Digital Marketing and how the 5C’s Impact Consumer Buying.
Global companies use digital marketing to focus more on potential customers. These capabilities focus on the 5Cs, STP- segmentation, targeting and pricing, and the traditional 4Ps of product, place, promotion and price. The 5Cs are believed to be core strategies in enabling Amazon to engage customers, comprehend their needs, and provide customized solutions. Customization, convenience, communication culture, and brand comparison can enhance loyalty and the retention of a large customer base which can woo probable buyers and contribute to profits (Own, 2012).
The prevailing customization and communication cultures highly influence consumers buying culture. Customers play a pivotal role in designing the product they want. This is influenced by the cultural shift in adopting digital capabilities which enable them to communicate decisions. For example, many young users are using the social media to influence product development, processes, and purchase habits. The success of these capabilities illustrates how customization influences purchases.
Furthermore, brand comparisons of prices and features affect purchasing decision. Internet technology enables customers to know the prices of similar products from different sellers. For example, Amazon’s Fire phone users use a feature known as fire fly to view physical and media products in the real world. Subsequently, the feature connects them to Amazon online stores. Digital marketing can provide price and product features on websites and app stores for users to compare and make the best pricing decisions.
Political, economic, and technological issues also affect buying. For example, the hostile government policies, market fluctuations, and the technological changes influence management decisions. Some of the changes stifle competition and lead to price wars in the market. EBay competes with Amazon in offering retailing and auctioning services to local online customers. Such competition impacts sales and customers purchase decisions.
Collaborators and competition significantly impact sales. Amazon is successful in forging partnerships and cross-selling. This has enabled it to form other retailer websites such as Kindle that was launched in 2007. Companies like Google can be good partners to Amazon since they share digital capabilities like cloud computing and artificial intelligence. However, eBay and other online retailers and auctioneers offer stiff competition (Al-Own, 2014)
Traditional marketing of the 4P’s is gradually being phased out. They are being replaced with the 5C’s of customization, communication culture, convenience, content, and brand comparison to engage potential buyers. For Amazon to compete favourably, it should invest more in revolutionary technologies to transform people’s lives, invest heavily in advertising to communicate diverse product offerings to their consumers, and utilize segmentation, targeting, and pricing as crucial marketing strategies.
References
Own, A. M. (2014). Overview and break down of Amazon.com. (n.p). Amazon: Retrieved June 9, 2016, from <http://www.slideshare.net/mahdialown/amazon-11486664>
