Contemporary Research in E-Marketing_13

302 Madlberger Nielsen NetRatings. (2001). Nielsen/NetRatings finds global Internet users spend up to twice as much time online at work as home users. Retrieved January 9, 2002, from http://eratings.com/news/20011126.htm Omar, O. (1999). Retail marketing. London: Financial Times Management. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2001). Business-to-consumer e-commerce statistics. Retrieved August 11, 2003, from www.dtifueyo.cl/docs/estudios_recursos/b2cstadisticsoecd01 despues.pdf Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2002). Measuring the information economy, information and communication sta-tistics. Retrieved August 11, 2003, from www.oecd.org/dataoecd/16/14/ 1835738.pdf Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2003). OECD science, technology and industry scoreboard 2003. Retrieved November 20, 2003, from www1.oecd.org/publications/e-book/92-2003-04-1-7294/ Pearce, M. R. (1992). Retail marketing management. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Canada. Perry, M., & Bodkin, C. (2000). Content analysis of Fortune 1000 company Web sites. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 5, 87–96. Population Explosion. (2003). Population explosion. Retrieved August 11, 2003, from http://cyberatlas.Internet.com/big_picture/geographics/article/ 0,1323,5911_151151,00.html Sadowski, B. M., Maitland, C., & van Dongen, J. (2002). Strategic use of the Internet by small- and medium-sized companies: An exploratory study. Information Economics and Policy, 14, 75–93. Schoenbachler, D. D., & Gordon, G. L. (2002). Multi-channel shopping: Under-standing what drives channel choice. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 1, 42–53. Schulte, C. (1995). Logistik (2nd ed.). Munich: Vahlen. Sheth, J. N. (2001). Internet marketing. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publications. Strauss, J., & Frost, R. (2001). E-marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Stores. (2001). Top 100 retailers. Retrieved October 11, 2001, from www.stores.org/ 2001top100_1.html Webb, K. L. (2002). Managing channels of distribution in the age of electronic commerce. Industrial Marketing Management, 2, 95–102. Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. Application of Internet-Based Marketing Instruments 303 World Resources Institute. (2003). Variable: Access to information: Internet users, number. Retrieved July 24, 2003, from http://earthtrends.wri.org/ text/POP/ variables/551.htm#2 Zimmerman, J. (2000). Marketing on the Internet (4th ed.). Gulf Breeze, FL: Maximum Press. Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. 304 Kumar Chapter XII The E-Mode of Brand Positioning: The Need for an Online Positioning Interface S. Ramesh Kumar, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India Abstract Brand positioning is a crucial strategy to any brand’s strategy. Given the rapid development of technology and its impact on online strategies, changing lifestyles of consumers, and the consumer interaction required as a part of contemporary brand strategy, there may be need for brands to synergize their positioning strategies with online positioning strategies. This would enable brands to adapt to an environment that is increasingly becoming digital. This chapter, after taking into consideration the published literature on brand positioning, attempts to formulate online positioning strategies using different aspects of brand positioning, price, customer interactivity, and consumer community orientation. Implications for marketing managers are provided. Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. The E-Mode of Brand Positioning 305 Introduction Brand positioning has been the cornerstone of marketing strategy in recent times in fast-moving consumer product categories, durable categories, and services. It would be difficult to think of a strategy for any brand without a well-thought-out strategy for entering the consumer’s psyche (Ries & Trout, 1987). Thus, Nike’s success could be attributed to the positioning that it is worn by the world’s best athletes as reflected by the Michael Jordan campaign (Trout & Rivkin, 1999). While the challenges concerned with positioning strategies still remain with marketers, the environment has been changing with the influence of Web-based marketing. In the year which closed in September 1999, there was an increase of 221.5% of goods that were traded over the Internet. Consumer goods registered an increase of 665% over the same period (Wind & Mahajan, 2001). The consumer is becoming more evolved in terms of information control. The consumer is no longer likely to receive information without the interactive component being present when he/she becomes involved in consumer decision making. Hence, the traditional positioning strategies may not succeed as segments are becoming smaller and less homogenous (Solomon, 2003). A number of established brands have also started using the Internet and the Web to adapt to the changing environment. Some of the global brands making this transition include Levi’s, Dockers, and Barbie (Ries & Ries, 2000). Even in a developing country such as India where less than 5% of the total retail sales come from organized supermarkets/malls and the penetration of the Internet is miniscule, supermarkets such as Subiksha and FabMall (www.fabmall.com) have started online marketing of groceries and consumer goods. FabMall started as an online store in Bangalore with books and music and over time has added several categories such as groceries, jewelry, and gifts. It has since added physical retail stores around the city of Bangalore. Today, its model attempts to synergize the advantages of retail outlets and online dimen-sions. The physical retailing model of the company has grown from revenues of 4 million rupees to 15 million rupees per month from April 2003 to November 2003 (Kumar & Mahadevan, 2003). The trend of having multiple channels to reach the consumers could result in building a good brand besides the profitability aspects. Subiksha is a discount grocery store at Chennai (previously known as Madras) which deals with low-priced groceries. The store has a network of stores around the city and has started online operations by which customers could order groceries. The unique aspect of this store is that the residential neighborhoods are located close to the network of stores and hence the delivery charges, which are normally significant, are saved. Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. 306 Kumar This integration of physical and online presence is commonly observed in global brands. Charles Schwab transacts 80% of its business over the Internet but increased its off-line presence as both channels would be required to service its customers (Lindstorm, Peppers, & Rogers, 2001). Tesco, the U.K.-based retail chain with 600 stores, 60,000 product lines, and 10 million customers who are members of a loyalty program has illustrated how the combination of online and off-line retailing could develop a successful retail brand. Amazon.com with a customer base of 8.4 million and 66% of sales being contributed by repeat purchasers is a brand that has an association of customizing products (books, music, etc.) to the needs of consumers by suggesting a number of options which they may not have otherwise considered (Rust, Zeithamal, & Lemon, 2000). Given the rapid challenges in the marketing environment and consumer lifestyles and the growing influence of technology with regard to consumer retailing and marketing communications (e.g., advergaming and SMS messages), there is a distinct need to explore new conceptual frameworks for the concept of position-ing. There are two stages that would lead to the development of such frame-works which could assist practitioners in a marketing environment. The first stage is concerned with analyzing existing dimensions of brand positioning with a view to examine how they could be used for a brand that will have both online and off-line retail channels. The next stage is to develop a framework for categories of consumer products from the insights gained from the first stage. Different Dimensions of Brand Positioning The challenge for marketers in India is not just to create an online experience: there is a need to “move” the consumer from the traditional ways of buying to the digital ways of buying after understanding certain shopping aspects which are unique to the Indian context. While some of these aspects may involve providing a kiosk in a traditional store for customers to browse through several dimensions of brand comparison, the most critical factor is the manner in which such prospective buying experiences are communicated. Given the Indian diversity with regard to demographics and psychographics, positioning chal-lenges need to be market specific and product specific. The second challenge is to ensure that positioning propositions of brands are fulfilled and this involves infrastructure demanded by positioning strategies in a manner that would bring in price differentiation. There are various dimensions that could be used for positioning a brand. Brand equity is a set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name, or symbol. Brand loyalty, brand name awareness, perceived quality, brand associations, and other brand assets such as patents and trademarks are some of the components of Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. ... - tailieumienphi.vn