Core Concepts of Marketing

PRODUCTPLANNINGANDSTRATEGYFORMULATION 179

INTEGRATED MARKETING •

TRICKIERTHANYOUTHINK

Everyoneknowsthefastestwaytogetrichistostarta dot-com
business.Accordingto theU.S.CommerceDepartment,traf-
ficontheInternetdoublesevery 100 days.Toacquireanaudi-
enceof 50 million,it tookradio 30 years,television 13 years,
personalcomputers 16 years, andtheInternetfouryears.
Still, marketers whogoonlineexpectingto makean
"overnightkilling"arein fora bruisinglesson.Gettingonthe
Webtakesaninvestment, andoncethere,youhavetobuild
yourWebpresenceandbrand.Andtherearestilltechnical
andlogisticalhurdlestoclear. Just askJulieWainwright, who
gotafirsthandlookatthenewmathafterthepet-products
Websitesheheads,Pet.com, wentpublicin 2000.Aftermak-
ingitsdebutat$ 11 a share,theSanFrancisco-basedInter-.
netcompany's stockroseto$14andthenpromptlydropped
below$3..
VolatilityintheInternetbusinesshasproduceda new
industry-Internetconsultants. As a result, a plethoraofrec-
ommendationshaveemergedforenteringanInternetbusi-
ness.Herearesomeofthesuggestions:

• Keep it simple-focuson providing compelling
  infOlmation.


• Putcustomersfirst-understandthemand meettheir
  needs.


• Makeyoursiteweb-friendly--<ion' t assumeeveryone
  istechnicallycompetent.


• Spreadtheword-publicizeyourwebaddress,offline
  aswellasontheNet, byputtingit everywhereyoudo
  business.


• Bereadyforsuccess-aWebsite cangiveyoumore
  businessthanyoucanhandle.
  
  
  • Althoughe-businessmovesfast: managersshouldn't
    movecarelessly--don' ttakerisksthatjeopardizereach-
    ingyourgoals.
  
  
  • Cash-flowproblemsarecommonwithInternetstart-
    .ups-projecttheamountofcashneeded,then double
    it.
  
  
  • Creatinga truebrandis speciallydifficultwithInter-
  
  
  
  

netstart-ups-excellentcustomerservice,notadver-

tising,is likelytheanswer.

• Deliverthegoods-gettinggoodsdeliveredtoa cus-
  tomer'sdoorstepin a timelymanneris muchmorecom-
  plicatedforIntemetbusinesses.


• Activelymonitorthecustomer-thisongoing dialogue
  leadstoa deeperunderstandingofa customer'spref-
  erencesandshoppinghabits,andthat,intum,leadsto
  more personalizedofferingsandservices..
  Don' t assumethattheWebwillsolveallyourproblems
  orsubstitutefor soundbusinessjudgment."Itis notsomesort
  ofget-rich-quickscheme,"saysMarkWeaver,professorof
  entrepreneurshipat theUniversityofAlabama."Youhaveto
  beeven morea perfectionist, moremeticulous,andmorepre-
  paredtoadjusttothechangingrulesofbusinessonline."

Sources:SreenathSreenivasan,"WrestlingwiththeWeb,"Busi-

nessWeek,May 24 , 1999, pp.FI6--FI9;PeggyPulliam, "ToWeb

orNottoWeb,"InternetMarketing,June 2000 , pp.37-41;Kara

Swisher,"RealityCheck,"TheWallStreetJournal,April17,2000,

p.R19;ErinStrout,"LaunchinganE-Business," Sales&Market-

ingManagement,July 2000 ,pp.89-91.

Threegeneralquestionscanbeansweredthroughtestmarketing. F irst,theoverall

w::lrkabilityofthemarketingplancanbeassessed.Second,alternativeallocationsofthe

buagetcanbeevaluated.Third,determiningwhethera newproductintroductionisinspir-

inguserstoswitchfromtheir previousbrandstothenewoneandholdingthemtherethrough

subsequentrepeatpurchasesisdetermined.Intheend,thetestmarketshouldincludean

estimateofsales,marketshare,andfinancialperformanceoverthelifeoftheproduct.

Initialproducttestingandtestmarketingarenotthesame.Producttestingistotally

initiatedbytheproducer:heselectsthesampleofpeople, providestheconsumerwith the

testproduct,andofferstheconsumersome sortofincentivetoparticipate.

Testmarketing,ontheotherhand,isdistinguishedbythefactthatthetestcitiesare

torepresentthenationalmarket,theconsumermustmakethedecision herself,mustpay

hermoney,andthe testpro ductmustcompetewiththeexistingproductsintheactualmar-

ketingenvironment. Fortheseandotherreasonsamarkettestisanaccuratesimulationof

thenationalm arketandservesasamethodforreducingrisk.Itshouldenhancethenew