Wireless and Fundamental Changes
Exhibit 1. 4 highlights the marketing implications of Internet technologies in the following categories: Bits not atoms, Mediating technology, Global reach, Network externality, Time moderator, Information equalizer, Scalable capacity, Open Standard, Market deconstruct, and Task Automation. What fundamental changes has the Internet brought to marketing? The balance of power is shifting to buyers—one of the most fundamental changes to marketing. Marketers have practically lost control of brand images due to blogs, online bulletin boards, and other online communication, and must consistently underpromise and overdeliver.
Other changes: Market fragmentation. The Internet put finality to this trend by extending to its ultimate—a market size of one customer—and prompted marketers to create products and communication to small target groups. Death of distance. Geographic location is no longer a factor when collaborating with business partners, supply chain firms, or customers, or just chatting with friends. Time compression. Time is not a factor with Internet communication between firms and their stakeholders.
Online stores can be open 24/7; people can communicate as their schedules permit; times zones disappear for managers collaborating with partners on other continents. Critical knowledge management. In the digital world, customer information is easy and inexpensive to gather, store, and analyze. Managers can track marketing results as plans are implemented, receiving play-by-play reports. However, turning huge databases into meaningful knowledge to guide strategic decisions is a major challenge. Interdisciplinary focus. Marketers must understand technology to harness its power.
They do not have to personally develop the technologies, but they need to know enough to select appropriate suppliers and direct technology professionals. Intellectual capital rules. Imagination, creativity, and entrepreneurship are more important resources than financial capital. The internet properties that affect marketing are the web itself. The web allows information to travel faster throughout the whole world. Secondly, the existence of email contributes to a more efficient way of communication. Email also has sparked the ideas for another internet revolution, the social networks.
A social network is based on Web 2. 0 where the web allows interactivity within the internet users community. The existence of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter keeps people online more often than before. Another example of internet properties that affect marketing is through blogs. There was a saying; “pen is sharper than sword”. With blogs, internet users are allowed to express their opinions and discussions worldwide. The wiki pages such as Wikipedia are places where people share knowledge about everything, including brands and other marketing related topics.
With these internet properties, there are a few fundamental changes the internet has brought to marketing. Firstly, it changes the power shift from sellers to buyers. Consumers have the ability to share and review the products online where good products will be praised and inferior products will be critiqued everywhere through word of mouth or some would call it word of “mouse” (WOM). It is also through this process that consumers trust each other more than they trust the companies.
This issue can be measured by the success of EBay in the online market where second-hand and unexpected products will be marketed in the website. One could get an item from EBay where no other can find such as unique products. The other big change to marketing approach due to internet is the market and media fragmentation. Before the existence of internet marketing, the brands will go through a series of supply chain before reaching to the… What concerns about consumer privacy are raised by the increased use of wireless computing and handheld devices outside the home or workplace? here wireless devices can contain their financial and private information and those signals can be intercepted and other people can obtain information. 12. What concerns about consumer privacy are raised by the increased use of wireless computing and handheld devices outside the home or workplace? The rapid proliferation of wireless networks outside the home and work place has resulted in increased concern over privacy. In the digital context, privacy refers to two things: the “right to be left alone,” and the right to keep one’s personal information private (see chapter 5).
With regard to wireless computing, one big concern is text message Spamming. As marketers gain access to cell phone numbers and even cell phone directories, many fear that unscrupulous marketers will overwhelm consumers with voice and text messages. Another concern is that people can intercept wireless transmissions, thus gaining access to personal information sent from PCs and other devices over wireless networks. Security issues with hard-line Internet connections with “always-on” services like DSL and cable were concern enough already.
Now with services that broadcast data throughout the air freely available to everyone, consumers have reason to be even more concerned. The same issues with privacy, credit cards numbers, personal information, etc. apply, except now people can listen in and even jump onto your network with a Pringle’s can for an antennae and a little know how. Encryption standards are still widely debated, but it is likely the added convenience will win out in the end. In a future with mobile commerce and automated account transfers over wireless networks, security will become paramount.
