Internet Marketing is a strategy for businesses to help reach their goals. It depends on how the business will use the internet and what their organisation objectives are. Internet Marketing can help in many ways for businesses to achieve the aims and objectives. Internet marketing is focused on three core areas in how they can help business objectives which are:
· Help to grow the business
· Consolidate the business
· And do business more efficiently
When using internet for marketing and helping to accomplish business goals it is important to build the business website in all the different elements needed to reach those goals and to create a system of initiatives that work together to generate results, and confirm those results through ongoing analysis measurement, by doing this they are able to focus on their internet marketing strategy from knowing their strengths and weaknesses.
These are the areas that Internet marketing would include to help businesses objectives.
· How to Increase revenue – By effectively marketing business products and services on the web.
· Improve operational performance – improving internal efficiency by using internet technology
· Maximise marketing pounds – Getting value for money, and seeing a ROI
· Raise brand awareness – Get your message and quality across.
· Improve web site customer conversion – converting more visitors in to customers
· Strengthen customer loyalty – Ensuring customers come back, getting them to recommend you
Every organisation should have a general business plan that includes specific aims and objectives/strategy especially for their employees so that they are aware as their job performance includes helping achieving these aims. Also for businesses to have a target to reach, accomplish and continue to build their business.
ASOS Strategy (Aims and Objectives):
· Overview – Winning the Online Fashion Race
Our Objective is to be the leading fashion website in the UK and attract growing numbers of overseas customers. A key element growing numbers of our financial strategy is to maximise efficiency while continuing to invest in supporting our planned growth.
· Uncompromising Presentation
The ASOS website is our shop window and we will continue to develop it to ensure that our customers enjoy their time on the site and find it easy to find their way around it.
· Incredible Choice
We will offer our customers the latest fashion with a target of over 30,000 options for the Autumn / Winter season. This will be driven through both own label and branded products.
· Delivering Impeccable Service
We will increase the number of delivery options available to our customers.
Overview – Winning the Online Fashion Race
ASOS organisation is all based on the internet and one of their aims is to achieve the top spot for being the number one online fashion business. Internet Marketing helps towards this aim as ASOS is an online business and focuses mostly on attracting customers through their web page. They have made their website available for international customers. By doing this their international business has grown now representing 19% of their sales. As ASOS is based on the World Wide Web they have made it possible for the internet to attract customers overseas from joining the conversation with customers through various social media, starting official ASOS pages on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo etc and have also introduced ASOS Life, which allows customers to talk to each other and key people within ASOS. They have also advertisement links through other web pages which attracts customers. Their online fashion store helps them increase sale as it allows viewing their products online through images and videos which helps them gain advantage to become the online fashion business at the top of the rest. They are currently at number two which gives them a bigger percentage in getting to reach their goal.
Uncompromising Presentation
Internet marketing helps towards this aim immensely as their web page in their shop window, and customers only view their products if they like what they see at first glance. So to attract customers their presentation has to be good. ASOS mostly targets fashion conscious 16-34 year olds so the appearance of their website is mostly young and fresh looking also they have an easy way to search through their website. The Internet allows them to add attractiveness to their products as ASOS uses the internet to provide the customers with 360 degrees image so they can turn the image around and view it on a model. Also videos of a catwalk scene with the product on a model allowing customers to see how it looks as you wear it.
The ASOS web pages has their Logo located at the top left hand corner constantly reminding customers that they are on the ASOS website as next to the logo is a banner which changes continuously containing advertisement of their brands/products and links to other websites. Also in all their web pages at the top right hand corner is a link to view their bag, currency change for international users, help & contact and to sign up/sign in. underneath that is the list in a row of their links to either women’s wear, means wear etc and also a search engine where customers can easily search their website for products, information quickly. Underneath all that depends on what page you are in. Their homepage is the first page a customer mostly views and this page contains all information and links. ASOS cleverly used pictures and separated them depending on what category they are in and put them in boxes so that customers would not have to click on the links under the banner instead they can click on the picture making it easier as it takes a longer time to read through the links then see the pictures of choice. Also the internet system allows ASOS to create effects for example as you move your cursor towards a box of pictures, all the other boxes of pictures will turn grey giving a clear view of the picture your mouse in on.
Their website house-style including graphic element such as lines and borders are constant also the font and colours are always the same helping customers to stay focus, allowing customers believe that ASOS are modern and up to date and their products are in trend also the presentation of their site is clear and attractive catching customers eyes which makes customers visit more then once and also attract other new customers. If the internet was not available first ASOS would not exist and also they would not be able to attract customers.
They have made it possible for customers to enjoy their experience of viewing their website; they have also added a number of new navigation features to enable quick and easy browsing of the extended product ranges. Internet marketing enables ASOS to provide customers with effective presentation of their products and business.
Incredible Choice
ASOS provides their customers with a wide range of products including accessories, shoes, dresses, men’s clothes and the list goes on, their products all have a brand name including their own brand. They have nearly over 30,000 options for just the autumn/winter season 2009. From March 2008 – March 2009 their product ranges grew by 157%, resulting in 21,300 options on site. They have now added a number of new brands to the site such as G-Star, Reiss, Warehouse and Polo Ralph Lauren and also will introduce Gap and Mango.
Internet marketing helps achieve this aim as all their products are viewed on their website, customers are also able to see products through their brand of choice or category such as shoes etc.
ASOS also uses internet marketing to achieve this aim as they show customers their other products that go with the product the customer has clicked on. For example a customer clicked on a dress, a page appears with the image, information etc and on the side of the page includes pictures of handbags, shoes, accessories etc that matches the dress which enables ASOS to advertise more range of products and helps gain more sales as it attracts customers. The video of the product is also a internet marketing strategy for providing customers with incredible choice as it shows a model with many products on them such as if a customers was to view a product for a necklace the model in the catwalk will have other products on such as jeans, tops, shoes etc this will make the customer buy the other products to go with the necklace.
As ASOS relies on the internet to market their products, they make it vital to show their full range throughout the site as they do not have a shop in the streets. They include the whole lists of brands on their website so that customers are able to choose the brand. Having a wide range of products can increase the number of customers depending on their financial situation and also can able to give good customer service as any customer can choose a wide range of design from one business then having to search at different retail organisations.
Delivering Impecable Services
ASOS believes increasing the number of delivery options is a way of showing impeccable service for their customers. Their main focus on delivery options is the time limits this is a good way of keeping customers happy as they will be able to receive their goods when they like as they get to choose.
They have kept to their aim as they provide impeccable service with many options for delivery for their customers…….
· Next Day Delivery
· Standard Delivery Promise 2-3 Days
· Weekend Orders Delivered Monday
· Saturday Delivery
· Nominate Your Day of Delivery
· Email and Text Alerts to Inform Customers of Deliveries
· 85% of Orders Trackable
· Customer Care Available 24/7
· Next Day Delivery Cut-Off Time 6pm
Above is the list of delivery options ASOS provides for their customers. As they are a business based online, it is vital they keep to their promise. Internet marketing enabled them to allow customers to keep track of their order this is another way to satisfy customers ‘delivering impeccable services’, with this option customers are able to view where there goods are if they missed a delivery and also they are able to write about it or inform ASOS about their order on the option of ‘customer care available 24/7.
ASOS has applied an option of having free delivery for UK customers depending on there order for example they have a discount code: standard which is free delivery if an order is over £75 and another free UK delivery for the next day for an order over £100 this discount code: Next day will only be available if the customers select it at checkout as there delivery method. ASOS also gives a good impression on customers as they have an advantage of free returns on all orders. ASOS has made it simpler for customers to order as they would not have to worry on about the delivery times and how much they have to pay to send something back.
ASOS has their delivery options placed on the top of their website under the banner for every page also it is detailed in a box next to each of the product page so that customers will not get confused and to know everything, this will include…
-Info & Care, -Free Return Info and -Delivery which includes:
UK Super Saver: Within 6 working days - £1.95
UK Standard: Within 3 working days - £3.95 or FREE if you spend over £75
Uk Next Day: Order by 7pm weekdays or 2pm Sunday- £5.95 or FREE if you spend over £100
UK Nominated Day: Choose a day up to 7 days in advance - £5.95
UK Same Day Delivery within M25: Order by 2pm midweek or by midday weekends - £9.95
And an option to see International and UK delivery times and under this thay have an option for customers to be able to email a friends or share on facebook etc, this is another way of internet marketing which helps this business objective be successful.
ASOS has added a new option call ‘ASOS Premier’ (part of their aim – increasing options for delivery) which is to save time and money. ASOS has enabled the option for customers to sign up to pay £24.95 a year for free and unlimited next day delivery all year, free return collection service all year and also no minimum order value this is a good option for those customers who is a regular customer of ASOS as they will be saving a lot more then paying for delivery everytime they shoped on line at ASOS.
Also ASOS delivers to customers internationally and also gives them many options and now also introducing flat rate shipping and express delivery, international customers are able to view their options through an easy way on the ASOS website.
Corporate strategies are essentially about what the business wants to achieve.Business strategy is the gameplan for how those corporate objectives are to be achieved.
Business aims and objectives
Posted by: Account Deleted | 03/06/2010 at 07:42 AM
Business strategy is concerned with deciding what markets and activities the business should be involved in; where it wants to be; and how it is going to get there.
http://www.businessmantra.net/what-are-business-goals.html
Posted by: Account Deleted | 03/06/2010 at 07:43 AM