The traditional mass approach in marketing is going through a major change, and the strategies and tactics of modern-day marketers are gravitating towards a more dominant presence on the Web. It seems that any product or service needs to have a certain degree of presence on the Web in order to sustain a good performance in the market. If we are going to look at the general orientation of current programs, we will easily discover that a considerable chunk of strategies and tactics are anchored on Web-based applications. This is particularly apparent in display advertising and search engine campaigns, which is so common in a considerable number of products and services.The overall conduct of Internet marketing is even getting more sophisticated as the level of competition has now grown to unimaginable proportions. Internet marketers are now looking at their target market in terms of behavior and demographics.Search marketing is by all intents and purposes a targeting medium. Internet marketers who utilize search marketing are self-driven and are focused in conducting careful and comprehensive assessment that tracks their interests; be it commercial, educational or informational.Seasoned marketers are comfortable in performing contextual targeting. This discipline is being used extensively both in traditional advertising and Internet-based advertising. You can read an interesting article about home gardening and the adverts that are splashed on the pages can be for Roundup or Miracle Grow. The same marketing principle is used in online advertising.Behavioral marketing is an emerging discipline but is catching on at a very fast pace. This is largely due to the capacity of the Internet to capture and document buyer behavior. Seasoned and savvy marketers rely heavily on targeted adverts mainly because they are fully aware that they can effectively reach their clients. With this kind of marketing discipline, businesses are able to reduce their advertising expenses while increasing the level of efficiency of their programs.Within the realm of Internet marketing, our best example for target marketing is search marketing. Through search marketing, businesses are able to adopt strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) and, of late, behavioral and contextual marketing.As marketing thrusts gradually moves from traditional tri-media to online media, the modern-day marketer is setting the tone of marketing variables defined by Internet-based applications. In fact, Internet marketing is considered by a growing number of businesses as the standard of their marketing program.
E-commerce Adventures On eBay
The Internet is an unbelievable thing. Because of Web innovations, a person of any age or background can start a business with very little capital. Furthermore, online, virtually anyone can start a business without judgment. When Corey Kossack started his eBay store, he approached his first supplier with confidence. Although he was only 20 years old and inexperienced, he presented himself properly onscreen and was able to prove his worth over time without concerns. Because of e-commerce, entrepreneurship has been made easier. So how can you get started as an e-commerce guru? Read on for how Kossack got started in e-commerce.The Beginning of Booming E-commerceBelieve it or not this business owner started his venture when he was a sophomore in college. “I wanted to earn some extra money so I could travel and study abroad,” he recalls. “I was shopping for a memory card for a digital camera and noticed one seller who was listing and selling a bunch of these cards a day.” The idea, alone, led Kossack to believe there might be a great business opportunity selling on eBay. After months of research, Kossack decided to sell DVDs on a small scale out of his dorm room.Kossack’s DVDs, video games, and books store (one that sells products below retail) only grew from there. “We have thousands of titles to choose from, ranging from hard-to-find movies to popular TV shows and new releases,” explains the eBay Top Seller (a status awarded to the top 200 sellers in all of eBay). “Our DVDs are brand new and factory-sealed like you would buy it at your local retail store.” In fact, during Kossack’s first full year on eBay, he sold 25,000 DVDs for a total of $500,000 in sales revenue.Speaking of the e-Commerce Biz…Because of Kossack’s e-commerce success, he’s been asked to speak at eBay’s annual convention and training event “eBay Live!” in front of 1,400 other eBay PowerSellers. “I came to the realization that I had developed many of my own strategies to maximize profits and minimize risk-selling on eBay that the eBay community was unaware of,” he explains. “I shared how I saved thousands of dollars by switching the type of packaging materials I was using, how I kept my costs low during start-up and growth, how I recruited highly-skilled young workers to be my employees, and how I analyzed the risk of my eBay listing strategies and determined what alterations needed to be made to ensure I was reaching the maximum profit potential.”Kossack then turned his strategies into a revolutionary new guide to help other profit from eBay called “eBay Millionaire or Bust: Hidden Strategies That Maximize Profits and Create Wealth.” “There is so much more to running a profitable eBay business than learning how to list and sell items,” says the entrepreneur. “You need to understand the real business strategies behind selling on eBay if you want to be truly successful.”Schooling for an e-Commerce EntrepreneurCustomarily, most aspiring e-commerce pros should obtain an e-commerce degree because it’s the most relevant, Kossack is currently a computer information systems major. “But to tell you the truth,” he says, “I really wish I was an entrepreneurship major because that is what I am really passionate about.” Still, the subject of computer information systems is quite relevant to e-business management.Since Kossack’s not directly getting an e-business degree or e-commerce degree, he’s supplementing his ecommerce training by enrolling an entrepreneurship course at a different school. And he’s not stopping there. Kossack realizes he has so much to learn in terms of e-commerce training, especially without the benefits of a solid e-commerce degree.
What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime
What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.
As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.
That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.
Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.
Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.
Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.
Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.
That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.
Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.
Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.
My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.
Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.
And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.
All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:
• Farm eggs
• Fresh vegetables
• Cow’s milk
• Freshly baked bread
• Coal for our open fires
Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.
Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.
Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.
Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.
My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.
The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.
Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.
Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.
People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.
In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.
Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.
• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.
• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.
• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.
On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.
Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.
We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.
Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.
My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.