The Marketing Book 5th Edition

B2C

n

n

Organization sites

(Dell, Amazon)

Consumer marketplaces

(Kelkoo.com, Shopmart.com)

C2C

n

n

Auctions (QXL, EBay)

Consumer reviews

(Bizrate.com, Deja.com)

B2B

n

n

Organization sites (Dell)

Business marketplaces

(CommerceOne, VerticalNet)

C2B

nCustomer bids:

(LetsBuyit.com, Priceline.com)

Business Consumer

Business

Consumer

TO

FROM

640 The Marketing Book

ever had occurred in which five suppliers
participated, 1200 different parts changed
hands, with total order volume over 3 billion
euros.
The other transaction types shown in
Figure 25.1 are less significant in terms of
revenue volumes: these are customer-to-cus-
tomer interactions (C2C; best known as con-
sumer auctions, but can also be achieved as
B2C and B2B communities) and customer-to-
business (C2B; novel buying models where
customers approach the business on their own
terms).

New media communications

characteristics

Through understanding the key communica-
tions characteristics of the digital media, we can
exploit these media while guarding against
their weaknesses. The six key changes in

moving from traditional media to new media

are:

1 From push to pull. Traditional media such as

Print, TV and Radio are push media, a one-way

street where information flows are mainly

unidirectional, unless direct response elements

are built in. In contrast, the web is a pull

medium. This is its biggest strength and its

biggest weakness. It is a strength since pull

means that prospects and customers only visit

your site when it enters their head to do so –

when they have a defined need. They are

proactive and self-selecting. But this is a

weakness since on-line pull means we have less

control than in traditional communications,

where the message is pushed out to a defined

audience. What are the e-marketing

implications of the pull medium? First, we need

to provide the physical stimuli to encourage

visits to websites. This may mean traditional

Figure 25.1 Options for on-line communications between an organization and its customers