Online Marketing in Sri Lanka
1. Introduction
The development of online marketing in Sri Lanka is lagging behind when compared to developed countries. The adoption of online marketing is more than a technical issue. Country specific factors such as differences in culture and business environment are influencing the nature and type of appropriate IT solutions including online marketing. Therefore the marketing strategies must be suitable for the country to reach and communicate with the target audience. Online marketing and selling has enabled business organizations to provide better quality products and services, reduce costs and shorten deliver times.
Kotlar defines online marketing as “marketing conducted through interactive online computer systems, which link consumers with sellers electronically”. (Kotlar et al, 1997) A company engaging in online marketing can use methods ranging from hosting an informative web site to taking orders over the internet to having a fully integrated Customer Relationship Management and Order Management system over the internet.
The internet is considered as the engine of bringing phenomenal changes to business and society and failure to adapt to these changes would face extinction. Therefore both the Sri Lankan government and the private sector are conscious about the need to promote IT and online marketing to achieve competitive advantage.
Online marketing is a sub system of e-commerce which is defined by Gartner Group, USA as “a dynamic set of technologies, integrated applications and multi-enterprises business processes that link enterprises and consumers together”, which covers the use of messaging, networking and applications to enable communication of business information. E-Commerce could take place between businesses, business to consumers (e.g. Amerzon.com) or between customers facilitated by an intermediate service provider (e.g. e-bay).
Online marketing has its own advantages such as improving productivity and competitiveness as well as challenges and barriers. These, in relation to Sri Lanka, will be discussed in this paper.
2. Current Status
A recent survey by the Department of Census and Statistics has found that only 9.7% of Sri Lankans are computer literate although the overall literacy level is over 90%. The Colombo district has the highest computer literacy of 20%. Howeve...
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... – Issues in Developing Countries
6. O’Brien, James. A., Management Information Systems, Sixth Edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 2004
7. Dunlap, Bill, Internet Marketing in Europe - How Europeans see "the Web as a marketing and business tool", 1996
8. Financial Times (Sunday Times) December 5th 2004, Page 4
9. Survey on E-Commerce implementation in Sri Lanka – Conducted for the Asia Foundation, Sri Lanka Business Development Centre – June 2002
10. http://www.esrilanka.lk/
11. Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka www.trc.gov.lk
Appendix 1 - ICT Status of Sri Lanka
Type Index Rank
Network Readiness Index 3.15 66
Environment Component 2.99 66
• Market Environment 2.66 54
• Political & Regulatory Environment 3.79 62
• Infrastructure 2.51 73
Readiness Component 3.98 64
• Individual 3.96 68
• Business 4.04 66
• Government 3.93 60
Usage Component 2.49 71
• Individual 1.04 90
• Business 3.46 67
• Government 2.97 62
Courtesy World Information Technology Report
In summary, “Internet activities are not most significant in competition, such as informing customers, processing transactions, and procuring inputs”. (Porter, 2001) significant corporate assets--skilled employees, proprietary product, and efficient logistical systems – these factors are the most important to keep competitive advantages. In fact, it is foreseeable that the Internet's evolution will come up in the future involve a shift “in thinking from e-business to business, from e-strategy to strategy”. (Porter, 2001)Only by integrating the Internet into overall strategy will this powerful new technology become an equally powerful force for competitive advantage.
Being a writer isn’t a complicated task, but being a messageful writer requires lot of experience and inner self-presentation. James Baldwin was a very great writer. He expresses his inner feeling into his writing, which makes him true writer. When ever he wrote something always contain some kind of message. Most of his writing about African American culture where he raised. His writing tells the story of pain. He painted cruel history of black community into his writing. His writing contains lot of pain and anger, which could only describe by his writing. He was a one of the leader who speeches his nation by his writing. After reading his piece of art, which was presented via short stories and many books, I have come to perceive James Baldwin as a legendary writer. Through his short stories, Baldwin expresses the truth about his life. It seems that most of Baldwin's life was spent during times of extreme racism and he was strongly discriminated against due to his racial and ethnic background. Some of his stories were written in the middle of 19th century, a time when American citizens were distinguished by their color. It was a time when black and white people had their own separate worlds in which they were living. It was very hard to break the narrow-minded ways of many racist people. In other words, there was a self-created border between both races. In his stories, "Previous Condition" and "Sonny's Blues," Baldwin has developed characters to fight against racism in attempts to live their lives as they please.
Shakespeare writes a play where Julius Caesar gets assassinated by Brutus. Brutus makes a speech to calm the people. He spoke about why he killed him and how it is good for the city of Rome. Antony was trying to make the crowd upset and go against Brutus for killing Caesar.
In today's competing world, many organizations are rethinking their strategies in terms of the online business and its capabilities and culture. Organizations are taking advantage of the widespread web to buy and sell goods from other companies and recently from individual customers. Exploiting these opportunities of convenience, availability and widespread reach of the web or Internet, many companies such as Amazon have benefited from the use of web successfully.
E-Marketing or electronic marketing refers to the application of marketing principles and techniques via electronic media and more specifically the Internet. The terms E-Marketing, Internet marketing and online marketing are frequently interchanged and can often be considered synonymous. Marketing consists of individual and organisational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through the creation, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas. (Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell, 2001). E-Marketing encompasses all the activit...
Marketing is a vital component in the success of businesses. Smaller businesses rely on business advertising, expenses, knowing if the business is networking with the right people, or joining the best organisations which lead to success (EStartup business blog, 2010). Marketing concentrates on customers and what the customers want. Customers are the source of sales and profits. Many small businesses are faced with remarkable hardships due to not developing the right marketing plan (EStartup business blog, 2010). To help these businesses a more appropriate or better marketing plan needs to be designed. Small business internet marketing services can help businesses develop and thrive in a highly competitive market. For the highest quality internet marketing services, hiring an online marketing company to design a customized internet marketing campaign may be advantageous for some businesses (EStartup business blog and contributors, 2010). Identified will be the role that marketing plays in a successful business demonstrated by use of two examples, the importance of developing a marketing plan, and ethical and legal issues that surround marketing practices (EStartup business blog, 2010).
The main aspect of ICT adoption in Saudi Arabia has been online service provision such as e-learning and e-trade. Through providing services online, organizations have been able to reach out to a wider market, specifically the international market. The internet has been able to break down geographical barriers that in the past hindered trade and interaction between and among countries from different geographic regions. Secondly, online services have enabled organizations cut operational cost significantly and thus enhance the financial performance of such organizations. In addition, the internet has enhanced communication between organizations and their customers, irrespective of their location and in real time (Al-Gahtani, Hubona, & Wang, 2007)
The development of E-commerce have revolutionised the manner in which consumers purchase. E-commerce has helped businesses to grow and expand beyond geographical boundaries and cater to the needs of consumers located anywhere across the globe. India, being a developing nation was expected to respond slowly and with less enthusiasm towards the development and implementation of E-commerce. E-commerce started to become popular only after 2005. It began as a system where businesses could interact with suppliers and place orders. However as the system gained immense popularity and success, it was soon implemented for placing selling goods and services to consumers. Since then the online retail industry in India has been growing rapidly (Malhotra, 2000). The system has become so widely popular, that in many large cities and urban locations, consumers prefer to purchase largely through online shopping rather than physically visiting stores. E-commerce facilitates consumers to purchase products from any place through suitable internet connectivity. The popularity of E-commerce over the last few years and its wide adoptions led retailers to launch specialised Smartphone applications through which consumers could easily shop. Many claim that the success of E-commerce mainly arises out of the popularity of Smartphones. E-commerce is particularity gaining popularity in the semi urban and rural regions of India. Due to lack of infrastructural development there exists a dearth of shopping malls and retail stores in the rural and semi urban regions of the nation (Tse and Soufani, 2003). Hence individuals living in such regions find it easier to shop through E-commerce platforms. They are therefore able to procure branded
The Information revolution is changing our daily lives. With the rapid development of computers and the internet, online commerce has become quite common and plays an important role in the modern world. Online business has been booming in recent years. US online retail sales rose an average of 11% in the first three months of 2009 (“US Online Sales Up,” 2009). The growth of online sales may be due to the growing number of consumers who shop online.
Internet marketing is a reliable tool and affordable. It is easy to introduce a product and brand through internet. It is easy for marketers to work on internet marketing. They can show a better thing to consumers in less time and cost. (Jamie Swartz)
E-marketing is a fast growing and rapid platform for any form of business. EBay has been highly successful over recent years and this is a perfect example of an online business. The internal and external environments are constantly changing and in order to keep up with these changes, businesses and organisations must make relevant changes, and generate new strategies to keep up with contemporary developments in e-marketing and to also maintain their position in their market in comparison to their competitors.
...l Computers for eLearning: Sri Lankan Experience." Journal of Education and Training Studies [Online], 1.2 (2013): 152-158.
The Internet has become a key ingredient of strenuous and busy lifestyle. ‘Internet’ has become the central-hub for communication, explorations, connecting with people or for official purposes. Resultantly, Internet growth has led to a plethora of new developments, such as decreased margins for companies as consumers turn more and more to the internet to buy goods and demand the best prices.
This paper includes the process of online business; how to sell a product, advertising, various ways to create awareness and how to become a reseller. Laws and conditions for an online business.
growth in usage by both consumers and businesses. The unique capabilities of the Internet has captured the attention of the marketing community. While a growing number of companies have or are interested in developing an Internet presence, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about it and the potential ethical issues associated with its use as a marketing medium. Although many businesses are acknowledging the importance of a Web site, but the potential ethical issues related to marketing on the Internet still having an uncertainty in this situation. Much less attention has been given to the business community's perceptions of the ethicalness of this new medium. The unique interactivity of the Internet has captured the marketing community's interest as a way to develop and enhance customer relationships and establish greater brand identity. Thus, many commercial services have become available on the Internet that allow consumers and organizations to interact electronically. These services include booking airline tickets online, buying books and compact discs, and receiving stock market information. Although the number of consumer users and commercial organizations navigating on this "information superhighway" is growing almost exponentially, the benefits of the Internet are not without drawbacks.