goods, that you have to give up to buy a good or service.

http://www.mcwdn.org/ECONOMICS/EcoGlossary.htmlhttp://www.scottish-enterprise.com/publications/pricing-2.pdf

Online Pricing and Promotional Strategies

What online pricing strategies consists of.

http://www.awprofessional.com/articles/article.asp?p=167847&rl=1

Online retailers play pricing games

The different tactics the retailers use for pricing their goods to gain advantage over their rivals.

http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5566812.html?type=pt

Is Shopping Online Really Cheaper

The Answer is Often, Yes!
Shopping online can save you money especially when you couple it with online savings codes, deals of the day, and free shipping offers.

http://couponing.about.com/od/bargainshop/a/onlinecheaper.htm

Buying and selling online

It can open new opportunities buying and selling online.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1075422323&r.s=sl

Benefits of selling online.

The benefits you get by selling online.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1073792461&type=RESOURCES

e-Commerce: from Fixed to Dynamic Pricing

This shows a graph on levels of fixed pricing and dynamic pricing.

http://www.touchbriefings.com/pdf/977/ecom5.pdf

Online journal :Price

This link portrays how the buyers' attitudes influence pricing behaviour of companies.

http://jmis.bentley.edu/articles/v23_n1_p211/index.html

Online journal: Pricing of IT services

http://jmis.bentley.edu/articles/v20_n2_p113/index.html

Online journal: Pricing of IT services

http://jmis.bentley.edu/articles/v20_n2_p113/index.html

Why people shop online

One of the factors that people shopped online because of cheaper prices. Price was the second highest reason why people buy online. Allows them to compare multiple prices online.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990207.html

Some services are free some are not on the web.

Google may charge for internet search. Currently its free to use but plans are in place for charging for some services.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=P8&targetRule=10&xml=%2Fconnected%2F2002%2F10%2F04%2Fecngoog.xml

Internet users could face charges to use the internet

The near feauture could see you being charged for sending emails. This will be a first, email coming at price. Will this deter users?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1810786,00.html

Executive Wants to Charge for Web Speed

Internet service providers should be allowed to strike deals to give certain Web sites or services priority in reaching computer users, a controversial system that would significantly change how the Internet operates.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002109.html

ISP providers of broadband and how the prices compare of the service they are providing.

Here we are looking at price comparison on all broadband providers and what they have to offer.
Be-Lite provide the most or your money, with24mb per second at a price of £14.00 a month. With a 4/5 rating. If you compare it to Virgin-Media they only provide 2mb per second at £14.99, with a rating of 4/5.

http://www.ukoffer.com/broadband.php?source=adwords&gclid=CNab3PDq8YoCFQjilAodRE48kQ

When and how the internet is likely do decrease price competition?

Conventional wisdo

m seems to claim that, by lowering the cost of distribution and by making search easier for consumer, the introduction of the Internet is likely to intensify price competition.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0732-2399%281999%2918%3A4%3C485%3AWAHITI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X&size=LARGE

Internet Cost Structures and Interconnection Agreements

What the costs are relating with the internet, looking at a few aspects. A breakdown of the all costs and structures involving with the internet.

http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/works/SrinCostSt.html

Cost to Advertise On A Website

Info on how to advertise and the costs involved in advertsing on the intertnet with companies such as Google and Yahoo.

http://www.munising.com/advertise/advertise_cost.html

The cost of getting connected

The issues peole face when trying to conncet to the internet.

“This is an injustice to the public with a subsequent stifling effect on innovation and creativity in British industry”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1133502.stm

Price comparison sites.

Allows you to compare many different services and products with many companies.

Money supermarket
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/default.asp?Source=MSBRANDGOO1&section=home&p=0&gclid=CIrglNm28IoCFSdHEAodZWj9kQ

Kelkoo
http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/

Price guide UK
http://www.priceguideuk.com/

Shopzilla
http://www.shopzilla.co.uk/

Online prices become transparent

Make it easier for the consumer to taxes, fees and extra charges. So there are no surprises.
http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/flights/2007/01/bmi_makes_onlin.html

Online Branding

Online branding is at an interesting point of development. Many organisations recognise the need for integrated marketing communications across offline and online channels. This makes it difficult to differentiate, both practically and theoretically, between online and offline branding. On the other hand, branding in online environments poses a sufficient range of challenges and opportunities that it is important to shine the spotlight on branding in digital environments, and to explore some of the potential impacts of online channels for branding strategy.

Insightful links

Online branding
Web 2.0
http://falkow.blogsite.com/public/blog/118587

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived second generation of web-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.


Online Branding for eSuccess
http://www.goecart.com/online-branding.asp

Online or offline, branding plays an integral part behind its success. As in real life scenarios, your brand is your identity on the web and differentiates you from your competitors.

Online branding strategies
http://www.elliance.com/Solutions/brand-reach.asp


Internet marketing – learn about online branding and the concepts involved.
http://cob.isu.edu/mktg480/Slides/2004/Chap012.ppt


Branding definitely goes beyond the click
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/03/07/know-thy-market-beyond-the-click-through


Brand competition is furious!
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/02/19/smallb3.html

Top 10 Types of Online Brand Abuse Identified

Cyveillance ranked these abuses based on their frequency and prevalence on the Internet:

1. Unauthorized use of logos and images.
2. Use of hidden and visible text.
3. Unauthorized use of a company's name or product in metatags.
4. Software, music and video piracy.
5. Unauthorized distribution or sale of consumer goods.
6. Framing.
7. Use of a company's name on a competitor's site.
8. Use of logos or images in a pornographic context.
9. Domain name abuse and parody sites.
10. Gripe sites and negative newsgroup postings.

Branding

Brand Building
http://www.buydomains.com/small-business/article.jsp?inc=branding.jsp&title=How+to+Build+Your+Brand+Online

Brand Blogs for Online Reputation Management
A focus on brand evangelists. Brand evangelists are customers that love you so much that they build web sites or blogs devoted to your product.
http://www.searchengineguide.com/laycock/006007.html

Not meeting demands!
Few brands develop popular websites and fewer still manage to engage consumers in the external online landscape.
http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=37

Examples of branding from big players

Online branding success

Here are several factors that contribute to online branding success!

http://www.davechaffey.com/E-marketing-Insights/Customer-experience-management/Online-branding

Success factors for the online brand experience
Returning to the focus on the web site, Aaker and Joachimstahler (2000) have provided a useful summary of how a web site can become an effective brand-building tool. Their guidelines suggest five elements:

1. Create a positive experience, i.e. easy-to-use, delivers value, is interactive, personalised and timely.

2. Reflect and support the brand.

3. Look for synergy with other communications mediums (this could include as a response mechanism or to kick start campaigns through an online viral delivery).

4. Provide a home for the loyalist.

5. Differentiate with strong sub-branded content.

De Chernatony and Christodoulides (2004) also discuss the different elements of an online brand experience based on interviews with branding and online specialists. Many of the elements are straightforward and reflect previous consumer of research into what makes e-tail consumers loyal. The elements are:

Locating the brand
Speed of download
Site appearance
Navigation
Differential reward
Personal support
Physical delivery and returns

The authors do not place emphasis on particular elements of the online brand experience. I would observe that there are some ‘hygiene factors’ such as locating the brand, the speed of download, appearance and navigation which are essential for success and are perhaps relatively easy to achieve with the right budget. However, as in the offline world it is the differential reward or value added described in my previous WNIM article which is probably the most important success factor followed by quality of service as indicated by personal support and physical delivery and returns. These are often the top reasons why customers defect offline and research suggests that this is true online.

Widget Technology!

The future of online marketing a shift in strategy for online branding with the arrival of widget technology.
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/13547.asp



Widgets
http://www.tech-faq.com/widgets.shtml



Yahoo’s branded widgets
http://widgets.yahoo.com/

Branding Online to improve presence in the market

Companies that wish to embark on online media marketing...

http://www.adverblog.com/archives/cat_online_marketing.htm

Coke begins brand invasion on YouTube

Coca-Cola is online with one of the first YouTube co-marketing efforts. It's called Holiday Wishcast and it's a mini-site based on YouTube service which allows visitors to upload and share their video greetings. Among the users who have submitted content, we find the sweet Geriatric1927 who is already a star among YouTube fans.

Marketers look with interest Coca-Cola's initiative to exploit a new advertising space crowded with young users (read Contagious for example), while YouTube purists hope this is not the beginning of a brand invasion on the popular video sharing service. I don't want to sound pessimistic but, since in the end, someone has to pay the (bandwidth) bills, I'm not sure there's much we can do to stop the brand invasion...

As said Coke is not the first, but among the first brands which are launching campaigns through YouTube. New Media Age reports today that also Levi's has opened a channel for branded video content. It's called Levi's One To Watch Tour 2006 and it features exclusive video footage from upcoming (but already signed) bands like The Fratellis, The View and Forward Russia.

This should be the direct link to the Levi's channel on YouTube, but at the moment it doesn't work.

More online investment for Grolsch

Grolsch wants to invest more online

The beer brand Grolsch has decided to invest more in 2005 in new media communication. They will focus on online marketing and mobile channels to create an active relationship with their customers. As Nicola Young, head of relationship marketing at Coors (the brand owner) explains on New Media Age:

"TV ads are fantastic for general awareness but they're very passive. Online enables us to form a direct relationship with the consumer but at the same time gives the consumer control over the interaction."

Grolsch's UK web site currently features an advertainment approach, and aims to engage users with advergames and competitions (now it's giving away a week-end in A'dam).

Coors' agency is Leith, a firm voted Scottish Agency of the Year five years running. The agency has been recently sold to Cello, a newly incorporated marketing services group (read more about it on Scotsman.com).

http://www.adverblog.com/archives/001064.htm

What is important about online brands

The Internet runs on trust. Though it’s a collection of computers communicating throughout the world, at its heart the Internet is really people. And the cold, hard truth is that if you don’t have those people’s trust, you don’t have a business.

Why? Because you could be literally anywhere in the world, under any government or none, for one thing. There is no guarantee online that the person whose site you’re accessing is really who and where he says he is. And if you and your customer are not in the same country, he or she has no recourse if fraud occurs.

And fraud occurs all over the Internet. Though consumers are growing increasingly educated, they are still vulnerable to online thieves.

Their only assurance that you’re not some guy in Nigeria who’s out to take their money is your good name.

Brand Names and Trust
Even though they’ve been treated more as status symbols and fashion lately, brand names are really all about trust. Just like you know your friends reasonably well, you have some assurance that if you know the brand name of a product, you have some idea whether you should trust it or not. And if you can trust it, then you’re more likely to shop with that company than one you’ve never heard of before.

But online, your brand name can be your personal name, too. For instance, at eBay and Amazon, vendors selling products are rated on several scales, including quality of their products and overall customer satisfaction. These items accumulate into a sort of trust score – the more highly rated you are at either of these companies, the more likely the consumer can trust you.

If you don’t have some sort of brand name established, you’re at a disadvantage. How does anyone know they can trust you to deliver?

You only have one chance to do it right. There are so many companies out there offering the same things you offer that if you don’t please the customer the first time around, you’re likely to lose that customer to a competitor.

Online Brand Behaviour

Just a page or two about how functionality lies in the realm of behaviour.

http://www.pedroguitton.com/phd_knowledge_center/pdf/OnlineBrandBehaviour_final.pdf

Brand New World

Videos

Interesting segment from CNBC about online advertising
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLR9egw8-DY

How advertisers are taking advantage of web technologies to persuade users to interact with their advertisements?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzlPVEKeY7M

Allocation of Advertising Spending (2005 & 2006)

NEWS

EMarketer projects slowdown in online advertising - 27/02/2007
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070227/FREE/70227004/1078

FT ONLINE ADVERTISING SALES UP BY 30% - 27/02/2007
http://www.spannerworks.com/seotoolkit/search-marketing-news/article/view/ft-online-advertising-sales-up-by-30/380/

US market shows online advertising growth - 27/02/2007
http://www.directtraffic.org/OnlineNews/US_market_shows_online_advertising_growth_18072720.html

eMarketer: Online Ad Spending Growth To Slow - 27/02/2007
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=56141

ONLINE ADVERTISING TO GROW 'BY 21% PER YEAR' - 26/02/2007
http://www.spannerworks.com/seotoolkit/search-marketing-news/article/view/online-advertising-to-grow-by-21-per-year/377/

'Second Life' inspires new wave of advertising to Internet users - 26/02/2007
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/BUSINESS/702260311/1003

The Decade in Online Advertising 1994 - 2004

2004 marked the 10-year anniversary of
web advertising...
Click on the link to read the whole report:
http://www.doubleclick.com/us/knowledge_central/documents/RESEARCH/dc_decaderinonline_0504.pdf

Academic Journals

1. The Effect of Banner Advertising on Internet Purchasing

This article focuses on whether banner advertising affects purchasing patterns on the Internet.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=108&sid=27bbb895-14e5-4dcb-9ca3-4bd36f7156d5%40sessionmgr109

2. Affiliate marketing and its impact on e-commerce
This article seeks to explore the inner workings of affiliate marketing.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=867907481&sid=4&Fmt=3&clientId=18060&RQT=309&VName=PQD%20
3. Why do people avoid advertising on the Internet?

This study was designed to provide insights into why people avoid advertising on the Internet.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=107&sid=3aa3435d-fa72-4445-b89f-44104157d1a9%40sessionmgr107

4. Television and web advertising synergies

Synergy is a concept that many communication professionals believe in, but demonstrating synergy effects in the laboratory or field settings to identify how synergy operates has proved elusive.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=107&sid=55ab3552-d220-4ebd-b263-14f63471307c%40sessionmgr109

5. Determinants of internet advertising effectiveness: an empirical study

This paper considers the structure of advertising effectiveness on the internet. It investigates empirically the importance of creative and media factors for banner effectiveness.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=103&sid=f37aa76b-aac1-4124-bbd7-ba60d0977fdb%40sessionmgr109
6. Losers and Lovers: Mobile Phone Services Advertising and the New Media Consumer/Producer

How do advertising practices need to adapt and change in order to effectively engage new media consumers?
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=103&sid=78fa8bab-2870-416b-bdb2-9f90942f0f01%40sessionmgr107

7. Interactivity and Persuasion: Influencing Attitudes with Information and Involvement

The recent arrival of interactive messaging/marketing units (IMUs) begs the question: Does interacting with an advertisement enhance its persuasive appeal?
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=103&sid=dd2c95eb-8c06-47f7-b551-3a3287fef654%40sessionmgr104

Payment Conventions

* CPM (Cost Per Thousand) is paying for exposure of their message to a specific audience.
* CPV (Cost Per Visitor) is paying for the delivery of a Targeted Visitor to the advertisers website.
* CPC (Cost Per Click). In this scheme, an advertisement may be displayed (and assumedly viewed) many times, but the advertiser pays based only on the number of user clicks.
* CPA (Cost Per Action). In this payment scheme, the publisher takes all the risk of running the ad, and the advertiser pays for the media on the basis of only the number of users who complete a transaction, such as a purchase or sign-up.
* Cost per Conversion describes the cost of acquiring a customer, typically calculated by dividing the total cost of an ad campaign by the number of conversions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_advertising

Revenue by Ad Format in the first half of 2006

Overally, internet advertising revenue grew 36.69%, with revenue exceeding $4B. Consumers are spending more time on the internet, traditional media outlets no longer have the reach they once had.

http://blog.digitalreview.net/

Types of Online Advertising

Online advertising and ways that Web sites can make money takes several different forms. Here are common ways that Web sites make money:

Displaying Banner, Tower (or Skyscraper)
Banner ads that appear online have been around a long time. They are the rectangle graphic that appears on the top of many Web sites. The tower ads are long rectangles that usually appear on the left or right side of the page.
Displaying Pop Up (or Pop Under) Online Advertising
Pop up ads open a small new browser window when you open a Web site. Often if you visit many different pages you can have many browser windows open at the same time that can slow down your computer.
Displaying Keyword Advertising
Keyword advertising is very common. When you search for something such as "party supplies" at a search engine (Google, Yahoo!, etc.), the search engine often shows advertising based on the keywords that you searched for, in the search results on the page.
Displaying Rich Media Ads
These types of ads are being more prevalent. These are ads that will expand when someone puts their mouse over them or just automatically open and cover a large section of the page until a set time expires or they are closed.
Displaying Jump Pages
These types of ads are their own page that you have to click through to see the actual page you wanted to see. I often think of these types of ads as television commercials.
Commission Type Sales
Some Web sites have links to shopping and services on their sites and they get paid a commission for any actual sales or clicks from their site.
Surveys and Offers
Some Web sites will make you do a survey before you can get something for free. The Web sites are paid for each completed survey. Another way that Web sites get paid is to make you accept an advertising offer before they will produce the free item.

Full article about Online Advertising can be found on: http://familyinternet.about.com/od/internetsafety/a/internetads.htm

US Online Ad Spending, 2000 - 2009 (in billions)

The Online Advertising Advantages:

* Targetability

Online advertisers can focus on users from specific companies, SIC codes, or geographical regions and nations, as well as by time of time, computer platform and browser. They can even target based on a person’s personal preferences and actual behaviour.

* Tracking

Marketers can track how users interact with their brands and learn what is of interest to their current and prospective customers.

* Deliverability and Flexibility

Online, an ad is delivered in real time 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Furthermore, an ad campaign can be launched, updated, or cancelled immediately.

* Interactivity

An advertiser’s goal is to engage the prospect with a brand or product. This can be done more effectively online, where consumers can interact with the product, test the product, and, if they choose, buy the product.

Source: Robbin Zeff and Brad Aronson. 1999, Advertising on the Internet; page 13 - 14

First Banner Ever On the Internet!

What was the world's first banner ad?

When HotWired decided to make money from their website in 1994, they set in motion events that would come back to haunt us all: The creation of banner ads.

AT&T was the first to dish over some money to HotWired to display the beast they created, a 468 x 60 banner that came to life on October 25 1994.

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/first66.html

What is Online Advertising?

Web advertising differs from other media by enabling consumers to interact with the advertisement. Consumers can click on the ad for more information, or take the next step and purchase the product in the same online session. Consumers can even purchase products from within Web advertisement.
The Internet is a new medium, which allows people to communicate with other people across the world, and to pass & exchange information in large quantities in a short time.
Those abilities, combined with the low cost of communications over the internet, makes the Internet an appealing medium for advertisers, who seek to send their message to as large a number of people, in the shortest time, and for the lowest cost.
The Internet is not a public resource - it's a collection of networks, some paid for and owned by companies, some paid for by various governments [e.g. computers & communication lines bought by tax money for universities], some paid for by private people [e.g. ISPs' equipment is paid for by the subscribers' fees, who also pay for their own computer & phone], glued together into an international network.
So when information flows across the internet from one place to another, the price of transferring the information is split across the originator of the information, the receiver of the information, and possibly one or more other parties who paid for the equipment used in between.

http://www.private.org.il/anti-spam.html

Hello, this is the result of our research about Internet Advertising. Hope you will find it interesting and helpful…

Internet Retail Poll

What is the future for Internet Retail?

This report considers how internet retail may influence, on the future of the 'bricks and mortar' retailers. It conveys the effects of online retails rapid growth and acceptance. Find out if it is the end for high street retailers or if the future of consumer’s multi-channel ‘the best of both worlds’:

http://www.bcsc.org.uk/datadb/download.asp?dlfn=/media/downloads/FORP_Report03_ES.pdf


There are many thoughts surrounding what the future of retail is it, E-commerce or brick and mortar?

Some feel that the shopping experience and social factors of traditional retail stores will out last the threat of e-commerce; however, e-commerce offers many people ease and convenience. It is hard to predict what the future will hold:

http://money.howstuffworks.com/general-money-01-0-reader-opinions-index.htm


Is click-and -mortar the future for online retail?
This article reveals predictions from the year 2000, when many dot-com companies were failing. It predicts a future for B2C sales and online, offline retailers will do the best, and only a few pure play companies will survive depending on their product categories. This is a good prediction however we can see today that many pure play companies are doing better than click and mortar in some product categories but this may still change:

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2000/07/31/newscolumn1.html

Strategic Moves

Car dealers upgrading their websites to improve interactions with shoppers, demonstrates how companies can enhance their website to improve customer service and sales:

http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=21302

John Lewis strategic acquisition of buy.com is a example of more companies moving toward Multichannel retailing to increase profitability, many people believe that “the future is multichannel retailing" and that pure play companies will find it hard to remain profitable compete in coming years an. especially those who are in markets like computer games, music, books and video’s:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1155860.stm

Article on the strategic options of multi-channel retailing and it implications:
http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=21304

Dixon’s move to online only, this may have been a wrong move however they do have an existing customer base and a strong brand but the competition online world will be a lot more intense:
http://lee-stone.co.uk/blog/?p=19

This is an interesting strategic partnership move between Toysrus.com and Flooz.com, which would help improve secure payment methods to toy r us customers:
http://retailindustry.about.com/library/bl/bl_toysrus0627.htm

BT buys online retailer Dabs.com to help increase its online sales and enhance its presence. Again another company deciding to go multichannel, this seems to be a high strategic option for those who want to seek future growth and profits:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4956100.stm

Article on online retailers improving customer service with better interactive tools and faster response times:
http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=21292