Traditionally the marketing mix is co-ordinated so efficient product, price, promotion and place strategies are developed for products purchased over the counter. The internet is changing the way we sell our products and services. That’s a fact. Consumers now use the internet to research and purchase products/services online. Organization now needs online strategies to attract and retain customers. The e-marketing mix considers the elements of presenting the marketing mix online.

Online, this immediate tangibility disappears. But, is that a disadvantage? E-commerce sales are increasing at extremely high rates. Why? What does buying products online offer over one to one sales? Firstly there are clear online facts about the product you are purchasing. The buyer knows immediately about product features, the facts, not sales persons assumptions. Electrical store offers clear information on products and their specification, consumers know what they get if not there is a customer service number where they can find out more. The buying process is also customized for returning visitors, making repeat purchases easier. Organizations can also offer immediately ancillary products along with the main purchase. As mentioned in marketing mix section, pricing is always difficult to do and must take into account many considerations.

Traditionally pricing was about finding about your costs, discovering how much consumers are willing to pay, taking account competition pricing then setting your price. The internet has made pricing very competitive. Many costs i.e. store costs, staff cost have disappeared for complete online stores, placing price pressures on traditional retailers. The internet gives consumers the power to shop around for the best deal at a click of a button. Such easy access to information helps to maintain prices within the online world.

E-pricing can also easily reward loyal customers. Technology allows repeat visitors to be tracked, easily allowing loyalty incentives to be targeted towards them. Payment is also easy online credit cards use allows for easy payments. One of the biggest changes to the marketing mix is online purchasing. Consumers can purchase direct from manufacturers cutting out retailers totally. The challenge for online retailers is to insure that the product is delivered to the consumer within a reasonable time. Location is important within our place strategy.

Online location can refer to where links are placed on other websites. Promoting products and service online is concerned with a number of issues. Having a recognizable domain name is first stage towards e-promotion. Most organizations today have some form of webpage used in most if not all advertisements. Placing banner advertisements on other web pages is a common form of e-promotion. Banner ads must be placed where potential customers browse. Web public relations are another approach to promoting online. News worthy stories based on product or service launches can be placed on the company’s webpage, or WPR articles sent to review sites for consumers to read. Hopefully this form of online promotion will pull the consumer in. Direct email is a popular and common form of e-promotions, although slowly becoming the most hated my many consumers. Organizations can send e-leaflets to hundreds and thousands of respondents, hoping a small percentage will reply.

To summaries e-promotion includes: Banner promotion, Web public relations (WPR), E-leaflets and having a domain name. The e-marketing mix must work together and support each other if the company is to have a successful online marketing strategy.

There have been many claims that the Internet represents a new nearly frictionless market. The characteristics of the Internet as a channel for two categories of homogeneous products books and CDs. Additionally the Internet e-tailers’ price adjustments over time are up to 100 times smaller than conventional e-tailers’ price adjustments – presumably reflecting lower menu costs in Internet channels. The levels of price dispersion depend importantly on the measures employed. When compare the prices posted by different Internet e-tailers it is find substantial dispersion.

Internet e-tailer prices differ by an average of 33% for books and 25% for CDs. However, when weight these prices by proxies for market share, it is found dispersion is lower in Internet channels than in conventional channels, reflecting the dominance of certain heavily branded e-tailers. It concludes that while there is lower friction in many dimensions of Internet competition, branding, awareness, and trust remain important sources of heterogeneity among Internet e-tailers.

The conventional wisdom regarding Internet competition, expressed in the preceding quotes, is that the unique characteristics of the Internet will bring about a nearly perfect market. In the extreme version of Internet efficiency view, the characteristics of the Internet will lead to a market where e-tailer location is irrelevant, consumers are fully informed of prices and product offerings, and all e-tailers make zero economic profit. At the same time, there is evidence that the Internet may not be completely efficient.

If the Internet makes location irrelevant, why are Internet e-tailers making million-dollar deals for the right to showcase their products on major Internet portals and content sites.2 While there may be answers to these questions consistent with the efficiency hypothesis, the degree of efficiency on the Internet deserves empirical verification. Ultimately, the effects of the Internet on commerce are likely to be varied and occasionally unpredictable. Even the best theorizing will need to be based on empirical observations.

Accordingly, actual prices charged by Internet and conventional e-tailers of books and compact discs. There is different effect of electronic commerce on differentiated goods markets. Online grocery sales tell that price sensitivity can sometimes be lower online than in conventional channels. The prior positive experience with a brand in the physical world can decrease price sensitivity online.

The sale of wine through electronic channels to show that the amount of product information provided to customers can affect price competition and increase customer loyalty. The prices for used cars sold via electronic auction markets tend to be higher than prices for used cars sold via conventional auction markets. The prices for airline tickets offered by online travel agents vary by as much as 20%. The prices for homogeneous physical goods matched across conventional and Internet channels. The homogeneous goods are most likely to experience strong price competition given the characteristics of Internet channels.