CHAPTER –I:

INTRODUCTION

Overview of Industry as a whole

Internet and Information technology have made tremendous contributions for business

transformation witnessed nowadays all over the world. This has given birth to E

commerce which encompasses several pre-purchase and post-purchase activities

leading to exchange of products or service or information over electronic systems

such as the internet and the other Telecommunication networks. Analyzing the

competitive advantage of E-Commerce it is observed that E-Commerce enables

simpler, faster and efficient business transactions. For developing country like India,

E-Commerce offer considerable opportunity for growth. E-commerce leads to a boon

for the current economic downturn. As India‘s e-commerce market is worth about Rs

50,000 crores in 2012. About 80% of this is travel related (airline tickets, railway

tickets, hotel bookings, online mobile recharge etc.).Online retailing comprises about

15%. India has close to 10 million online shoppers and is growing at an estimated 40-

45% per annum. The rapid growth of e-commerce in India is being driven by greater

customer choice and improved convenience. The project will first study the

perception of customers towards internet marketing, also determining the factors

which influence the consumer to purchase goods

and service. The second half of the project will depict the attributes of online

shopping influencing the purchase decision by the respondent. It will also determine

the issues regarding the online shopping which includes the various limitations of the

project. The third part of the project determines the purchase decision with respect to

grocery. It will determine the place preference of grocery shopping with respect to

price, quality, variety, proximity and offers/ discounts. Internet is changing the way

1
consumers shop and buy goods and services, and has rapidly evolved into a global

phenomenon. Many companies have started using the Internet with the aim of cutting

marketing costs, thereby reducing the price of their products and services in order to

stay ahead in highly competitive markets. Companies also use the Internet to convey

communicates and disseminate information, to sell the product, to take feedback and

also to conduct satisfaction surveys with customers. Customers use the Internet not

only to buy the product online, but also to compare prices, product features and after

sale service facilities the will receive if they purchase the product from a particular

store. Many experts are optimistic about the prospect of online business. Internet is

changing the way consumers shop and buy goods and services, and has rapidly

evolved into a global phenomenon. Many companies have started using the Internet

with the aim of cutting marketing costs, thereby reducing the price of their products

and services in order to stay ahead in highly competitive markets. Companies also use

the Internet to convey communicates and disseminate information, to sell the product,

to take feedback and also to conduct satisfaction surveys with customers. Customers

use the Internet not only to buy the product online, but also to compare prices, product

features and after sale service facilities the will receive if they purchase the product

from a particular store. Many experts are optimistic about the prospect of online

business. In addition to the tremendous potential of the E-commerce market, the

Internet provides a unique opportunity for companies to more efficiently reach

existing and potential customers. Although most of the revenue of online transactions

comes from business-to-business (b2b) commerce, the practitioners of business-to-

consumer commerce should not lose confidence. It has been more than a decade since

business-to-consumer E-commerce first evolved. Scholars and practitioners of

electronic commerce constantly strive to gain an improved insight into consumer

behavior in cyberspace. Along with the development of E-retailing, researchers

continue to explain E-consumers behavior from different perspectives. Many of their

2
studies have posited new emergent factors or assumptions which are based on the

traditional models of consumer behavior, and then examine their validity in the

Internet context.

The Indian economy is slated to grow by upward of 6 % annually in the next few

years which is among the highest rates of any big emerging economy. And quite a lot

of this growth would be on the back of domestic consumption of goods and services.

E-commerce is emerging as a great level given that organized retail is still not

ubiquitous across the length and breadth of the country with large retail chains

making up less than 10%of the market. E-commerce is helping people in smaller

towns in India access quality products and services similar to what people in the

larger cities have access to. It‘s being forecast that close to 60%of online shoppers

would come from beyond the top eight large cities by end of this year. Increasing

internet penetration has helped to expand the potential customer pool. Internet

penetration is only about 10% (or about 121 million users) as against about 81% in

the US and 36% in China. However this number continues to rise at a consistent pace

because of falling prices for broadband connections. Indians are also increasingly

taking to mobile devices for not only search but shopping as well. The number of

smart phone users is rapidly increasing in India and with 4G services about to take off

it‘s expected to get even more people going online. There are currently about 900

million mobile subscribers and this number is expected to touch 1.2 billion by2015.

Of these about 27 million are estimated to be active mobile internet users. More

importantly, 20% users indicated intent to buy products through their mobile phones

as against the current 4% and this number is expected to only increase in the next

twoto three years. Innovation is helping e-commerce companies break the inertia for

online shopping by offering benefits to customers not traditionally available in a brick

and mortar store. Business models include no question asked return policies ranging

3
from 7 days to 30 days, 15 and mortar store. Business models include no question

asked return policies ranging from 7 days to 30 days, 15

16. Free product deliveries and the industry dynamics changing ―cash on delivery‖

model. The last innovation has really help unlock the potential as people can now

order products and pay when they get physical delivery of the product. This has been

a tremendous success because Indians are still reluctant to give their credit/debit card

details online and want to have the psychological comfort that they would actually get

the product once payment has been made. These innovations have led to further

innovations downstream as ancillary businesses are developing to support these

initiatives. Some companies have begun to develop support mechanisms for the entire

cash on delivery model and are trying to reach the far flung corners of India,

including in the interiors where traditional logistics companies are still not completely

present. The logistics companies are also shoring up their act and have started to build

specific verticals and expertise to address the requirements of e-commerce companies.

Divyan Gupta is the Founder and CEO of Keshiha Services Pvt. Ltd, a company with

interests in the internet, telecom, healthcare, education and advanced technology

businesses has stated that acceptance of online shopping as a secure shopping mode is

has also helped to increase e-commerce uptake. Currently only about 10 million

people do online transactions out of an approximate population of 200 million credit

and debit card holders. However the latest industry report by First Data Corporation

and ICICI Merchant Services indicate that there are about 150million users that are

‗ready‘for e-commerce. More importantly the report indicates that urban Indian

consumers are now confident enough to make online purchases of up to US$500 as

against US$40-100 in the recent past. So not only are the numbers of online shoppers

projected to increase but there has been areal increase in the total value being spent

online.

4
 Objectives of the study

 To determine whether internet marketing will be beneficial and on what

factors.

 To determine the parameters for choosing the particular seller for purchase of

any product

 To identify the issues faced by the user while marketing through internet.

 To study the attitude of customers towards internet marketing

 To find out the preferences of the customers regarding the 

attributes of shopping over the internet.

Scope of the Study

 To determine which factor influences the consumer to go for online

shopping.

 To find out which feature of the website attracts the user to purchase the

product from the online shopping website.


 To find out the whether grocery online shopping is beneficial for the user.

 To analyze which factors influence the user to buy online grocery

Research Methodology:
The sources of data used in this project report are both primary and secondary data.

 Primary data Primary data consists of original information gathered from

sample size of 200 respondents residing in Mumbai, India. 2.


 Secondary data Secondary data consists of information that already exists

and that was collected in the past for some other purposes.

5
Sample Design:

Size of Sample: The sample size selected for the research is 50 in the area of Delhi

Parameters of Interests: The major parameter of interest is the subgroup of people

who are working professional as well as students and web savvy having an experience

in online shopping.

The two other subsidiary parameters of interest are:

 The respondent should also have an experience shopping.

 The female respondent who have an online shopping experience.

Sampling Technique:

Random sampling : is the purest form of probability sampling. Each member of the

population has an equal and known chance of being selected. When there are very

large populations, it is often difficult or impossible to identify every member of the

population, so the pool of available subjects becomes biased.

6
 CHAPTER –II:
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Internet marketing
E-marketing refers to the use of the Internet and digital media capabilities to help sell
your products or services. These digital technologies are a valuable addition to traditional
marketing approaches regardless of the size and type of your business. E-marketing is
also referred to as Internet marketing (I-marketing), online marketing or web-marketing.
As with conventional marketing, e-marketing is creating a strategy that helps businesses
deliver the right messages and product/services to the right audience. It consists of all
activities and processes with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining
customers. What has changed is its wider scope and options compared to conventional
marketing methods.
E-marketing is deemed to be broad in scope, because it not only refers to marketing and
promotions over the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-mail and wireless
media. E-marketing also embraces the management of digital customer data and
electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) and several other business
management functions.
E-marketing joins creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including: design,
development, advertising and sales. It includes the use of a website in combination with
online promotional techniques such as search engine marketing (SEM), social medial
marketing, interactive online ads, online directories, e-mail marketing, affiliate
marketing, viral marketing and so on. The digital technologies used as delivery and
communication mediums within the scope of e-marketing include:

 Internet media such as websites and e-mail


 Digital media such as wireless, mobile, cable and satellite.

well as sales leads from Web sites or emails. Internet marketing and online advertising
efforts are typically used in conjunction with traditional types of advertising like radio,

7
 television, newspapers and magazines. Marketing efforts done solely over the internet.
This type of marketing uses various online advertisements to drive traffic loan
advertiser's website. Banner advertisements, pay per click (PPC), and targeted email lists
are often methods used in Internet marketing to bring the most value to the advertiser.
Internet marketing is a growing business mainly because more and more people use the
internet every day. Popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo have been able to
capitalize on this new wave of advertising.

Online Marketing is the art and science of selling products and/or services over digital
networks, such as the Internet and cellular phone networks.

The art of online marketing involves finding the right online marketing mix of strategies
that appeals to your target market and will actually translate into sales.

The science of online marketing is the research and analysis that goes into both choosing
the online marketing strategies to use and measuring the success of those online
marketing strategies.

Types of online marketing include:

 Ecommerce
 Online Advertising

 Search Engine Marketing

 Email Marketing
 Social Media Marketing
 Article Marketing


And that's definitely just to name a few; more online marketing strategies are being
invented all the time.




8
Online marketing is becoming increasingly important to small businesses of all types. In
the past, marketing online was something that local bricks-and-mortar businesses could
justifiably ignore. It didn't make sense to waste time and money on online marketing
when all your business was local. Now with increasing local search and people's new
habit of searching on the Internet first, it matters. I would go so far as to say that all
businesses should include some online marketing in their marketing mix.

Internet Marketing is an all-inclusive term for marketing products and/or services online
– and like many all-inclusive terms, Internet marketing means different things to
different people.

Essentially, though, Internet marketing refers to the strategies that are used to market a
product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization
and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action,
web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing –
and that’s just hitting the highlights.

Online marketers are constantly devising new Internet marketing strategies in the hopes
of driving more traffic to their Web sites and making more sales; witness the increasing
use of blogs as marketing tools for business, for instance.

If you’re new to Internet marketing, I recommend focusing on web design and search
engine optimization as a starting point; for most sites, the most traffic still comes from
search engines and directories. When it comes to Internet Marketing, a lot of people get
really confused about it. In short, Internet Marketing means the ability to market your
services on the Internet. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of Internet
Marketing that will set you thinking. Internet might be a catchy advertising medium.
But, there are quite a few issues that need to be sorted out.

9
Advertising on the Net is slowly catching on. In developed economies, advertising on the
Net accounts for anything between seven and 7.5 per cent of the total advertising cake.
Fine, how large is online advertising in India?

Various estimates put the size of online advertising in India between Rs 24 crore and Rs
29 crore, which is much less than one per cent of the total advertising cake. Why is
online advertising so small in India? Why aren't the advertisers putting their money on
Net advertising? For instance, Hindustan Lever’s advertising budget is upwards of Rs
700 crore and out of this; the company spends not more than Rs 25 lakh on online
advertising. Is this because Net penetration in India is not deeper? Yes, to an extent.

Slow motion

However, this might not be the case for long. For, initiatives are on to increase the
number of Internet users. It is estimated that Internet subscribers will increase to around
35 million by 2008 from the current figure of one million. Not only that, a drive is on to
make Internet more affordable. For instance, the Reliance group is planning to set up
7,800 cyber kiosks in Madhya Pradesh and BSES is planning to put up 1,000 cyber
kiosks in Bombay. And the UK-based WorldTel, in partnership with the Reliance group,
is working at building 1,000 community Internet centers in Tamil Nadu.

There is a question here, however. If numbers are the only factor, then how is that net
advertising has picked up in Hong Kong, which boasts of 1.8 million Net users compared
to some 3.5 million in India. So, there are other reasons why online advertising is going
through a slow motion in India. One such reason is this: there is no official organization
in India that monitors and regulates the online advertising industry. And there is no
mechanism available for tracking viewership of advertisements. Says Apurva Purohit,
media director with the Mumbai-based FCB- Ulka Advertising: "While television has

10
two people meter services, Tam (IMRB) and Intam (ORG-MARG), there is no possible
mechanism to enable working out optimized schedules on the basis of ad viewer ship
rather than programme viewership." True. Only such a mechanism can help to track ad
viewership patterns much more accurately and monitor television advertisements
effectively. The very reason that ad viewerships in online advertising are not monitored
and audited is making quite a few corporate advertisers go slow in latching on to the
Internet medium. Says B Venkataramanan, group media manager of the Mumbai-based
Hindustan Lever: "I am skeptical about the kind of figures most dot-coms come up with.
So, we will be going about online advertising in a planned way."

All these might become things of the past with quite a few studies on online advertising
in the pipeline. For instance, AC Nielsen is looking at rating Net advertisers and ORG-
MARG is planning to kick off its research on Net advertising.

The cost factor

Absence of a monitoring mechanism apart, online advertising has to live with another
hurdle. Many advertisers are not aware of the benefits online advertising can offer over
the traditional media. What needs to be done? The advertising industry should take
efforts to educate potential Net advertisers about the advantages of advertising on the
Net. Some steps have already been taken in this direction. For instance, advertising
networks such as Media2Net, Right serve and Media turf are doing their bid to fuel
online advertising in India. Right serve of Hughes Software is said to be spending nearly
Rs two crore on seminars, advertisements and road shows for creating awareness about
the online advertising concept. There is another reason why advertising on the Net has
not really picked up. And that is the perception that advertising on the Net is expensive.
Is this perception right? Compare the cost of a banner advertisement on the Net with a
television commercial. Though the cost of an advertising campaign on the Net could be
anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, advertising in the press or television will
cost upwards of Rs 50 lakh. Does this not make advertising on the Net cheap? No. For,

11
whether advertising on the Net is cost-effective or not depends on the value per
advertising Rupee.

That means, it is essential to express advertising costs on the Net in terms of cost per
thousand (CPT). Here is what Amardeep Singh, a Mumbai-based media consultant with
Mediaturf.com, has to say: "A thirty- second television commercial will cost between Rs
250 and Rs 300 per thousand, while a ten-second banner on a reputed site such as
Rediff.com will cost as much as Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per thousand." The implication:
value per Rupee spent on advertising is higher in the case of television. That is efficiency
is higher in the case of television advertising, while in absolute terms advertising costs
are lower as far as the Net is concerned. Fine, but how are rates fixed for advertising on
the Net? It is a difficult poser considering the fact that rates for advertising on the Net
have no rationale behind them. For instance, Rediff.com just adopted the international
rate charged by Yahoo.com. Other websites in India just took the Rediff.com's rate as a
benchmark and adjusted their rates accordingly. But, the issue here is this: since the
number of Net users in India is limited now, these Indian rates are not justified.

What are the emerging trends as far as cost of online advertising is concerned? Currently,
rates for a simple banner advertisement on the Net need to come down. Already,
Mediaturf is working in this direction. It wants to bring down the cost of Net advertising
at least by 50 per cent. Mediaturf believes that when the rates come down, volumes
should go up.

And that has been the international experience. In the USA, when the rate for a full
banner advertisement fell from US $33.22 to US $30.52 per thousand impressions,
online advertising outlays too rose during the same period.

The wastage factor

There are other reasons why advertising on the Net is not currently seen by advertisers as
cost-effective. One of them is the quality of desired responses. In many cases, sums spent

12
on advertising on the Net have not been deployed properly. There are instances where
advertisements have just been lifted and put on the banner. Though there are many early
adapters in India, there is a big gap between these adapters and the mainstream users.
And most advertisers have too small budgets for advertising on the Net to be bothered
about wastages.

There could be wastages in online advertising, but one should not forget that interactivity
is the hallmark of online advertising and here it is possible to target the audience by
demography, psychography and technography. So, advertising agencies need to take into
account these factors while developing strategies.

But, wastages can be eliminated and online advertising can be made more effective
through various strategies. Some of them are: strategic tie-ups, sponsorships and banner
exchanges. For instance, the FMCG major Colgate-Palmolive has entered into a strategic
tie-up with the Calcutta-based FirstNet Solutions' portal Yantram.com for promoting its
Fresh Energy Gel toothpaste on the portal. And Coca-Cola has appointed Hungama.com,
an Indian portal for promotions and contests, as its e-marketing partner. Coca-Cola has
gone ahead and launched a new Web promotion dubbed Maaza Puzzle to promote its
popular brand Maaza and has also kicked off a series of e-promotions for the Hindi film
"Hum To Mohabbat Karega".
Meanwhile, tie-ups for banner exchanges are also taking place. For instance,
Bidorbuy.com has tied up with Indiacar.com and Intel has sponsored a festival section on
Satyam Online.

Targeting imperatives

Accurate targeting is another strategy to eliminate wastages in online advertising.

Currently, such targeting based on parameters such as geographic location and search
keywords is possible.

Yes, Satyam Online is offering customised solutions here and portals such as
Indiainfo.com and Rediff.com offer keyword targeting. It is possible now to measure

13
campaign performances on a real-time basis and make necessary changes. Ad networks
such as Rightserve are offering such services based on their continuous online reports.
Moreover, targeted advertisements based on the profile of users are also possible. To
make this possible, it is essential to have lists such as registered e-mail users and such
lists can offer profiles of users.

But the question is how many sites in India have a large base of registered users?
Perhaps Rediff.com has a base of eight lakh registered users and Jobsahead.com has a
base of about 1.50 lakh users.

Another way wastages can be eliminated is by having advertisements based on the

content of the site. Consider the example of an advertisement from Toyota Motor Sales
on the weather site Intellicast.com. This website for outdoor recreation enthusiasts has
been running a campaign for Toyota Motor Sales and this campaign depends on the
weather. If the weather is sunny, the solara is shown with the top down, and if it is
cloudy or raining, the top is shown up. How many such ads are visible on Indian
websites?

Profiling tools too should help in cutting down wastages in online advertising. Mediaturf
has gone a step further by beta-testing an advertisement in a bid to gauge an user's
behaviour, the number of times
he views an advertisement and his preferences in terms of content when he is surfing on
a site. Other waste-eliminating strategies for online advertising are: contextual selling
using demographic and psychographic data to match ads with content that fits and
dynamic customization or click stream analysis that helps to modify advertisements in
real-time.

Online Constraints
As efforts to eliminate wastages in online advertising take off; efforts are also needed to
eliminate the attendant constraints. In online advertising, one can stream audio and video
technologies together with faster bandwidths and delivery channels in a bid to present the

14
same idea with the use of sound, music and visual imagery and make interactions with
the banner possible.

But, this is not possible in India, thanks to the existing bandwidth problems. However,
soon bandwidth will cease to be an issue.

Despite the bandwidth constraint, the Coco-Cola television commercial is being aired in
Zeenext.com. This initiative has been taken by Mediaturf and a Bangalore-based
software programmer, who have found a way to use the Net to air commercials with the
dial-up mode and thus overcoming the bandwidth constraint. Anyway, with massive
investments coming in bandwidth, there could be a glut soon. Sure, India has an
advantage in online advertising, thanks to the fact that online advertising depends so
much on technology and software programming. So, the days of innovative banners and
convergence of real-time advertising are not far. But, effective online advertising calls
for skills in consumer and relationship management. The prospects are of course bright
for online advertising. E-commerce will only help the spread of online advertising.
Estimates are that in a couple of years online advertising could
touch Rs 300 crore, two per cent of the total adspend in the country. And Nasscom's
estimates are that online advertising could touch Rs 750 crore by 2002.

Objectives of Internet Advertising:

Advertising:
As far as advertising on the Internet goes, all advertisements will serve to attract the
user's attention and draw him to the company, which is advertising.

Build brand awareness:

Direct or indirect methods can be used on the websites to build brand awareness of the
different brands of a company. This is where the Internet scores traditional media and
methods as explained below.

15
 Stimulate direct action:
Visitors to a company's web site should get involved with the offerings on the site.
Valuable customer information can also be captured and tracked for future marketing
initiatives.

Promote its brands:

Promotional give - away or contests generate excitement while simultaneously
promoting your brands online, aiding off - line sale.

Building a culture around its brands:

This goes along with that company's traditional advertising.

Surrogate advertising:

This is another means of surrogate advertising of the company, where all

forms of traditional advertising fail. Surrogate advertising can be proved to be positive in
case of advertising on the Internet.

Features of Internet Advertising:

Advertising on the Internet has certain unique features that differentiate it from other
forms of advertising. They are as follows:

Member registration:

Member registration is an efficient tool that is used by firms to create their database.
Such a database may be used to design promotional campaigns. Allowing registered
users to participate in various events can follow systems of free registration.

Online opinion polls:

Opinion polls are conducted to obtain the responses from users regarding the firms'
products and services besides including topics of general interest.

16
Newsletters:
Regular newsletters are sent especially to registered users. These contain information
about current updations on the site and activities being performed by the company.

Contests and sweepstakes:

Contests are useful in attracting new users to websites. They may be for simple things
depending on the product or service being advertised. The prizes offered are in a wide
range and usually have the logo of the company and the homepage address displayed
prominently.

Content:
The content of the advertisement can be regularly updated with news regarding the
activities of the firm. A fact-based section showing the manufacturing processes of a
company may also be included. The use of multimedia tools can make this more
interactive.

E-cards:
Users send free cards via e-mail from the site of the company advertising the product.
The card prominently displays the logo or the baseline of the brand. The cards maybe for
different occasions such as birthdays, festivals, birthdays, etc. These cards are used to
reinforce brand identity. Star endorsers of the brand may also be included in the picture
postcard themes.

Downloads:

Downloads may include various utilities for the computer such as icons, desktop
patterns, screensavers, themes, etc. Registered users get the opportunity of downloading
software. Charts and other informative articles may also be included.

Coupons:

17
Coupons are used to promote sales off-line. Sending discount coupons for the products
and services of the company on special occasions can do this.

Types of Internet Advertising:

 E-mail advertising:
Legitimate Email advertising or E-mail marketing is often known as "opt-in e-mail
advertising" to distinguish it from spam.

 Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is a form of online advertising where advertisers place campaigns
with a potentially large number of small (and large) publishers, whom are only paid
media fees when traffic to the advertiser is garnered, and usually upon a specific
measurable campaign result (a form, a sale, a sign-up, etc). Today, this is usually
accomplished through contracting with an affiliate network. The online retailer used its
program to generate low cost brand exposure and provided at the same time small
websites a way to earn some supplemental income.

 Contextual advertising:
Many advertising networks display graphical or text-only ads that correspond to the
keywords of an Internet search or to the content of the page on which the ad is shown.
These ads are believed to have a greater chance of attracting a user, because they tend to
share a similar context as the user's search query. For example, a search query for
"flowers" might return an advertisement for a florist's website. Another newer technique
is embedding keyword hyperlinks in an article which are sponsored by an advertiser.
When a user follows the link, they are sent to a sponsor's website.

 Behavioral targeting:
In addition to contextual targeting, online advertising can be targeted based on a user's
past click stream. For example, if a user is known to have recently visited a number of

18
automotive shopping / comparison sites based on click stream analysis enabled by
cookies stored on the user's computer, that user can then be served auto-related ads when
they visit other, non-automotive sites.

 Pay per Click:

Search engines place your website on their front page and you pay a set amount per
click-through. Sites like Overture also run bids for certain keywords - the more you bid,
the higher your site appears on the first page of the search results. Properly run these
campaigns can bring a lot of

extra traffic to your website.

 Search Engine Optimization:

This is an online advertising service provided by many web media companies. They will
look at your target audience, your competitors and the keywords for your business and
optimize your website content so that it has a much better chance of appearing on the
first page of the search results. You will pay a fee to the consultants for this service.
Studies have shown that many searchers prefer to use the "natural" listings provided by
the search engines, rather than the paid-for listings.

 Sponsorships:
Website sponsorship can come in two formats; regular sponsorship where the advertiser
has a space to place the logo and company message, and content sponsorship where the
advertiser has limited control and submits their own content to the site as well as having
an advert on the page. These sponsorships will be for fixed periods and need to be on
targeted websites to reach the right audience.

 Online Directories:
The online equivalent of Yellow Pages, or Industry Directories, these give you basic or
enhanced listings on the website. Your details will come up if your sector location or
company name is searched for. Enhanced listings will allow users to click-through to

19
 your site. Online directory listings are often offered in conjunction with an entry in the
printed version of the directory.

 Banner Ads:
Banner advertising was the first kind of advertising ever done on the net. A banner can
highlight your product/service/offer and by clicking on it the user will be taken to your
website, where you can create a suitable
landing page to provide his further information. Banner spaces are usually sold by
impressions, or banner views, but it is sometimes sold by click-thru, when you pay only
when the user clicks on the banner. Usually horizontal bars across the top of a web page,
they offer color, graphics and often animation, together with the ability to click through
to the advertiser's own website.

 Pop-up Ads:
These are the small windows that appear when you first get onto a website .Pop-ups
appear on your screen in full, pop-downs appear on the bar at the bottom of your screen
and you have to open them to get rid of them.

 Interstitial Adverts:

These adverts sometimes referred to as Bridge Adverts, pop up as you move between
pages on a site. You have no choice as to whether you view them or not, although you
can close them down.

 Floating Ads:
These ads appear when you first go to a webpage, and they "float" over the page for five
to 30 seconds. While they are on the screen, they obscure your view of the page you are
trying to read, and they often block mouse input as well. These ads appear each time that
page is refreshed. Floating ads are popular for several reasons:
 They grab the viewer's attention and cannot be ignored

 They are animated


20
  They have audio/video content like TV ads

 They can take up the entire screen, therefore from a branding standpoint, they
are much more powerful than a banner ad or a sidebar ad.

 They have a high click-through rate of about 3 percent However, many users get
highly irritated because of these ads.

 Unicast Ads:
A unicast ad is basically a TV commercial that runs in the browser window. It has
enriched audio/video content. The ads can last anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. These
ads have similar branding power as a TV commercial. However, a unicast ad offers
something that TV ads cannot -- the ability to click on the ad for more information.
These ads are getting very effective, as the average click-through rate is 5%.

 Takeover Ads:
Viewers visiting the website will see a large ad when they first come, and then the
continuity is maintained by reiterating the same message throughout the site in the form
of banners, side bars or buttons. The approach works very well for branding because the
brand is visible to viewers throughout the visit to the site. Click-through rates are also
high.

The Key Benefits of Internet Marketing:

Internet marketing is a buzz word that’s gaining steady popularity in the recent times,
and has emerged as a cost-effective way of promoting a small to medium sized business.
It does not require the time and the resources that are needed in traditional marketing
strategies and is indeed a revolution in the field of business promotion and
advertisements. Here is a list of some of the key benefits of internet marketing:

Cost Effectiveness

Internet marketing is a very cost effective option of promoting your business. Your
business website can only take you to a certain level if you do not make the effort to

21
increase its visibility. Internet marketing will make your business promotion dynamic
and lively at a very nominal cost.

You can optimize your website for the search engines, avail the pay per click programs,
use the option of list building and even send promotional newsletters to your prospective
clients to drum up some publicity for your offerings. All these options can be availed for
free or can be subscribed at a very nominal cost. To take advantage of internet
marketing, you do not even have to own a business and can participate in the affiliate
programs and promote other people’s business to make huge money. So, investment
wise, it is a better option than the traditional print advertisements and marketing
strategies.

Very Wide Reach

One of the major online advertisement benefits is that it has global reach. Internet is a
medium, which will enable a potential client from the other end of the world to reach you
without any trouble. So, you can conveniently eradicate the traditional geographical
boundaries and access a wide of pool of client base easily accessed with the help of
properly implemented internet marketing strategies. You can even contact the overseas
market and increase your business prospects to a great extent by using this marketing
method.

Easy to Manage

You can easily manage your internet marketing programmers. Any change in the strategy
can be brought about even when you are travelling
or commuting for your business. What’s more, even while on a vacation, you can make
changes on the fly and save precious time that would have otherwise been wasted on an
endless wait. The benefits that your business is making with the use of such strategies
can be easily gauged and monitored as the process is not very complicated and even a
layman can follow the procedure with some prior research. You can also hire a
professional agency for internet marketing tips and help.

22
Track real-time results and Display of full information

The advantages of internet marketing can be translated in palpable terms. In other words,
you can statistically measure whether your PPC campaigns are generating results or how
much of the traffic is being converted into your customer base. One of the major benefits
of marketing online is that it can help you to display as much information as you want
about your product or service on the web. The print medium will give you only a limited
space and your scope might be restricted in many cases.

Availability of 24 Hours

Your online advertisements will be available 24/7 for your customers through internet
marketing. One of the major online advertisement benefits is that you have to put in a lot
of effort initially, but once you develop a system, it becomes much easier to draw the
profit. So, if you have a proper and functional strategy in place, internet marketing can
ensure a round the clock and never ending advertisement for your business.

Increasing the Returns on Investment on a Website

If you have spent a lot of money on developing a competent business website, you must
also expect a good return from it. Internet marketing
can ensure a good ROI as your website will be promoted to have a formidable online
presence. You can promote your website through article submission in various
directories and even through the social networking sites. So, it is likely to increase the
effectiveness of your business website to a great extent.

Discover New Markets

The primary target of any marketing strategy is to discover new markets for the business.
Internet marketing can help you do that very effectively. It can help you draw a lot of
vacillating traffic to your website, and can realistically help you to convert them into
your clients. Internet marketing has various advantages and if you can carefully

23
implement the strategies, you can reap the benefits and promote your business in a cost
effective and a hassle free way.

Benefits of internet marketing for the customer

Customers have gained immensely from the use of the internet. As the number of users
of the internet increase more and more will shop online. Listed below are some of the
benefits of the internet for the customer.

Customers stay updated Customers are kept updated with product information either
via the website or emails. With the internet now becoming mobile, through 3G
technology and Wi-Fi, customers can be kept updated almost in real time.

Customers can compare online One of the greatest advantages for the customer is that
they can compare products or services they wish to purchase from the comfort of their
own homes. Instead of visiting a number of different retail outlets, the user simply has to
open different
window tabs to compare prices or features of the product/service they wish to purchase.
Many retailing websites offer the facility where different products they sell can now be
easily compared. There is also price comparison websites that customers can use to get
the best possible price for their products.

Clear product information for the customer Websites offer clear product information
on the product or service. There is little chance of misinterpretation or mishearing what
the sales person said.

Transparent pricing Pricing online is very clear and transparent for the customer.
Customers can take advantages of pricing that may change regularly or take advantages
of special offers that last for a limited period.

24
Track your purchase Consumers have to pay for their product /service before they
receive it. It is important that consumers feel reassured when this happens. Many
websites allow consumers to track their purchase from order, dispatch to transportation
before delivery to their home address. Again this reassures the consumer and makes
them feel that they are obtaining a good service online.

Reductions in personal carbon footprint: as consumer spend more time shopping

online and use their cars less. Their personal carbon footprint is reduced.

24/7 Shopping There is no time restriction on when a consumer can shop online. Many
online sales now start at midnight on a particular day encouraging customers to shop all
hours of the day.

Benefits of internet marketing for the business

Whilst there are many benefits for consumers shopping online, business that start their
operations or transfer their operations online greatly benefit from doing so. Some of
these benefits will be briefly discussed.

Data collection Every time a customer transacts with the company online, that
transaction is captured. The firm can use this data in a number
of ways. Firstly information can be analyzed to find out most popular products/services
sold. Secondly the data can be used to assist in segmenting their customers, profiling
them and sending customers promotional material based on past buying habits.

There has been much controversy over the amount of information that is being collected
online by various companies’ in particular social networking sites and whether customers
should be able to opt out of that information being shared to third party users.

Personalization of web experience

25
When customers log into their accounts businesses can make their web experience
almost unique. From offering special offers to that particular customer, offering add on
to their recent purchase, much like Amazon.com does, or by allowing the customer to
personalize their own products, like Nike does with their trainers . Personalization allows
the firm to form stronger bonds online with customers and form long term online
relationships ensuring customers come back regularly.

Competitor analysis
The internet allows businesses to analyze their competitor’s online strategy. A firm can
keep abreast of new products that are released, react to price changes, or use the internet
to discover secondary data on their competitors. The internet allows a firm to react
quickly to a change in their competitor’s strategy, and try to provide a service that allows
them to match or beat their competitors.

Cost reduction
One of the major benefits of setting up or moving a business online is the cost
advantages of doing so. A firm can save a number of costs. These include:

1. Staffing costs: Fewer staff are needed online then in the high street thus reducing
costs.

2. Premises: The Company will not need retail outlet just a centralized office and
possibly warehouse space, saving on potential retail costs.

3. Disintermediation: The channel of distribution is shorter online as the consumer has

the opportunity to buy directly like with Dell. As one of the intermediaries is cut out this
process is known as disintermediation.

4.Financial management: As consumers pay for the product before it is dispatched, this
improves the cash flow for the company, making sure for the firm that they can pay their
suppliers and other costs on time.

26
Top 10 Internet Marketing Strategies

Internet marketing can attract more people to your website, increase customers for your
business, and enhance branding of your company and products. If you are just beginning
your online marketing strategy the top 10 list below will get you started on a plan that
has worked for many.

1. Start with a web promotion plan and an effective web design and development
strategy.

2. Get ranked at the top in major search engines, and practice good Search
Optimization Techniques.

3. Learn to use Email Marketing Effectively.

4. Dominate your marketing niche with affiliate, reseller, and associate programs.

5. Request an analysis from an Internet marketing coach or Internet marketing

consultant.

6. Build a responsive opt-in email list.

7. Publish articles or get listed in news stories.

8. Write and publish online press releases.

9. Facilitate and run contests and giveaways via your web site.

10. Blog and interact with your visitors. By following the above tips you'll be on
your way to creating a concrete internet marketing strategy that could boost your
business substantially.

7 P'S of Internet Marketing:

27
The four P's - Product, Price, Place and Promotion have long been associated with
marketing, but things have changed on the Internet. So along with a change in the nature
of the four P’s there are three new P’s which are relevant to the internet marketer:
Presentation, Processes and Personalization.

1. Product

Product on the Internet usually changes form online, and the user experiences it
electronically, in the form of text, images and multimedia. Physical goods are usually
presented in the form of a detailed online catalogue that the customer can browse
through. Technology allows the user to virtually touch and feel the product on the
Internet - rotate it, zoom in or zoom out and even visualize the product in different
configurations and combination. Content and software are two avatars of digitized
products that can be even distributed over the Internet. On the
Internet, E-marketing will be based more on the product qualities rather than on the
price. It will rather be on the uniqueness of the product. To be able to attract the
customers and retain them, the company will have to provide nouvelle and distinct
products that forces the net users to purchase and come back for more.

2. Price

Price has been drastically changed over the Internet. It lets the buyer decides the price.
Also it gives the buyers information about multiple sellers selling the same product. It
leads to best possible deal for the buyers in terms of price. Pricing is dynamic over the
Internet.

3. Place

Place revolves around setting up of a marketing channel to reach the customer. Internet
serves as a direct marketing channel that allows the producer to reach the customer

28
directly. The elimination of the intermediate channel allows the producer to pass the
reduced distribution cost to the customer in the form of discounts

4. Promotion

Promotion is extremely necessary to entice the customer to its website, as there are
currently more than one billion web pages Online strategies include search engine
optimization, banner ads, multiple points of entry, viral marketing, strategic partnership
and affiliate marketing .Presently, the cyberspace is already cluttered with thousands of
sites probably selling similar products. For the customers to know of the Company’s
existence and to garner information on the kind of products or services that the company
is offering, promotion has to be carried out. Also the traditional mediums like print,
outdoor advertising and television can be used to spread awareness.

5. Presentation

The presentation of the online business needs to have an easy to use navigation. The look
and the feel of the web site should be based on corporate logos and standards. About
80% of the people read only 20% of the web page. Therefore, the web page should not be
cluttered with a lot of information. Also, simple but powerful navigational aids on all
web pages like search engines make it easy for customer to find their way around.

6. Processes

Customer supports needs to be integrated into the online web site. A sales service that
will be able to answer the questions of their customers fast and in a reliable manner is
necessary. To further enhance after sales service, customers must be able to find out
about their order status after the sale has been made.

7. Personalization

Using the latest software it is possible to customize the entire web site for every single
user, without any additional costs. The mass customization allows the company to create

29
web pages products and services that suit the requirement of the user. A customized web
page does not only include the preferred layout of the customer but also a pre selection
of goods the customer may be interested in.

Understanding the Internet Customers

Now to be able to use the seven P’s effectively in order to achieve the predefined goals
of any organization it is imperative to understand the customers. Customization will only
be truly effective if we understand our customers and their true needs. Before adapting
marketing practices to the Internet, the marketer needs to understand the characteristics
of the online customers. The Net users can be classified into 5 categories depending upon
their intention of using the Internet. The 5 categories of users are:

 Directed Information Seekers:

They require specific, timely and relevant information about the products and services
being offered.

 Undirected Information Seekers:

These users require something interesting and useful. Something that can give them an
edge, advantage, insight or even a pleasant surprise.

 Bargain Hunters:
They are of two kinds: One who look for free items on the internet and other who are
seeking better deals, higher discounts, etc.

 Entertainment Seekers:
They see the Web as an entertainment medium of vast breathand potential and want to
explore the medium before the mass gets there.

 Directed Buyers:

30
They want to buy something - now. They are sure what they require and just log on to
the Web to purchase the item.

Using the 7 Ps in Your Internet Marketing Plan:

The 7 P’s are very important in Internet marketing and can make a big difference in a
successful online business.

1. PRODUCT: You need to be able to assess the market and the customers’ mood to
understand if the product you are selling online is really in demand or not? A good
product sold at the wrong time or in the wrong place might not sell as much, so you need
to be educated in how someone surfing on the Internet will be attracted to buy your
product. We help clients find the right market, demographic, and best time of year for
promotion your products, and then help deploy the campaign.

2. PRICE: By assessing what people can spend for some products, analyzing the
buying patterns, and knowing the trends you must intelligently set a price that will be
attractive enough to the customer and yet bring you profits. At Karma Snack, we help
clients find the sweet spot for your product’s pricing by testing pricing, discounts, and
doing in-depth research on your competition’s bottom-line. The end goal of every
campaign is to increase your profitability, which reducing costs, while increasing your
market share.

3. PROMOTION: When you are promoting your product on the Internet you need to
question whether you are addressing the right target audience. Even if you are getting
the target audience to your website, you need to be sure that you speaking the language
they understand. Karma Snack’s team takes care of analyzing the traffic to your
website, the sources of the traffic, and the average stay. We then utilizes advanced
behavioral analytics and predictive analysis to get more profitable customers to your
business.

4. PEOPLE: When you are doing Internet marketing you have to be able to outsource
the work and hire the people to do things like write effective content.

31
 You’ll want the people who can provide answers to visitors’ questions and provide
them with the information they are looking for. Lastly it is very important to ask if you
have the people to share information on the product, service, or company on blogs,
forums etc. by posting about it. Karma Snack helps clients with all of this by utilizing
their in-house team of copywriters, without additional charges to your campaign.

5. PLACE: Obviously in the world of Internet marketing, your website is the place
where all transactions happen. Karma Snack utilizes A/B Split Testing, and Multi-
variate testing on an ongoing basis, to constantly improve your website’s performance,
increase the amount of traffic which converts into a sales/lead/ or a content. We test
color schemes, buttons sizes, images, photos, layouts, and are always improving your
website. Your website has to constantly evolve, there are times where your website
will not look like it did a week ago, a month from now, or a year from now. We are
data centric, so all changes and improvements have to be justified by increased ROI
for you.

6. PROCESS: is very important for Internet marketing too. You need to ask if you
have resiliency in your site, the ability to handle large number of customers, the proper
support at all times, and a system to answer FAQs. Karma Snack scales campaigns
according to each clients needs. There are times clients tell us to scale back the efforts
since they cannot handle the volume, and have to expand resources, and we adjust
campaigns accordingly.

7. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE: Online, it is difficult for the customer to know how the
product is going to benefit them. So it will be necessary to communicate in a way that
the customer will be able to feel confident in purchasing a product or service. You can
do reports and articles that will excite the customers about the product and the service.

INTERNET Marketing VS TRADITIONAL marketing:

Traditional Marketing Internet Marketing

32
TV Commercials Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
TV commercials on a local Contrary to popular belief,
cable channel SEO is not
can cost thousands of dollars for “free internet marketing.”
just a But unlike
couple airings! That’s not PPC/SEM, you don’t have
including the to pay for
cost to product the commercial. individual ads.
In addition to cost, TV ads Instead, SEO involves
aren’t optimizing your

targeted.The ads can be set website and your overall

during certain online presence,
time slots and TV shows, but so that more people can
the chances find you on
of grabbing the attention of Google, Yahoo and
the exact other search
target audience is unlikely.
Finally, engines. By focusing on specific
measuring the effectiveness of keywords that people
the ad and are already
how it affects the bottom line is searching, SEO drives
difficult. highly targeted
traffic to your business.
Plus, you can

easily track every click,

visit, sale, lead,

Search Engine Marketing

Radio Ads (SEM)
If you’ve got a massive ad Imagine only paying
budget, then a when you know
radio ad might generate some someone has seen and
response. responded to your
Play the same ad over and over ad. That’s exactly how
again and SEM works.

33
people are bound to hear it. But of the
at what SEM is one hottest
cost?
Internet marketing,

Radio advertising is incredibly guaranteed to get your

expensive, website on the
not targeted, and ineffective front-page of Google and
for most drive traffic to
your website.It’s targeted
types of businesses. exactly to the
people who are already
looking for your
business. And, you can
track results
down to the penny.

Newspapers, phonebooks, Social Media Marketing

magazines –
they just don’t have the If you’re not taking
readership or advantage of social
impact they used to. And yet, it networks like Facebook and
still costs Twitter, then
hundreds or even thousands of you’re losing a lot of
dollars to potential business.
highly
fill that ad space. Why? Social media can be a targeted

form of internet marketing

that lets you
A print ad can be a good way to
focus on
brand development. But if reach new customers, build
you’re looking loyalty, and
for measurable ROI or the attract tons of repeat
ability to track business.

34
results, forget it. Precise
targeting and analytics is
virtually impossible

Critical Success factors in E-Marketing

Having observed the evolving paradigms of business in the Internet era, there are five
critical success factors that the E-Marketer has to keep in mind.

 Attracting the Right Customer 

is the first crucial step. Rising digital penetration would mean that the number of
customer visiting particular sites would inevitably go up. While the number of
eyeballs or page views has so far been conveniently used as a satisfactory
measure by most web sites, it would be foolish to cater to the whole spectrum of
digital visitors. Content has to be very target specific. The digital company has to
select its target segment by finding out which section of customers are the most
profitable in terms of revenue transactions and who are the customers who
generate the maximum number of referrals. Here again it is important to note that
the majority of online customers are not seeking the lowest price. Rather they are
seekingconvenience above everything else. The power of customer referrals has
never been so enormous, since word of the mouse spreads faster than word of the
mouth. E-Bay attracts more than half of its customers through referrals. Not only
do referred customers cost less to acquire than those brought in by advertising or
other marketing tools, they also cost less to support since they use their friends
who referred them for advice rather than using the companies’ own technical
desk.

 Delivering Content Value to engage the user’s interest 
is the critical importance in retaining customer participation. This is because
content serves as a powerful differentiator. Content would include Product

35
 enhancements (Software patches for glitches), personalized interactions (through
customized navigation paths as
seen on the web sites of GM and Toyota) and Problem Resolution
(updates of delivery schedules and e-mail responses). Integral to the concept of
delivering proper content value is innovation. The retail financial services
industry, for example, is changing rapidly with multiple players jockeying for
position. Product innovation serves as a key tool to attract new customers.

Priceline.com, for example, has revolutionized the travel and related services
business by letting in a form of “buyer driven commerce”----Customers specify their
desired prices and competing companies then bid for customer requirements.
Delivering proper content to make existing customers in the traditional “brick”
business switch to Web-enabled transactions makes a lot of sense because in every
conceivable case, the cost of Web-Based transactions is an order of magnitude less
than the traditional ways and is decreasing at a faster rate. The cost of an Internet
based banking transaction is less than one-tenth the cost of a human teller
transaction. It is keeping this aspect in mind that Indian Banks have started toying
with the idea of setting up Internet kiosks to let their low-value customers settle their
banking transactions at the kiosk nearest to their place.

 Ensuring E-Loyalty
is vital to the success of any online venture. This is because acquiring customers
on the Internet is enormously expensive and unless those customers stick round
and make lots of repeat purchases over the years, profits will remain elusive.
Contrary to the general view that Web customers are notoriously fickle, they in
fact follow the old rules of customer loyalty. Web customers stick

to sites that they trust and with time consolidate their purchases with one primary
supplier to the extent that purchasing from the supplier’s site becomes part of
their daily routine. The issue of trust is integral to
the issues of privacy and security. Companies like Amazon.com,

36
 which command amazing levels of consumer trust, have used a variety of
encryption tools ad simple ethical decisions like not accepting money for
publishers for independent book reviews to maintain the trust of its customers.

 E-Learning to facilitate personalized interactions 
with customers has been the biggest contribution of the Web to the marketing
strategists. Customers in traditional bricks-and-mortar stores leave no record of
their behavior unless they buy something—and even then the date might be
sketchy. For example, if the customer exits the web-site when the price screen
appears, he is a price sensitive consumer. Such minute tracking of customer
behavior has major implications for the world of advertising. The Internet may
soon be used as a test bed for testing prototypes of marketing and advertising
campaigns. By monitoring pages selected, click throughs , responses generated,
and other indicators, the company would be able to discover which parts of a
prospective campaign would work, thus reducing the risk of a potential flop. This
would make it possible for the company to modify its product offerings much
earlier than usual in the product life cycle.

Providing Digital value to the evolving consumer through his life cycle has
become possible because of customized interactions and emerging business models.
These models have often disturbed the traditional status quo and created new rules of
business. The sectors where new business models will emerge or have emerged are
the music industry, the financial services industry, the travel industry, the relating
segment and the publishing segment. Digital value is delivered to the consumer by
promising him convenience, allowing the customer to feel his ownership of the Web
experience, and giving the customer a sense of belonging that traverses the physical
boundaries.

37
 CHAPTER –III:
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Q1. Do you plan to purchase any product in future?

Responses No. of % of

Respondent Respondent

Yes 39 78%

No 11 22%

Total 50 100%

Product to be purchased in future.

22%

a yes
78%
b no

Figure 1: Shows The perception of customer to purchase a product in future

The consumers have a perception of purchasing products over the internet in future.
Wherein 78% said yes to purchase of products in future. 22% resisted over it.

Q2. Overall, how would you rate the quality of products available over the internet?

38
 Responses No. of % of Respondent
respondent
Very good 4 8%
Good 32 64%
Average 13 26%
Poor 1 2%
Very Poor 0 0%
Total 50 100%

0%
2%
8%

26%
64%
very good

good

average

poor

very
poor

Figure 2: depicting the quality of products available over the internet

When asked from the consumer about the quality of products available over the
internet, they had all together different opinion. Where 8% said it’s very good, 64%
said its good, 26% meant its average there were 2% saying its poor. But no one felt
it’s very poor.

Q3 How often you surf the internet?

39
 Responses No. of % Of
respondent Responedent
Regularly 33 66%
Once in a week 7 14%
Once in a month 4 8%
Occasionally 6 12%
Total 50 100%

Usage of internet by customers

8% 12%
regularly
14%

once in
week
66%

once in
month

occasionally

Figure 3: depicting how much people surf over the internet

The response regarding the usage of internet among customers was remarkable. There
were 66% who surf internet daily. Wherein 14% once a week, 8% once a month and 12%
on occasional basis. This has led to slow but penetration of internet marketing.

Q4. What was the source of medium other than internet that made you aware about
the products?

40
 Responses No. of respondent % of Responedent
Newspaper 10 20%
T.V. 32 64%
Radio 2 4%
Banners 3 6%
Others 3 6%
Total 50 100%

Medium of awareness about the product other than internet

6%
4% 6%
20%
64%
Newspap
er

T.V.

Radio

Banners
Others

41
Figure 4: depicting the source of medium for the awareness about products other
than Internet

When asked about the medium of awareness about the various products other than
internet.64% got it from T.V., wherein 20% from newspaper, 4% radio, 6% from banners
or other to impulsive buying of products.

Q5. Does the information provided over the internet that made you aware about the
products?

Responses No. of respondent % of Responedent

Yes 19 38%
No 12 24%
Can’t Say 19 38%
Total 50 100%

Satisfaction of information provided over the internet

38% 38%
Yes

No
24%
Can't Say

Figure 5: depicting the satisfaction of information provided over the internet

Customer purchasing products by the medium of internet are satisfied. With 38% saying
yes, there are somewhat 24% saying no and 38% aren’t sure. With the increment of
satisfaction the roots of internet marketing can slowly capture the markets especially of
India.

42
 Q6. What features in online advertisement attracts you?

Responses No. of respondent % of Responedent

Design 9 18%
Color 9 18%
Offers 16 32%
Variety 12 24%
Details 4 8%
Total 50 100%

Features which attract customers over online advertisement

Design
8%
18%

24%
Color
18%

Offer
s

Variet
y
32%

Detail
s

Figure 6: Depicting the features which attract the customers over online
advertisement

The customers of internet marketing are highly attracted by the offers available on
the online advertisement. With 32% with offers, 24% variety of products, 18% with

43
 design of the website and with the color combinations and 8% with the details of
the products.

Q 7. Internet marketing is used for which kind of product?

Responses No. of respondent % of respondent

Apparels 9 18%
Books 10 20%
Electronics 13 26%
Food 1 2%
Games 4 8%
Music 7 14%
Others 6 12%
Total 50 100%

Types of products searched over

internet

1
8
12% % Apparels

14%
Books

Electroni
20% cs
8%

Food

Game
s
26%

2%
Music
Others

Figure 7: depicting the type of products searched over internet

44
 Types of products available over the internet are huge. But when asked about the sort
of products searched by the customers. It was seen that 18% go in for apparels, 20% for
books, 26% for electronics, 2% for food, 8% games, 14% for music and 12% for other
products.

Q8. Do you think companies provide adequate information about products while
marketing on internet?

Responses No. of % of
respondent Responedent
Yes 19 38%
No 14 28%

Can’t Say 17 34%

Adequate
Total 50 100%

information provided by company

34% 38%

Yes

No
28%
Can't Say

Figure 8: depicting adequate information provided about the products by the

Company

Regarding the kind of information provided about the products by the company 38% felt
they were adequate, 28% felt they weren’t and 34% weren’t sure.

45
 Responses No. of % of
respondent Responedent
Online Shopping 8 16%
Online 12 24% Q9. What all
you think
Advertisement constitutes
Online Promotion 2 4% internet
marketing?
All The Above 25 50%
None Of Above 3 6%
Total 50 100%

Internet marketing constitutes of

6% 16% Online
Shopping

50% 24%
Online
4% Advertisement

Online Promotion

All The Above

None Of Above

46
 Figure 9: depicting what all internet marketing constitutes off

The customers were asked whether they know what all internet marketing constituted
off. Nearly 50% said it includes all the above, 16% knew its only online shopping, 24%
knew its only online advertisement , 4% felt its online promotion and 6% felt its none
of above.

Q10. Do you think internet marketing is more effective tool than traditional way of
marketing?

Responses No. of respondent % of Responedent

Yes 24 48%

No 14 28%

Can’t Say 12 24%

Total 50 100%

Internet marketing effective tool than traditional marketing

LX

24%
48%

Figure 10: Depicting whether internet marketing is more effective tool then
traditional marketing

The customers of internet marketing were of the opinion that it’s a more effective tool than
traditional marketing by 48%. Wherein 28% said no and 24% didn’t have an idea over this.

47
Q11. Do you think internet marketing is reliable as a tool of marketing?

Responses No. of respondent % of Responedent

Yes 24 48%

No 16 32%

Can’t Say 10 20%

Total 50 100%

Reliability of internet marketing

20%
48%

Ye
s
32% LXI
N
o

Can't Say
Figure 11: Depicts internet marketing's reliability

The customers were asked whether internet marketing is reliable; there were 48% who
said yes, 32% who said no and 20% who didn’t have an idea over it.

Q12. What are the success factors of internet marketing?

Responses No. of respondent % of Responedent

Strong Branding 13 26%
Unique merchandise 8 16%
Good Customer Service 11 22%

48
 CRM 5 10%
Distribution efficiency 10 20%
Others 3 6%
Total 50 100%

Success factors of internet

marketing

Strong Branding
6%
26%
20% Unique
20% 6% 26% Merchandise

Good Customer
10 Service
%
22% 16%

CRM

Distribution
Efficiency
LXII
Others

Figure 12: depicts about the success factors of internet marketing

Internet marketing have various success factors, 26% felt the strong branding is the reason.
16% were of the opinion that unique products sold over the internet. 22% for good
customer service, 10% for CRM, 20% for distribution efficiency and 6% for other reasons.

49
 CHAPTER-IV
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Result of the study

Internet Marketing is a hot topic especially in these days of instant results. The reason why
internet marketing has become so popular is because they provide three major benefits to
potential buyers:

1. Convenience: Customers can order products 24 hours a day wherever they are.
They don’t have to sit in traffic, and a parking space, and walk through countless
shops to find and examine goods.

2. Information: Customers can find reams of comparative information about

companies, products, competitors, and price without leaving their office or

home.

3. Fewer hassles: Customers don’t have to face salespeople or open

themselves up to persuasion and emotional factors; they also don’t have to wait

in line.

Internet Marketing also provides a number of benefits to marketers:

1. Quick adjustments to market conditions: Companies can quickly add products

to their offering and change prices and descriptions.

2. Lower costs: On-line marketers avoid the expense of maintaining a store and the
costs of rent, insurance, and utilities. They can produce digital catalogs for much less
than the cost of printing and mailing paper catalogs.

3. Relationship building: On-line marketers can dialogue with consumers and learn
from them.

50
 4. Audience sizing: Marketers can learn how many people visited their on-line site
and how many stopped at particular places on the site. This information can help
improve offers and ads.

Clearly, marketers are adding on-line channels to find, reach, communicate, and sell. I-
marketing has at least five great advantages. First, both small and large firms can afford
it. Second, there is no real limit on advertising space, in contrast to print and broadcast
media. Third, information access and retrieval are fast, compared to overnight mail and
even fax. Fourth, the site can be visited by anyone from any place in the world. Fifth,
shopping can be done privately and swiftly.

The Internet is a powerful tool for strengthening relationships. By offering customers

content and time value, E-Marketing has opened new vistas for marketers. The
greatest feature of the digital economy is that it enables the E-Marketer to eradicate man
traditional barriers before entering new markets. These barriers
include economies of scale and geographic positioning. The innate strength of an E-
Market comes not from the seamless flows of goods and services from the producer to
the customer but in the geometrically increasing returns from converging ideas and
technological change the strength of online communities has never been so great, and
companies have used them to develop new markets. Notice how Linux distributed free
on the Net has been able to build up a faithful customer base. Ultimately here also the
marketer has to realize that nothing sells as well as a good product. But the beauty of the
Internet is that it offers constant opportunities for product enhancement based on
continuous customer feedback. Companies who have tuned their business processes to
incorporate these customer responses have been able to leverage the power of the Web to
gain competitive advantage.

Limitations

51
  High Cost: 

Collecting data using primary research is a costly proposition as marketer has to

be involved throughout and has to design everything.


 Time Consuming:

Because of exhaustive nature of the exercise, the time required to do research

accurately is very long as compared to secondary data, which can be collected in

much lesser time duration.


 Inaccurate Feed-backs:

In case the research involves taking feedbacks from the targeted audience, there

are high chances that feedback given is not correct. Feedbacks by their basic

nature are usually biased or given just for the sake of it.

 More number of resources are required: 

Leaving aside cost and time, other resources like human resources and materials

too are needed in larger quantity to do surveys and data collection.


 Quality of Research: 

There are some disadvantages to using secondary research. The originators of the

primary research are largely self-governed and controlled by the marketer.

Therefore, the secondary research used must be scrutinized closely since the

origins of the information may be questionable. Moreover, the researcher needs

to take sufficient steps to critically evaluatethe validity and reliability of the

information provided.

 Not Specific to Researcher’s Needs:

52
 In many cases, secondary data is not presented in a form that exactly meets the

researcher’s needs. Therefore, the researcher needs to rely on secondary data that

is presented and classified in a way that is similar to their needs.

Suggestions and Recommendations

The following are a few things an internet marketer can do to maximize the potential of

his website: -

-→ Domain Fault Repair –

This function directs the web visitor to the right site after she/he potentially may have

typed in the wrong Internet address.

→ Site Customization: -

One of the web-based CRM most important advantages is the volume of information

available to the browsing customer. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of information can

be one of the weaknesses of web-based CRM design. Sites that offer customization

features allow user to filter the content they see. The future of truly web-based CRM will

be the completely “one-to-one” web sites. When properly customizable on the first visit,

the customer on a next entry can choose to see only his/her own preferences. (Example:

yahoo.com; my yahoo)

→ Alternative Channels –

Different ways to contact the company are offered, for instance, Email, Fax toll-free

numbers, Postal Address, Call back button and Voice over IP.

53
→ Local Search Engine –

Allows the visitor to search on key words to quickly locate specific answers on the

website.

→ Membership –

The visitor can request a password. With this password he can continue surfing on

password protected web pages within the website.

→ Mailing List –

To receive more information, the visitor can add his/her email address to a list to receive

automated emails.

→ Site tour –

The visitor can follow a tour through the website.

→ Site Map –

This is a hierarchical diagram of the pages on the website, also called a site overview,

site index, or site map.

→ Introduction for First-Time Users –

Visitors, who enter the site for the first time, can surf to an introduction page. This page

contains information about “How to use the site most efficiently”

→ Chat –

A main advantage of the Internet is its self-generating advantage. By allowing visitors to

interact with each other and with the site, they create content for the site.

54
All this will help build a relationship with the customer and it will ultimately help the

marketer to achieve his objectives. Internet has opened up new avenues for reaching the

consumer. It is true thatthere is never a fixed way or strategy that a marketer can use to

market its products and services on the internet but it is still very much an arena where

creative thinking can take the company reach new heights. Thus we can say that

marketing has not changed its shape. It is the same, unpredictable, unusual and creative

field that needs constant change and open inputs that can work wonders for the company.

The following are the main points to be kept in mind for betterment of internet

marketing:

1. Website

• Share your website via social sites

• Bookmark your related links and pages example shareaholic

• Social site like digg, reddit and stumble upon.

2. BLOG

• Write above 250 word sin content

• need to create Blog roll

• Need to have privacy policy and about page of your blog

• Add appropriate widget to your blog like search widget

55
• Add follow us to link with social media

•Link up previous blog in your new blog post

• Add labels to every blog post

3. DISPLAY Ads

• Add some attractive information for your blog

• Display ads should have some impressive image

• Insert your link on display ad.

4. Affiliated Marketing

•Is promoting business through using an network of associates.

•They are rewarded for grab visitors or customers to the site.

•Not apply to our blog as we are not using them, on behalf we using PPC, Display Ad

sand other.

5. Personnel Relation Marketing

• Have to make a pitch for your blog

• Enter interesting heading to grab market

• Add blog related picture to enhance your pitch

6. Email Marketing

• Email is based on your blog post

56
•Your First content paragraph should be impressive

• Add some related pictures to get attention by the customer

• Based on upcoming event and some special offer

7. Mobile Marketing

• Add pages to your mobile apps

• Mandatory for marketing

•Need to develop different apps for different OS.

 Make it more interactive

57
 CHAPTER-V:
BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. C R Kothari (2006), ―Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques‖, New

Delhi: New Age International Publishers
2. Philip Kotler (2003), Marketing Management, 11th Edition, Pearson Education
3. V S Ramaswamy, S Namakumari (2002), Marketing Management – Planning,
Implementation & Control: The Indian Context, 2nd Edition, McMillan India
4. Judy Strauss, Raymond Fort (1999), E-Marketing, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall of
India
5. Lisa Larris, Charles Dennis (2003), Marketing the E-Business, Routledge E-
Business Series
6. Judy Strauss, Adel Bl-Ansary, Raymond Fort (2003), E-Marketing, 3rd Edition,
Pearson Education
7. ICFAI (2002), E-Business – Organizing for Success, E-Business Series, ICFAI
Press
8. Dr. P D Saini (2010), Marketing in the 21st Century, Shree Niwas Publications
9. Warren J Keegan (1995), Global Marketing management, 5th Edition, Prentice
Hall
10. D kamont (2000), Handbook of Global Marketing, Infinity Books
11. Sudarshan kapur (1997), Marketing Management – Theory, Process &
Practice, S K Publishers
12. Rajan Saxena (2006), Marketing Management, Tata McGraw Hill
13. Nirmal Singh, Devendra Thakur (2003), Marketing Principles & Techniques,
2nd Revised edition, Deep & Deep Publications
14. Dhruv Grewal, Michael Levy (2008), Marketing, Tata McGraw
15. Thomson, Czinkota, Kotabe (2001), Marketing Management , Vikas
Publishing House

58
 16. ICFAI (2004), Marketing Management, ICFAI Press
17. Cooper Schindler (2003), Business Research Methods, Tata McGraw
18. Rajendra Nargundkar (2004), Marketing Research: Text & Cases, 2nd Edition,
Tata McGraw

Website
1 http://en.wikipedia.org
2. http://investor.ebay.com
3. http://techcrunch.com
4. http://www.reuters.com
5. http://www.msnbc.msn.com
6. http://www.fortune3.com
7. www.marketwatch.com
8. http://www.oecd.org
9. http://pages.ebay.co.uk
10. www.ebay.in
11. www.snapdeal.com
12. www.myntra.com
13. www.homeshoptv18.com
14. www.naaptol.com
15. www.jabong.com
16. www.yebhi.com
17. www.flipcart.com
18. www.futurebazaar.com

59
 CHAPTER-IV:
QUESTIONNAIRE

Personal Particulars
1. Age

15-19 1 40-49 4
20-29 2 50-59 5
30-39 3 60+ 6

2. Profession

Student 1 Professional 4
Service 2 House wife 5
Business 3

3. Gender

Male 1 Female 2

4. Qualification

SSC or below 1 PG 4
HSC 2 Others 5
UG 3

5. Monthly Income

Less than 20,000 1 60,000-80,000 4

60
20,000-40,000 2 80,000-1,00,000 5
40,000-60,000 3 1,00,000+ 6

6. Marital Status

Married 1 Single 2

7. Family type

Nuclear 1 Joint 2

Buying Behavior of Internet Shoppers

1. How often do you shop online ?

Frequently (once a week) 1 Rarely (Once in a year) 4

Regularly (at least once a month) 2 According to the need 5
Occasionally (once in 2-4 3 Never 6
months)
If never, Go to Q.8

2. Select the sources which you use for gathering information about various
products

Search Engines (e.g. 1 Product reviews in the print media 6

Google,
Yahoo)
Product Catalogs 2 Advertisements (print and 7
Broadcast)

61
 Friends and family 3 Promotional e-mails 8
Company Website 4 Online Advertisements 9
Blogs 5 Others 10

3. Select the payment mode normally adopted by you in Internet shopping

Credit card 1 Net Banking 4

Debit card 2 Cash on delivery 5
Demand drafts 3 Others (Please 6
specify)…………….

4. What do you buy on Internet? Rank the following in the order of your preference
from 1 to 10 where 1 is to be given for the 1st preference

Books Online magazines & journals

Airlines reservation/Railway Apparels
ticket booking
Electronic goods Gifts, Greetings, Flowers
Share trading Banking
Music Others

5. Why do you prefer Internet shopping ? (Please put mark at appropriate

places)

(Strongly Agree=1, Agree=2, Neither Agree nor Disagree=3, Disagree=4, Strongly

Disagree=5)
Particulars Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagre
no e
r

62
 Disagree

Convenience
Ease of
finding
products

Ease of comparison
Offers/Discounted
Prices
Can find products that
are not available in
the stores
No need to deal with
sales people
Known or famous
brand name
Assurance of on-time
delivery
Ease of product return
and money refund
Inclination
toward
s
trying something new

6. What is your perception about risk in Internet shopping ? (Please put mark
at appropriate places)

63
(Strongly Agree=1, Agree=2, Neither Agree nor Disagree=3, Disagree=4, Strongly
Disagree=5)
Particulars Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
nor
Disagree
Fear of misuse of credit
Card
Fear of social isolation and
losing social contacts
Fear of on time delivery
after payment
Fear of developing
eyestrain problem
Doubt about the
performance of the
product or brand as
expected
Fear of experiencing
unnecessary tension due
to shopping online
Fear of personal
information being sold or
rented without consent
Fear that the delivered
products would not match
those described on the
Website

64
Bodily discomfort due to
poor fitting while
purchasing apparels

Fear of choosing poor

product/service
Worry that friends would
think that I am trying to
show off by purchasing
online
Uncomfortable feeling on
thought of purchasing
online
No possibility for "touch,
feel or see" actual product
to assess quality
Suffering from backache
problem due to long online
shopping hours

7. In General, what do you feel about the online merchants?

(Strongly Agree=1, Agree=2, Neither Agree nor Disagree=3, Disagree=4, Strongly
Disagree=5)
Particulars Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
nor
Disagree
I am never overcharged by
Internet merchants during
sales transactions
Most Internet merchants
have a good reputation

65
In general, I cannot rely on
Internet vendors to keep
the promises that they
make

I feel that Internet

merchants are likely to
care for my welfare
Internet merchants act
sincere in their dealings
Internet merchants have
sufficient expertise and
resources to do business
on the Internet
If there is any problem
with my transaction,
Internet merchants will go
out of their way to help me
Internet merchants always
keep promises and
commitments

8. What is the Reason for not purchasing online? (Please put mark at
appropriate places)

(Strongly Agree=1, Agree=2, Neither Agree nor Disagree=3,

Disagree=4, Strongly Disagree=5)

66
Particulars Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
nor
Disagree
I am worried about giving
out my credit card number
I enjoy going out to do my
shopping
I don't have a credit card
I don't like providing
personal information
I don't know but I am
uncomfortable about
purchasing through
Internet

67
68