The main determinant of the market for any product is determined on the basis of the purchasing power of the customers. The purchasing power is determined on the basis of the ability of the consumer to buy as well as how much power the consumer is allowed to have. The marketing research basically looks at the factors that determine the purchasing habit of the consumers. Porter and Miller have developed marketing principles like ‘push’ model of marketing which implies that a product or service is developed by a business based on the knowledge and expertise of the peoples associated with the business.
On developing the product or service the business markets that product or service by pushing it towards the market. However recently the trend is changed and the marketing concept of ‘pull’ model has replaced the ‘push’ model especially after the technological development in the information and communication sector. In a ‘pull’ model the customer decided what he wants to purchase and it is for the business to listen to the customer and develop the product or service according to the needs of the customer.
The internet allows the customer to express his specifications about the products and the conditions under which he wants to effect the purchases. In the internet marketing convenience is the major factor that takes the centre place. The convenience is felt in the ease of using the medium, in terms of the costs involved and also the convenience in gathering the information on the products or service.
From the point of view of sale of music products by the music industry there was the need to reconsider how the industry had to change their marketing strategies in the context of the development of the internet. The music industry traditionally had been working on a ‘push’ model and released new products at such times when the record companies felt that they can maximize their revenues. The consumers and artists never had any say in developing the marketing concepts.
However the recent times there have been changes in the way the music products are marketed with all the three actors namely the industry, the consumers and artists have different forces acting on the sale of the products. Even though the music industry acting through the record companies still maintain a major control by offering recording contracts to the artists and releasing them at their appointed timings, the consumers have attempted to take over some control through file sharing websites such as Napster. The internet has also given the power to the consumers to review the music.
The position of the artists has also changed in that some of the artists create their own on-line labels for the promotion of their works while some other artists are placing their works on their own websites for promoting the sale of records. (Pfahl) The use of internet as a marketing segment has caught up with many multinational and transnational companies and they have made a strong presence in the internet. The main advantage of internet is that the product details reach a wider section of the consumers throughout the country and even around the world at a very less cost.
The applications of the internet in every walk of life including marketing are constantly increasing and the business houses who have moved to the internet medium of marketing have reaped tremendous benefits than their competitors who follow traditional marketing methods. (Thomas L. Ainscough and Michael G. Luckett) The popularity of the internet has been growing rapidly and is still having a great potential in improving the marketability of the products. Internet is yet to offer the full potential to the businesses.
According to Eager (1994) internet is growing at the rate of over two million users every month. The internet provides the advantage of ensuring a new and highly efficient source of accessing and sharing of information about almost any subject on the earth. Till the time internet was using the UNIX as the operating system the use of it was limited only to the scientists and academicians and after it is changed as ‘World Wide Web’ internet has become an useful tool for all segments of the society like students, government agencies, business entities and educational institutions alike.
Just as a regular marketing plan is formulated the E- marketing has also got to follow certain processes which are vitally important to have successful marketing efforts. Though basically both the regular and e-market planning have the same approach there is one important difference in the approaches in that the market environment for the e-marketing is different from that of the regular marketing. In the e-marketing there is the need to give an immediate response to the customers on their enquiries.
The following stages may be adopted for the development of a successful e-market. 1. Strategic Analysis: The strategic analysis implies a periodic assessment of the economic environment from both the micro and macro perspectives. The strategic analysis should cover the changing preferences and needs of the customers, evaluating the competitors’ performances and seizing the opportunities provided by the technological developments. 2. Arriving at Strategic Objectives:
It is crucially important for the company to decide whether it is possible to substitute the regular marketing efforts with the e marketing strategies. The effect of the online marketing on the total turnover of the company should be clearly assessed and decision taken to implement the strategic decisions. 3. Formulating Strategies: The next important and logical step in establishing an e-market plan is to formulate the actual strategies.