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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
15. The Internet and
Interactive Media
2000. 16 Because of the high volumes of SPAM that have been sent,
and the fact that many consumers consider it a nuisance, the U.S.
government has passed laws regulating its use.
Catalog-oriented companies like Lands’ End have also increased
their use of electronic media. Lands’ End sells more apparel online
than any other retailer ($327 million in 2001); online sales constitute
21 percent of its total revenues. Interestingly, unlike many other
e-mail marketers, the company does not use SPAM. It sends messages
only to those who have agreed to receive them—an indication
that junk mailing may not be necessary to be successful. 17 (See
Exhibit 15-13.) The company recently aired television commercials
to promote the ease and efficiency of using its online catalog, and
sent customers in its existing database direct-mail pieces informing
them of the same. In turn, many e-marketing companies now send
out print catalogs to promote their sites.
While many consumers don’t like SPAM or other forms of e-mail,
studies have shown the effectiveness of e-mails. A study by Abacus
indicated that in 2001 the value of online transactions increased by
47 percent while that of off-line catalogs remained the same. According
to the study, the number of persons who received a catalog offline
and then ordered online increased by 7 percent. 18
Infomercials Yes, even the infomercial has discovered the Net. The same people
who brought you “Amazing Discoveries” infomercials on television now produce
infomercials for the Internet (and they are not alone). One such infomercial, by iMall,
a company based in Provo, Utah, runs marketing seminars on how to make money on
the Internet. Other companies are expected to follow. Does this mean we will soon see
FlowBees on the Web?
E-Commerce E-commerce, or direct sales on the Internet, has truly taken off.
Online spending for the fourth quarter was expected to reach $19.6 billion, a 23 percent
gain over 2001. 19
While more and more consumers buy online, consumer sales are only about onefifth
of those by business-to-business marketers. B-to-b sales are expected to be over
$6 trillion by 2004. 20 Many business-to-business companies like Applied Industrial
Technologies, National SemiConductor, and Xerox have also found success in the
world of e-commerce.
Home Shopping Channels In the direct-marketing chapter, we mentioned
that QVC has taken its home shopping TV channel to the Internet in the form of iQVC.
HSN also has an Internet shopping channel. In fall 2002, buy.com (the Internet-only
company) announced that it would be initiating a new shopping channel on television.
Companies measuring the effectiveness of the Internet
employ a variety of methods, most of which can be done electronically.
As you will see in a moment, a number of companies
provide Internet measures as part of a package; that is,
they provide audience measurement information (demographics,
psychographics, etc.) as “up-front’ information, as well as some of the effectiveness
measures described below. First, we will discuss some of the measures used to
determine the effectiveness of a website. Then, we will discuss some of the companies
providing these measures.
Audience Measures and Measures of Effectiveness
You will see that while the Internet industry has developed its own measures of effectiveness,
there are some problems with these measures that must be considered when
employing them. In an attempt to respond to criticism of the audience metrics
employed, as well as to standardize some of the measures used to gauge effectiveness
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Exhibit 15-13 Lands’ End
is an effective Internet user
Measuring Effectiveness
of the Internet
501
Chapter Fifteen The Internet and Interactive Media