Assessing consumer behavior in the household appliances market. Analysis of the competitive environment and consumer preferences for products of Triovist LLC; problems of the enterprise's marketing strategy, development of recommendations for improving the operation of online stores.
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Saprykina Ekaterina Vladimirovna Postgraduate student, Department of Economic Theory and Sociology, Don State Agrarian University
Traditionally, there are two approaches to understanding the essence of the influence of advertising: the first - advertising only informs the consumer about new goods and services, the second - advertising directly influences choice, creates a need for a product, the existence of which a person did not even suspect, but, it turns out, needed.
Consumer decision-making about which product to buy occurs due to demand factors, as well as some other reasons. These are the opinions of friends and acquaintances, news, positive experiences of using a given manufacturer’s product, advertising promotions, brand positioning, etc.
In modern conditions, the problem of the peculiarities of decision-making by Internet users is becoming more urgent. After all, according to an ACNielsen survey, already in 2006, for Europeans, searching on the Internet turned out to be the most common incentive for making purchases. Russians at that time focused primarily on the company's brand and previous shopping experience, talking about the Internet as a possible option for finding information in the future. But already in 2010, the statistics in our country changed: according to the Rose Creative Strategies agency, 28% of respondents purposefully search for information on the Internet (in social media, that is, among friends) before purchasing, and 73% of them are guided by these tips and messages .
The purpose of our research was to analyze the options for the impact of online advertising on consumers. The set goal involves solving several problems:
- justification of the new role of information for consumers,
- justification for the cyclical nature of the modern consumer funnel,
- analysis of the consumer funnel in terms of the impact of various types of online advertising on the consumer.
According to foreign studies on consumers using the global network, there are four different groups of consumers accessing the Internet with different motivations:
Other researchers have noted another group of users who use the Internet for communication.
In the context of marketing research, we propose that marketers, with skillful management and analysis of electronic content about their product, can influence all user groups online. Although, of course, the most interesting to us is the group that is going to buy goods, and the one that is simply looking for information (it can be different - from sausage production technology to a solution to a personal problem). However, marketers should not lose sight of those who communicate. Having various information about a product, they can significantly influence the above-mentioned user groups by maintaining a conversation on the forum about products, leaving reviews about services, etc.
Let's imagine a traditional consumer (marketing) funnel (Fig. 1). The figure reflects that consumers gradually make their choice, weighing various options, then they become loyal customers and, finally, purchase the product. The scheme has the shape of a funnel, since as the consumer moves through it, the products that are selected become fewer and fewer. As a result, after purchasing a product, consumers can become loyal and make a repeat purchase (for large purchases, purchase a product from the same brand).
Rice. 1. Standard diagram of the consumer (marketing) funnel
At the present stage of development of the information society, more and more researchers, for various reasons, are inclined to believe that this scheme is outdated. At the same time, many analysts offer their own version of the new consumer funnel. Thus, A. Komarovsky, in order to form a modern chain of actions, creates a model of a certain right-hand funnel and assumes that from the very beginning the diagram depicted the actions of not the consumer, but the marketer. Consumers behave somewhat differently and the consumer funnel, according to the expert, is only a diagram where the first stage is awareness of the need, the second is the search for information, the third is pre-purchase use, the fourth is pre-purchase evaluation, the fifth is purchase. What follows is a series of post-purchase evaluations. It is necessary to note that the proposed scheme is cyclical. N. Kelly also proposes a cyclical funnel, exploring the relationship between the five categories of the funnel and social media.
In our opinion, social media plays a big role in changing consumer behavior at all stages of the funnel. This is confirmed by marketer Alexander Sirach, justifying the model of a new consumer funnel that resembles a labyrinth. This new consumer funnel has two exits. One - “buyers” - remained unchanged. The other is “helpers/participants,” those who did not make the purchase but participated in certain stages of product selection. At all four corners of this “labyrinth,” viewers who enter the new marketing funnel are influenced by reviews, recommendations from friends, and user-generated content on the Internet. Next, users can compare options and become buyers or simply exit the funnel.
To provide a practical basis for changes in trends in consumer behavior and transformations in the marketing funnel, a sociological study was conducted. In the city of Rostov-on-Don, we conducted a survey of women aged 25 to 55 years who are Internet users, as a result of which we received 145 completed questionnaires. The selected category of users is determined by the fact that the study was devoted, in particular, to focusing on user opinions when purchasing food products.
Data analysis showed that almost 64% of respondents admitted that information received via the Internet about a proposed product plays a “big role” for them, and 19% “sometimes use this information.” At the same time, approximately half of the respondents bought technically complex goods, gaining knowledge via the Internet, and slightly less than a third were guided by information about food products. Moreover, most women learned about food products from forums, and almost half of those interested in this category of products went (or tried to go) to the manufacturer’s website for additional information. Users of the global network confirmed that they purposefully “pulled” more information from the Internet through searches than the advertiser could provide.
A certain transformation of the marketing funnel is proven by the fact that about 40% of those who periodically search for information about the purchased product on the Internet changed their choice before the purchase itself (the reason is “negative opinion of friends”, “read a lot of negative reviews on Yandex Market” , “I accidentally found out about other products”, “this product is out of stock/no longer produced”). And 23 respondents noted that during the comparison process they accidentally paid attention to another product and started their search again. The reason is almost the same - this is additional information that is very easy to obtain on the Internet, both with the help of search robots and while reading discussions on specialized forums or groups on social networks.
The study identified the features of marketing development of an advertising strategy in the new conditions, when more and more consumers are looking for information on the Internet. On the one hand, it is necessary to pay attention and respond correctly in a timely manner to reviews posted on the Internet about a company, brand or product. At present, the enhancement of the individual consumer experience through reviews of reviews from those consumers who have already had experience interacting with the product after purchase cannot be overlooked.
On the other hand, it is important to understand that while consumers are studying a brand category, there is a fairly high chance that, thanks to new information from the Internet, at each level (including after the “preference” phase), new brands may appear in this product group, before this goes unnoticed by the consumer. Another option is that the consumer can focus on a substitute product (instead of gherkins, buy canned vegetables on skewers, which are recommended on forums as a snack), or (popular for the “food” category) refuse to purchase this type of product. A reasonable conclusion follows from this situation that the company needs to post more information about products on its own website, offer its own products for analysis to editors of specialized Internet resources, support the thematic community (if there is one), negotiate cooperation with Internet experts, bloggers and other “gurus.” » on the Internet that users trust. In the case of promoting food products, you can offer sponsorship of a section on a culinary website, an offer to publish recipes with a product of your own production by a user running a culinary blog, a story about the manufacturing features or beneficial qualities of a food product on a specialized forum.
So, we found out that at the “preference” stage, the consumer is influenced by the opinions of others expressed through social media. Moreover, due to the avalanche of information, the consumer may go through the “comparison” and “preference” phases several times. The “preference” stage is often followed not by a trip to the store, but by a more detailed analysis of one of the products - reading reviews, communicating with other consumers of this product or service. Such a detailed analysis is more often carried out by those users who make a large purchase (not only household appliances (35% of respondents), computers (23%), but also products for a large company for the New Year's table (almost 2%). This is followed by either a return to one from previous stages, or purchasing a product.
The result of the study is the development of a new form of marketing funnel, dependent on Internet communications, which is presented in Figure 2. In our opinion, it remains the same cone-shaped, since the principle of reducing types or brands of goods at each stage has been preserved. At the same time, in fact, this scheme is no longer a funnel, since the peculiarity of the funnel scheme is that everything placed on the first stage necessarily goes down. In our case, the consumer can repeatedly return to previous levels due to new information.
Rice. 2. A new marketing funnel dependent on Internet communications
When highlighting the types of online advertising that influence consumer decisions at each stage of the marketing funnel, it should be noted that at the “awareness” stage, an Internet user can be influenced by any information that he sees. This could be banner advertising, mention of a product in the news, advice on a forum, etc. It is possible that the consumer will learn about the product from friends or see it in a television advertisement, and only then will search for information on the Internet.
We highlighted the stages “comparison-preference-analysis of one product” in the diagram not only because the consumer can go through them more than once, but also because the Internet user is influenced by the same types of Internet during comparison, preference and analysis -advertising. Then, at the “action” stage, a promotion on the Internet or in a brick-and-mortar store may be decisive.
The figure shows that a new stage has appeared - the “analysis” level, during which the consumer, after purchase, analyzes the product he has chosen for compliance with the stated characteristics and leaves a review that influences Internet users, potential buyers who are at earlier turns of the consumer funnel. This “analysis” affects the loyalty of the first consumer to the brand (he will either buy a similar product again or not).
It is worth noting that, in general, consumer loyalty is influenced by the subjective perception of a whole range of components of the purchasing process: from the difficulty of choosing a product to the attitude of the store employees where the product was purchased. It should be taken into account that the loyalty of Internet users is somewhat different from the understanding of the classical theory of loyalty. If in the latter the factor of loyalty is called repeat purchases, then in the Internet environment the frequency of such purchases is an important, but not the only indicator. New factors appear - a positive story from interaction with a product and joining a community dedicated to this brand on social networks. An important aspect is the user’s independent subscription to the mailing list. It is to the formation of such loyal users that the manufacturer should pay attention.
The study shows that the search for information for the consumer has expanded significantly, its objectivity has increased, the user has become more efficient, and therefore marketers are faced with the need to find new ways to influence the consumer using the Internet (“playing on the consumer’s field”), this made it possible to identify a new a marketing funnel dependent on Internet communications and types of Internet advertising that affect each level.
Sirach A. Socia CRM: another buzzword or the future of customer relationships (electronic resource) // VI St. Petersburg Internet Forum.
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"Completed by student 147 gr.: Sedinina Ya.V.
Introduction
After the recent advent of the Internet, it itself has already become an important part of our lives, if not half of our current daily life.
Using the Internet, we communicate, have fun, study, work, look for the necessary information, and even buy the necessary goods and services. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to consider the features of virtual reality. Thus, to achieve the goal the following tasks were set:
1. Identify the features and properties of Internet business.
2. Consider the behavior of Internet consumers.
3. Analyze methods of effective Internet advertising.
4. Identify how the rights of Internet consumers can be protected.
To solve these problems, Internet articles and the experience of leading Internet companies were analyzed.
1. The emergence of the Internet
No one today can predict how the information revolution caused by the advent of the Internet will develop and what its dynamics will be.
However, one can assume something by paying attention to the past, history. The first thing you need to pay attention to is that the emergence and initial development of the Internet is not at all connected with the world of business and commerce. The modern Internet arose and was formed as a technology for the exchange of information between research and educational centers. Government support for research in this area provided initial investment in the development of the network. This determined the initial audience of the Internet, mainly represented by scientific and student communities, and the specifics of the network culture of that time, based on the perception of the network as an information resource completely open to the user. The main interests of network enthusiasts of that time were educational and research interests, the desire for freedom of information exchange and self-expression. A creative and intellectual motive for online presence and a high level of education and qualifications characterize the Internet of that time.
Commercial use of the network was not encouraged. This was the period of creation and experimental use of the Internet as a new information technology.
However, the experiment was a success. The network has shown itself to be a stable and viable phenomenon. The new communication capabilities of the Internet were so obvious and effective that not trying to use them for economic and commercial purposes was simply impossible. The only question was: when will this happen and how to do it? This happened in the early 90s. In fact, the network was simply opened up for commercial use and made publicly available to businesses.
Today, in almost 15 years of its market existence, the network has already had a colossal impact on the global economy. The business community's interest in Internet technology continues to develop. The number of people involved in this process, both companies and ordinary users, is steadily increasing every year. Internet statistics are impressive in their dynamics.
2. Features of business processes and consumer behavior on the Internet
Reduced transaction costs
The revolutionary potential of new network technologies lies in the ability to implement interconnections across all existing technical and organizational system boundaries. This inevitably changes the established relationships in the field of transaction costs.
Transaction costs refer to all the efforts that an organization based on the division of labor has to make to overcome obstacles in the areas of communication, information and knowledge that arise during the deployment, implementation and control of business processes.
The advent of the railway led to revolutionary changes in transaction costs in the logistics of material flows. Almost none of the manufacturing and distribution enterprises that existed up to that time survived this revolution. Electronic business leads to a dramatic reduction in transaction costs in the logistics of information flows.
In fact, overcoming transaction barriers is the main point of e-business and the Internet economy.
One of the most powerful drivers of change is the range of opportunities that are opening up with the increasing use of Internet technologies. Their application, which began with the online purchase of products or services and has evolved to the use of the Internet to pay bills via mobile phone, has the potential to revolutionize the way organizations interact with their customers.
American networking equipment company Cisco has provided its customers with real-time self-service through its website. Customers can immediately access information about their purchases on the site. The company estimates that it saves $268 million in one year of operation with this organization. Of this amount, 125 million are saved due to customer service (they serve themselves using the World Wide Web), 8 million - due to recruitment and training of personnel (since this task fell on the network), 85 million - due to the cost of distributing software funds (since software is uploaded to the network) and 50 million - due to the transition to disseminating information in a paperless format.
Increasing the level of competition
A new environment has emerged in which Internet “infomediaries” (information intermediaries who search for the right trading partner, make comparisons and transact trades) offer consumers more choice, and websites have the opportunity to obtain customer opinions and communicate them to a much greater extent. wide audience.
According to a survey conducted by Oftel in July 2001, 45 percent of UK households had access to the Internet. And this is 10 million families and 33 million people. E-mail has also become widespread, replacing fax and telephone as a means of international and local communication.
As the cost savings of using the web become more tangible (a postal invoice can cost between £1 and £3, while an electronic invoice costs only a fraction of that), there are predictions that the Internet will help overcome the barriers of traditional commercial activities. Companies like SMEs can become players in the same field as larger organizations. New companies that are “born online” are fundamentally extremely lean and can benefit from extremely rapid relocation opportunities without the legacy assets or infrastructure to support their operations.
The advent of increasingly ubiquitous globalization and the Internet allows organizations to compete at regional, national and pan-continental levels. Amazon.com has broken traditional patterns of customer shopping on a global scale through the use of new technologies. Today, its participation in the market is under threat from cyber competitors. The message is very clear: no one is allowed to rest on their laurels. Competition has become global and is no longer limited to narrow local boundaries.
Improved customer service
Many organizations are "walking in the dark" when it comes to strategically addressing online customer services. In the first phase of corporate use, websites were intended solely for communication. With the increasing reliability of online transactions, websites are quickly becoming service and sales environments.
A client on the Internet can conduct transactions faster, having a wider choice - and all this 24 hours a day, whenever it is convenient for him and from where he wants, as long as he has access to the World Wide Web.
Grocery delivery company DHL provides customers with online access to information about the status and progress of their order. This shows that, unlike the traditional environment, the provision of services on the Internet is controlled by the user, not the owner of the web page. All this has forced organizations to rethink the way they communicate with customers, their understanding of markets, their segmentation and their plans for advertising products and services, as well as the level of service they provide.
The network allows organizations to provide individual clients with personalized services based on their needs. The Heineken website, for example, contains a virtual bar on the Internet. The “bartender” chooses a topic for conversation, clients come in to chat. To enter the bar, they need to provide information about themselves. This information is subsequently used in targeted offers tailored to their needs and preferences. At the famous Moe's Pizzas, the home delivery service shows a photo of a pizza with the appropriate topping when placing an order, while Odeon's virtual cinema offers customers the opportunity to choose a movie based on their mood.
Electronics distributor RS Components, for example, created a website that gave each customer its own welcome page with special editor information, customer-specific advertising, and announcements of new products tailored to that customer's needs.
Sources from among representatives of manufacturing organizations predict an increase in the presence of information intermediaries who search the network for the most profitable deals and trading partners. For example, approximately 87 percent of independent financial advisors use eXchange's services. Over the course of a year, they receive over 45 million quotations of wage and pension levels specified by manufacturers.
In the United States, similar services like Expedia and Carpoint offer the best deals on travel and car tickets, respectively. They do not seek to add value by producing or selling products; they offer the client the best way to sell or purchase. The quality of their products is the quality of the match they establish between the needs of the seller and the needs of the buyer.
Growing demands from organizations
As customers begin to experience higher quality services, their expectations rise. Moreover, the service received in the client’s mind has the ability to be transferred to other matters. The customer makes conscious and unconscious comparisons between different services provided to him - regardless of industry sector.
Many first-generation fulfillment centers were created to reduce costs in the distribution chain. Now with the Internet there is an even more cost effective basis and fulfillment centers are in dire straits under this pressure. This is forcing many of them to transform into contact centers in response to the demands dictated by e-business. Contact centers are increasingly taking on work such as answering emails.
However, the Internet is insidious in that, having received no response, angry customers and employees can use this fact in messages directed against the corporation. Already, many organizations have “parody” sites that dissatisfied customers have worried about. Many organizations are turning to artificial intelligence technologies that read and respond to email messages automatically. If the server does not know how to respond, it forwards the message to the appropriate person, who will compose a response.
As a representative of the online company Amazon said: "The old saying is that a happy customer will tell one person, and a dissatisfied customer will tell 10. On the Internet, a satisfied customer will tell one person, but a dissatisfied customer will tell 10,000."
The website is nice, but it's not everything. There is also such a thing as the need to convey key points to customers, create a “showcase” for them and reflect the company’s image even in the smallest details. An organization's website must fit seamlessly with the rest of its customer strategy to ensure brand synergy is maintained. Online customers are extremely focused; they know what they want, often even within a single site visit. The question is this: why should a client bother visiting the site again? Without an answer to this question, the client you did not acquire will be lost to you forever.
WH Smith Online has clearly defined the difference between selling books from a website and from a physical store on a high street, noting that:
v the main decisive factor that determines the client’s choice is the price, and not the preferential promotional offer;
v the client enjoys instant access 24 hours a day;
v the content of the site materials is crucial for creating added value and imparting special properties that distinguish this service from other services;
v customer service should be impeccable, the easiest way to express your complaints is by email;
v there is nothing insignificant in this business, competitors are just a stone's throw away - you just need to click the mouse.
It is obvious that an organization that strives to keep the customer at the center of attention when working online needs to:
Ø find out the needs and provide the client with what he needs, and not what the company can offer him;
Ø bring your websites closer to the needs of individual clients;
Ø make websites interactive;
Ø Research the market and be ready to change and learn as soon as it begins to move;
Ø integrate this focus into other activities within customer relationships.
Skew in the structure of Internet consumption
There is a certain bias in the analysis and development of the Internet today: the business world and the market views it mainly from the point of view of companies, i.e. from the point of view of business interests. According to a study conducted by Forrester Research, 85% of e-commerce turnover comes from business relationships. The task of reducing costs within corporations and in the B2B segment between companies determines the current stage of Internet development.
It can be assumed that qualitative changes in the market structure are inevitable. And they will most likely happen before our eyes as the end consumer becomes increasingly involved in the development and use of network technologies, as new types of network products and services emerge that create additional value for the end consumer.
Interesting data on this matter was revealed by a study conducted by the English analytical company Datamaster. She estimates that by 2005, 70% of all household purchases will be made over the Internet. Most likely, we are talking about countries with developed network infrastructure. However, since the Internet has no national boundaries, we can talk about this trend in the development of the entire online community, regardless of the geographic location of specific statistics.
Internet technology assumes that the participant in the transaction, ultimately the consumer of the network product, must have the appropriate:
- infrastructure
- necessary application programs
- understanding and knowledge of network resources and products.
Creating the necessary prerequisites for using the network requires effort, time and material costs of the user. If businesses and corporations have investment resources for their development and are forced to look for ways to reduce internal costs in the struggle for competitiveness and survival, then the consumer, as a rule, does not have comparable resources, and most importantly, the consumer’s goals are not so rational and pragmatic. In this sense, the lag in network development in the B2C market segment is quite understandable.
However, does this mean that the development potential and opportunities in this area, both for business and for consumers, are less interesting and promising? Quite the contrary, if we remember the possibilities of using the network for non-commercial purposes, as it was at the beginning of the journey, and add to them the production, investment and intellectual potential of a business.
The process of active expansion of the number of Internet users associated with the dynamic development of network infrastructure and new technologies of mass communications (for example, mobile phones) actually opens up opportunities to further reduce transaction costs of the economy and create added value both for new companies developing this market and for consumer.
Internet user behavior
Difference from a person in front of the TV
On the Internet, the user is active. As you know, most people use the Internet specifically to search for information. Therefore, people surf the Internet, following links from one page to another, in order to narrow their search more and more and find more and more new materials related to the topic of interest to them. This means, firstly, that a person surfing the Internet, as a rule, has a more or less clearly formulated goal - what exactly he wants to find. His goal may be more detailed information about something specific that interests him. He may be looking for something that meets his criteria. Or even look for information about what criteria exist in a matter of interest to him. For example, he may be looking for a detailed description of a specific model of washing machine that he saw somewhere, or he may be looking for materials to compare washing machines by load volume and size, or he may be looking for materials on washing machines in general - in order to understand and how do they actually differ from each other?
Secondly, in the process of searching for information, a person becomes more and more an expert on the issue that interests him. Even if not a real specialist in the literal sense of the word, but more or less understanding of this topic. He is no longer satisfied with unfounded statements that “this is the best there is,” otherwise he would not have bothered to seek additional information. That is, he becomes a person with whom you can speak in the language of arguments.
And thirdly (and this is probably the most important), searching for information on the Internet is the process of moving from page to page using links that are placed on the pages that the user is viewing. And the criterion for choosing a particular link is completely transparent - the transition will be on the link that most adequately corresponds to the user’s search goal.
Levels of development of an Internet user
The development of an Internet user can be divided into several levels, which he goes through in order to first psychologically prepare for the perception of product offers from companies, and then actually take advantage of these offers. Crucial to distinguishing these levels are the different needs that can be satisfied via the Internet within each of them.
- leisure
- information
- contact
- purchases
- service
As these levels are mastered, the consumer becomes increasingly integrated into the Internet market and moves from passive perception and observation to active participation in the Internet economy. That is, the consumer first has fun by communicating in chats and forums, then looks for the necessary information, including news and differences between a particular product and the properties of competing goods and services.
Before turning to the library for help (by phone or in person), having exhausted other more accessible sources of information (friends, colleagues, etc.), now many people with Internet access begin, first of all, by searching the World Wide Web. In some cases, the Internet can indeed be a more convenient source of information, quickly providing the latest information on issues of interest. But we also know that the Internet can provide incomplete, misleading or even incorrect information. Many studies confirm the trend towards increasing use of Internet resources.
According to January 2002 data compiled by Search Engine Watch, an average of 300 million information searches were conducted daily on the seven leading Internet search engines alone. Moreover, it should be noted that assessing the degree of satisfaction of Internet users with the answers received is not always favorable. According to the study “Health Information on the Internet: Accessibility, Quality, and Readability,” published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Journal of the American Medical Association, May 23/30, 2001), less than a quarter of the links on the first pages of a search engine provide access to Web sites with relevant information; Moreover, more than half of the responses received turn out to be incomplete and inaccurate.
Commercial help services like Ask Jeeves (www.askjeeves.com) are becoming very popular
After finding sufficient information and contacting representatives of the selected company, the Internet user buys a product and enters into an agreement to perform work and services. Then comes after-sales service; As a result of evaluating the quality of products and service, the consumer remains loyal to this company or looks for a replacement among its competitors, of which there are plenty on the Internet.
3. Advertising on the Internet
Advertising mistakes
That is why the very first and still the most famous method of advertising on the Internet remains banners - small pictures, the main purpose of which is to lure the user so that he looks at the server you need. For the same reason, many advertisers still believe that the most profitable place to place banners is at the top of the page, implying that the user, having seen the banner, will forget about the page that has not yet been viewed and will suddenly go where the advertiser wants.
An example of effective advertising
Rosbusinessconsulting cooperates with several dozen Russian and foreign RAs, but, according to this company, until recently there was no agency in Moscow that could consider itself competent in drawing up media plans for running campaigns on the Internet.
There are serious differences in consumer behavior towards Internet advertising. But, unfortunately, advertising market specialists for a long time treated the Internet too lightly and did not bother to analyze what was happening. In addition, unlike other advertising platforms, RBC on the Internet gave advertising agencies a discount of not 60%, but 10-15%. Naturally, an agency with a budget went where the discount was higher, but it is not a fact that advertising there was effective. The advertiser, in turn, having not found the desired effect after a couple of unsuccessful campaigns on the Internet, refuses to further cooperate with online projects. While, for example, advertising of exclusive and expensive goods or branding is very effective on RBC.
The effectiveness of advertising can be judged by its price: on RBC it is at least 12 times more expensive than on any other advertising platform on the RuNet. The cost of advertising is determined not only by site traffic, but also in many respects by the characteristics of the target audience. For example, advertising on search engines is ten times cheaper than ours, although their traffic ratings are higher. Moreover, according to independent research, RBC users are the most solvent part of the RuNet audience.
RBC solves problems such as sales promotion, branding (brand recognition), as well as informing about the event. If the goal is to get traffic to your website, then RBC is not the best place for such an advertiser. The strength of this company lies in targeted advertising and increased sales. And many RBC partners appreciated this. According to statistics, more than 75% of advertisers return to us again. And today RBC’s client base includes about 20 thousand companies. Moreover, up to 80% of advertising comes to RBC directly from advertisers, and not through advertising agencies.
There is a main core - RBC, around which other resources are built: Utro.ru, Autonews.ru, Tourist.ru, 5 ballov.ru - a total of 15 sites (both informational and service).
This structure was unexpected for Russia in 2000. Unlike many others, they did not overload their visitors and did not dump all the information on one site. It is not a fact that a person who came to RBC for stock quotes is interested in cars, or at least they are interested in them at the moment. Although, of course, with RBC there is the possibility of switching to subsidiary resources. This structure made it possible to obtain clearly structured audiences. Which means more effective advertising.
Difference from traditional advertising
All of the above means that the process of searching for information can be controlled by correctly placing links along the user’s path and thereby leading him to exactly the right pages. And already there the goods or services of one enterprise can be presented in the most convincing way - as the best choice for the user.
At the same time, it is practically guaranteed that the user will understand the advertising arguments, since he asked for additional information because he understands something about it or managed to understand it during his searches. Thus, the basis of effective advertising on the Internet is to “slip” the necessary information to a user interested in a certain topic so that he makes a decision that the product or service offered by a given company is the optimal choice.
At the same time, unlike traditional advertising:
- no need to waste energy distracting the user from something before attracting attention to yourself,
- you can get straight to the point,
- you can count on the person to understand the essence of the issue and conduct a conversation with the user in the same language,
- you can defeat an established brand in the user’s mind by injecting a huge amount of money, using only a meaningful argumentation system.
How to attract buyers online?
So, in its simplest form, the general scenario of a company’s actions may look like this: it finds a server through which a large number of people interested in a given topic should pass, and places links on it leading to its server. Finding such a server is a completely solvable marketing task. If there is no such server, no one is stopping the company from making such a server.
There are several ways to attract a buyer, the effectiveness of which can be even speculatively compared with simply scrolling through a banner network of a fairly large number of beautiful banners from the same company with calls like “we are the best” and “click on me.”
Method 1. Play on a competitor
For example, the company began promoting a new model of N monitors, still unknown to a wide range of consumers. This model is, in principle, capable of competing with monitors from the well-known X brand.
The company selects a popular server, which, for example, hosts price lists for computer equipment, and places on it a text block with simple content, something like “a comparative analysis of the characteristics of monitors N and X.” You link this block to requests for searching for monitors X, that is, when the user searches for monitor X, he will definitely see your information block.
The link from this text block is not to an advertising brochure for our company’s monitors, but to a real table comparing monitors according to the parameters in which its monitor actually wins. And from this page with a table there is a link to a list of stores where these monitors can be viewed and purchased.
Method 2. Construction of adequacy
There are several search engines on the American Internet that charge money to place links to specific business pages on the search results page based on search criteria. That is, an enterprise can pay money, and if a user searches for a monitor in this search engine, the first link shown will be a link to the server of this enterprise.
Some critics say this is very bad. But let's take a closer look. Everyone has used search engines and understands perfectly well that the adequacy rating that such a system automatically sets and according to which it organizes links is very far from perfect. Therefore, a system in which the adequacy rating is determined by the resource owner himself may turn out to be more convenient for the user. At the same time, we must not forget that since the owner of the resource is responsible with his own money for the location of links, he is unlikely to spend his money on linking his links to topics to which his resource is not related.
Method 3. Two-move
Let's imagine that a company needs to advertise plastic cards issued by its bank. The simplest option is, of course, simply hanging banners advertising such cards. However, we should not forget that such a decision as choosing a bank to open a card account is a fairly serious decision for the user, which he will make only after a preliminary analysis of various options.
Therefore, the company will first open a separate, externally independent resource on the comparative characteristics of the conditions for issuing plastic cards in various banks. Such a resource may actually consist of simply one page, on which the conditions for issuing plastic cards in various banks are presented in table form.
However, we must not forget about two features:
· such a resource must have a memorable, effective and independent address,
· comparison of conditions should be made according to those parameters according to which the conditions for issuing cards by your bank are most preferable for the user!
And after that, even with the help of banners (after all!), the company advertises this resource as a unique tool for helping in decision-making for those who are concerned about opening their card account. These people will go to the resource of this company, look at the comparison results, maybe even call several banks and check how relevant the conditions given in the table are, and after that they will make their decision in the coordinate system that is presented to them and in which the conditions of ours firms turn out to be the best.
And you can come up with quite a lot of such methods.
4. Internet and consumer rights
Cookie technology
Every day something new appears in e-commerce technology, and the experience of market participants using the Internet for their business activities is enriched. This process is accompanied by the emergence of a number of legal problems, the resolution of which determines the future of e-commerce in Russia. One of these problems is protecting privacy from unfair use of new technologies.
Violations of privacy on the Internet have a range of manifestations - from the appearance of confidential consumer information in advertising banners on websites or through third-party service providers to monitoring the behavior of individual consumers on the Internet to compile a “consumer profile”. Based on an individual's purchasing preferences, spending habits, and other information the consumer shares online, the consumer profile allows advertising agencies and e-commerce organizations to target consumers with "personalized" advertising and information. The importance of this marketing tool for trading companies is difficult to overestimate, but its preparation is possible only on the basis of information about the consumer, who simply enters his personal data when using the Internet.
If the user does not transmit personal information to the Internet, the problems described in this review do not arise, since the information received remains anonymous.
One of the Internet monitoring programs is based on the so-called cookie technology - “continuously updated information about the consumer”, which allows you to remember data between accesses to the Internet. From the moment it is created on the consumer's computer, the cookie stores information for future use. Accordingly, each time a cookie is created and a consumer uses that computer to access the Internet, the file can be tracked by businesses that have the ability to access the cookie.
Cookie data may include some personal information about the consumer or may be anonymous. The scope of the data depends on the amount of information that the consumer sends about himself to the Internet: from first name, last name, location, time zone and account number to information about personal preferences when installing, say, a desktop and transactions made on the Internet (including information about the computer the consumer uses). Cookie technology allows such information to be compiled, creating a “consumer portrait” - both personalized and anonymous.
The most significant part of tracking cookies (from a legal perspective) is the creation of a cookie on the consumer's computer without the latter being notified. Some applications notify the consumer that they intend to create a cookie, giving the consumer the opportunity to prevent such creation by selecting an appropriate option. Other programs create a cookie without notifying the user at all.
In addition, serious legal problems may arise from the fact that hackers can gain access to cookies and, consequently, to the extensive databases of personal data that such programs can accumulate.
There are several points of contact between Russian legislation on information protection and cookie technologies, which operate without the knowledge and consent of the consumer. Cases of use of such programs may be reflected in Russian legislation on information protection.
Certification of online stores
The conference in Dublin as part of European Consumer Day was dedicated to consumer behavior in online stores.
It turns out that a lack of consumer trust is holding back the development of e-commerce in Europe. At the moment, only 16% of Europeans make cash payments online, while the remaining citizens, for one reason or another, do not do this. One in four of those who have never paid with a credit card online cite a lack of trust in online stores as the reason. The rest do not visit online stores due to lack of Internet access.
A study by the European Consumer Center Network shows that 20% of EU citizens feel safe if they make a purchase from an online store from their own country, and only 10% trust foreign online stores.
One of the ways to increase trust in e-commerce could be the accreditation of stores and the issuance of special certificates of a single European standard, which should become well-known, generally recognized and reliable guarantors of transaction security. In the future, it is possible that a certain system of requirements will be developed that an online store must meet in order to qualify for such a certificate.
European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne said developing a thriving e-commerce sector is key to the competitiveness of the European economy. He also supported the idea of certifying online stores and said that sociological surveys show that generally recognized security certificates can significantly increase consumer confidence in e-commerce.
Using email
E-mail technology plays perhaps a key role in terms of marketing communications on the Internet. Almost every Internet user has an electronic mailbox. Thus, potentially, an advertising message can be delivered to any Internet user.
Interactivity, the effect of telepresence (the essence of which is that the Internet user is simultaneously in two environments: real physical and virtual, Steuer, 1992) can significantly increase the effectiveness of advertising communication. The speed of transmission of electronic messages and the response to them are unparalleled among traditional media.
However, the described properties of the technology in question are the reason that the Internet user, consciously or not, categorizes it as a personal space, unauthorized intrusion into which is perceived as very painful. The fact that on the Internet the user has almost unlimited freedom of choice and determination of behavior patterns further enhances this effect.
On the Internet, at a minimum, the advertiser and the consumer have absolutely equal rights. Moreover, the advertiser is forced to take into account the wishes of potential recipients of advertising messages, that is, to be less free in his actions than they are.
As a result of the awareness of this fact, in the mid-90s a marketing direction arose in the United States, called Permission Based Marketing. This approach postulates the determining role of the consumer in the process of marketing communications. The direction that uses email in the practice of interacting with consumers is called Opt-in Permission Based Marketing.
For the Russian Internet, opt-in marketing is a new phenomenon. As a result, some confusion and a sharp reaction from the Internet community to the use of e-mail in opt-in practice are possible. Taking into account the isolated nature of this technology, it would be useful to consider the extent to which various market actors have access to information about the email addresses of Internet users and the legality of its use in their practice.
The following market participants may potentially have information about email addresses: spammers; companies providing hosting and free mail services; mailing services; opt-in companies.
Spammers
SPAM is the anonymous mass mailing of information of an advertising or other nature by email, unauthorized by recipients. The important thing is that the owner of the address is in no way able to prevent his inclusion in the mailing list. Because of this, the extremely sharp reaction of the Internet community to this phenomenon is natural and understandable.
However, SPAM is one of the first and fairly straightforward attempts to use the Internet as a source of profit. If this phenomenon arose and still exists, then it is logical to assume that it is economically justified. From a conflict resolution perspective, it would be ideal to provide an option to opt out of receiving further communications.
Thirdly, the rise of SPAM is characteristic of a certain stage in the development of the Internet, namely, the period of formation and structuring of this communication environment. After its completion, with the formation of certain social and administrative institutions on the Internet and around it, the activities of spammers are quite sharply suppressed. The arrival of serious world-famous companies on the Internet also influences counteraction to this phenomenon. It is desirable for an advertiser to have his messages read. Thus, companies that come to the Internet with the aim of introducing civilized marketing schemes are objectively interested in maintaining the trust of Internet users in messages received by e-mail.
Free mail providers and services
The business of companies providing communication services has only an indirect relation to the issue under consideration. Due to technological reasons, they have access to information about email addresses (as well as much other information classified as personal). However, regulation of relations between Internet users and companies involved in the provider business is most likely within the jurisdiction of the state. Or rather, they should be regulated by certain government acts.
As for free mail services, owners of electronic mailboxes do not have any freedom of choice. If they want to own an email account, they are forced to leave information about it on some server. The situation here is in many ways similar to relations with providers.
In principle, from a legal point of view, there is nothing prohibiting companies providing the services in question from using information about email addresses for commercial purposes. As a rule, when registering an address, the user fills out a fairly detailed questionnaire in which he indicates his socio-demographic data. In itself, this information already allows for marketing advertising messages.
From the point of view of the philosophy of "consensus marketing", which postulates the primacy of the desires of the consumer over the interests of the advertiser, the use of this information is unacceptable. The user, when registering an email address, has no doubt that confidentiality is guaranteed. In essence, he trusts the owners of the service with part of his “personal space.” And the latter undertake to keep his personal data secret and not to make profit from them. Unfair execution of this unspoken agreement in conditions of intense competition in the market can lead to a rapid loss of audience. At the same time, the use of a profile of consumer preferences to organize contacts with advertising messages on the pages of the service that correspond to the real interests and needs of users can only be welcomed.
Mailing services
In this case, users voluntarily provide the service owners with their email address. In return, mailing services undertake obligations to deliver content of interest to subscribers. In fact, the organization of the service is an online analogue of a subscription to periodicals.
The user has the right to demand confidentiality. The objective laws of the environment in which the service exists are such that the factors of trust and reputation preservation are extremely important. That’s why mailing services pay such close attention to the issues of confirming subscriptions and the ability to unsubscribe from mailing lists.
Note, however, that the user delegates the right to deliver no information at all. Continuing the analogy with offline, we can say that the user subscribes to a certain newsletter (or digest) on a topic that interests him. He does not give his consent to the delivery of advertising leaflets. Therefore, advertising messages that are placed in mailings are a direct analogue of advertising blocks in printed publications. They have all their disadvantages: lack of personalization, a very general definition of the target audience (based on the fact of interest in the subject of the mailing), often the advertising message does not correspond to the subject of the mailing, and in some mailings the main text is interrupted by an advertising message. This, however, does not at all detract from the value of the newsletters themselves.
Opt-in marketing
As in the case of mailing services, here Internet users also voluntarily provide information about the addresses of their electronic mailboxes. But in this case, they trust the intermediary company to deliver commercial information. The trust factor in this case plays a key role. For a company implementing an opt-in service, it is fundamentally important that letters coming on its behalf are opened and read. In this regard, careful attention is paid to the possibility of refusing to receive further information. The company collects detailed information about consumer preferences and user interests, excluding the case when a consumer receives a message with information that does not interest him. Messages are prepared in a special way before sending, they are personalized and imitate a personal appeal to each individual user. Various message options are tested in focus groups, and the most effective ones are sent to the mailing list. The company does not burden its subscribers with too frequent mailings.
Every Internet user should be careful when using the World Wide Web, especially when transmitting personal information to Internet companies. There is no point in taking risks if a person is not confident in the reliability of the company and does not trust it. Internet companies themselves should take care of their image and consumer trust, otherwise a bad reputation will spread very quickly on the Internet.
Conclusion
Today, in almost 15 years of its market existence, the network has already had a colossal impact on the global economy. The business community's interest in Internet technology continues to develop. The number of people involved in this process, both companies and ordinary users, is steadily increasing every year.
In fact, overcoming transaction barriers is the main point of e-business and the Internet economy.
The advent of increasingly ubiquitous globalization and the Internet allows organizations to compete at regional, national and pan-continental levels.
In the first phase of corporate use, websites were intended solely for communication. With the increasing reliability of online transactions, websites are quickly becoming service and sales environments.
Consumer behavior is changing rapidly in response to the emergence of new technology - e-business in the Internet environment. Online retailing already allows customers to feel like they are in control. The modern consumer is an experienced, well-informed person; he places high demands on the services he wants to receive. He hopes to have a wider choice and will not allow himself to be handed unnecessary goods or manipulated. Consumers are becoming more mobile and strive to receive a service that is valuable to them at the right time. The modern consumer knows his rights and, most likely, will not keep his opinion to himself if he feels that his rights have been violated.
In traditional media, the consumer passively watches or reads what is given to them. His only choice is that he can switch to another channel or pick up another magazine, where he will be offered the same role as a passive viewer or reader of a pre-arranged flow of information.
On the Internet, the user is active. He has a goal, he chooses the route of his journey, he understands what he is looking for.
The Internet economy allows you to satisfy the following needs, and the Internet consumer, as he masters the Internet, goes through the corresponding stages:
- leisure
- information
- contact
- purchases
- service
As these levels are mastered, the consumer becomes increasingly integrated into the Internet market and moves from passive perception and observation to active participation in the Internet economy.
When advertisers come to the Internet, they often continue to use all the same techniques that they have learned over the years of working in the traditional advertising business.
The process of searching for information can be controlled by correctly placing links along the user’s path and thereby leading him to exactly the right pages. And already there the goods or services of one enterprise can be presented in the most convincing way - as the best choice for the user.
The Internet, in essence, is a means of searching for information, so the most effective advertising strategy is to use this essence for your own purposes - “slipping” to the person who is looking for something related to the goods or services of a given company, the information that which will allow him to conclude that the product or service of this particular company represents the optimal choice for him.
By using this method of advertising, you can avoid significant expenses aimed only at counteracting the very essence.
Every Internet user should be careful when using the World Wide Web, especially when transmitting personal information to Internet companies. There is no point in taking risks if a person is not confident in the reliability of the company and does not trust it. Internet companies themselves should take care of their image and consumer trust, otherwise a bad reputation will spread very quickly on the Internet.
List of used literature
1. The European Union is thinking about certification of online stores // "Webplanet"
2. Cook S. Client in focus. Chapter first. Part 1. - http://www.crm-expert.com.ua/article.php?id=79
3. Cook S. Client in focus. Chapter first. Part 2. - http://www.crm-expert.com.ua/article.php?id=81
4. Moreinis A. How to become Ivan Susanin, or the Principle of Jiu-Jitsu. - http://www.sbn.finance.ru/obzor/imarket/im004/
5. Practical guide to Internet consumer. From the editor - http://subscribe.ru/catalog/economics.school.econsumer
6. Pushkova S.V. Reference and information services in the electronic age: The role and capabilities of libraries. -
7. Rovensky Yu. We are interested in when one plus one will be at least three. - http://reklama.rin.ru/cgi-bin/index.pl?unit=1&id1=0_18&id2=42
8. Cookie technology and information protection in Russia - http://www.bizon.ru/nomer.phtml?id_nomer=10
9. Fokin V., Cherenkov A. The use of e-mail in the practice of various subjects of the Internet market. - http://webrating.ru/promo/emailmarketing
For most companies these days, the issue of attracting consumers to buy the company's products or services is a rather drastic one. This is due to growing competition for consumer demand and the availability of substitutes.
In addition, in the current economic environment, in order to maintain sales and demand from end consumers, the company must perform new tasks to implement effective marketing technologies that influence consumers.
It is worth saying that consumer behavior has changed dramatically in a relatively short period of time, which is explained by the multiplicity of choice of goods and services that can now be purchased all over the world without changing the localization of the consumer, and the increasing sophistication of customers, as well as the intensification of advertising and other marketing activities, which have become in global information pressure on people's consciousness.
Consumer behavior in a particular market is subject to study; their motivation and consumer intentions have been analyzed in the scientific literature on economics and sociology. Famous classics in their works tried to bring a rational motive to justify the behavior of most people in relation to the choice and further purchase of goods and services, but with the advent of marketing communications at the electronic level, which greatly changed consumer behavior, it was more difficult to account for such an impact, which has not been sufficiently studied.
Accordingly, we can conclude that mass communications, including electronic media, create a market characterized by the same type of consumption of a large number of goods and services that are not the main need, even in the absence of full satisfaction of people's basic needs.
Thus, the behavior of the consumer changes, which performs a number of rational behavioral actions under the influence of external influencing factors. There is a change in the psychotype of the average member of society and his value orientations.
Irrational motives for making a purchase arise in the consumer’s mind thanks to modern communications. Therefore, it is not surprising that a person has a desire for self-affirmation, which can be realized through shopping. Thus, a person can be seen to have a certain trajectory of purchasing goods or services that combines the desire to join a social group that attracts him, or, conversely, to stand out (again, creating individuality through increased consumption of certain goods and services).
However, in most cases, a person has a desire to rationally spend his resources and minimize his expenses. Here, the media influences large sections of society, suggesting irrational consumption in the format of “living on credit” with the slogan “Consume now - you will pay later.”
It should be emphasized that we do not consider pressure on communication and the use of electronic media, which change consumer consciousness, as a negative phenomenon. This is the reality of the current situation, and companies must use the competent resource of influence that is formed by them.
Until recently, marketing and sales were viewed solely as distribution, sales and management of brands, but today the latest information technologies are changing the nature of marketing tools. E-commerce and online sales have taken a leading role in all areas of Western business. It's not just traditional retailers who are experimenting with social media, but wholesalers as well. A new type of marketing tool allows any entrepreneur who has an idea, product or service to reach the widest possible audience.
In Russia, only the last five to six years can be associated with the beginning of the real use of Internet sales marketing. The gradual development of elements of search marketing, media advertising, branding on social networks and the like begins. Innovations in online trading make it possible to obtain significant savings for rationalization at all stages of the business - from design and production of products with orders, storage, delivery of goods to the end user (see Figure 1).
And yet, global achievements in the field of online sales marketing have very little in common with most Russian companies. However, it is precisely this toolkit that opens a new stage in business development, increases sales efficiency, since it requires minimal funds for market segmentation, product promotion and obtaining the necessary target audience.
By using innovative online selling tools, SMEs have a fighting chance to compete effectively.
Thus, the study of marketing tools for online sales is relevant and has theoretical and practical significance.
With the development of Internet technologies, approaches to organizational forms of sales are changing rapidly. The European Multichannel and Online Commerce Association estimates that the European e-commerce market is worth approximately $500,000,000,000. Despite the current economic crisis, Russian entrepreneurs are gradually spending their money on online marketing. However, there are a number of factors hampering this process, in particular, an imperfect legal framework for regulating online sales, a poorly developed national electronic payment system, a lack of transparency in the purchase and sale processes for both buyers and sellers, and the like. To a large extent, the development of online sales marketing is limited by the lack of knowledge of modern relevant tools.
It is quite clear that the entire complex of marketing tools in the field of online sales should be considered from the point of view of the specifics of its application in the Internet environment. In the literature, Internet marketing is defined as a marketing process carried out using tools using Internet technologies. That is, the online sales marketing toolkit influences all the major elements of the marketing mix and is the enabler of e-commerce. Western businesses have tested a large number of Internet marketing tools that may be of interest to a Russian entrepreneur because they are more effective and cost-effective than similar traditional marketing tools. The choice of specific tools can have different goals, primarily reducing overhead costs by saving money to support sales and advertising departments, as well as expanding the market for companies, that is, moving from a local market to national or international markets. We will consider the main types of instruments that are rapidly developing in the world and are the most promising in the Russian economy.
Online sales are carried out on the basis of electronic forms of communicative interaction in a virtual environment. The main one is to provide an online ordering service with the possibility of foreign trade. Note that retail giant Walmart was one of the first to make such a service a competitive advantage. Under this service, items from different trading partners are combined into one order and items are purchased at the consumer's convenience.
Today, the innovative Internet ordering service is becoming standard for the entire trade industry and is quickly being introduced into Russia (see Fig. 2). In Western practice, tools for intensifying online sales are very popular. To increase interest in a product, various stocks and flash sales are widely used. In flash sales, in a short period of time (from several hours to several days), individual goods can be purchased very cheaply - at 10-15% of their cost.
Special sites selling spam offer to sign up for email messages, after which the recipients send emails saying that they are for sale.
The main goal of this group of tools is to strengthen consumer interest, create a positive image and positioning, and gain consumer benefit. The entire series of SMM tools is little known for Russian marketing. For example, using the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) format is useful in that it processes news feeds in a user-friendly format; customers receive new information (press releases, comments, new articles) without visiting the site itself, and subscriptions to email news are also not required.
When starting out with social media, marketers choose Facebook and then move on to Twitter. The YouTube platform is usually used later. In addition, all marketers indicated that they planned to increase their use of YouTube, Facebook and blogs; only two of them will increase the use of forums. In this case, all marketers are not planning to use podcasts, social tabs, geosocial networks and Q&A sites. The biggest growth for knowledge marketers is the desire to use blogs, Google+ and LinkedIn. Among other forms of marketing, email marketing and mobile marketing were the most popular.
Therefore, a successful marketing toolkit must be complemented by the factor of a successful online sales process. With its help, marketers can gain significant business support, increase traffic, better understand market dynamics, attract additional customers and open up opportunities to enter new markets.
However, today the potential of marketing tools is not fully used, and online sales do not reach their potential. There are certain disadvantages and limitations that limit the use of marketing tools for online sales. They are mainly associated with deficiencies in legislation regulating online sales, inadequate quality of tool development and significant gaps in marketers' knowledge of the capabilities of modern tools.
