1.1 Introduction
Chaffey et al. (2000) simply define internet marketing as "the application of the internet and related digital technologies to achieve marketing objectives"(12). This definition is a simple definition which, unlike the following ones, does not touch the important aspect of customer relationship. According to (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012: 508; Kotler et al., 2010: 493) Online marketing consists of measures and activities to promote products and services and build relationships with customers over the Internet. Burrett (2008) understands online marketing as carefully targeting users and getting them to interact with you while they‘re engaged with the most personal, intimate medium ever invented.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The Internet has its origins in cold war and technological rivalry between USSR and US. In fact "while the World Wide Web was created in 1991, its origin dates back to 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I satellite" (Dickey and Lewis, 2011: 2). US reacted with establishment a department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) which launched in 1960s ARPANET, an experimental project of computer networks from which what we now know as internet developed. Since then internet contributed to science incredibly and "by the late 1980s the internet was being used by many government and business institutions" (Ferguson, 2008: 69).
So internet was considered an inclusive communicative tool of scientific and research centers for several years and its academic function was its dominant prior to discovering its commercial capabilities which led to its commercialization. As Oksana (2007) puts it: "until the mid-nineties, the research and academic communities accounted for most of the internet population but the commercialization of internet soon gained enormous momentum and the business community quickly became aware of the potential it has to offer". With increasing the number of internet users during the 1990s, entrepreneurs started to appreciate commercial prospects of this new medium. Although there is no complete consensus on when did internet marketing exactly start, but the majority of commentators refer to 1994. So it is widely held that "significant commercial use of the Internet began with the first ‗banner ads‘ on web pages in 1994, and the appearance of Internet-based ‗malls‘ (the electronic equivalent of a storefront) such as Amazon.com in 1995".
Statistics make it clear that this young marketplace, online marketing, has had an astonishing rate of growth. So amazing is the growth rate of this new paradigm of marketing that it is hard to believe how young it is. In fact "in 1994, spending for internet marketing totaled nearly nothing, but increased to over $300 million in 1995. After a decade later, marketing spending and internet marketing business has exploded to nearly $500 billion (according to Forrester Research). Today, it‘s hard to believe in having an organization which doesn‘t have some kind of online presence." (Shirvastav and Alam, 2014: 25) This brief historic background is concluded by pointing to the fact that step by step online marketing has become a much more sophisticated practice. So early methods of internet marketing such as online advertising and email marketing has been followed by more younger, developed methods such as search engine optimization or social media marketing.
The most comprehensive definition has been articulated by Chaffey (2007), he defines online marketing as Applying Digital technologies which form online channels (Web, e-mail, databases, plus mobile/wireless & digital TV) to contribute to marketing activities aimed at achieving profitable acquisition and retention of customers (within a multi-channel buying process and customer lifecycle) through improving our customer knowledge (of their profiles, behavior, value and loyalty drivers), then delivering integrated targeted communications and online services that match their individual needs". As this relationship concept definitions show online marketing revolve around interaction and building relationship with customers, a point which discriminates it from traditional, offline marketing.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
One of the major problems Business Marketing face in their campaigns is still the use of primitive promotions channels such as press, brochure, catalogue, TV, cell phone, etc, and several offline channels which lacks a comprehensive, harmonizing marketing framework. In this project work, we present a new solution for businesses to promote their business online to reach a wider audience.
1.4 Aim and Objective of the Study
The main aim of this study is to develop and implement an online marketing system that will be useful to business owners. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To create a platform for businesses to reach a wider audience and increase sales and profits.
- To develop a general purpose store where consumers can find products and services from the comfort of home through the Internet.
- To implement an online virtual store on the Internet where customers can browse the catalog and select products of interest.
1.5 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the design and implementation of an online marketing system. The study will cover the marketing process of billings, buying and selling to customer which will be useful to business owners.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials.
1.8 Definition of Terms
- Internet: The Internet is a global wide area network that connects computer systems across the world.
- Business: A business is defined as an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities.
- Virtual Store: The virtual store is an online store that displays merchandise and an order form.
- Marketing: Marketing is the process of teaching consumers why they should choose your product or service over those of your competitors, and is a form of persuasive communication.
- Promotion Channels: In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue.
- Customer Relation: Customer relations describes the ways that a company will engage with its customers to improve the customer experience.
