Technology in Marketing

Web Sites

• Websites display detailed product descriptions – text, specifications, images, videos – helping customers make an informed choice.
• Websites are used to advertise products and promotions on an organisation’s own site and/or as pop-ups on related web sites which the target market is expected to view.
• Websites can be used as a source of secondary information eg from competitors’ web sites – desk research – to inform decisions.
• Social Media Sites used to advertise products and to build a contacts list when people ‘like’ and share pages. Can update followers on offers and share feedback on products.
• BLOGs – sharing information by contributing to a web log (blog) eg reviewing products, suggesting improvements.
• Video Sharing – product demonstrations uploaded to file sharing sites such as You Tube to give customers detailed information.

E-Commerce (On-Line Selling)

• Refer back to section on ‘Place’ – benefits of E-commerce.

E-Mail

• Customers can be contacted using e-mail distribution lists for which they register or provide contact details when on-line shopping.
• E-coupons can be attached to encourage further purchases on-line.
• Used to carry out field research – on-line questionnaires – large numbers of people can be reached through a single low-cost message

Mobile Phones

• Group texts can be sent containing adverts and offers.
• People may be asked to participate in text surveys.
• Apps can be downloaded to a smart phone allowing users to browse and make purchases at a time that suits.

Quick Response Codes

• Take customers to a web site to view / buy products.
• Can provide directions to a retail outlet (shop).
• Can be used to populate a distribution list to receive further direct promotional offers.

EPOS/Loyalty Cards

• Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) technology can be used by retailers when loyalty cards are swiped at electronic tills.
• This provides information about an individual customer’s shopping habits which can be used for general market research or to target customers with customised special offers.

Desk Top Publishing

• Used to prepare brochures, flyers and promotional display materials for use in direct mailings, point of sale promotions, posters and banners.

Spreadsheets

• Used to record and process market research findings.  Sales figures can be recorded and analysed using formulae to perform calculations accurately.
• Information can be presented in charts for ease of understanding.

Databases

• Used to store customer details which can be merged with word processing documents for personalised direct mailings.
• When shopping on-line, customers are viewing a database of products for sale.  This can be sorted and filtered to help them find the products they are looking for.