Marketers face new challenges as they attempt to leverage the opportunities offered by the Internet. The web encompasses a new sale channel as well as a new form of advertising and allows new forms of customer relationship and sponsorship. Many brand owners believe in the advertising opportunities available on the Internet.
Why should consumers want to access the advertising messages on the Web and why should they access the Web in the first place? Using the Web is different from watching television or reading a newspaper people use it in the same way as they decide to ‘go places’ or visit a new town. These tourists- consumers choose to stay, shop, look around or entertain themselves according to how they feel or how much time they have. As such in ‘Web Town’ commercial on-line shops need to offer distinctive advantages, such as a wider product range or more entertainment than traditional competitors, if they want to become popular ‘sightseeing’ sites.
Retailers’ Names as Brands
An examination of advertisers in 1995 reveals that Procter & Gamble was the top advertiser, with over £100 m media support for its numerous brands, all of which have different brand names. By contrast sainsbury, though the twelfth biggest advertiser, promoted its name with just over £40 m. The challenge many brands face, particularly when not strongly associated with their parent corporation, is that while they receive advertising support, this does not match the significance sums major retailers spend developing a clear proposition their stores and their own brands. With over three-quarters of packaged grocery sales going through multiple retailers, the challenge to manufacturers from powerful retailers’ own brands is indeed daunting. Furthermore, retailers such as Boots, Laura Ashley, Marks& Spencer and Sainsbury have a particularly innovative policy of developing new products under their own names.
The Challenges of the Single Market
Pan-European buying groups are becoming more common with retailers forming alliances to exploit opportunities jointly. This has resulted in buying groups with considerable power.
Eventually, there will be a more homogeneous community, as consumers recognize the advantages of powerful Euro-brands such as Kellogg and Nescafe. More emphasis on visual identifiers will help overcome linguistic differences within the Single Market. It is more likely that brands will be developed at the outset to appearance consumers in many different countries. For example, cheese flavored snack from PepsiCo was developed and tested in the USA and subsequently extended to fifteen other countries will little change. Strong brands have richly complex personalities, enabling to adapt and appeal to consumers in different countries by, for sample, sharing the same language or adhering to a country’s culture norm. Yet at the same time successful international brands have a core set of values which remain constant across countries. International brands, which remain true to their core values, but have these enacted in different ways in different countries, are admired, Since they show respect for their host countries. The well-travelled consumer appreciates international brands, which remain true to their core values, since in a foreign land these brands act as havens of reassurance about guaranteed consistency – albeit presented slightly differently.
Opportunities from Technology
Band marketers are now more able to take advantage of technology to gain a competitive advantage through time. Technology is already reducing the lead-time needed to respond rapidly to changing customer needs and minimizing any delays in the supply chain. General Motors in the USA, for example, implemented a computer controlled system, ‘Saturn’, which significantly reduced the order-delivery time. Furthermore, as a result of the dealer inputting customers’ requirements for colour, trim and other accessories, the system is able to ensure not only that cars are tailored to customers’ needs, but also that they are delivered more promptly. Another example is the way homebuilders in Japan use rapid response to customer needs to differentiate them. Potential home buyers visit estate agents and describe their ideal home. Equipped with a unique CAD-CAM program, the agent sketches a design on a computer screen in front of the prospective purchaser. The program instantly tells the cost of building the new home, and if this is too high, it enables the home dimensions to be scaled down until an acceptable price is reached. If the purchaser then wishes to buy the new home, the agent confirms is in the computer program and the builder usually offers completion six weeks later. To succeed, marketers are going to have to use technology to way ahead of competitors.
More Sophisticated Buyers
In business to business marketing, there is already an emphasis on bringing together individuals from different departments to evaluate supplier’s new brands. As inter-departmental barriers break down even more, sellers are going to face increasingly sophisticated buyers who are served by better information systems enabling them to playoff brand suppliers against each other.
Consumers themselves are also becoming more confident and sophisticated. They expect higher standards from brands and appreciate brands that deliver real values. But the values being sought are not just functional ones. In fact, in an ever-changing and increasingly turbulent environment, they seem to prefer consistent brand personalities, which provide some stability and help them better understand their social environments.
Consumers are becoming much more marketing literate and increasingly critical of advertising. Nonetheless, the danger for some brands is that advertisers make assumptions about consumers involvement with advertisements and exceedingly’ clever’ approaches are developed. Polo mints used the Perrier approach in the ‘Refreshing Poleau’ advertisement, using the slogan, ‘The mint with the hauled’, while Canon adopted the slogan ‘Some things in life are as reliable as a Volkswagen’. There is a danger that, without a good appreciation of consumers’ perceptions, weaker brands may well lose out with these clever approaches.
