Specialization Project

On A study on the perception of Indian consumers towards internet marketing

In context with

Internet Marketing

By

AMIT KUMAR SINGH TPS-B(19064) 2010-1012

Under the guidence of : Sri S. Sai Baba Asst. Professor

SIVA SIVANI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT Kompally, Secunderabad

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to thank all, whose able guidance and kind co-operation helped me to complete my project & study on A study on the perception of Indian consumers towards internet marketing successfully. I am particularly indebted to my faculty guide Sri S. Sai Baba for providing me the opportunity and complete guidance to do this project. He always extended his cooperation and provided me with valuable information regarding the organization in spite of his very busy schedule. I would like to extend a special word of thanks to all respondents and my friends for their co-operation and giving me the information for my project.

Date-

AMIT KUMAR SINGH

DECLARATION
This project entitled A study on the perception of Indian consumers towards internet marketing is a benefited work done by me during my specialization project of my PGDM (TPS) course from Siva Sivani Institute of Management, Kompally, Secunderabad. I further state that this report entirely stand original in its concepts ideology and genuine in its presentation. I declare that this report has not been submitted to any other University/Institute for the award of any Degree/Diploma.

PlaceDate-

AMIT KUMAR SINGH Roll no. 19064 PGDM(TPS) Siva Sivani Institute of management

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

DETAILS 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Objectives 1.3. Methodology

PAGE NO 5 7 28

3.1. Data Analysis and Interpretation 4.1. Findings 4.2. Conclusion 5.1. Suggestions Annexure Sample questionnaire Bibliography

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3 5

44 45 45

46 49

INTRODUCTION Evolution of Marketing

At the beginning of the century, social life was mostly local. It was followed by a period in which commodities were produced on a mass scale. Consumer Marketing operated on mass marketing principles and business primarily concerned itself with how to build the best sales force. At the end of the century, there is an emerging global culture. The major driver of these changes is technology. Technological change has moved steadily back focusing on the individual. These changes shape the possibility and conduct of business. Marketing is especially tied to communication and transportation revolution. As the tools and reach of marketing increase, the job and responsibilities of marketers have evolved with them. Kotler formalized this evolution with his book "Marketing Management." His key stages are production, sales and brand management. Each of these is strongly motivated by technological opportunities, which permit new methods and new opportunities. A fourth stage, a focus on the individual customer, is also important. As the new technology of the Internet develops, it reinforces the new marketing emphasis - which in many ways is turn to business at the turn of the century. In todays technology driven world, a new fast paced digital economy is emerging. In the near future, it wouldnt be surprising to see that there are companies that exist only inside computer networks. Most business transactions will be made electronically, directly from the producer to the consumer, bypassing the supply chain. In the digital marketing environment, the consumer becomes an integral player in the development of the product. In fact, a consumer might build the product himself from a wide array of parts provided by the company. It is e-commerce that is changing the way products and services are conceived, manufactured, promoted, priced, distributed and sold. The reason being that it is much cheaper; it allows vast coverage and helps in serving the customer better.

Growth of Internet usage and E-commerce:

According to the research report of Goldman Sachs, India has emerged as the second largest Internet market in Asia after China with 100 million users in 2005. It estimates that Indian Internet Users will increase by 130% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 0.5 million users recorded at end of 1998. Also the figures of the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is expected to increase by leaps and bounds and March 2006 sees at least 30 private international gateways. As per preliminary findings of the NASSCOM survey, the total volume of E-commerce transactions in India was about Rs.131 crore in the year 199899. Out of this volume, about Rs.12 crore were contributed by retail Internet or Business-toConsumer transactions, and about Rs.119 crore were contributed by Business-to-Business transactions. The survey also revealed that E-Business transactions in India are expected to
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exceed Rs.300 crore during 1999-2000. Out of this, about Rs.50 crore could comprise of retail transactions. For Business-to-Business transactions, Indian industries are expected to reach online penetration of 2% by 2003 and 8% by 2008.

Effectiveness of the Net in Reaching Out to the Masses

The reach of Internet may not yet be as wide as that of other mass media, but given its unique advantages, it is undoubtedly the communication medium of the future. Marketers around the world have from time to time tried to reach their target audiences through various media. Scientific and technological advances have and will continue to create newer media to improve communication, and marketers will try to use the same to effectively address their audiences. Internet is one of the latest to join the list of such media inventions.

OBJECTIVE

To find out whether Internet marketing is suitable for Indian Environment. To find out the uses and problems faced by the customers in Internet marketing. To know the awareness level of Internet marketing among the people. To ensure that this type of marketing is better than any other marketing.

Internet Fame with the Indian Audiences

Let us first take a quick look at the audience that this medium is trying to reach. The top 8 metros of the country, the scope of the Internet as a medium to reach out to a large number of people is presently limited. However, some of these limitations can be addressed. 1. Internet is available in regional languages also. Even today this medium is largely confined to only those who are literate in English. Various initiatives of companies like ITC and HLL like E-choupal and i-Shakti have given a considerable boost to vernacular usage of internet 2. Internet is accessible though other media also and not only through telephone lines. In the current scenario, the usage of internet might be dominated by telephone lines, but broadband and cable net are coming in a huge way. 3. Government policies are aimed at broadening and strengthening the infrastructure required for Internet accessibility. There could be several other modes to increase the reach of the Internet. However, with the current limitations, the projections on Internet usage appear to be as follows:

Current Media usage habits of the Indian audiences

TV, print and cinema have penetrated the most. Internet in the media terms is expected to make an impact and show its true caliber, but is yet not taken as a serious medium. Does that mean that Internet is not an effective tool for reaching out to people? Or is it likely to work very well under certain conditions? To understand this better, let us compare Internet and other traditional media, first from the customers point of view. Current media options serve two broad benefits to the customer: 1. Information 2. Entertainment The reach or popularity of any media is related to 1. The extent of benefits perceived to be delivered 2. The cost of acquisition of the media itself In short, the reach is related to the net value perceived by the customer about that particular medium. On the basis of the above clarification, Internet appears to have a comparatively higher cost of acquisition. However, Internet has brought with it a very high degree of control to the media user. Not only are there a plethora of sites catering to every imaginable need, there is also a high degree of flexibility in what the user is able to do. All of this makes Internet a highly interactive media but also an expensive one. If the internet is treated and used exactly like any other medium, it is unlikely to yield major benefits to the marketer. Its effectiveness is dependent not only on the target audience

one is talking to, but also largely on the ability of the marketer to make use of the real advantages of the Net like interactivity, flexibility, ability to monitor and the like. Next, one can also evaluate Internet as a media from the marketers point of view by way of a similar classification. If evaluation as per the above classification is done, the Internet does not appear to be a very advantageous option either in terms of reach or in terms of cost-effectiveness. But Internet has various other advantages over the traditional media which cannot be neglected. These stem mainly from the ability of this medium to allow a far more focused targeting as compared to other media. To quickly summarize the advantages of the Internet as seen from the point of view of the user as well as the marketer

To the user:
Internet gives more control in choosing content. It offers customization of the content, the way the user wants to view it. It offers a variety of options for information and entertainment. It offers a wide range to choose from for the user. It offers tremendous convenience to the user not only in delivery of information, but also in allowing him to transact often in a seamless manner. The best example of giving control of content is the My Yahoo !! service offered by the Internet giant, Yahoo Inc. It gives the user the choice of content for various topics ranging from news to stock options to entertainment to sports and just about everything.

To the marketer:
The Internet offers several options to a marketer trying to target a particular community It serves not only as a channel of information, but also of product distribution It offers a highly interactive medium that sometimes (e.g. chats, forums, VoIP) is almost equal to one-to-one interaction with the audience. It offers a higher level of identification of the user to the marketer. It allows the marketer to actually link his spends to action, and pay only on action This action could be a click on the banner or even product purchased or just a banner impression or per 1000 impressions. In this ability Internet is, in fact, unlike any other media. Given the payment options and high interactivity, the Internet offers a medium for high level of experimentation at a low cost. E.g. one can change the whole look of the advertisement within hours and increase the effectiveness of the communication on the Internet. Imagine doing the same with a television advertisement. Therefore, though the Internet with its present limitations may not be able to match other media in actually reaching out to large numbers of people, the benefits of this highly customizable and interactive medium can be used effectively to target niche audiences.
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This can be elaborated a little more by answering the following questions: 1. Who are the people who can be reached through the Internet? 2. Which are the products that can possibly benefit from marketing on the Internet? 3. What are the options available to the marketer to reach out more effectively to their audiences? 4. Are there ways for monitoring effectiveness of this medium in order to control it better?

Overview of the Indian Internet Users:

According to the data available with NASSCOM, about 60 per cent of Indian Internet users are chiefly found in the age group of 19-34. Almost 80 per cent of Internet users are males. It is estimated that the Internet user spends an average of 10 hours per week on the Net, and usually earns over 6000 per month. Almost 53 per cent of Internet users belong to SEC A1/A2. More than 55 per cent of such Internet users live in towns with a population of over 40 lakhs. Even today, Indian users are most likely to use the Net for sending and receiving emails. However, information- and entertainment-seeking are also growing.

Which products are likely beneficiaries of the Internet?

Given that the usage of the Internet is highest amongst young, male audiences belonging to the larger towns and who belong to higher SEC groups, for this medium to be cost-effective, products having similar target groups would benefit the most from this medium. The most likely examples that come to mind include telecom, financial products and services, products related to entertainment like movies (promotions and tickets), plays, contests etc, FMCG products where the core target audience is younger (deodorants, soft drinks), consumer durables to some extent and high-end services like tour operators, airline services, hotels etc.

Advertising options available on the Internet:

The Internet offers a variety of options for the marketer to advertise her/his products/brands. These include 1. Banner ads and their variations 2. E-mailers and their variations 3. Sponsorships 4. Search Engines 5. Affiliate marketing

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In India, banners still remain the most popular option. However, wider options are now available to the marketer which, even at the cost of being intrusive, serves to enhance the visibility and effectiveness of the banner.

The Variants of Banners include:

1. Banner Ad - a graphical web advertising unit, typically measuring 468 pixels wide and 60 pixels tall (i.e. 468x60). 2. Beyond the Banner - online advertising not involving standard GIF and JPEG banner ads. 3. Button Ad- a graphical advertising unit, smaller than a banner ad. 4. HTML banner - a banner ad using HTML elements, often including interactive forms, instead of (or in addition to) standard graphical elements. 5. Interstitial - an advertisement that loads between two content pages. 6. Pop-up Ad - an ad that displays in a new browser window. 7. Pop Under Ad - an ad that displays in a new browser window behind the current browser window. 8. Rectangle Ad - any one of the large, rectangular banner sizes suggested by the IAB. 9. Rich Media- new media that offers an enhanced experience relative to older, mainstream formats. 10. Skyscraper Ad- an online ad significantly taller than the 120x240 vertical banners. 11. Text Ad - advertisement using text-based hyperlinks. 12. Surround Session - advertising sequence in which a visitor receives ads from one advertiser throughout an entire site visit. 13. Vertical Banner - a banner ad measuring 120 pixels wide and 240 pixels tall.

Given the highly interactive nature of the Internet, and the also fact that unlike other media it offers a higher level of identification of the user, simple direct marketing tools such as email can also be used more effectively. For example, a highend car seller can today easily send an offer to persons earning over Rs 25000 per month at a very reasonable cost and within a very short period. Then again there are sponsorships, which can be effectively used to increase brand salience and even change image. The other tool on the web with enormous potential, and which has possibly not been used to its optimal level yet by marketers in India, is the search engine. Marketers can own either popular keywords or make use of meta-tags (these are similar to the keywords which the search engines uses to catalogue various websites/products) in order to go higher on the search lists. The above is used by the search engine giant Google.com and it has reaped profits so much so that it is now being viewed as a threat by the computer giant Microsoft Inc.

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7 P's of Marketing on the Internet

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

1. The Product
On the Internet usually changes form online, and the user experiences it electronically, in the form of text, images and multimedia. Physical goods are usually presented in the form of a detailed online catalogue that the customer can browse through. Technology allows the user to virtually touch and feel the product on the Internet - rotate it, zoom in or zoom out and even visualize the product in different configurations and combination. The example of the above can be seen at dell.com where the company offers the user to virtually feel every aspect of their product before they go into a buy decision. Content and software are two avatars of digitized products that can be even distributed over the Internet. On the Internet, E-marketing will be based more on the product qualities rather than on the price. Every company will be able to bring down the cost of its products and hence competition will not be on price. It will rather be on the uniqueness of the product. To be able to attract the customers and retain them, the company will have to provide nouvelle and distinct products that forces the net users to purchase and come back for more.

2. The Price
Has been drastically changed over the Internet. It lets the buyer decides the price. Also it gives the buyers information about multiple sellers selling the same product. It leads to best possible deal for the buyers in terms of price. A website named Priceline.com is extremely popular as its compares the price of many airlines and offers the least price to the buyer. The very famous bazee.com now known as ebay.in follows the same principles. Pricing is dynamic over the Internet.

3. The Place
Revolves around setting up of a marketing channel to reach the customer. Internet serves as a direct marketing channel that allows the producer to reach the customer directly. The elimination of the intermediate channel allows the producer to pass the reduced distribution cost to the customer in the form of discounts. Dell Computers have used this strategy very effectively and hence they have been able to reduce their prices of their laptops drastically and reaped huge profits.

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4. Promotion
Is extremely necessary to entice the customer to its website, as there are currently more than one billion web pages. Promoting a website includes both online and offline strategies. Online strategies include search engine optimization, banner ads, multiple points of entry, viral marketing, strategic partnership and affiliate marketing. Presently, the cyberspace is already cluttered with thousands of sites probably selling similar products. For the customers to know of the Companys existence and to garner information on the kind of products or services that the company is offering, promotion has to be carried out. There can be traded links or banner advertisements for the same. Also the traditional mediums like print, outdoor advertising and television can be used to spread awareness. Email campaigns and spamming the Chat rooms on almost every server has been exploited to the maximum for the cause of promoting their website.

5. Presentation
The presentation of the online business needs to have an easy to use navigation. The look and the feel of the web site should be based on corporate logos and standards. About 80% of the people read only 20% of the web page. Therefore, the web page should not be cluttered with a lot of information. Also, simple but powerful navigational aids on all web pages like search engines make it easy for customer to find their way around. The principle of K.I.S.S ( Keep it simple stupid ) is the most important factor that has to be considered while presenting the online business.

6. Processes
Customer supports needs to be integrated into the online web site. A sales service that will be able to answer the questions of their customers fast and in a reliable manner is necessary. To further enhance after sales service, customers must be able to find out about their order status after the sale has been made. For e.g. FedEx (www.fedex.com), the overnight Courier Company allows its customers to keep track of the parcel and they are well informed about the present whereabouts of their package. Similar variants have been used by the Govt of India for its Speed post and Registered Ad services where you can keep a track of your post by entering the code that has been issued to you.

7. Personalization
Using the latest software from Broad-Vision and others, it is possible to customize the entire web site for every single user, without any additional costs. The mass customization allows the company to create web pages products and services that suit the requirement of the user. A customized web page does not only include the preferred layout of the customer but also a pre selection of goods the customer may be interested in. For e.g. Yahoo!
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(www.yahoo.co.in) entered the Indian cyberspace and started its personalized services. A registered user of Yahoo can now personalize the front page with all the information he needs. He can read the news of the world, add a tax calculator, see the weather forecasts of his city and listen to his favorite songs and all this simultaneously.

Internet Marketing Tactics

There are many different technologies to facilitate your Internet marketing strategy. Some of the most common and effective tools are: Search Engines and Directories: Search engines are one of the most popular means of finding web sites, second only to following links on web pages. Search engines help people find relevant information on the Internet. Major search engines maintain huge databases of web sites that users can search by typing in keywords or phrases. Advertise your message. Web directories/search engines are information, gateways that have high traffic and are good for displaying advertisement banners. They are used to find Internet information and for this reason, appeal to broad target groups. E-zines: (Online magazines): These publications are focused on specific topics and may be a way to reach a target audience interested in that subject. Some companies have gathered the e-mail addresses of potential customers and used these lists to send out product information specific to client interests. Seven good reasons to establish an E-Zine 1. Establishes Trust 2. Brings Visitors Back 3. Establishes You as an Expert 4. Keeps Current & Potential Customers Up to Date on New Products & Services 5. Builds Relationships 6. Allows You to Build an Opt-In Email Marketing List 7. Keeps Your Website Fresh in Visitors' Minds E-mail: Ethical methods of gathering e-mail addresses are through on-line registration built into your corporate Web sites, or requests for information forms that request submission to your opt-in lists. An alternative is to purchase lists of customer e-mail addresses indexed by special interests from a private company such as 'Postmaster Direct'. Online customers are becoming
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increasingly selective about their relationships, the brands they trust, and what they consider relevant. While most marketers are aware of privacy issues and the risks of Spam, there is still need for improvement. Email marketing campaign management is still fairly unsophisticated even at the largest of organizations. Marketers have to think about the drivers of customer response and purchase. Over time, as more is learned about your customer buying behavior, you can will isolate campaign and program characteristics that drive your customer or visitor response and action. Isolating the behavior of high value customers, business customers, or the minority of customers who prefer to buy online will be critical. For example, new online buyers get referrals when shopping online, while experienced frequent buyers prefer search engines. Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate Marketing enables you to increase online sales by promoting your products and services through a network of Affiliate sites on a payment-by-results basis. It also provides the opportunity to generate additional revenue by exploiting your site's own content to promote the products and services of other online Merchants. A Merchant recruits content sites to partner with them as Affiliates in exchange for commissions. A common third party provider such as Commission Junction can be used. The Merchant provides their advertising banners and links to their Affiliates and assigns a commission for each click-through to their site, subscription to their service, or purchase of their products that is generated from those links. Affiliates place the tracking code for these ads and links on their Web sites. This allows click through to be tracked online and commissions to be calculated. If a product or service is purchased, the customer pays the Merchant directly and the Affiliate is paid a commission for that transaction. The dating giant adultfriendfinder.com has used this strategy to the maximum and has earned millions of dollars by proper implementation of this strategy. Banner Advertising: Banner advertising can play an extremely important role within your website strategy. One can use banner advertising as a means of promoting its own products and services, raising awareness, or as a way of generating revenue by selling advertising space on your own website. Purchasing Advertising: There are currently two widely recognized methods of purchasing banner advertising. The rates for these are usually quoted on a cost per thousand basis or (CPM). The rates you pay can vary tremendously as there is currently no standard price model - so be prepared to negotiate! Pay-Per-Impression: This method of purchasing banner advertising is based on a charge for the number of times someone sees your banner. There are no guarantees as to how many visitors will come to your site as a result of seeing your banner; you are simply paying for the number of times your banner is displayed. Websites that offer such programs include paypopup.com and adclicksor.com

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Pay-Per-Visitor: This method of purchasing banner advertising is based on a charge for the number of times someone visits your site as a result of clicking on your banner. This is a better method of purchasing banner advertising as you are only paying for results, although expect to pay a premium. Pay- Per-Click: The revenue model of the Internet giant google.com has its very own service which offers certain share of the profit that it makes by the click-thru that a website generates from its ad sense codes. The revenue model is known as google ad sense and almost every successful website uses this model to make profits. The Google ad sense ads can be seen on websites like Times of India, Moneycontrol.com, ManagementParadise.com and a lot many other reputed websites. Branding . While CTR and cost per sale relate to direct marketing objectives, another way of looking at banner ads is as "branding" tools. They create brand awareness, and a brand image in the viewer's mind, whether or not the viewer clicks on the ad. Branding is very difficult to measure, but can be very powerful. The average click through ratio on banners is just under 1%, although with a well planned and executed advertising campaign using effective banners you can increase this to as much as 15%, but be prepared to work at it. It is a good idea to have a number of different banner ideas so that you can carry out small test marketing campaigns with each one until you find those that work best. There are a number of key issues that must be considered when designing a successful banner: It must have an attention-grabbing headline. It must be simple and get your point across. It must invoke action (i.e.: "Click here") It must download quickly. It must be placed effectively on a web site, Location, Location, Location any campaign is limited by the amount of advertising you can do depending on the size of your budget. Therefore it is important that you target your market carefully so as to maximize advertising spend on effective banner campaigns.

Rich Media Advertising: Looking for ways to make online advertising more compelling, and hopefully thereby more acceptable, marketers have increasingly been turning to streaming advertising. In effect another kind of rich media advertising, streaming advertising comes in two basic forms. First, it can either be part of a streaming audio or video program on the web. With many people now listening to web radio or watching web broadcasts, this makes perfect sense. After all, everyone is accustomed to getting commercials on their TV or car radio. The other channel
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for streaming advertising is essentially an infomercial. Consumers can download a streaming clip for a product or service from a marketer's website. Two new studies recently released suggest that the streaming advertising market is going to boom now and in the years to come. The giant ad selling company media turf uses this method for providing content to advertisers. Conferences: By their nature conferences are organized for special interests. Advertising in conference literature, print and electronic, is an excellent way to contact target markets. Collaborative Marketing: Team up with other business to: Cross-promote - e.g. setting up links from one corporate Web site to another or offering special promotions in partnership with complementary goods or services. Advertise - share advertising. Participate in joint sponsorship of events, initiatives, informational Web sites, mailing lists, bulletin board systems, directories, etc. Link exchange: with trade/professionals associations to support credibility of firm, provide further market information to customers, build their awareness and prepare them for the action of purchasing. Sales Promotion: Employing methods to stimulate sales through immediate or delayed incentives to the customer. If the incentive is attractive, the price: value ratio is adjusted favorably enough to affect a sale. This strategy should integrate with the overall marketing mix to balance extra sales with long-term profit motives. Examples of sales promotion strategies are: Sampling - offering product samples, electronically. Bonus offers - offering additional goods or services when making single purchases (e.g. buyone-get-one-free). Limited time offers - attracting visitors to return to a Web site. Games with prizes: Useful to keep people coming back to Web sites. Cross-product sampling: When a customer makes a purchase they have an opportunity to try out another companys product/service. Also, the customer may have the opportunity to try out more than one companys product/service while testing another. Useful for complementary products/services.
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Feature pricing: providing special pricing to those that order electronically. Cross-promotions with other companies products/services - Buy a companys product/service and get a coupon for another companys product/service. Publicity: The goal of publicity is to have others talk about the small business or its products. It can be inexpensive or even free and it may have the potential to generate far more in sales than even a well executed advertising plan. Promotional Publications: Facilitate customer education, with the intention of building corporate image and even brand awareness, the small business may sponsor and/or publish its own electronic magazine on the Web, e-mail, etc. These are useful in fields where the customer needs information to develop sufficient knowledge for movement through the first three stages of the sales process of awareness, interest, and desire. Although time consuming, they replace or complement the print versions of newsletters/corporate magazines/flyers. Subscriptions: Business marketers may use their Web sites to encourage visitors to subscribe to receive regular email messages from the company. These messages are called digests or newsletters, and are a clever way for marketers to push product news to willing customers.

Controlled-access Web pages: Clever business marketers may use their Web site to attract new customers. They might publish a Web page that allows customers to download a free trial version of a software application that expires after a time if not paid for. Or, customers might receive an e-mail message inviting them to visit a private Web page on the companys intranet, and giving them a password. The company, as a way of encouraging a sale, offers customers who visit the page a prize or enticement of some sort. Public Forums: These are often community-based or interest-based sites that allow visitors to communicate with one another. An opportunity for small businesses to reach to their intended target group via these forums is by posting messages or by sponsoring such a forum. E-mail based forums appeal to a wider audience due to the greater use of this application over Web18

based forums. Web based forums are advantageous for their superior display of advertising images/messages. Resellers: Some sites will remarket other companies products as intermediaries. The companies that host these sites may have invested significant resources in making them attractive to the target audience a small business is interested in attracted. By piggybacking on another companys efforts, cost-efficiencies may be realized by engaging in a reselling arrangement.

E-mail Links: Visitors to a site should have the opportunity to correspond with the host of that site, especially if out of the telephone area or time zone. E-mail links may be strategically placed throughout the site to elicit response from visitors for at various points. These are also useful for feedback on site maintenance problems. On-line Surveys: Information may be collected on the visitors to a Web site through registration forms, on-line surveys, or through tracking of areas of site they visit. These websites also offer referrals wherein if you refer someone to their site and the person becomes a member then you are paid commission on that. Virtual Malls: Web based sites that allow companies to post their products or services for sale long with other companies. These may be product specific, may be arranged by complementary products, or may have products that are not related except by their companies desire to attract a similar target audience. Measurement: The Internet has the unique ability to provide marketers with detailed information about the success of their Web marketing programs. Companies can track visitors to their site and collect information about them from theircookies, then process this information using Web site analysis software. Cookies are a type of digital identification, which is read every time the user connects to a public Web site. The Web site can collect some very basic information about the user (e-mail address, time of day the site was accessed, which pages were visited) and use it to create visitor profiles. Visitors can then be identified as old or new when they visit the site.
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Cookies are an essential part of many companies business strategies. The information collected from them is used to measure site visitors, develop user profiles, and target advertising in much the same way that television allows advertisers to target their message to a certain demographic.

Advertising on the Internet: emerging issues Internet might be a catchy advertising medium. But, there are quite a few issues that need to be sorted out.
Advertising on the Net is slowly catching on. In developed economies, advertising on the Net accounts for anything between seven and 7.5 per cent of the total advertising cake. Fine, how large is online advertising in India? Various estimates put the size of online advertising in India between Rs 24 crore and Rs 29 crore, which is much less than one per cent of the total advertising cake. Why is online advertising so small in India? Why aren't the advertisers putting their money on Net advertising? For instance, Hindustan Levers advertising budget is upwards of Rs 700 crore and out of this; the company spends not more than Rs 25 lakh on online advertising. Is this because Net penetration in India is not deeper? Yes, to an extent.

Slow motion However, this might not be the case for long. For, initiatives are on to increase the number of Internet users. It is estimated that Internet subscribers will increase to around 35 million by 2008 from the current figure of one million. Not only that, a drive is on to make Internet more affordable. For instance, the Reliance group is planning to set up 7,800 cyber kiosks in Madhya Pradesh and BSES is planning to put up 1,000 cyber kiosks in Bombay. And the UK-based WorldTel, in partnership with the Reliance group, is working at building 1,000 community Internet centres in Tamil Nadu. There is a question here, however. If numbers are the only factor, then how is that Net advertising has picked up in Hong Kong, which boasts of 1.8 million Net users compared to some 3.5 million in India. So, there are other reasons why online advertising is going through a slow motion in India. One such reason is this: there is no official organization in India that monitors and regulates the online advertising industry. And there is no mechanism available for tracking viewership of advertisements. Says Apurva Purohit, media director with the Mumbai-based FCB-Ulka Advertising: "While television has two people meter services, Tam (IMRB) and Intam (ORGMARG), there is no possible mechanism to enable working out optimized schedules on the basis of ad viewer ship rather than programme viewership." True. Only such a mechanism can help to track ad viewership patterns much more accurately and monitor television advertisements effectively. The very reason that ad viewerships in
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online advertising are not monitored and audited is making quite a few corporate advertisers go slow in latching on to the Internet medium. Says B Venkataramanan, group media manager of the Mumbai-based Hindustan Lever: "I am skeptical about the kind of figures most dot-coms come up with. So, we will be going about online advertising in a planned way." All these might become things of the past with quite a few studies on online advertising in the pipeline. For instance, AC Nielsen is looking at rating Net advertisers and ORG-MARG is planning to kick off its research on Net advertising. The cost factor Absence of a monitoring mechanism apart, online advertising has to live with another hurdle. Many advertisers are not aware of the benefits online advertising can offer over the traditional media. What needs to be done? The advertising industry should take efforts to educate potential Net advertisers about the advantages of advertising on the Net. Some steps have already been taken in this direction. For instance, advertising networks such as Media2Net, Rightserve and Mediaturf are doing their bid to fuel online advertising in India. Rightserve of Hughes Software is said to be spending nearly Rs two crore on seminars, advertisements and road shows for creating awareness about the online advertising concept. There is another reason why advertising on the Net has not really picked up. And that is the perception that advertising on the Net is expensive. Is this perception right? Compare the cost of a banner advertisement on the Net with a television commercial. Though the cost of an advertising campaign on the Net could be anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, advertising in the press or television will cost upwards of Rs 50 lakh. Does this not make advertising on the Net cheap? No. For, whether advertising on the Net is cost-effective or not depends on the value per advertising Rupee. That means, it is essential to express advertising costs on the Net in terms of cost per thousand (CPT). Here is what Amardeep Singh, a Mumbai-based media consultant with Mediaturf.com, has to say: "A thirty- second television commercial will cost between Rs 250 and Rs 300 per thousand, while a ten-second banner on a reputed site such as Rediff.com will cost as much as Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per thousand." The implication: value per Rupee spent on advertising is higher in the case of television. That is efficiency is higher in the case of television advertising, while in absolute terms advertising costs are lower as far as the Net is concerned. Fine, but how are rates fixed for advertising on the Net? It is a difficult poser considering the fact that rates for advertising on the Net have no rationale behind them. For instance, Rediff.com just adopted the international rate charged by Yahoo.com. Other websites in India just took the Rediff.com's rate as a benchmark and adjusted their rates accordingly. But, the issue here is this: since the number of Net users in India is limited now, these Indian rates are not justified. What are the emerging trends as far as cost of online advertising is concerned? Currently, rates for a simple banner advertisement on the Net need to come down. Already, Mediaturf is working in this direction. It wants to bring down the cost of Net advertising at
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least by 50 per cent. Mediaturf believes that when the rates come down, volumes should go up. And that has been the international experience. In the USA, when the rate for a full banner advertisement fell from US $33.22 to US $30.52 per thousand impressions, online advertising outlays too rose during the same period. Online Constraints As efforts to eliminate wastages in online advertising take off; efforts are also needed to eliminate the attendant constraints. In online advertising, one can stream audio and video technologies together with faster bandwidths and delivery channels in a bid to present the same idea with the use of sound, music and visual imagery and make interactions with the banner possible. But, this is not possible in India, thanks to the existing bandwidth problems. However, soon bandwidth will cease to be an issue. Despite the bandwidth constraint, the Coco-Cola television commercial is being aired in Zeenext.com. This initiative has been taken by Mediaturf and a Bangalore-based software programmer, who have found a way to use the Net to air commercials with the dial-up mode and thus overcoming the bandwidth constraint. Anyway, with massive investments coming in bandwidth, there could be a glut soon. Sure, India has an advantage in online advertising, thanks to the fact that online advertising depends so much on technology and software programming. So, the days of innovative banners and convergence of real-time advertising are not far. But, effective online advertising calls for skills in consumer and relationship management. The prospects are of course bright for online advertising. E-commerce will only help the spread of online advertising. Estimates are that in a couple of years online advertising Could touch Rs 300 crore, two per cent of the total adspend in the country. And Nasscom's estimates are that online advertising could touch Rs 750 crore by 2002.

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

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They require specific, timely and relevant information about the products and services being offered. Undirected Information Seekers: These users require something interesting and useful. Something that can give them an edge, advantage, insight or even a pleasant surprise. Bargain Hunters: They are of two kinds. One who look for free items on the internet and other who are seeking better deals, higher discounts etc.

Entertainment Seekers: They see the Web as an entertainment medium of vast breath and potential and want to explore the medium before the mass gets there. Directed Buyers: They want to buy something - now. They are sure what they require and just log on to the Web to purchase the item.

Critical Success factors in E-Marketing

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

Attracting the Right Customer:

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

Delivering Content Value to engage the users interest:

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

Changing patterns of Marketing Traditional Marketing V/s Internet Marketing

Marketing over the years more so recently has started being used interchangeably with advertising. Now since the explosion of the internet; advertising paradigms have been constantly changing. The first Web advertisement was placed on the Hot Wired web site in October 1994. AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Volvo, Club Med, ZIMA were the first to try it out and the Internet advertising has come a long way since then. Here, I would attempt to compare Internet Advertising with Traditional Advertising: Lets have a look:

Traditional Advertising:
Traditional advertising is static. Space is not a restricting factor The proportion of advertising to editorial is high sometimes 50:50. Does not evoke immediate action. Response to the action is not immediate. Advertisements are passively received. Advertising does not always target a much focused audience. Advertisements are ubiquitous.

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Whereas Internet Advertising:

It is dynamic with multimedia- supporting text and graphics video sound all together. Space is a problem, as regards size of the banners etc. A web page would be 91% editorial and 9% advertising. Invokes immediate action as you at-least need to click on the add. First response is immediate as when the user clicks, the person is directed to other web page with more details. The user has high attention level and concentration while using the net, and hence they notice the add. (please refer the chapter) This can be much focused. Advertisements catch users when they are on the lookout for something. For example the search is for travel on a search engine there are ads of travel agents on the net.

Thus we see that advertising is changing and so are the rules for advertising on the internet. So while designing or formulating any advertising strategy for a brand on the internet a manager has to take in to account factors like: 1. The Internet has made a huge impact on advertising. Companies should be careful as regards joining the IT bandwagon. They should not advertise on the net just to project themselves as a techno savvy company or maybe because their competitor is doing the same thing. It should be a well-planned campaign full of specific information and attention catching. 2. One more thing would be to generate 'search' specific advertising. This would mean that if I give a search for books on the search engine, the ads displayed would be related to the books. 3. Generally, people perceive the ads to be time consuming and full of unwanted information. 4. Care should be taken to design the ads in such a way that the information they provide or the hyperlinks they provide to a site gives adequate and specific information. 5. The ads and the subsequent information on the web site should be constantly updated and highlighted in the ads and thus induce repeated clicks on the add.

Personalization Tools
Tools such as the software that creates personalized interfaces between e-businesses and customers hold tremendous promise for value exchange and contextual commerce. To be sure, the value of personalization has yet to be fully demonstrated in practice. (Fewer than 15 percent of visitors to Yahoo! have chosen to set up a "My Yahoo!" page for themselves.) Personalization tools also present risks, as well as real operational challenges, such as managing privacy, intrusiveness, and opportunity costs. For that reason, many practitioners still question the short-term return on investments in personalization tools.

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Collaborative Tools
They facilitate word of mouth, or what might be called "branded person-to-person communications"for instance, the ratings that buyers offer sellers on eBay, the Lands End "shop with a friend" feature, Raging Bulls discussion boards, and Perts viral marketing (which encourages consumers to e-mail their friends instructions for obtaining free Pert Plus samples). Collaborative tools such as consumer ratings, though essential for content- and community-oriented digital brands, are underutilized.

Purchase-process Streamlining Tools

They eliminate such physical-world constraints as the need to walk into a store to purchase a product. Amazons one-click ordering system, for example, eases transactions by sparing repeat customers the inconvenience of inputting transaction data. Peapods shopping lists save consumers time by recording the products they purchased previously. The fact that most e-shoppers drop out of the buying process during the last clicks suggests that improvements along these lines might be very worthwhile.

Self-service Tools
They allow customers to obtain answers and results without the delays and inconsistencies that more often than not characterize human efforts to provide assistance. Such tools include software for tracking orders, preparing statements, and changing addresses on-line. Although incumbents often have difficulty integrating these Web-based tools with legacy systems, the tools are indispensable for banks, retailers, and other e-businesses that handle large volumes of transactions.

Do-it-yourself product design tools

They allow consumers to customize products and services, either with the help of configuration options or from scratch. Dell Computer, for example, lets customers design their own systems on-line by choosing from a range of options; customers of Music.com and Listen.com can download the music of various artists onto a single compact disc. But the need to create manufacture-to-order systems to capture the potential of these tools may make them uneconomical in industries that, unlike software and music, are not based on information.

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Research Methodology

Sources of data
The data needed for the study has been collected through primary and secondary data

Primary data
Primary data has been collected through distributing questionnaires to know about the public to know weather, customer are satisfaction in Internet Marketing.

Secondary data
Book journals Websites

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DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1) Do you know about Internet Marketing?

TABLE: 1

Options

No of Respondents

Percentage

Yes No

41 9

82% 18%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 82% of the people are aware of Internet Marketing and only 18% of the people are not aware of this type of marketing.
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No 18

82

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2) How far Internet Marketing helps to you? TABLE: 2 Options No of Respondent Percentage

25%

18%

50%

24

48%

75%

13

26%

100%

8%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 18% of the respondents says Internet Marketing is 25% help full and 48% says it is 50% help full and 26% says it is 75% help full and only 8% of respondents says it is 100% help full to the customers.

18

26

48

29

3) Is Internet Marketing welcomed by customers?

TABLE: 3

Options

No of Respondent

Percentage

Yes

22

44%

No
Interpretation:

28

56%

From the above table it is inferred that 44% of the respondent says Internet Marketing is welcomed by customers and 56% of the respondents says that it is not yet welcomed by the customers.

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No 44

56

30

4) Does Internet Marketing make your purchase easy?

TABLE: 4

Options Yes

No of Respondent 34

Percentage 68%

No Interpretation:

16

32%

From the above table it is inferred that 68% of the respondent says Internet Marketing makes the customer purchase easy and the other 32% of the respondent says it is not so easy for the customers to make a purchase in internet marketing.

68 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Yes No 32

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5) Have you ever been cheated while doing your purchase through Internet Marketing?
TABLE: 5

Options

No of Respondent

Percentage

Yes

16

32%

No

34

68%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 32% of the respondent says that customers are cheated while doing purchase through Internet and 68% of the respondent says that customers are not cheated in Internet Marketing.

No

68

Yes

32

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

32

(6) If yes in what case youre cheated?

TABLE: 6

Options Damaged Goods

No of Respondent 16

Percentage 32%

Delay of Delivery

21

42%

Money Transactions

18%

Fake Marketing

8%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 32% of the respondent says that customers are cheated in damage of goods and 42% of the respondent says that customers are cheated in delay of goods and 18% of the respondent says that customers are cheated in money transactions and 8% of the respondent says that customers are cheated in fake marketing.
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

32

42

18 Damaged goods 8 Delay of delivery Money transaction

Fraud Marketing

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(7) Is Internet marketing better than other marketing?

TABLE: 7

Options

No of Respondent

Percentage

Yes

18

36%

No

32

64%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 36% of the respondent says that Internet Marketing is better that other types of market and 64% of the respondent says it is not better than other types of market.

36 Yes No 64

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(8) Can you save your time through Internet Marketing?

TABLE: 8

Options Yes

No of Respondents 44

Percentage 88%

No

12%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 88% of the respondents says that Internet Marketing saves the time of the customer and only 12% of the respondent says that Internet Marketing does not save the time of the customers.

12

Yes No

88

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(9) Internet Marketing is suitable for what type of customer?

TABLE: 9

Options

No of Respondents

Percentage

Lower middle class

0%

Middle class

12%

Upper class

16

32%

High class Interpretation:

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56%

From the above table it is inferred that none of the respondent says that Internet marketing is affordable for the lower middle class customers and only 12% of the respondent says that it is affordable for the middle class customers and 32% of the respondent says that it is affordable for the upper class customers and 56% of the customers say that it is affordable for the high class customers.
60 56 50 40 30 20 12 10 0 Lower middle class Middle class 0 32

Upper class

High class

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(10) Will you trust Internet Marketing?

TABLE: 10

Options

No of Respondents

Percentage

Yes No Interpretation:

22 28

44% 56%

From the above table it is inferred that 44% of the respondents says that Internet Marketing is trusted by the customers and 56% of the respondents says that it is not trusted by the customers.

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No 44 56

37

(11) Do you think Internet Marketing is changing more?

TABLE: 11

Options

No of Respondents

Percentage

Yes

37

74%

No

13

26%

Interpretation:
From the above table it is inferred that 74% of the respondents say that Internet Marketing is improving and the rest 26% of the customers says that Internet Marketing is not changing its the same.

26

Yes No

74

38

(12) Problems faced by you in Internet Marketing?

TABLE: 12

Options

No of Respondents

Percentage

Bad Server

13

26%

Illegible Webpage

12%

Time Consuming

11

22%

Server Busy Interpretation:

20

40%

From the above table it is inferred that 26% of the respondent say that they face problem because of bad server and 12% of the respondent says because of illegible webpage and 22% of the respondent says because of time consuming and 40% of the respondent says that they face problem because the server is busy.

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Bad server Illegible webpage 12 26 22

40

Time consuming

Server busy

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(13)Which age group of customers is more attracted in this kind of market?

TABLE: 13

Options

No of Respondent

Percentage

16-26

26

52%

27-36

12

24%

37-46

12%

All the above Interpretation:

12%

From the above table it is inferred that 52% of the respondent says that the customers from the age group of 16-26 of age are more attracted to Internet Marketing and 24% of the customers are from 27-36 of age and 12% are from 37-46 and another 12% of the respondent feels that all the age grouped customers are attracted to Internet Marketing.

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(14) In what way you are benefited through Internet Marketing?

TABLE: 14

Options

No of Respondent

Percentage

Easy to Use

16

32%

Less Time Consuming

26

52%

Easy to Pay Interpretation:

16%

From the above table it is inferred that 32% of the respondent says that Internet marketing is easy to use and 52% of the respondent says that it is less time consuming and the remaining 16% of the respondent says Internet Marketing is easy to pay.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

8.2

3.2

1.4

Easy to use

Less time consuming

Easy to pay

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(15) Is this marketing more powerful than other marketing?

TABLE: 15

Options

No of Respondents

Percentage

Yes

20

40%

No

30

60%

Interpretation:
From this table it is inferred that 40% of the respondent says that Internet Marketing is powerful than other types of market and 60% of the respondent says that this is not so powerful than other types of market.

Yes No

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Findings:
82% of the respondents are aware of Internet Marketing and 18% of the respondents are not aware of Internet Marketing. 18% of the respondents say they are 25% satisfied with Internet marketing and 48% are 50% satisfied and 26% of respondents are 75% satisfied and only 8% of the respondents are 100% satisfied. 44% of the respondents welcome Internet marketing and the remaining 56% of the respondents says no to internet marketing. 68% of the respondents say Internet marketing makes their purchase easy and the remaining 32% say that its not easy to make a purchase in Internet marketing. 32% of the customers are cheated through internet marketing 32% of the customers are cheated in damaged goods and 42% on delivery of goods 64% of the customers say Internet marketing is not better than other marketing. 88% of the customer says that internet marketing saves their time. From the survey it is clear that only High Class people are benefited in this kind of marketing. 56% of the customers do not trust Internet marketing. From the survey it is clear that Internet marketing is changing a lot in the society Many of the customers say that they carry a problem of Server Busy often when they do marketing in Internet. It is clear that most of the adults are using this Internet marketing. The survey says that most of the respondents say that Internet marketing saves the time of the customer. Still in India Internet marketing is not so powerful than other types of marketing.
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Conclusion
The Internet will continue to play a significant role in the field of marketing. Many will need to further their studies on the benefits and barriers that the Internet has on the various marketing mediums. Theorists may gain new ideas about the Internet and evaluate whether current marketing theories can continue to be applied to the study of the Internet. Practitioners may continue to conduct market research to determine what consumers want, and policy makers must address topics such as security, consumer protection and taxes. As the field of Internet Marketing explodes, there still will be a need for traditional advertising. Internet Marketing does not threaten the existence of traditional marketing techniques. Rather, it complements the efforts. Although Internet Marketing provides valuable assets such as an increased awareness of brand name, traditional marketing efforts still can address some of the disadvantages of online shopping. For example, traditional marketing efforts can (1) promote brick-and-mortar shopping experiences based on the opportunity for social interaction, and (2) allow consumers to actually see and physically touch a product before purchasing. Two popular Internet marketing strategies are site-centric and symbiotic marketing. Both approaches are viewed to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. However, some organizations have used both methods in their Internet strategies. Although the site-centric has the central site as its foundation and base, the techniques can be expensive and unaffordable for small businesses. The symbiotic marketing strategy is more cost effective and provides organizations with an avenue to develop a presence on the key portal sites in the businessto-business market (Lockett & Blackman, 2001). However, it has its downside, especially for large organizations. There tends to be a need for a longer lead time and it may require more persistence than the site-centric mode.

Suggestions from the Study:

Even though Internet marketing is been developed all over the world, there are certain areas in which the customers feel that Internet marketing has to change they are as follows: The marketing should be easy for the less educated people also. Price of the products should remain same People feel that the company should assure that they are paying their money worth fully It should be more easier and attractive It should have more advertisement of their products It should avoid more advertisements while purchasing in Internet

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QUESTIONNAIRE ON INTERNET MARKETING

Name: _________________ Designation: __________________ Organization: _________________ 1. Place : __________________

Do you know about Internet Marketing? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

2. How far Internet Marketing helps to you? a) 25% c) 75% [ ] b) 50% [ ] d) 100% [ ] [ ]

3.

Is Internet Marketing welcomed by customers? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

4.

Does Internet Marketing makes your purchase easy? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

5.

Have you ever been cheated while doing your purchase through Internet Marketing? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

6.

If yes in what case youre cheated? a) Damaged goods c) Money transactions [ ] [ ] b) Delay of delivery [ ]

d) Others if any _____________

7.

Is Internet marketing better than other marketing? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

Can you save your time through Internet Marketing? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

45

9.

Internet marketing is suitable for what type of customers? a) Lower middle class c) Upper class [ ] [ ] b) Middle class d) High class [ ] [ ]

10.

Will you trust Internet marketing? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

11.

Do you think Internet marketing is changing more? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

12.

Problems faced by you in this type of market? a) Bad server c) Time consuming [ ] [ ] b) Illegible web page d) Server busy

13.

Which age group of customers are more attracted in this kinds of market? a) 16-26 c) 37-47 [ ] b) 27-36 [ ] c) All the above [ ] [ ]

14.

In what way you are benefited through Internet marketing? a) Easy to use [ ] b) Less time consumption [ ] c) Easy to pay [ ] d) Others if any ___________________________

15.

Is this marketing more powerful than other marketing? a) Yes [ ] b) No [ ]

16.

Your opinion about Internet Marketing?

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your kind co-operation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
Marketing Management- Philip Kotler Marketing.Com Vijay Mukhi E-Business Essentials- Matt Haig

Websites www.rediff.com www.hungama.com www.fabmart.com www.j-info.com www.marketingterms.com www.internetworldstats.com

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