Ecom 301

College of Administrative and Financial Sciences

E-commerce Department

Requirements

Part 1, around (500-700) words: Due week 6, on 27/2/2021. (Refer to the Textbook Chapters 2 & 3, and apply the following in the context of your company)

1. Investigate the micro-environment as part of the situation analysis for your company. a. Customers’ persona.

You should define:

· The target audience of your business.

· You will create three marketing personas that represent the organization’s target audience.

0. Competitors analysis

0. Competitor analysis

Explain the impact of internet on the five forces (Porter’s five forces model).

0. Benchmarking

Review the digital marketing tools/platforms of 2-3 local competitors and pay attention to their tone and personality and analyze your competition’s digital marketing tools/platforms, base your analysis on what you’ve observed on your competitor’s digital marketing tools/platforms across all platforms.

0. Digital Marketing Suppliers and/or Digital Marketing intermediaries.

1. Review customer use of different types of digital publisher or media sites which may influence their decision.

1. Summaries the macro-environment variable your company needs to monitor when operating the digital marketing campaign. (two or three variables for each force are sufficient)

▪ Apply PESTLE strategic analysis tool in order to measure and assess the digital market. a. Technological forces.

b. Legal forces.

c. Economic forces.

d.Political forces.

e. Social forces.

Part 1

Introduction

The business selected for the analysis is Ekuep.com, a go-to-ecommerce platform and marketplace in which customers use in shopping top brands of various products. Among the products dealt with by the business include coffee equipment, cooking equipment, ice equipment, food preparation equipment and dishwashing equipment.

Body

MICRO-ENVIRONMENT

Customers’ persona

The target market for the products offered by Ekuep.com is the households and food processing businesses and restaurants. This is because the products offered are either used in a kitchen set up at home or in preparation of food and drinks and its preservation in restaurants and at homes (An et al, 2018).

The first persona is the competitive persona which identifies the buyers who perceive Ekuep.com in relation to the competitive advantages or edges it has on the competitors. The second persona is the spontaneous persona which represents the buyers who are interested in whether they can get what they are looking for on the e-commerce platform quickly. The third classification of the organization audience is the humanistic personal who is people-oriented which represents the buyers who make slow buying decisions based on emotions (Fergnani, 2019).

Competitor analysis

One of the ways in which it has affected the five forces is through enhancing the accessibility of market information to both the buyers and suppliers particularly on prices. This has affected the power of both buyers and suppliers and enabled new firms to easily enter the market. It has encouraged the development of substitute products which has led the standardization of prices due to increased threat of substitute.

Benchmarking

The first competitor is Pitco which has an effective and well-designed marketing framework with marketing tools. Pitco apply extensive use of social media to create awareness to the target customers which contribute to a wide customer base with customers from different geographical locations across various jurisdictions. It is associated with quality having earned the brand of the most reliable fryer company (Unknown, 2020). Mareno is the second competitor which has a brand competence based on customer experience (Portal, 2019). The organization ensures the customers enjoys the products by customizing the products based on the target customer needs. The company use social media as one of the digital marketing tools and content creation on internet platforms (Unknown, n.d.).

Digital marketing suppliers or intermediaries

Google is the main digital media site used by customers in searching for the products offered by Ekuep.com. Customers also use social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram through which the company make advertisements through (Unknown, 2021).

MACROENVIROMENT

The factors were analyzed based on the PESTLE strategic analysis.

Political forces

This includes: tax policy and environmental regulations where the organization should focus on strategies that are less affected by the set tax rules and which marketing strategies comply with the set regulations concerning environmental conservation (Mupamhadzi & Maloma, 2020).

Economic forces

Social forces

Ekuep.com has to consider the diverse cultures of the target market and customize the digital marketing content based on the cultural characteristics. Also, the e-commerce platform has to understand the level of education on the target market in determining the most appropriate marketing channel to use (Wu et al, 2017).

Technological forces

Ekuep.com has to consider the maturity of technology in the market and to what extent the products offered much the tech. Also, the company has to determine the innovation potential when deciding on the marketing content to upload on the digital marketing platforms.

Legal forces

Consumer law and discrimination law are two key variables to be considered in operating digital marketing campaign. Consumer law deals with balance in market place while discrimination law ensures there is no buyer exploitation (Mihajlović & Raguz, 2018).

Conclusion

Through the considerations of the above factors, Ekuep.com will establish a sound digital marketing campaign that results to increased productivity.

Part 2

Introduction

Digital marketing strategy

This section introduced a detailed analysis of Ekuep.com in relation to the current status and possible improvements which can be made based on the digital campaign strategy to attain competitive advantage over the competitors.

Body

Situation analysis

Customer Insight

Currently, the followers are commercial food service providers and middle-aged couples whom in most cases are looking for home kitchen equipment. The commercial food providers in most cases are interested in the cooking and food preparation equipment. The visitors like videos as the marketing content on the products offered by Ekuep.com particularly those that feature influential personalities. The part of the marketing content that the audience like is the new products and equipment and discounts offered at the e-commerce platform (Unknown, 2021).

Competitor Analysis

Both Pitco and Moreno as the key competitors of Ekuep.com have developed customer-friendly websites. The websites are easy to operate particularly in window shopping which is key in buyer’s decision. Pitco has a significant following on social media platforms with the enhanced online presence while Mareno has a large following on professional social media platforms such as LinkedIn (Unknown, n.d.). The social content that works for the competitors in both Pitco and Mareno include articles of events which relate back to their products. Also, videos on organization’s promotion activities ad events attract large audience on the social media platforms. There are different perceptions on the competitors which dictate what they say about the competitors and their products. People say that Mareno has products that makes life easier, convenient and fun to live. On Pitco, people say that the platforms offer quality at all times which is based on the brand reputation on reliability (Unknown, 2020).

e-Marketing SWOT

Presence of cost-effective production mechanism is one of the strengths that give Ekuep.com a competitive edge over the competitors as it is able to produce and market the products at lower cost. Also, the organization has well-differentiated products based on the needs of the target market which makes them have an added advantage of customer loyalty. In addition to the strengths of the organization is that Ejuep.com has a unique selling point in that the organization is able to communicate easily to the target audience. Ekuep.com has few areas where improvement is needed to enhance efficiency. One of the weaknesses is that the organization has a business model that is easy to be copied. Also, the organization has been accused of having slow growth processes compared to other e-commerce platforms. In addition to the weaknesses is low attainment of the promises to offer quality products at minimum costs. Ekuep.com has various opportunities which can enhance its market growth and development. One of the opportunities is the advancement in technology where majority of the people prefer using cooking technology rather than traditional methods and equipment. Also, there is change in buying patterns where majority of the people are shifting buying into online shopping. The advancement in internet connectivity with the spread of 5G is an opportunity for Ekuep.com to expand its global presence. However, there are various threats which may limit the growth and development of the company. One of the threats is new entrant with more sophisticated and designed digital campaign and marketing strategy which would reduce Ekuep’s current market share in the Middle East. Cyber threat is the second threat which might affect Ekuep.com with the online accounts being hijacked by unauthorized parties which might result into significant financial losses. Exchange rate instability is the third risk where the organization might be affected by the prices of currencies in different jurisdictions with the global expansion programs. The SWOT analysis can help the organization in determining the most efficient level to operate in for easier attainment of the set objectives and gaining competitive advantage.

Business Objective

The objective of the digital brand strategy is to create awareness of the products offered to target customers across the world. Also, the campaign strategy aims at building the brand reputation of the organization.

Strategy

In creating awareness of the products, marketing Ads will be shared through the digital marketing channels. In building brand competence, a market research is to be conducted to collect and process data on how the target customers respond too easily. This would assist in tailoring the products offered based on the expectations of the target audience to enhance the customer satisfaction (An et al, 2018).

The sales and marketing team have the responsibility to conduct the sales research and report to the organization on the results. The performance can be monitored through key performance indicators such as sales revenue generation.

Marketing mix

Product variable

The product is online-only in that the organization operates through the online platforms only. The extra services around the product is the ability on the customer to participate in designing the product based on preferred features after which the organization avails the selected clients. Among the features to include in the product include quality, affordability and creativity. Branding is also an important aspect in gaining higher market influence.

Price variables

The organization aims at having differential price strategy in which different customers have different prices to pay for the same product. In new market regions, the organization will charge lower prices than other competitors to create a customer base after which the prices will be adjusted accordingly. Refund policies will also be integrated on price strategy to ensure customers only buy what they ate interested in (Key & Czaplewski, 2017).

Place variables

An integrated marketing approach consisting of both traditional and modern marketing channels is to be used in marketing the products. This will help in accommodating different users based on their preferences and on platforms in which majority of the target audience relied upon (Blut & Floh, 2018).

Promotion variables

The promotional activities to be used by Ekuep.com include exhibition in which the products are presented during key events where target audience attend. Advertisement will also be used as a promotional activity in promoting the products offered by Ekuep.com. The promotional goal is to create awareness and convert more sales (Elavarasan et al, 2020).

Process variables

The processes will be tracked through the use of KPIs in digital marketing campaign and the respective metrics. Among the KPIs to be used include the web traffic sources, lead conversion rates, brand awareness and website traffic leads. The organization will also deliver great customer service by responding quickly, personalizing services and helping customers help themselves (Fuad et al, 2019).

In implementing the strategy, the organization will build a virtual community based on stakeholders identified for the online community. The community would comprise of members who use a common social media platform. Digital media can be used in supporting customers’ advocacy by engaging with the current followers after which the networks can be grown. The organization can target the right people to help in promoting the principles of advocacy (Ryu & Suh, 2020). This can be attained through permission marketing where the audience is awarded the choice to opt-in receiving promotion messages from Ekuep.com.

Conclusion

Based on the outlined digital campaign strategy, Ekuep.com would secure a large market share characterized by a wide customer base.

Reference

An, J., Kwak, H., Jung, S. G., Salminen, J., & Jansen, B. J. (2018). Customer segmentation using online platforms: isolating behavioral and demographic segments for persona creation via aggregated user data. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 8(1), 1-19.

Blut, M., Teller, C., & Floh, A. (2018). Testing retail marketing-mix effects on patronage: A meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing, 94(2), 113-135.

Fuad, L., Tamtomo, D., & Sulaiman, E. S. (2019). Multilevel analysis on the effect of marketing mix strategy toward patient satisfaction in Magelang, Central Java. Journal of health policy and management, 4(1), 39-46.

Key, T. M., & Czaplewski, A. J. (2017). Upstream social marketing strategy: An integrated marketing communications approach. Business Horizons, 60(3), 325-333.

Ryu, S., & Suh, A. (2020). Online service or virtual community? Building platform loyalty in reward-based crowdfunding. Internet Research.