A computer network is any technology that allows people to connect computers to each other. Computer networks and the internet, which connects computer networks around the world to each other, form the basic technology structure that underlies all electronic commerce. Using the internet, you can communicate with other people throughout the world by means of electronic mail; read online versions of newspapers, read magazines, academic journals and books; join discussion groups on almost any conceivable topic; participate in games and simulations; and obtain free software. Commercial enterprises now use the internet to connect with one another and with customers. Today all kinds of businesses provide information about their products and services then market and sell these products and services on the internet.
The part of the internet known as the Wide World Web, or more simply the web, is a subset of computers on the internet that are connected to each other in a specific way that makes them and their contents easily accessible to each other. The most important thing about the web is that it includes an easy-to-use interface. The Wide World Web is, therefore, a set of rules or conventions for exchanging information on the internet.
The Wide World Web has three main elements, namely HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language), a programming language which formats hyper text files and creates a graphical interface on the web; HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), which allows users to jump from one file to another by clicking on a URL link embedded in text, or an image and a URL (Universal Resource Locator), a unique address which is attached to each file on the web and which can be used to call up any file instantly. The World Wide Web is surfed by clicking on hyperlinks to jump from web page to web page. This allows people to navigate around the websites on the internet.
Internet marketing has heralded an age of disintermediation, which is a process of becoming closer to your customers by eliminating the middleman. Thus time can be disintermediated by automated procedures and so can people and distribution channels. This occurs when direct online transactions replace an existing distribution channel. However, in other cases, the internet has created a new form of intermediation, sites that act as intermediaries to facilitate the type of business that can only be conducted online. Successful examples include the world famous auction site eBay (http://www.ebay.com), Autotrader (South Africa) and AutoByTel (USA).
Online pricing is also very important. Without the huge financial overhead required to support a brick and mortar retail chain infrastructure, and without having to go through intermediaries who would add their margin to the selling price and sometimes without having to hold the stock at hand, web retailers or e-tailers, as they are known, can pass on the cost benefits directly to consumers. This has created the consumer perception that the web is a channel where you can buy things cheaply.
In the online marketing mix entrepreneurs are not only selling their products or services, but are creating customised products to meet individual needs. For instance, NIKE is allowing customers who buy online to specify their shoe size as well as request their names to be embroidered on the shoes. You can virtually customise your shoe to any specification in this way. It goes without saying, though, that the customers are more than glad to pay the extra premium charged for this extra service.
Online promotion is done by use of such vehicles as banners and buttons, which are the predominant forms of online advertising; search engines which sell key words to advertisers; ad networks, which store banner ads on their servers and distribute them to websites in their network according to geographic location, user demographics or psychographics; sponsorships, which allow advertisers to integrate their advertising with editorial content; interstitials or pop-ups, ads that appear in pop-up windows while the site you are visiting is loading and rich media or streaming media.
The strength of internet marketing lies in its ability to personalise its offer to match the interests and lifestyles of users. Unlike other forms of advertising, internet or online marketing, therefore, is not about reaching as many people as possible, but rather about the right people at the right time in the right context.