[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

e-Business Strategies for Virtual Organizations
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One-to-one marketing
A notion gaining currency in the context of e-business, both
for B2C and B2B marketing, is that of one-to-one marketing.
This activity uses customer databases and interactive communications
to sell to each customer on each occasion a bundle if
as many products as are needed in that sales period. To
happen, this marketing strategy is based on the combination
of a deep knowledge of the customer’s wants, and the
company’s ability to customize the delivery of products and
services:
� serving the customer on the basis of lifetime worth, rather
than single transaction-based profit opportunity. This
requires a combination of information gathering, storage
and retrieval; and
� the ability to customize production and probably cooperate
with other companies.
10.5.3 Marketing automation
Despite all the fear that large trading hubs and the widening
of electronic markets will drive prices down everywhere,
forcing many companies out of existence, the potential for the
digital medium to offer different customer segments different
pricing, negotiated contracts, custom promotions, and related
products and options, should counterbalance this. Suppliers
will orchestrate marketing campaigns and promotions in the
context of the marketplace. Suppliers have spent significant
sums on marketing automation and aren’t about to revert to
one-size-fits-all marketing because of exchanges.
10.5.4 Personalization and interactive
selling
Exchanges will have to offer much more sophisticated selling
metaphors over time to offer context-based promotions, suggestions,
and configurations. Moreover, buyers want more
information and context around the transaction to make more
intelligent procurement decisions. Advanced technologies such
as streaming and interactive video will provide immediate
information in context.