'Evaluate the effectiveness of Internet marketing Essay\r'

'Given that the UK has fully embraced e-commerce and meshing shoppers now contri bute more to the state’s GDP than separate rustic in the G20, it is perhaps unsurprising that it spawned one(a) of the dry land’s leading online retailers †ASOS (As Seen On Screen). When launched in 2000, the website was aimed at providing consumers a scratch to buy clothes and approach shotories that had been worn by celebrities, or former(a)wise items ‘As Seen on Screen’, but has since gr make to a global online fashion store that has everywhere 65,000 harvest-tides that atomic number 18 bumed at the ‘20- or sothings market’. ASOS beau ideal client is a female, 20 course old, fashion-lover: an avid consumer and communicator who are inspired by celebrities and the media. ASOS aim to recognize an increased spirit of their intention client so they stop offer them the fashion they want, they do this by building an online kin.\r\nASOS ideal cli ent would wee-wee online, digital lives to ensure the instant access to in underframeation as ASOS is web-accessible on almost(prenominal) device they happen to be victimization †mobile, tablet or laptop/PC. ASOS sells a roomy avow of stigmas to purpose antithetical individuals. ASOS sell their avouch label and other world-ren testifyed brands, and besides give individuals and boutiques the chance to sell, peeled and pre-worn fashion, through their ASOS Marketplace channel. ASOS now has 8 local language websites (UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, China and Russia) but besides pass ons desolate shipping to 234 countries in total. Its website attracts 29.5 trillion unique visitors a calendar month (excluding mobile) and has 14.8 million registered ingestionrs. With the Group’s captain executive recently claiming that £1 one million million million in annual gross sales are firmly in the phoner’s sights, ASOS is truly an online giant. How does ASOS exercising the net acquire?\r\nASOS engage the Internet in a range of different ways to sift to take the most from the company. As the company is online only, their of import use of the Internet is through their make website. By utilize their website they nonify begin the company’s message, to inform exist and potential nodes of the features and benefits of the company’s products and/or go. This enables the clients to browse through the products available and barter for them online at their own convenience. As guests of ASOS move part of the company by having their own personal accounts, ASOS arse use straightaway mailing when promoting new offers, products and divine redevelopments. They can as intimately as use direct mail to stand up customers when tracking armys position online. ASOS can alike use the Internet to promote the company through Search Engine optimization (SEO).\r\nSearch Engine Marketing (SEM), which is me rchandising a website online via search engines, either by improving the site’s be through search engine optimization (SEO), buying pay-per-click (PPC) ads or purchasing pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in website directories. By doing this, ASOS can use favourite search engines such(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as, Google and Yahoo!, to browse any get in touchs of theirs, this instantly gives them a competitive advantage over competitors. ASOS can in like manner use the Internet by advertising through banners and so forth loving Media is another way ASOS can use the Internet. Social media marketing, this can involve sociable networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. ASOS can use these sites to agnize customers and in any case enhance the popularity of the company. The products provided by ASOS hind end a range of customers with a extensive array of high street and causality brands. These are all promoted alongside ASOS own brand to gain an increased k nowledge from potential customers.\r\nWhat are the benefits?\r\nBy using the Internet, ASOS have been able to obtain a number of make out benefits. The main key benefit for ASOS is the world power the Internet brings to provide a aid to a wider target audience. The convenience of the store and the 24/7 access enables ASOS to obtain an increased numerate of customers. By being an online store they can also target customers worldwide, which further expands their ever-growing target audience. Another benefit of using the Internet as a business is the ability to use direct marketing, via Email, text etc. ASOS are able to contact customers today through their account information and they do this to inform them of the latest sales/promotions. This is a massive benefit for ASOS in damage of sustaining customers and it builds a customer/company relationship and increases the loyalty of the customers.\r\nWhat challenges did ASOS subjugate?\r\nIn order to excel to become one of the wo rld’s leading online retailers, ASOS have had to overcome a number of challenges. The most demonstrable challenge, which colossally impacted ASOS monetaryly, was in the form of a warehouse fire in 2006. The warehouse fire caused 45% of business line with an overall profit of 3.8million to be disoriented; this incidental saw a great downfall for the company. Unfortunately, the incident fell during December, which resulted in the loss of thousands of Christmas presents that had also been paid for by customers worldwide. Not only was this a financial issue this also handicaped ASOS reputation and brand image due to the miss of institutionalise and dropd loyalty from their customers. In the waken of the 9/11 and the collapse of the dot com company boom craze, ASOS shares were falling towards one of the pommel market collapses for a generation.\r\nAn instant decrease in share prices similarly caused a challenge for the business. ASOS also faced challenges with the lack of support from high-end, designer brands. To build the companies reputation, attracting bigger fashion labels was crucial. By 2004, ASOS was selling line of descent from a number of prestigious brands; this greatly increased customers and therefore increased cabbage and popularity of the site. The brand image including the re-brand of the company from As Seen On Screen to ASOS, which was another merry decision ASOS had to make to suit customers demands and call for. By doing this they tailored their company to fit the craved needs of their customers, which succeeded in building the relationship between the company and the customers. After the incident of the warehouse fire, ASOS faced financial crusade and faced interim payments over 12 months to strive to put the business posterior on track. They thrived in doing this with a developing of 116% in 12 months †and revenues of 42.6 million. Today, ASOS alleviate faces challenges with issues such as, technical difficulties and securing payments online.\r\nHow do they meet the customer needs?\r\nAs a extremely supremacyful company, ASOS meet customer needs in a number of assorted ways. The website itself aims to meet customer needs by targeting their design and layout to appease customers. The website features a gliding bar, drop down menus, a avail page and contact expound for customers. When featuring a product on the site, ASOS offer customers with a wide range of colour and size survival of the fittests, catering for customers needs. The website also makes this easy for customers to adjust their relishd product with the use of filters when browsing products. The website is also used to promote sales and special offers for customers all year round. tardily ASOS have expanded their services by providing, ASOS high-up Premier (for just £9.95 a year). This allows loyal customers to become a very important person member of the site with extra services such as unlimited next-day delivery , free returns and early access to sales.\r\nThis is highlighted to enhance customers desire to shop with ASOS and also provides increased benefits when enough a VIP ASOS customer. As wholesome as the ability to become an ASOS VIP Premier customer, customers can join the website (free of charge) with their own personal account. This includes sharing personal details when ordering and tracking products. Due to pledge, some customers whitethorn see this as an displeasing font to ordering online. However, ASOS ensure security recognition, in the form of a sustain icon, focuses that ASOS is a secure site. By congruous a member, customers are automatically placed on the direct mailing list. This allows ASOS to lapse customers up to date with special offers and also process to sustain customers. As well as using their own site, ASOS also uses a variety of social networking sites to help their customers feel more connected to the business. This also enables them to be informed o f any updates.\r\nASOS also use popular search engines, such as Google and Yahoo! through sponsored link; this means that when users search ASOS, the page is automatically the first link to appear on screen. By using sponsored link this enables ASOS to gain recognition of customers and also makes it more well-provided and easier for customers to find the page. To meet a wider customer audience, ASOS ensure their site is accessible to all, with the option of 8 different language and bills selections to suit a specific customer. This meets customer’s needs as it enhances ASOS target audience therefore generating an increased profit for the company.\r\nHow don’t they meet the customer needs?\r\n condescension having a wide range of benefits that do meet ASOS’ customer needs; there are still a number of factors that hinder success for ASOS. Primarily, with ASOS being an online only business, there is no direct service for customers. Although the website provides a n email service there is no direct service available for customers, which means customers can not ring the business or spill to an employee face to face. This whitethorn be a huge disadvantage to the ASOS, as they do not provide a occurrence service that customers whitethorn feel is a must. The website itself, although fresh and tidy with its black and vacuous colour scheme, when browsing the site customers may find the design to be wordy and dull in comparison to an raise and living shopping trip experience.\r\nThis may hinder customer’s use of the site and result in a loss of customers and profit. As well as the design of the website, images of products featured on ASOS, may also deter customers desire to barter for from the website. Some of the images on the ASOS website are punic which makes it hard for customers to gain a hardheaded vision of what they are potentially purchasing. This could peradventure be a disadvantage for ASOS as customers may face disappoint ment on the arrival of their purchase, as they do not have the ability to view the product in high detail ahead buying. When browsing ASOS, it can be highlighted that some of the pages steer a different layout than others on the website. This could be seen as inconsistency inwardly the website and give customers an unprofessional image of ASOS.\r\n demonstration\r\nIn conclusion, ASOS is effective in shock the desired needs of its customers. The figures in 2007 of 42.6 million in comparison to the predicted turnover of £1 billion expected by 2015 show the growth of the company in ancient years. This growth is down to the overall service providing by ASOS and use of the Internet. This is shown through benefits such as; navigation of the website, popularity through other sites, including search engines; direct mail and accessibility. Despite this, there are several drawbacks to using Internet market, which may prevent ASOS to strive to reach their fullest potential. Drawbacks within; overall customer service and inconsistency throughout the site, which may be seen as a huge disadvantage when using the website and may hinder the future growth of ASOS in the aspect of gaining and sustaining current and potential customers.\r\n'