Businesses are established with an aim of making profit. The ability of a business to regularly produce and distribute goods to meet the needs of their customers at the right time gives it an advantage over others in the competitive market. Surviving in the business activity is highly fueled by customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction which include good customer services, quality products and honesty is a major goal for many businesses, it determines a customer repurchase intention (Fang, Chiu and Wang 2011, p. 480).
Unfortunately, many businesses especially the Small to Medium enterprises (SMEs) are faced with challenges of satisfying their customers need and this have a negative impact on their profits. Low capital to produce enough products for sale, untimely delivery of products ordered for, quality and durability of the purchased products and the price of purchasing a product are the major drawbacks of many entrepreneurs. More often than not, when a customer fails to obtain quality services and products, negative feedback is spread in the marketthrough a word of mouth and the business is prone to losing customers.
Furthermore, due to the high competition in this economic activity due to product differentiation and price differences, it is essential for the entrepreneurs to increase their coverage marketing area. New marketing techniques have been developed to increase market coverage.The advancement in technology especially internet has led to development of electronic marketing technique. This marketing method has provided the sellers and buyers with a fast and easy way of selling and purchasing products from anywhere in the world. This has led to tremendous growth of businesses and a creation of a pool of products for customers to chose from. As stated by Taylor and Strutton, the perceived ease of use of this technique highly influence the purchasing intention (2010, p.953). since advertisements are easily available through various websites and in the social media, the products information which are usually persuading, leads to increased sales. However, feedbacks from customers through the social medias such as Facebook has indicated that more often than not they are not satisfied with the services and products they receive online from the sellers. Complains on the cost, quality, performance and efficiency of the purchased products are frequently given. However, the complaint information does not reach to the seller which can then lead to a producer losing customers. Therefore, it is necessary to determine customer satisfaction after offering services through the e-marketing technique. The aim of this study is to gather information on the benefit of customer satisfactionto a business. The research is relevant since it will provide information on the level at which sellers effectively and efficientlysatisfy their customers’ needs through this technique. The information will help the sellers to work on the weaknesses and therefore will be in a position to provide quality and timely products to meet customers’ needs and to achieve their ultimate goal of making huge profits. The management of the advertising sites will be in a position to set standards of the products to be sold via their website and to develop relevant penalties for products that receives most of the negative feedbacks. The management will also be in a position to standardize the price of a product to avoid customer exploitation by buyers. More importantly the customer and the society at large will enjoy efficient services for quality products.
In this research, the eBay online shopping site will be considered. It is an online marketplace where sellers advertise and sell their products while the customers can search and purchase products via the internet.
The research project seeks to meet the following objectives:
Marketing is the process of promoting, distributing and selling a product or service. As stated by Kumar an appropriate marketing strategy is core in a business (2015, p. 5). Businesses have been using various methods to market their products.Over the last two decades or so, the world has experienced tremendous changes and transformation in the business field. The intense competition in the business industry has provoked developments of more sophisticated marketing techniques to enhance company’s survival in the market. The internet which has connected the world into a global village has provided a wide platform for companies and individuals to advertise, sell or buy products through E-marketing (Fleisch, Weinberger and Wortmann 2015, p.7). For instance, the eBay acts as a site where the sellers and buyer ought to register for them to acquire the respective services. login in to the website enables the seller to describe the product and give the price which can be accessed by the buyer for purchase.
E-marketing has been widely promoted through social media such as Facebook, tweeter and emails, many businesses have adopted this technique. As stated by Echeverri and Skalen, marketing theory that states that to maximize sales the company should place their goods and services in a position that a consumer identifies its essence (2011, p. 355). Banks can now offer their services through their website without having to go to the bank, local businesses can sell their products internationally and the customers can acquire goods and services at the comfort of their home by just clicking the purchase button. However, as concluded by Chang, Wang and Yang, website owners therefore ought to improve on e-service quality to enhance customer satisfaction and hence promote online transaction (2009, p.442).
Adoption of the e-marketing strategy has enabled entrepreneurs to enjoy advantages such as; low cost of advertisement. Since the marketing is over the internet, the product information can reach a large population over a short time by just a click of a button (Kian Chong, Shafaghi, Woollasto and Lui 2010, p. 312). This lowers the advertisement cost that could be incurred in other mass media advertisement such as television. It also enables the sellers to also do demography targeting. He can sell his products to certain groups of people from a far distance. The electronic transaction also enables the seller to monitor his sales and also to make decision on what products to be selling by checking the fast-moving products which could be impossible in the traditional marketing (Salehi, Mirzaei, Aghaei and Abyari 2012, p. 817).The technique also provides an instant transaction which allows the seller to prepare for a fast delivery of the product to meet the customer needs. The major challenge in this marketing technique is insecurity. Customer personal information may be illegally accessed by hackers in the shopping sites and used to commit illegal acts. Though this is a major challenge, the website owners together with the seller work in unity to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the services.
Customer satisfaction being key in business, it is important to ensure that a service or product sold will make a customer come back. Research conducted by Deng, Lu, Wei and Zhang Indicated that customer satisfaction is contributed by trust, perceived service quality, perceived customer value and emotional value (2010, p.291). since satisfying customers is baseline, the management should focus on gaining customer loyalty by enhancing service quality and meeting the customer perceived value (Hu, Kandampully and Juwaheer 2009, p. 124). The consistent reply to customer question on a product, the frequent checking and updating of the websites and regular product promotion encourage customers to be visiting the shopping site. Providing better services create a loyal customer base which is a treasure to a business (Ryu, lee and Gon Kim 2012, p. 222).
Many online shopping sites have developed the system where a customer can leave comments on the services received and rate the quality of the products bought. Through social media companies and business owners are frequently marketing their products and client’s responses about their services are given through the sites. As stated by Agnihitri, Dingus, Hu, and Krush, social media has increased the interaction between the sellers and the buyers and hence there is a one to one communication with the sellers rather than the advertisement website owners (2016, p. 175). However, it is not clear whether the comments given are worked on by the management which could act as a hinderance to changes and improvement on the quality of services and products. therefore, it is important to acquire the actual information about a service from the customers to enhance productivity and to create a good communication channel among the involved parties. In this research the eBay shopping site will be analyzed since it serves a huge market of approximately one hundred and seventy-five million customers. The information will then be used to improve on the services and products sold through this site. It can also be used by other businesses to enhance their productivity and promote their success.
References
Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M.Y. and Krush, M.T., 2016. Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, pp.172-180.
Chang, H.H., Wang, Y.H. and Yang, W.Y., 2009. The impact of e-service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty on e-marketing: Moderating effect of perceived value. Total Quality Management, 20(4), pp.423-443.
Deng, Z., Lu, Y., Wei, K.K. and Zhang, J., 2010. Understanding customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical study of mobile instant messages in China. International journal of information management, 30(4), pp.289-300.
Echeverri, P. and Skålén, P., 2011. Co-creation and co-destruction: A practice-theory based study of interactive value formation. Marketing theory, 11(3), pp.351-373.
Fang, Y.H., Chiu, C.M. and Wang, E.T., 2011. Understanding customers’ satisfaction and repurchase intentions: An integration of IS success model, trust, and justice. Internet Research, 21(4), pp.479-503.
Fleisch, E., Weinberger, M. and Wortmann, F., 2015. Business models and the internet of things. In Interoperability and Open-Source Solutions for the Internet of Things (pp. 6-10). Springer, Cham.
Hu, H.H., Kandampully, J. and Juwaheer, T.D., 2009. Relationships and impacts of service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and image: an empirical study. The service industries journal, 29(2), pp.111-125.
Kian Chong, W., Shafaghi, M., Woollaston, C. and Lui, V., 2010. B2B e-marketplace: an e-marketing framework for B2B commerce. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 28(3), pp.310-329.
Kumar, V., 2015. Evolution of marketing as a discipline: What has happened and what to look out for. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), pp.1-9.
Ryu, K., Lee, H.R. and Gon Kim, W., 2012. The influence of the quality of the physical environment, food, and service on restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(2), pp.200-223.
Salehi, M., Mirzaei, H., Aghaei, M. and Abyari, M., 2012. Dissimilarity of E-marketing VS traditional marketing. International journal of academic research in business and social sciences, 2(1), pp.814-825.
Taylor, D.G. and Strutton, D., 2010. Has e-marketing come of age? Modeling historical influences on post-adoption era Internet consumer behaviors. Journal of business research, 63(9-10), pp.950-956.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download