Research Title The Marketing Efficiency of Online Retailing Division of Marks & Spencer in London: A Case Study

Abstract Online retailing is one of the most influential growth factors in the global business world. Almost all of the retailers in the world have introduced online shopping as a major sales channel. They are also getting increasing response from online consumers. Being a global renowned retail brand, Marks & Spencer has also provided internet sales for its customers. It is essential to know the marketing efficiency of its online site to make a decision as to why it should concentrate more on online sales to get higher profitability apart from providing higher consumer satisfaction. This study was to evaluate marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer. In an era of the internet, online shopping has attained a supreme status of being one of the most influential sales channels. Online shopping is the third most popular activity on the internet and the trend is gaining increasing acceptance in all parts of the world. In the era of high internet usage, Londoners are considered to be a technology-literate generation, sometimes also called as digital natives. That makes this study a realistic and achievable approach to study the marketing efficiency of the chosen organization. This research focuses on how the marketing performance of online firms can be determined. Marketing performance is an indication of quality of the marketing function of a company, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, (Clark & Ambler, 2001). Hereby the marketing function comprises of all interactions of a (potential) customer with the company, both directly and indirectly, online and offline. In the introduction chapter I have described the background of the research, where I described the recent revolution of internet in the business activities. Then I explained the research problem, research aim & objectives, questions to be answered and scope & rationale of the proposed research. In chapter two I described various previous literatures related to online retailing and online marketing efficiency. Online retailing, factors of online retailing, marketing efficiency process and other online retailing functions have also described in this chapter. In conducting a research one has to follow a specific and concrete research methodology. In conducting the proposed research I have followed a specific research methodology which was described in chapter three. The methodology that I followed includes- research philosophy, research approach, research method, research strategy, sampling technique, data collection methods and data analysis methods. In chapter four it was found that today Marks & Spencer prefers online marketing strategies when it makes marketing strategies. In the annual report of the year 2011 it was found that M&S has built a strong Multi- channel business. It was found that a very strong business for the different channel has build by M&S. with new-fangled transactional websites come into view from side to side medium the market is suspected to expand rapidly in this year. M&S has created its own international website platform, capable of selling in multiple countries in local currency. Through its space growth program M&S is creating a store portfolio that will enable M&S to deliver a leading multi-channel shopping experience throughout the UK. As a result of online marketing efficiency, M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing. With the variety of the cloths as well as the local business that is delivered for the better performance the M&S remains the most important retailer of the clothes. Market share by value increased to 11.7% and it experienced growth across all areas as customers sought out M&S quality. In conclusion it can be said that Marks & Spencers online marketing division is efficiently operating its online marketing and online customers are satisfied with Marks & Spencers online marketing.

Table of Contents Contents CHAPTER-1 (INTRODUCTION) 1.1BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH Page No. 06 06

1.2RESEARCH PROBLEM
1.3RESEARCH PURPOSE 1.4AIM &OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH 1.5RESEARCH QUESTIONS

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08 09 09

1.6 SCOPE & RATIONALE BEHIND THE CHOSEN RESEARCH TOPIC

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION 1.8BACKGROUND OF THE CASE COMPANY CHAPTER-2 (LITERATURE REVIEW) 2.1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 ONLINE RETAILING 2.3 FACTORS RELATED TO ONLINE SHOPPING & SELLING

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11 13 15 15 15 17

2.4 MARKETING EFFICIENCY

2.5 MARKETING EFFICIENCY PROCESS 2.6 MARKETING EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENT 2.7 MARKETING PRODUCTIVITY VERSUS MARKETING AUDITS 2.8 AN INTEGRAL MODEL OF MARKETING EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENT 2.9 SUMMARY CHAPTER-3 (METHODOLOGY FOR THE RESEARCH) 3.1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.2 PHILOSOPY FOR THE PROPOSED RESEARCH 3.3 RESEARCH APPRAOCH 3.4RESEARCH METHOD 3.5 RESEARCH STRATEGY 3.6 RESEARCH DESIGN 3.7 CASE SELECTION 3.8 DATA COLLECTION METHOD: 3.9 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: 3.10SAMPLE COMPOSITION 3.11 INTERVIEW: 3.12 DATA ANALYSIS & PRESENTATION METHOD: 3.13 RELIABILITY OF DATA: 3.14 VALIDITY OF DATA 3.15 GENERALIZATION 3.16 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS & LIMITATIONS: CHAPTER-4(FINDINGS & ANALYSIS) 4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION 4.2 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY SAMPLE 4.3 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF FACTORS OF ONLINE MARKETING 4.3.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF WEBSITE FACTORS 4.3.2 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF PRODUCT PORTFOLIO FACTORS 4.4 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS OF MARKETING EFFICIENCY OF THE ONLINE DIVISION OF MARKS & SPENCER CHAPTER-5(CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION) 5.1 DISSERTATION SUMMARY 5.2 CONCLUSION 5.3 RECOMMENDATION REFERENCE APPENDIX -A

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CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION

1.1BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH The rise of the internet and standardized work-flow system has a striking effect on the way many firms do business and market their products. New business models are created, of which some are solely aimed at selling products and offering information through the web. Paradigms about information provision, supply chain strategies and successful marketing techniques have changed, affecting both individual companies and industries in many ways. Above all, the internet has a staggering impact on retailing and the overall marketing process. According to Song & Zahedi, (2006), an alternative otherwise most important way of the communication, creating brand, dealings, as well as maintain relations with public internet is used.

This study was to evaluate marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer. In an era of the internet, online shopping has attained a supreme status of being one of the most influential sales channels. Online shopping is the third most popular activity on the internet and the trend is gaining increasing acceptance in all parts of the world. Online shopping can be both B2C where a consumer buys products through internet from the firm or B2B where businesses buy the product from another business organization. Online shopping has its own characteristics as that of real shopping. In the era of high internet usage, Londoners are considered to be a technology-literate generation, sometimes also called as digital natives. That makes this study a realistic and achievable approach to study the marketing efficiency of the chosen organization. According to World Internet Users and Population Statistics (2006), Europe has an internet penetration level of 36.1%. The study also reveals that Europe represented 28.5% of world internet usage which saw a 177.5% CAGR growth between 2000-2005 periods. This directly relates to the fact that online shopping is a very important aspect of all sales processes, especially in case of apparels and clothing industry.

For the commercial activities as well as successful interventions the effort of the marketing as well as the knowhow of marketing are essential. Yli-Kovero, (2006) and Salminen, (2006) argue, therefore, Companies cannot deny the importance of marketing.

According to Kotler (2008), for the achievement of the profitable income rate for the organization in the future time marketing activities has very significant role. For the long term competitive advantages now the efficiency of cost does not give for the organizations if the marketing activities are well provided. In the case of the marketing using the strategies the advantages are depend on the realization.

According to Hunt and Morgan, (2005), the marketing activities are focused on the decisions regarding to the analysis as well as target market selection, goods as well as development of brand, promoting activities in addition to distribution channel. Kotler, (2003) said that marketing is the activities of the creation, promotions as well as delivery of the products and services to the customers as well as organizations. Kotler, (2003) again said that, most of the people believe that the creation of the new customers may be more expensive than creating the loyalty of the customers.

Among the organizations the necessity of higher level of the orientation of customers is highly needed. In the same way to the system of rewarding which is based on the performance of short term, normally the marketing that are taken for the short term is based on the working in spite of the orientations of long term market, performance of business activities as well as different types of the strategies of the organizations.

Ambler and Kokkinaki, (2004) said that marketing performance of the organization that complicate the description as well as comparison is what organizations face a necessity to grow with better performance of the marketing, it affects the marketing matrices selection process in addition to as a result the measurement of the getting. Due to the influence of the internet it is also likely that the measures of business and marketing success have altered. .Hasan & Tibbits, (2000) said that, new business objectives are introduced by E-commerce in addition to achieve these new actions as well as said that the previous measures of the gain might no longer to take actions. This is especially the case for online firms, also known as pure e-businesses, dotcoms, or pure-plays; these companies solely rely on internet technologies to offer their products and services, without having any physical stores, (Clarke & Flaherty, 2004). Broillet, Dubosson & Trabichet, (2008) said that, online firms are among other things hindered by a lack of human face-to-face contact and an inability to touch, smell, and try products before making a purchase. As a consequence, it is both essential and challenging to create and maintain dependable fulfillment processes and a good back office that ensures a satisfactory customer service, (Constantinides, 2002). This research focuses on how the marketing performance of online firms can be determined. Marketing performance is an indication of quality of the marketing function of a company, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, (Clark & Ambler, 2001). Hereby the marketing function comprises of all interactions of a (potential) customer with the company, both directly and indirectly, online and offline.

1.2RESEARCH PROBLEM
Online retailing is one of the most influential growth factors in the global business world. Almost all of the retailers in the world have introduced online shopping as a major sales channel. They are also getting increasing response from online consumers. Being a global renowned retail brand, Marks & Spencer has also provided internet sales for its customers. It is essential to know the marketing efficiency of its online site to make a decision as to why it should concentrate more on online sales to get higher profitability apart from providing higher consumer satisfaction.

1.3RESEARCH PURPOSE The key purpose of this dissertation is to find the trends that influence online shopping from M&S London branch and to find the relation between the deduced factors and marketing efficiency of the company.

1.4AIM &OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The aim of this study was to evaluate marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer. The key objectives of this study werei. To evaluate marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer; ii. To identify the important factors of online marketing; and iii. To explore the satisfaction level of the online customers of Marks & Spencer. 1.5RESEARCH QUESTIONS In this study I have answered the following questions: i. What are the factors that increase the marketing efficiency of M&S in London? ii. What are the factors that influence the satisfaction of the online customers? iii. How can an online retailer increase marketing efficiency?

1.6 SCOPE & RATIONALE BEHIND THE CHOSEN RESEARCH TOPIC

Quick propagation for the connection of local broadband as well as developed the engine for the searching technologies ensure the unparalleled enlargement in Internet artifact investigate in addition to attainment. Online sales (excluding travel) have exceeded US$100 billion in 2006, following a spectacular average annual growth of 25% during the past 6 years, (e Marketer 2007). Further it was found that ACNielsen (2005) said that, now one tenth of the populations of the world are interested to buy online that is said that online selling is very positive. Expansion in addition to quick acceptance of wealthy as well as blaze knowledge will formulate online provisions more enjoyable furthermore suitable to consumer by giving proprietary videotape- plus music-based content, with lively in addition to modified creation presentation. Marketing News (2007) said that, different types of the advancement of the technology of mobile allow target, context of demand as well as modern advertisement in addition to new level of personalized as well as individual marketing. According to Retail Forward (2003), a challenge for the incumbent organizations that are based on the retail store is the competition in this changeable as well as technologically complex environment of retailing that are raised commoditization of the goods, low growth as well as infrastructure legacy of lagging. At the same time as to add the channel that is conducted by online to the previous channels that mix of the shops, in addition to straight advertising come into view that will be the need for keeping themselves in the high competition for the online entry the authority should develop the new strategies. As well as they should change the nature of the competitions of online. In the time period of early 2000 the retail industry of the online basis started the shakeout activities as well as several organizations of online system change their marketing strategies with merging with other organizations, some of them reducing their strategy for the expansions. since January 2000 the retail store of the online system go to the stage of the shakeout in the first period of the 2000 some of the retailers have different studies as well as most of the organization of US have the blackout as well as thirty one per cent of the firms that have vendor of online. According to Zeithaml, (2002), for the other factors strong competition in the rivals as well as entrenched consumers buying behavior, loss of the online business is primarily for the lower quality services serve of the consumers.

For surviving in the higher level of the competition several organizations is now thinking about the strategies for improving the services of the online for the attraction as well as the retention of the potential consumers for the long time. According to Zeithaml (2002), before, in time, as well as the after the transactions organizations should focused on services of online that encompass all cues as well as encounter the occurring. According to Palmer; Griffith, (1999), for the improvement of the services of overall when the internet are properly utilized as well as it will be very powerful mechanism that offer in

addition to give online consumers with the different types of the advantages for example facilities for offering the goods, availability of the products, knowing the competitive prices of the products as well as services and to take the decision whether to buy or not.

Therefore, for the expansion of the customers that are very loyal as well as to improve the rate of profitability it is very necessary for the retailers of online to realize detail the idea about the perceptions of the consumers that is the main dimensions for the quality of the service as well as influences of the consumers. Unluckily, at the same time as many analysis have inspected such matter in the circumstance of conventional service, comparatively small investigate has empirically speak to such matter in the online transaction surroundings. Therefore a study to evaluate the marketing efficiency of the online retailer is essential. So, the research topic that I have proposed is contemporary and rational.

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION I have completed the proposed research in following structureCHAPTER-1<INTRODUCTION> In this chapter I have described the background of the research, where I described the recent revolution of internet in the business activities. Many retailers are establishing online retail store and in the background I showed this scenario. Then I explained the research problem, research aim & objectives, questions to be answered and scope & rationale of the proposed research. In this chapter I also explained about the case company (Marks & Spencer). CHAPTER-2<LITERATURE REVIEW> Here I described various previous literatures related to online retailing and online marketing efficiency. Online retailing, factors of online retailing, marketing efficiency process and other online retailing functions have also described in this chapter. CHAPTER-3<RESEARCH METHODOLOGY> In conducting a research one has to follow a specific and concrete research methodology. In conducting the proposed research I have followed a specific research methodology. The methodology that I followed includes- research philosophy, research approach, research method, research strategy, sampling technique, data collection methods and data analysis methods. CHAPTER-4<FINDINGS & ANALYSIS> In this chapter I have presented and analyzed the findings of the empirical study. CHAPTER-5<CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION> In the conclusion & recommendation chapter I concluded the research findings and recommended how an online retailer can boost marketing efficiency. The research structure has also showed in the following figure:

1.8BACKGROUND OF THE CASE COMPANY

Marks & Spencer is a renowned retailer of clothing and footwear in the United Kingdom. Employing 75,000 people, M&S has more than 620 stores located throughout the UK. Further, M&S has 200 plus stores in 30 countries in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Far East. In both hosiery and male outerwear and female outerwear, it held the leading position in 2010 with value shares of 7%, 5%, and 7%, respectively. It held a 6% market share of childrens wear, ranking third, and a fourth rank with 3% value share of footwear. Its presence is less felt in the clothing and accessories market. Marks & Spencer is making stronger attempts at expanding its international business. This may prove to be difficult, as M&S is considered to have a strong antique British identity. Its clothing styles are not considered to be enough fashionable to succeed on a global front. According to statistics, online sales have helped M&S to increase its share in childrens wear, home ware and male outerwear. The company launched its own credit card in 2004. It has, since then, expanded its financial services to many stores with over 100 bureau de change now all over the country. It also has about three million M&S credit cards in operation and served over four million travel customers in 2007.

Marks & Spencer Plc: Competitive Position 2010

Product type Males outerwear Females outerwear Females outerwear (excluding Jeans) Hosiery Value share 5.3% 6.7% 6.7% 7.2% Retail Ranking 1 1 2 1

Source: Euro monitors International

Internet Strategy
To exploit the advantages of the growth of internet shopping, M&S has established a partnership with Amazon. Since 2007 onwards, it has improved the e-tailing offer. However, M&S is generally perceived to be inferior in distribution and generating online revenues. A greater proportion of M&S consumers are older people, and so, online sales are not very strong for M&S. Its worthwhile to mention here that internet retailing has more dynamic activity among younger consumers.

CHAPTER-2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION This study is to explore the factors that influence e-customer satisfaction thereby the marketing efficiency of online retailers. The studies completed by various researchers have showed that there are many important factors that affect the online shopping results for an organization. A study conducted by Gefen et al., (2003) found that apart from understood usefulness and the understood ease of use, consumer trust is equally important for online commerce. They have justified the fact that a separate and distinct interaction with its IT website interface and with both the actual e-store is the most important factor for online shopping. This research will investigate the Marketing Efficiency of Online Retailing Division of Marks & Spencer in London. Marketing and business efficiency management systems do not only provide insight in how a company is performing, but also support the navigation to future competitive success (Kaplan & Norton, 2004). Managers must have confidence in and rely on the used measures to use such a system as a navigation tool. In this chapter at first various important affecting factors of online shopping has been identified and described and later different marketing efficiency measurement frameworks are discussed, based on which an integrated model is proposed and the integrated framework is adapted to online retailing.

2.2 ONLINE RETAILING When the retail goods are sold over the internet using different electronic media it is called eretailing. In the types of e-commerce e-retailing is one important type. E-commerce means the process of purchasing in addition to advertising of merchandise as well as services on the basis of online system or e-mailing. Generally there are four types of e- transaction; such as businessto-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), and consumerto-consumer (C2B). Business-to-consumer transaction over the internet is known as e-retailing. The business such as amazon.com and tesco.com are the two respective expels for pure play business of e-tailor. So the major domain expressing the e-tailing operation is e-commerce. There are three key categories in retailing: 1. Click This category includes the businesses that run their businesses only through the online channel. For example: Dell, Amazon.com and e-Bay. 2. Click and Brick This category includes businesses that operate through the use both the online and the offline channel. For example: Barnes and Noble's. 3. Brick and Mortar The usual or traditional mode of retailing is brick and mortar. It does not use the electronic retailing channels and still depends on the traditional channels.

To be successful in electronic retailing business some certain elements are crucial. Prior to setting up an electronic storefront an e-retailer must consider these elements well in advance. Such vital elements are: Attractive business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce portal Right revenue model Penetration or easy access of the Internet E-Catalog: In e-retailing e-catalog is the most vital element. A database of products with prices and available stock is known as e-catalog.

Shopping Cart: After selecting needed goods from the e-catalog customers fill shopping cart. Finally, at the time of checkout, the system calculates the price to be paid for the products, as in a real store.

A payment gateway: In the payment system a proliferation of easiness has explored. Customer can easily make payments through his/her credit card or e-cash. The e-retailer must ensure the security of payment mechanism.

2.3 FACTORS RELATED TO ONLINE SHOPPING & SELLING

i. TECHNOLOGY FACTORS According to Keeney (1999); Torkzadeh & Dhillon (2002), the factors of the technology including the strengths of the online system that ensure the site functionality include the safety, solitude, as well as utilization of design of the site. The perceptions of the consumers the factors of the technologies are deals with for the connection with B2C online system the responsibility is on the merchant of internet.

a. Security According to Kalakota and Whinston (1996), a condition, situation otherwise event is the threat of security with the way to cause of hardship of economy to data otherwise resources of the network in the way of obliteration, revelation, alteration of data, deception, squander, and mistreatment. As there is possibility of losing control over their accounts consumers sometimes remain reluctant to release payment card information to online merchants. Ranganathan & Ganapathy (2002) said that, to reduce the fear of the consumers different website of B2C offer different forms of pay as well as accounts having the identification number as well as passwords.

b. Privacy Blanger et al. (2002) said that the willingness for sharing the information over the online that provide for the ending of the buying behavior is the privacy of the e-commerce. According to Patterson et al. (1997), via explicit modes the B2C website receive the information about the visitors as well as ways of implicit that provide the needed information to take the decisions on the marketing related issues as well as the advertisements and the goods. For example, Green et al. (1998) found that in 1998 a business week census of 999 customers exposed that solitude was the main obstruction stop them on or after by means of Websites, on top of the subject of price, effortlessness of make use of, as well as unwelcome advertising.

c. Usability/Site Design According to Szymanski and Hise, (2000), to the e-satisfaction direction-finding, creations in sequence, in addition to place plan are dangerous. Mannix, (1999) said that, consequently, a input to structure a working Website is to make good quality relations in addition to directionfinding instrument. Palmer (2002) said that, A benefit of the Internet is its ability to hold up inter activity for consumer, in addition to online customers are prejudiced by the interactivity of the internet.

ii. SHOPPING FACTORS According to Blanger et al. (2002), the elements of the buying focus the feeling of the customers as well as after the experience of buying. Expediency, faith as well as honesty of Web merchants, in addition to release instance are the factors of shopping.

a. Convenience According to Berkowitz et al. 1999; Ernst & Young (1999), in the retail store patronage as well As different means of buying for example catalog as well as buying with internet convenience is sometimes found to be the significant determinants. Balasubramanian, (1997) said that individuals get the opportunities for economization from the e-commerce on time as well as effort be creating it simple to the merchants, finding items as well as procuring the offerings. Therefore, a companys Web site should be more convenient to buy standard or repeat purchase items (such as Amazons one-click-to-purchase approach).

b. Trust and Trustworthiness According to Blanger et al. (2002), the perception of the confidence is the trustworthiness in the reliability of e-marketers as well as integrity. Hosmer, (1995) said that decisions of purchasing are in part based on the trust in the goods, salesman otherwise the organizations. According to Lee & Turban (2001), trust between consumers and the merchants, as well as their system of computer are involved with the decision of buying on internet.

c. Delivery Time Between the entire time of placement of the order as well as providing the goods and services to the customer is the delivery time period. The time of dispatching, shipment, as well as the delivery is included into the time. From the placement of the order to the shipment of the goods the required time is called the dispatch.

iii. PRODUCT FACTORS Factors of Products are relevant to the traits of the manufactured goods otherwise service to transaction. Over and over again, goods buy internet are similar than those collected at element in addition to gun shops. According to Keeney, (1999) decision about the buying the consumers taking on the basis of the best value of the products that the competitors.

a. Merchandising Szymanski & Hise (2000) said that, the element that is associated with the offerings of selling on internet separate from the design of site as well as convenience of buying is defined as the merchandising. Jarvenpaa & Todd (1997) said that the offering of a great number of goods as well as selection like that to be more effective for the merchants.

b. Product Value According to Keeney (1999), the success of the e-commerce is the minimizing of cost of products as well as quality maximization are the main elements. Jarvenpaa & Todd (1997) said that, product cost, taxes, delivery, online system as well as costs of travelling are the costs of total cost. Kalakota and Whinston (1996) said that the necessity for providing independent evaluation of products in addition to services for the benefits of customers of the merchandising quality sold by the web.

c. Product Customization Zhu & Kraemer (2002) said that, ability of the users to customize the goods regarding to references of personality is the product customization. Van Slyke et al. (2004) said that online buying has some advantages customization is one of them.

2.4 MARKETING EFFICIENCY

According to Eckerson, (2006), efficiency is the comparison among firms of the ratio of outcomes over the inputs required to achieve them. On the other hand, According to Sheth et al. (2002) marketing efficiency is the ratio of marketing output over input. It is also a noteworthy fact that marketing efficiency is also intermingled with customer satisfaction. This is particularly useful in case of online retailing as the consumers who are not impressed by the attributes of the platform do not tend to purchase. According to Anderson (2006), the marketing process is composed of many steps and hence, to increase the efficiency of the process, each step of the process should be enriched. 2.5 MARKETING EFFICIENCY PROCESS The process of marketing productivity as presented by Rust, Gregory et al., (2004) is a good indicator of the process of marketing efficiency. Since efficiency and productivity are two sides of the same coin, the following chain is a useful diagram for measuring marketing efficiency.

Figure: The marketing efficiency process (Rust, 2004)

Strategies
Strategies are an important part of any marketing process as the direction of the whole marketing process is determined by the strategies. Strategies are the actionable plans of any organization that can lead to higher profit margins and the overall performance of the organization.

Marketing Assets
Marketing assets are also a necessity while considering the overall impact of the marketing process of an organization. The marketing assets include the equity in every marketing step, such as brand equity and customer equity etc. Organizations leverage upon its marketing assets to gain market share and increase its profitability.

Market Position
Market position lets the managers know about the current status of the organization. It takes into account the market share, sales, revenues and all other instant factors that are necessary to describe the current status of the organization.

Financial Position
The financial indicators are also a good sign of the overall health of an organization. Depending upon the financial position, a firm can start to feel its viability of its strategies and can gauge how profitable it has been over some period of time. Financial position is a precursor of the overall health of the organization and lets one judge the value of the firm.

Value of the firm

The value of the firm is an ultimate indicator of the marketing productivity and hence the efficiency of the marketing process. Market capitalization and many other factors are included in the overall value of the firm. Without considering the value of the firm, it is impossible to gauge the success of marketing strategies or the overall productivity of the firm.

2.6 MARKETING EFFICIENCY MEASUREMENT Marketing efficiency or efficiency measurement is part of (business) efficiency measurement, a field that aims to support strategy execution by creating insights in company efficiency; even though efficiency measurement is often associated with the evaluation of employees, it is in fact a broader, multidisciplinary and cross-functional discipline that covers all areas and layers of an organization (Marr & Schiuma, 2003; Eckerson, 2006). According to Eckerson (2006), efficiency measurement is a series of organizational processes and applications designed to optimize the execution of business strategy and are part of the organizational planning process. The aim of marketing efficiency measurement is to assess the relationship between marketing activities and business efficiency, (Clark & Ambler, 2001). Herein Lee et al., (2000) and Alsem, (2007) stated that marketing relates to all activities conducted to stimulate, facilitate, and accelerate sales. According to Ambler & Kokkinaki, (2004), Effective marketing practices result in success with winning and retaining customer preferences, which supports the achievement of long-term goals. In this process marketing should not be conceived as a separate function within firms, but as shared responsibility of the business as a whole, (Grnroos, 2007). Marketing efficiency measurement focuses on assessing (1) how well customer preferences are won and retained, (2) to which extend that contributed to the stimulation, facilitation, and acceleration of sales, and (3) how that impacted overall firm efficiency. Marketing efficiency evaluations can in these processes contribute to the following four functions: (1) annual-plan control, (2) profitability control, (3) efficiency control, and (4) strategic control. The first and last function differ from each other in the sense that annual-plan control attempts to evaluate if planned results are realized, while strategic control strives to assess if the best market, product, and channel opportunities are pursued, (Kotler & Keller, 2006).

Blythe, (2006) and Alsem, (2007) found that In the last three decades marketing efficiency measurement has been strongly influenced by several new marketing perspectives and paradigms. Especially the change from transactional marketing that focused on maximizing the number of one-time transactions to relationship marketing which is centered around developing long-term relationships with profitable customers has been influential on marketing efficiency measurement, (Clark, 2002). Under the transaction perspective customers are considered as passive targets while marketing is seen as a cost center, (Lamberti & Noci, 2010). According to Palmer, Lindgreen & Vanhamme, (2005); Bush et al., (2007), marketing efficiency measurement under this perspective focuses on the amount and quality of one-time sales and transactions. In contrast, according to the relational view, marketing efficiency measurement concentrates on assessing the quality and value of long-term relationships with customers and other parties. A central element of this paradigm is the management of customer expectations, both in the presales and after-sales processes, (Blythe, 2009). Pels & Saren, (2005) stated that Both perspectives are not mutual exclusive and can safely co-exist within a firm. Within relational marketing three streams can be distinguished, being the (1) services marketing (2) management of relationships and (3) industrial marketing and purchasing perspective. Where services marketing accentuates the role of service in enhancing the quality of customer relationships and improving loyalty, the management of relationships view concentrates on consumer interactions, dialogues, and value perceptions, (Palmer et al., 2005; Bush et al., 2007). Reichheld, (1996) stated that to capitalize on the efforts in interactions and dialogues, the firm should concentrate on attracting those customers who their loyalty can be won and retained. Last but not least, the industrial marketing and purchasing is occupied with business-tobusiness relationships and business networks; this marketing approach also takes into account the buy-side of a company, as well as the relationships with suppliers of complimentary networks, products and services (Palmer et al., 2005; Bush et al., 2007).

Theories on marketing efficiency measurement are organized around two streams, which evolved along with the marketing perspectives. These two streams are (1) marketing productivity measurement and (2) marketing audit, (Morgan et al., 2002). According to Sheth & Sisodia, 2002; Alsem, (2007), The marketing productivity paradigm deals with determining the efficiency by which inputs are transferred into outputs, while the marketing audit school of thought tries to determine the quality and effectiveness of the marketing inputs. How marketing efficiency and effectiveness is related is shown in the following figure:

Figure: Marketing efficiency and effectiveness (Source: Sheth & Sisodia, 2002) 2.7 MARKETING PRODUCTIVITY VERSUS MARKETING AUDITS The marketing productivity approach made two important contributions to marketing efficiency measurement. First, this stream created a conceptual model that provides insights in the efficiency dimension of marketing efficiency. Second, it has raised a concern for recognizing and measuring marketing costs and revenues. This stream attempts to assess if companies pursue the right marketing activities and create valuable assets, to ensure that marketing makes a valuable contribution to the long term financial efficiency of firms, (Clark, 2002). The marketing audit is one of the most popular instruments to assess the quality of inputs. The objective of the audit is to make a systematic, critical, and impartial assessment of the quality marketing activities and marketing assets, while taking into account the situation of the company (Brown, 2004). Elements under investigation in the audit are: customer philosophy, marketing organization, marketing information, strategic orientation, operational efficiency, marketing environment, marketing systems, marketing productivity, and the marketing function (Kotler, 1997; Kotler et al., 1997). Bonoma (1985) stress that, good marketing practices constitute of the interaction between marketing skills and marketing structures. The marketing audit approach made major contributions to marketing efficiency measurement. Not only was the audit stream the first that systematically attempted to determine the effectiveness of the marketing function, but it also played an initiating and important role in the concepts of marketing orientation and marketing capabilities. In practice, marketing audits suffered from a number of implementation problems, ranging from the availability of auditors to accessibility to information and receiving cooperation from management, (Morgan et al., 2002). Thus most audits are developed as a qualitative checklist from a universal best practice point of view, without adopting the constructs under measurement to firm contingencies, (Morgan et al., 2002).

Clark, (2002) and Bush et al., (2007) argue that Due to recent developments in marketing, both the productivity and the audit stream have shown increased attention to brand equity, market orientation, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Both brand equity and market orientation are often considered as an asset, whereby brand equity either represents the customer responses to brand awareness and knowledge (Keller, 2003), or the financial value of the brand to the firm and investors (Simon & Sullivan, 1993). Market orientation corresponds to the quality with which information about customers and competitors is developed and used. Using these four streams, several marketing productivity and audit models are proposed for measuring marketing efficiency.

2.8 An integral model of marketing efficiency measurement In the integrated marketing efficiency measurement framework the process is initiated by the combination of strategy, resources, and capabilities. These three elements are mutually influenced by each other. Resources are productive assets with a value creation potential, which form the input of organizational processes, (Srivastava et al., 1998; Grant, 2005). Grant, (2005) stated that The realization of this potential depends on the quality and degree by which resources are used in combination with capabilities to create valuable outcomes. When a company conducts different marketing actions or executes comparable marketing activities in different ways, a company can create positional advantages and market assets, (Porter, 1996). Morgan et al., (2002) found that positional advantages cover the relative marketing positions of the company in the market, which have a direct (and temporary) impact on sales and customer relations. The main impact of market (-based) assets is longer term, whereby there is usually a considerable time lag between the marketing actions and revenues (Grewal et al., 2004). Through positional advantages and market assets, the marketing actions have a customer and a market impact. The customer impact takes place in terms of customer perceptions, which among other things include brand awareness, brand associations, brand attitudes, brand attachment, brand experiences, satisfaction, trust, and loyalty (Palmer et al., 2005; Bush et al., 2007). The market impact shapes actual customer behavior in terms of sales, which eventually provides the basis of company efficiency.

Online retailing marketing efficiency or performance assessment (ORMPA) is the model that is shown in the following chart that it is served as the basis of the next part of the report. On the other hand Online retailing marketing efficiency or performance assessment (ORMPA) can be used to measure the efficiency of the marketing and it also analyze the framework for the operations of the organizations.

Figure: Online retailing marketing efficiency/performance assessment model (Source: own). 2.8.1 Strategy, resources, and capabilities As indicted in the previous chapter, marketing audits are a popular tool to assess the quality of marketing inputs. Because there is already a wide range of marketing audit literature available, relevant parts of existing theories can be selected and combined to evaluate the first three dimensions of the marketing productivity process. In line with the ORMPA model, the audit

questions should concern the following ten categories: (1) strategy, (2) financial, (3) reputation, (4) relationships, (5) physical, (6) human, (7) legal, (8) organization, (9) information, and (10) technology. Marketing audits have a strong focus on internal operations as well as developments and opportunities in the environment (Kotler, 1977; Blythe, 2009). 2.8.2 Marketing actions The ORMPA model for online retailers identified several activities that can be assessed to determine the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the marketing actions. The most important actions are: (1) promotion, (2) branding, (3) social media activities, (4) assortment management, (5) loyalty programs, (6) pricing, (7) product/service development, (8) fulfillment, (9) customer service/after sales, and (10) data mining. 2.8.3 Marketing assets The ORMPA model identified several intellectual and relational market assets. The most important assets are: (1) the website, (2) branded product lines, (3) knowledge about the environment, (4) relationships with customers, (5) relationships with influencers and users, (6) industrial relationships, and (7) relationships with third parties. According to marketing performance management theories, these assets can be assessed by means of the marketing audit stream (Srivastava et al., 1998; Clark, 2002).

2.8.3.1 Website The most important asset of an online retailer is its website, because that is the intended location where consumers search for product information and place purchases. The best way to assess the quality of the website is by usability and consumer research, although such research usually is expensive and results are only relevant for a short period of time. There are several website elements where the functionality research can focus on. According to Constantinides (2002) the following three website functionality/usability factors are selected to determine the quality of the website: (1) usability, (2) interactivity, and (3) content factors. Usability can be analyzed by the convenience in use, the information architecture, and navigation. Hereby information architecture relates to the hierarchy and grouping of products and information, while navigation relates to consistency and ease by which people can browse in and between product and information groups. Interactivity relates to search facilities, site speed, and the convenience of the ordering process. Search facilities in this regard indicate if the search function on the website leads to fast and reliable results, so that users can easily find the information or products they are looking for.

2.8.3.2 Branded product lines & knowledge about the environment Private label brands and the number of branded product lines can be an important source of competitive advantage in retailing, (Levy & Weitz, 1992). While offering unique brands that fulfill a special customer needs (in niche markets) can reduce price competition and elasticity, offering more branded product lines can strengthen the position of the retailer towards suppliers as well as third parties. When the business strategy puts a strong focus on offering unique brands and products, attention can be to the additional profit margins or the price premium the company is able to charge for these products, as well as the price elasticity of unique brands and products. In contrast, when the strategy focuses on a strong position towards third parties, attention can be paid to the relative number of branded product lines and products in comparison to competitors. Besides branded product lines, the knowledge about the environment can be an important source of future business success. During the execution of marketing activities a company naturally gains and processes suck knowledge. Despite its importance, it is hard to evaluate the quality of this knowledge, as well as the quality by which it is incorporated in strategy and marketing actions.

2.8.3.3 Relationships with external stakeholders Relationship assets result from the relational bonds between a company and its important stakeholders. The bonds that shape these relationships can differ per stakeholder type. For example, where brand equity it is the outcome of comprehensive advertising and high product quality standards; it can be expressed in the strength and value of the relationship between a firm and its customers, (Srivastava et al., 1998). In general it is hard to economically valuate relationships, while a high degree of industry dynamics can further enhance the uncertainty about the potential future revenues of relational assets, (Sheth & Sisodia, 2002).

2.8.4 Market position and Positional advantages Positional advantages relate to the relative market positions of a company in comparison to its competitors; these relative advantages/disadvantages are expected to have a direct impact on sales and customers relations over the time of their existence, (Morgan et al., 2002). As follows from the theoretical analysis, positional advantages for online retailers can exist on nine areas: (1) product, (2) service, (3) price, (4) cost, (5) image, (6) web experience, (7) delivery, (8) find ability, and (9) networks. In the analysis of positional advantages special attention should be paid to the areas on which a firm wants to create a competitive advantage, as well as the areas that form the basis of industry competition. Companies that strongly relate on a pull marketing strategy should also emphasize potential advantages/disadvantages in find ability in search engines and comparison shopping websites, since for these retailers find ability is a prerequisite for being taken into consideration in the purchase process and thus in attracting a customer base. In these nine areas advantages/disadvantages can exist on multiple levels. For example, a firm can have a disadvantage stemming from longer delivery times, while it has advantages in the geographical area it ships to and is better able to provide the right product of the right quality, at the right time at the right address. Advantages in products can for instance exist on a level of a higher quality, larger range, or unique options. Advantages in service levels can among other things exist on helpdesk contact options, response times, guarantees, return and refund policies, after sales services, and etcetera. There are several methods that can be used to determine the relative position on these nine areas. For example, the website can be compared to competitors to create insights in differences in products, prices, promised service levels, web experience, and promised delivery times. Orders can be placed at competitors to experience their actual service quality and delivery reliability. Customer surveys and consumer research can be used to gain insights in the image (in comparison to other firms), differences in web experiences as perceived by visitors, and experienced delivery reliability. An analysis of the presence of a retailer and its competitors in search engines and comparison shopping websites can indicate the relative advantages/disadvantages in find ability, whereby the sentiment of customer reviews among the first results also can indicate differences in perceived image. Next to all this, a social media analysis can be conducted about the firm and competitors to create a further understanding about how customers and website visitors perceive the web experience, experienced delivery times and reliability, service quality, and overall image. Several positional advantages are firm specific, due to which the measurement has to be tailored to firm characteristics. There are for example so many ways and areas in which firms can experience cost advantages, that there is no general way to measure such advantages. This is also the case for network externalities, which can be very industry and company specific.

2.8.5 Customer impact The execution of marketing activities, exploitation of market assets, and the capitalization of positional advantages are aimed to influence consumer perceptions. The impact of these activities can be tracked by website usage, customer reviews, social media contributions of consumers, customer satisfaction, trust, intentions to purchase, perceived service quality, perceived value, and brand perceptions and awareness. 2.8.6 Market performance Market performance is directly related to number of sales and revenues, and can be determined by (1) sales (responses), (2) conversion rate, (3) website turnover, (4) market share, (5) customer acquisition, (6) customer retention, (7) up-selling, (8) cross-category purchases, (9) customer visit frequency, and (10) co-produced products and services. Most of these measures are straight forward, whereby information can be gathered from industry reports, sales reports, databases with customer information, and web analytics software. Market share can be determined based on the total industry turnover in the country, while customer retention can be evaluated by the share of customers that place repeat purchases.

2.8.7 Firm and Financial Performance The last dimension of the ORMPA model is firm and financial performance. Eventually profitability is one of the main objectives of most companies. This last dimension attempts to determine how well the marketing function has contributed to this aim. In finance literature a wide range of metrics and measures can be found to measure firm and financial performance. In this research seven measures are illuminated: (1) profits, (2) ROI, (3) cash flow impacts, (4) economic value added, (5) market value added, (6) market capitalization, (7) and shareholder value. The first two measures are quite straight forward and are not discussed here in further detail. Srivastava et al. (1998, 1999) propose that marketing activities can impact cash flows in the following ways: enhance the cash flow level, promote cash flow velocity, decrease cash flow vulnerability and volatility, and improve the residual firm value. Economic value added is a metric that indicates a firms profitability after correcting it for the cost of financing the company. Additionally, the market value added indicates the excess of current market value over the total capital invested by owners and investors. Market capitalization is an indication of the total company value, which for public listed companies can be calculated by the number of outstanding shares times the share price. Last but not least, shareholder value is the total value of the firm after deduction of outstanding debt (Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2008). Depending on the business and supply chain strategy, the firm could also determine the impact of marketing activities on other efficiency ratios, like the sales-to-assets ratio, days in inventory, inventory turnover, and average collection period of customer invoices (in days). The days in inventory indicates the average speed by which a retailer turns over its inventory, while inventory turnover indicates the average value in inventory (Brealey et al., 2008).

2.9 SUMMARY This study will explore the underlying factors of online retailing and investigate the marketing efficiency of an online retailer in the context of Marks & Spencer in London. In this chapter I have identified various factors that affect the online customer satisfaction thereby the retailing or selling of the online retailer. These factors are technological factors, shopping factors, and product factors. Technological factors include security, privacy, and usability/site design. Shopping factors include convenience, trust and trustworthiness of Web merchants, and delivery time. Product factors include merchandising, overall product value, and availability of product customization. Then different literatures related to marketing efficiency have been discussed. Different marketing efficiency frameworks are identified and analyzed. At last an integrated online retailing marketing efficiency or performance assessment model has been adopted for this study.

CHAPTER-3 METHODOLOGY FOR THE RESEARCH

3.1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In this chapter I have illustrated the research procedure that I have been followed in conducting the proposed study. Methodology adopted stands at the heart of a research (Yin, 2009). The research methodology or procedure described in this chapter includes the research philosophy that match with the proposed research, the research approach, research method, and research strategy followed to conduct this study.

3.2 PHILOSOPY FOR THE PROPOSED RESEARCH Saunders et al., (2008) stated that There are four types of research philosophy; such as pragmatism, positivism, realism and interpretive. In conducting the research the researcher can chose any research methods in the Pragmatism philosophy. Saunders et al., (2009) said that, to the social reality as well as support the positive relation of the study of the evaluation is the positivism of philosophy. On the other hand, Realism philosophy is related to the human thoughts and beliefs and independent of such thoughts and beliefs. According to Fisher (2004), subjective interpretations are focused on the research of interpretation to describe the meanings as well as for recognizing the actual reality. As this study will evaluate the marketing efficiency of the Online Retailing Division of Marks & Spencer in London the interpretivism philosophy is appropriate for this study. 3.3 APPRAOCH OF RESEARCH According to Scholz and Tietje, (2002), usually there are three kinds of approaches of the research; for example- investigative, evocative, in addition to descriptive move toward. Investigative move toward is helpful when the reason is rising premise, replica or conjecture. Zikmund (2000) said that The reason of descriptive move toward is to recognize the reason in addition to relations amid the variables in addition to carry out this study investigator have to information about the topic that is to be examine. According to Scholz and Tietje, (2002), the descriptive move toward is helpful to examination reason in addition to result relations. Since I will explore the marketing efficiency of the selected case company, I have followed exploratory research approach in this study. 3.4RESEARCH METHOD Saunders et al. (2007), widely used research approaches can be divide in two way such as quantitative method or deductive method and qualitative method or inductive method. According to Babbie (2004) and Dey (1993), quantitative methods of research try for the analysis of the numerical data as well as the qualitative method of research try to analyze the meaning, emotions, attitude of the selected samples on the basis of the explanation as well as justification of the matter. According to Silverman, (2000), at the early stage of the research qualitative method is used for the reasons then the researcher can get the benefit from the method. According to Easterby-Smith et al. (2002), for getting the benefits from the research method the researchers needed to use both of the method combinely rather than the competition of these methods of the qualitative as well as quantitative method because both of these method have benefits in addition to limitations. According to Proctor (2000), on the representative samples from a great number of the population the quantitative research may analyze the database over the qualitative method of data analysis this is the advantage. so the in this regard the advantage of the quantitative method is more than the qualitative method of the analysis of data when the researcher have to analyze a large number of data then the researcher should use the quantitative method. According to Kirk and Miller, (1986), when the researchers need to look into the depth of the feeling as well as attitude of the samples of the populations then the researcher should use the qualitative method for the research. Silverman, (1989) said that, alternatively, anecdotalism is the very common problem of the analysis of qualitative method where this method only use some examples, issues, as well as it do not use the accurate data about the samples in consideration. According to Silverman (2000), normally with the possibility of these kinds of the problems as the missing pauses of vital in addition to partly cover the reliability of recordation of the tape in addition to many people think that it is not strength. In this research the researcher have used both qualitative and quantitative research methods since the research will evaluate the marketing efficiency of the Online Retailing Division of Marks & Spencer in London based on the responses of the sample respondents that are qualitative and quantitative.

3.5 STRATEGY OF RESEARCH Saunders et al. (2003) said that a general action is a strategy of research showing the way the researcher shall go about replying the questions of the research. According to Yin (2003), fife kinds of the strategies of research are available these are survey, case study, experimentation, history as well as the analysis archival. Among these strategies case study is mostly popular. According to Saunders et al. (2001), for the exploration of the present theory case study is very important as well as it is the new way of the presenting the new hypothesis.

3.6 RESEARCH DESIGN In this research I followed following research design to conduct the proposed study. Research philosophy Research approach Research strategy Data collection method Sample technique Sample size Interpretive philosophy Both qualitative & quantitative research methods case study Survey through interview stratified random sampling 150 Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation), Frequency distribution. Data analysis techniques

3.7 CASE SELECTION I have chosen Marks & Spencer as the case company for the proposed study. Marks & Spencer is a renowned retailer of clothing and footwear in the United Kingdom. Employing 75,000 people, M&S has more than 620 stores located throughout the UK. Further, M&S has 200 plus stores in 30 countries in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Far East. In both hosiery and male outerwear and female outerwear, it held the leading position in 2010 with value shares of 7%, 5%, and 7%, respectively. It held a 6% market share of childrens wear,

ranking third, and a fourth rank with 3% value share of footwear. Its presence is less felt in the clothing and accessories market. Marks & Spencer is making stronger attempts at expanding its international business. This may prove to be difficult, as M&S is considered to have a strong antique British identity. Its clothing styles are not considered to be enough fashionable to succeed on a global front. According to statistics, online sales have helped M&S to increase its share in childrens wear, home ware and male outerwear. The company launched its own credit card in 2004. It has, since then, expanded its financial services to many stores with over 100 bureau de change now all over the country. It also has about three million M&S credit cards in operation and served over four million travel customers in 2007.

3.8 DATA COLLECTION METHOD: While research is done there are two types of data sources; Such as - Secondary data and Primary data.

Figure: Sources of Data (source-own) On the basis of the subject matter the necessary types of the data as well as information are needed are decided. The data that are already collected and used by the other source are called the secondary data. According to Saunders et al. (2009), there rae three types of the secondary data these are document, survey in addition to many kinds of the sources. The researchers can collect the data from several sources. The normal as well as common sources of the data collection are as follows: website of the firms, newspaper, previous records of the organization, journals etc. According to Saunders et al., (2009), many statistical study as well as the journals in addition to the publication of the government are the different types of the process of data collection. From the analysis of the sample sometimes the researcher can collect the data that are called the primary data. For conducting this research I used different types of secondary data that I collected from several sources such as the online system, journals, website of the firms, newspaper, previous records of the organization. With the analysis of the answer of the respondents who was the sample I have collected the primary data for the research purpose.

3.9 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Collecting data from the population is costly and time consuming; therefore, sampling is essential for data collection. By preparing the sub set of peoples from a population to approximate characteristics of the whole population the sampling method is applied. According to Saunders et al. (2009), from the simple group the sampling is the collection of data more eagerly than a great population. Saunders et al., (2009), said that, probabilistic as well as non probabilistic techniques are the two parts of the technique of the sampling. In the probabilistic sampling every elements of the population are selected. When there are some elements of the populations that have no chance to be selected then it is called the non probabilistic sampling in addition to in this situation probability may not be measured accurately. According to Saunders et al., (2009), on the way of judgments of subject the non probability samples are picked up. For the selection of the sample from the population there are a lot of ways. 1. Simple random sampling method. 2. Systematic random sampling method. 3. Stratified random Sampling method In the context of the simple random sampling method every elements of the samples of the population has the same probability to be selected as the sample of the research. In the context of the systematic random sampling system, the first element is selected randomly but other samples are selected in different system for the purpose of the research. There are some benefits of using the Stratified random Sampling method. These are given bellow; I. By using Stratified random Sampling method the sub population is very carefully emphasized as well as the unrelated units are not considered. II. For miscellaneous sub populations Stratified random Sampling method assists for applying different techniques of the sampling. III. Stratified random Sampling method expands rightness in addition to effectiveness of assessment. IV. Stratified random Sampling method permit superior to use the rules of statistics in addition to for the tests of differences. Probability technique for the sampling is used in this research for these benefits.

3.10SAMPLE COMPOSITION The total sample size for this study is 150. Among these 100 are general people that like online shopping and remaining 50 are the employees of the Marks & Spencer.

3.11 INTERVIEW: Questionnaire, interview are used as the process of data collection as the technique. According to Saunders et al. (2001), there are three ways of interview as well as the researchers can use one of these. These are structured interview, semi structured interview as well as unstructured interview. To the interviewee are asked the predetermined questions that are slandered in the context of the structured interview. In the context of the semi standard interview the interviewee are asked the pre determined as well as the unstructured questions. There are no pre determined questions in the unstructured interview. According to Saunders et al. (2001), for the qualitative research the semi structure as well as in-depth interview is necessary. Churchill (2002) said that, since the interviewer enjoy the freedom for conducting the in-depth interview then the interviewer can enjoy the way to change the ordering as well as question frame that is resulted in the structured interview. According to Churchill (2002), in the responses the variations may vary when there are several interviewers then the possibility may increase. Churchill (2002) said that, it is benefitted for the one researcher in the process of interviewing.Therefore I used semi-structured interview. 3.12DATA ANALYSIS AS WELL AS APPEARANCE TECHNIQUE: The collection of the primary quantitative data analysis by interpreting the attitude as well as behavior of the samples is made for finding out the meaning of the information. According to Miles and Huberman (1994), three steps are including in the data analysis these are reduction, display of the data, as well as making the ending point and the verification of the data.

Figure: Components of data analysis: an interactive model (Source: Amaratunga et al 2002) According to Creswell (2007), following activities are included in the data analysis procedure for the case study: 1. Organization of the data: it means the properly organize the collected data in the preferable order. 2. Reading the data: a through reading is necessary. 3. Preparing the description: a case contents as well as description are necessary. 4. Classification of the data: for establishing the pattern a categorical classification is needed. 5. Interpretation: for the case study a direct interpretation is needed. 6. Depiction in addition to apparition: showing in-depth image by means of description, chart, and statistics. In the research I will follow these data analysis process as well as using the descriptive means of the statistics, presentation of chart in addition to the distribution for presenting and analyzing the data that are collected.

3.13 RELIABILITY OF DATA: Reliability is about presenting a true and fair view, which can easily be controlled by doubling or repeating the measurements, (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997). Saunders et al., (2003) says that, The reliability of the research is whether the procedures will yield the same results on other occasions or not, whether will the similar observation be reached by other observers or not? According to Hammersley (1992), the consistency of the result is determined by the reliability as well as these results are judged by different observers otherwise in different way same observer judge these result. Davis and Bremner (2006) said that, to justify the reliability sometimes researcher may repeat the similar research for maintaining the main results are taken from following situations. According to Silverman (2000), consistency as well as reliability is attested with the reliability concerning the reality. Therefore I have done this to increase the reliability.

3.14 VALIDITY OF DATA According to Saunders et al., (2003) validity is the concern about the findings that whether they are relevant to what they actually are. Validity is defined by Arbnor and Bjerke (1997) as the absence of systematic bias. Gummeson (2000) offers a slightly extended definition saying that validity is the extent to which researchers are able to use their method to study what they had sought to study. Befring (1994) states that it is possible to increase the validity by allowing the respondent to express herself/himself in the most comfortable way; which is in our opinion achieved through interviews. Validity is usually divided along two dimensions: internal and external (Eriksson & Wiederheim-Paul, 2001). Internal validity, sometimes also referred to as relevance, is related to the relationship between a study and existing theory within the area (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997), while external validity measures whether the gathered information is compatible to reality (Eriksson & Wiederheim-Paul, 2001). Yin (2003) said that, gather the sequence of proof that will augment the soundness of the revise. Therefore I will save all evidences such as interview to increase the validity.

3.15 GENERALIZATION The scientific significance of case studies is often questioned arguing the difficulty in making generalizations from the results, (Lukka, 1995). Furthermore, case researchers themselves are modest and usually claim that results based on case studies should be regarded somewhat cautiously since they only apply to the studied case (ibid). We do agree to some extent with the critics and our opinion is that our study cannot alone be used and generalized to all other global corporations with large parts of the value chain outsourced. We look upon our research as a piece in a puzzle and believe that our study, interwoven with other research, can bring forth a better understanding of the studied phenomena. Lukka, (1995) states that generalizations always presuppose that the future structurally corresponds to the past, which is another argument that we believe should be taken into consideration, seeing that todays business environment is changing fast and what seems to be the reality of today might not be the reality of tomorrow. This is particularly true for the business environment in emerging markets, where the market development is influencing corporations all over the world.

3.16 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS & LIMITATIONS: According to Saunders et, al., (2007), the appropriateness of performance of a researcher on the topic of the human rights of members in case of being affected by the investigate job is called ethics of research. For each research the code of the ethical standard is maintained. Every researcher has to pay attention on the consent, carefulness as well as saddle of respondents for conducting the research. To protect in addition to maintain the privacy of the sample in the study the researcher may utilize the names of the samples in any time that are very sincerely maintained in the research.

CHAPTER-4 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS 4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION This dissertation was to evaluate the marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks and Spencer. The studies completed by various researchers have showed that there are many important factors that affect the online shopping results for an organization. A study conducted by Gefen et al., (2003) found that apart from understood usefulness and the understood ease of use, consumer trust is equally important for online commerce. They have justified the fact that a separate and distinct interaction with its IT website interface and with both the actual e-store is the most important factor for online shopping. Today online marketing is the most effective tool in marketing.

To evaluate the marketing efficiency of the Marks & Spencer I conducted empirical study. The study was conducted among the 150 people where 100 were general people (customers) like to online shop with M&S and remaining 50 were employees of the M&S. I conducted the survey taking interviews of the respondents. I followed the semi-structured and in-depth interview. According to Saunders et al. (2001), for the qualitative research the semi structure as well as indepth interview is necessary. Churchill (2002) said that, since the interviewer enjoy the freedom for conducting the in-depth interview then the interviewer can enjoy the way to change the ordering as well as question frame that is resulted in the structured interview. According to Churchill (2002), in the responses the variations may vary when there are several interviewers then the possibility may increase. Churchill (2002) said that, it is benefitted for the one researcher in the process of interviewing.Therefore I used semi-structured interview. I took interviews of all the respondents following a questionnaire. The questionnaire includes two parts where one part was for the customers and the other part was for the employees. The questions for customers were to examine the factors which influence the online marketing. On the other hand the questions for the employees were to evaluate the marketing efficiency. In the Appendix I showed the details of the questionnaire. The findings of the empirical study have been presented and analyzed in the following section.

4.2 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY SAMPLE i. GENDER The following table will express the distribution of the male and female respondents who were included in the survey. Distribution according to the variable - GENDER Gender Male Female Total Frequency 90 60 150 Percent 60% 40% 100%

In the above table it seen that a large portion of the respondents were female. Among 150 respondents, 40 were female and remaining 40 were male. This distribution of the sample is rational as female are tend to buy goods or service through the internet from the retail store. So the answers from the female respondents would be more practical and reliable. ii. AGE Age is an important demographic variable that shows the actual behavior of the people. It is

Age is an important demographic variable that shows the actual behavior of the people. It is common matter that peoples behaviors are different in different ages. Generally young people are more innovative and like challenging activities.

Distribution according to the variable -AGE Age Less than 20 years 20 30 years 31 40 years 41 50 years 51 60 years Above 60 years Total Frequency 15 20 50 30 20 15 150 Percent 10% 14% 33% 20% 13% 10% 100%

In this study it is also clear that 77% of the respondents were up to 50 years. Online shopping is held using different information technology and hence it quite challenging. In this study the respondents were asked to write how old they were, instead of giving option of different age group to choose. Thereby I was able to find out actual age and set up different age groups. Following table shows the findings of ages of the respondents. iii. EDUCATION I included education in the survey question to find out whether level of education has any influence on online purchases. Since online shopping is related to information technology educated person would have tendency to buy through the internet. The findings also support this argument. In the following table I have shown the findings regarding the education the education level of the respondents. Distribution according to the variable -EDUCATION Education level Post graduate Graduate Undergraduate Total Frequency 90 45 15 150 Percent 60% 30% 10% 100%

In the question regarding education I gave options whether they were graduate, post graduate or under graduate and in response I found that 60% were post graduate and 30% were graduate that indicates 90% respondents were highly educated; and only 10% were under graduate, they were under graduate not illiterate. So the online customers are educated and most of them are also highly educated. iv. OCCUPATION I included occupation in the questionnaire to know which type of people more are willing to participate in online purchases. I gave them the options that whether they were student, housewife, employee, and from other occupations. A frequency distribution is shown below regarding the occupation of the respondents. Distribution according to the variable - OCCUPATION Occupation Student Housewife Employee Others Total Frequency 60 30 45 15 150 Percent 40% 20% 30% 10% 100%

The findings regarding this question show that among 150 respondents, 60 were student, 30 were housewife, majority of the respondents, 45, were employee and 15 respondents were from other occupations. v. DISPOSABLE MONTHLY INCOME Disposable monthly income is essential to find out the consumers buying behavior. I included disposable monthly income in the questionnaire to find that whether the respondents who have higher income spend more money online or not. Distribution according to the variable - DISPOSABLE MONTHLY INCOME Monthly Income Less than 5000 5001 - 8000 8001 10000 10001 13000 Above 13000 Total Frequency 25 35 30 45 15 150 Percent 17% 23% 20% 30% 10% 100%

In the above table it is noticed that most of the respondents, 30%, had monthly income of 10001 to 13000. Aggregately 60% of the respondents had monthly income more than of 8000. So the people who have higher monthly income spend more in online shopping. 4.3 DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF FACTORS OF ONLINE MARKETING I used weighted average mean and standard deviation as descriptive statistics to describe the factors. This analysis will explore how online consumer behavior is influenced by the different factors. Here mean is the weighted average value of the responses from the respondents regarding asked questions. Standard deviation is the degree of variability of the variables measured. In order to identify which factors are more influential to the online consumer behavior I asked the respondents to rate the given factors using a 5-point Likert scale, which ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. 4.3.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF WEBSITE FACTORS In order to examine how the consumers evaluate website quality in terms of website design, website reliability, website customer service, and website privacy or security the mean scores of all factors have been calculated and compared in the following part. A. Website design factors To find out the attitudes of the consumer towards M&Ss Website design I included various factors regarding the design of the website. I asked them to rate the variables using Linkerts 5point scale. After collecting their responses I calculated weighted average means of the all variables. The degree of variability, standard deviation, of the variable to the mean value has also been calculated. Mean and standard deviation of the variables are shown in the following table-

Online Buyers Perceptions of the Website design factors of the M&S Website design factors 1. It is quick and easy to complete a transaction at this website. 2. This site has competitive prices. 3. This website has a good selection. 4. This website understands my needs. 5. The website provides in-depth information. 6. I feel comfortable in surfing this site. 7. The site doesn't waste my time. 8. The level of personalization at this site is about right, not too much or too little. Overall mean of Website Design Factor Mean 3.45 3.43 3.43 3.39 3.38 3.40 3.37 3.30 3.39 Std. Deviation 1.16 1.17 1.14 1.18 1.15 1.17 1.20 1.18 1.17

In the above table it is seen that overall mean of website design factor was3.39 whereas transaction process, price advantage, and diversity of merchandise had high mean value that indicate customers were satisfied with the transaction process, price advantage, and available merchandise of the M&S online retail store. Ease of navigation had a lower mean therefore online customers were less satisfied with this area of service. As a result this had lower favorable effect on consumers online shopping experiences. Web designers should cautiously design their online shop layout in order to facilitate navigation (Loshe and Spiller 1998). The level of personalization had the lowest mean score (3.30) which indicates online buyers were unhappy with this areas. Such lack of personalization would influence the potential online consumers to turn away.

B. Website reliability factors Website reliability factors help explores how much the online purchases are reliable to the buyers. Website reliability factors include accurate represented products, receipt products what was ordered from this website, delivery of the products within the promised time. The findings and calculation of the findings regarding these factors show that online consumers were highly satisfied with the reliability factors of the M&S online retail store. Following table represents the perceived website reliability of the online consumers. Online Buyers Perceptions of the Website reliability factors of the M&S Website reliability factors 1. The product that came was represented accurately by the website. 2. You get what you ordered from this website. 3. The product is delivered by the time promised by the company Overall mean of Website Reliability Factor Mean 4.05 3.95 3.70 3.90 Std. Deviation 1.04 0.92 1.05 1.0033

In the above table it is seen that the mean score of the accurate represented products was the highest score among all of the website factors. It is also seen that all the three factors of the website reliability had higher mean scores. Therefore it can be said that online consumers were fairly satisfied that M&S online retailer accurately deliver the products what were displayed in the website. The concern was that among the three factors delivery of the products within the promised time had lowest mean score so M&S should emphasize on it.

a. Website customer service factors Website customer service factors will help evaluate the E-retailers provided website customer service. Website customer service factors include willingness and readiness of the company to respond customer needs, promptness in answering the inquiries of the customers, and sincerity in problem solving. The mean scores and standard deviations are shown in the following table. Online Buyers Perceptions of the Website customer service factors of the M&S Website customer service factors 1. The company is willing and ready to respond to customer needs. 2. Inquiries are answered promptly. Mean 3.60 3.61 Std. Deviation 1.08 1.06 1.09 1.07

3. When you have a problem, the website shows a sincere interest 3.45 in solving it. Overall mean of Website Customer Service Factor 3.55

In the above table the overall mean score of website customer service factor is 3.55, second highest among all the four website factors, which indicate that online consumers were satisfied with the E-retailer online customer service. Willingness and promptness in answering the inquiries of the customers had almost equal mean score but sincerity in problem solving had lower mean value of 3.45 that is also lower than overall mean of website customer service factor which express that online consumers of the M&S were not fairly satisfied with the sincerity in problem solving.

b. Website Privacy/Security factors Privacy or security of the online transaction is very essential to the online consumers. Website Privacy or Security factors will help explore whether the online customers were satisfied with privacy or security facilities of the M&S online retail store. . Website Privacy factors include safety in transactions, adequate security features of website, and privacy protection. The calculated mean scores and standard deviations from the responses of the respondents are shown in the following table.

Online Buyers Perceptions of the Website security/privacy factors of the M&S Website security factors 1. I feel safe in my transactions with this website. 2. This website has adequate security features. 3. I feel that my privacy is protected at this site. Overall mean of Website Privacy/Security Factor Mean 3.20 3.15 3.08 3.14 Std. Deviation 1.12 1.10 1.14 1.12

In the above mentioned table it is seen that Online Buyers Perceptions of the Website security/privacy factors of the M&S were not satisfactory. The mean scores of all the three factors of the website privacy were lower than that of other factors of the website factors. The results reveal that online consumers were not satisfied with the online privacy facilities. Such results also indicate that lack of proper security or privacy of the personal information and financial information is one of the very much influential problems of online purchases.

4.3.2 Descriptive Statistics and Analysis of Product portfolio factors Online consumer behavior will be influenced not only by the website characteristics product portfolio of the online retailer also influences the buying behavior of the online consumers. Product portfolio means product or service variety and diverse features. Product portfolio factors explore whether the online retailer has wide range of product package, or the product that the consumer wants is available to the retailer or the retailer has the enough accessible information related to the products. The calculated descriptive statistics from the findings of the survey are presented in the following table.

Online Buyers Perceptions of the product portfolio factors of the M&S Product portfolio 1. The company provides wide ranges of service packages 2. The company provides services with the features I want 3. The company provided me many useful free services (e.g. message board) Overall mean of Product portfolio Factor Mean 3.60 3.55 3.28 3.48 Std. Deviation 1.02 1.10 1.05 1.06

In the above table of perceptions of the product portfolio factors it is seen that the variable -the company provides wide ranges of service packages had mean sore of 3.60. This score is a good score and indicates that online customers were satisfied with product variety and diversity of the M&S online retail store. The mean score of the variable- the company provides services with the features consumers want e also represents that online customers were satisfied by getting their desired product and service. The only concern about the product portfolio is that the customers were not fairly satisfied with the free service facilities such as massage board as the mean score was lower.

4.4 Findings and analysis of marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer To evaluate the marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer I developed following statements and asked the employees to rate these statement using Likert 5 scale where 1=strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3=neutral, 4= agree and 5= strongly agree. Statement Rating Our company prefers online marketing to traditional marketing After adopting the internet marketing the profitability of our business is increasing Due to the adoption of the emerging trend of internet marketing our business has grown with high pace over the last few years Our online marketing strategies (promotional, product, channeling strategy) are attractive to the customers Our online marketing strategies contribute to maintain brand equity, customer equity M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing as a result of online marketing efficiency

After collecting the opinion or rating of the respondents (employees) I calculated descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) using Microsoft Excel Sheet. I have shown the mean and standard deviation of the findings regarding marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer in the following table. Statement Our company prefers online marketing to traditional marketing After adopting the internet marketing the profitability of our business is increasing Due to the adoption of the emerging trend of internet marketing our business has grown with high pace over the last few years Our online marketing strategies (promotional, product, channeling strategy) are attractive to the customers Our online marketing strategies contribute to maintain brand equity, customer equity M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing as a result of online marketing efficiency Mean 4.05 4.30 4.10 3.80 4.20 4.25 Std. deviation 0.90 0.67 0.70 0.99 0.87 0.68

In the above table it is seen that mean values of the all six statements are near to the maximum value (5) of the Likerts 5 point scale. Standard deviations of the all statements are also less then 1that indicates all the values are concentrated to the mean value and showing a good scenario of the mentioned statements. The first statement was that Marks & Spencer prefers online marketing compared to the traditional marketing. The findings regarding this statement show that today Marks & Spencer prefers online marketing strategies when it makes marketing strategies. In the annual report of the year 2011 it was found that A very strong business for the different channel has build by M&S. with new-fangled transactional websites come into view from side to side medium the market is suspected to expand rapidly in this year. Facebook play an important role in the growth of this market. For engaging the new potential consumers the M&S Company use different types of the website. It uses different showcase different goods as well as to run indifferent advertising. The second statement was that M&Ss profitability is increasing after adopting internet marketing. The findings regarding this statement indicate that most of the respondents are strongly agreed with this statement as the mean value is near to the maximum value of 5. The annual report of the year 2011 also supports this statement. In the annual report it is seen that this year its total profit is 598.6m whereas in 2010 total profit was 523m.

The third statement was that due to the adoption of the emerging trend of internet marketing our business has grown with high pace over the last few years. The average value of the findings regarding this statement was 4.10 that indicate that most of the employees opinion or rating was strongly supportive. M&Ss partnership with Amazon has worked well. M&S has created its own international website platform, capable of selling in multiple countries in local currency. Through its space growth programme M&S is creating a store portfolio that will enable M&S to deliver a leading multi-channel shopping experience throughout the UK. The fourth statement was that M&Ss online marketing strategies (promotional, product, channeling strategy) are attractive to the customers. The findings of this statement represent that M&Ss online marketing strategies such as promotional, product, channeling strategy was attractive but not highly attractive as the mean value of this statement is near to the neutral value of 4.The answer of this statement will be fully representative if the answer is collected from the consumers. Therefore in case of future research it will be wise to collect the answer of this statement from the customers.

The fifth statement was that M&Ss online marketing strategies contribute to maintain brand equity, customer equity. The calculated mean value of the findings of this statement was near to the maximum value of the rating scale. It can be said that the online marketing strategy of the Marks & Spencer is very effective and efficient thereby increases brand equity as well as customer equity. M&S considers that together with its people its brand is one of the strongest assets reflected by the extraordinary trust of M&Ss customers place in it (annual report, 2011). About the expenditure the consumers are remain very cautious. For shopping in this shop this company worked very hard for giving the customers the reasons as well as to keep the customers with this organization. The seasonal main trends, variety of the colors as well as advertisement on the cloth are the highlighted matter. M&Ss line-up of Twiggy, Dannii Minogue, Ana Beatriz Barros, VV Brown and Lisa Snowdon demonstrated the wide plea of its clothes, representative the ways of making the styles they use for the different group of the age basis. According to Annual report, 2011, An additional 1.8 million customers were attracted into store by the fashions showcased in its autumn campaign. The sixth and last statement was M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing as a result of online marketing efficiency. The mean value of the findings of this statement is 4.25 which represent that most of the respondents were strongly agreed that as a result of online marketing efficiency, M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing. With the variety of the cloths as well as the local business that is delivered for the better performance the M&S remains the most important retailer of the clothes.

CHAPTER-5 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION 5.1 DISSERTATION SUMMARY This study was to evaluate marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer. In an era of the internet, online shopping has attained a supreme status of being one of the most influential sales channels. Online shopping is the third most popular activity on the internet and the trend is gaining increasing acceptance in all parts of the world. Online shopping can be both B2C where a consumer buys products through internet from the firm or B2B where businesses buy the product from another business organization. Online shopping has its own characteristics as that of real shopping. In the era of high internet usage, Londoners are considered to be a technology-literate generation, sometimes also called as digital natives. That makes this study a realistic and achievable approach to study the marketing efficiency of the chosen organization. To evaluate the marketing efficiency of the Marks & Spencer I conducted empirical study. The study was conducted among the 150 people where 100 were general people (customers) like to online shop with M&S and remaining 50 were employees of the M&S. I conducted the survey taking interviews of the respondents. I followed the semi-structured and in-depth interview. According to Saunders et al. (2001), for the qualitative research the semi structure as well as indepth interview is necessary. The key objectives of this study were to evaluate marketing efficiency of the online division of Marks & Spencer, to identify the important factors of online marketing; and to explore the satisfaction level of the online customers of Marks & Spencer. The findings regarding these objectives have been explained in the conclusion.

5.2 CONCLUSION After analyzing the findings it was found that today Marks & Spencer prefers online marketing strategies when it makes marketing strategies. In the annual report of the year 2011 it was found that M&S has built a strong Multi- channel business. It was found that a very strong business for the different channel has build by M&S. with new-fangled transactional websites come into view from side to side medium the market is suspected to expand rapidly in this year. Face book play an important role in the growth of this market. For engaging the new potential consumers the M&S Company use different types of the website. The introduction of its mobile web and the increased flexibility of Shop Your Way made its products even more accessible to customers. In the recent annual report it is seen that this year its total profit is 598.6m whereas in 2010 total profit was 523m. M&Ss partnership with Amazon has worked well. M&S has created its own international website platform, capable of selling in multiple countries in local currency. Through its space growth program M&S is creating a store portfolio that will enable M&S to deliver a leading multi-channel shopping experience throughout the UK. It can be said that the online marketing strategy of the Marks & Spencer is very effective and efficient thereby increases brand equity as well as customer equity. M&S considers that together with its people its brand is one of the strongest assets reflected by the extraordinary trust of M&Ss customers place in it (annual report, 2011). About the expenditure the consumers are remain very cautious. For shopping in this shop this company worked very hard for giving the customers the reasons as well as to keep the customers with this organization. The seasonal main trends, variety of the colors as well as advertisement on the cloth are the highlighted matter. M&Ss line-up of Twiggy, Dannii Minogue, Ana Beatriz Barros, VV Brown and Lisa Snowdon demonstrated the wide plea of its clothes, representative the ways of making the styles they use for the different group of the age basis. According to Annual report, 2011, An additional 1.8 million customers were attracted into store by the fashions showcased in its autumn campaign. As a result of online marketing efficiency, M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing. With the variety of the cloths as well as the local business that is delivered for the better performance the M&S remains the most important retailer of the clothes. Market share by value increased to 11.7% and it experienced growth across all areas as customers sought out M&S quality. Website factors are the most influential factors to the online marketing as well as online customer satisfaction. It was found that overall mean of Website Design Factor is 3.39, overall mean of Website Reliability Factor is 3.90, overall mean of Website Customer Service Factor is 3.55, overall mean of Website Privacy/Security Factor is 3.14 and overall mean of the four website factors is 3.47; From this result it is clear that online consumers of Marks & Spencer were satisfied but not strongly satisfied.

Online consumer behavior will be influenced not only by the website characteristics product portfolio of the online retailer also influences the buying behavior of the online consumers. Product portfolio means product or service variety and diverse features. From the empirical study it was found that company provides wide ranges of service packages had mean sore of 3.60. This score is a good score and indicates that online customers were satisfied with product variety and diversity of the M&Ss online retail division. At last it can be concluded that Marks & Spencers online marketing division is efficiently operating its online marketing and online customers are satisfied with Marks & Spencers online marketing.

5.3 RECOMMENDATION There are some common efficiency mistakes and how to address them. A retailer can boost its marketing efficiency by following ways: 1. Progress the definition of the Target: The significance of the targeting is known to the direct marketers. From the different studies it is shown that the fifty per cent or more effectiveness of the mailing is explained by the accuracy of targeting. For the program there is necessary some waste but extreme exactitude give an instant raise in the return. Normally, target of media must be scientific in addition to narrower in spite of the positioning of the target. For the identification of these types of nature warranty card as well as database of the consumer service can play an important role. Because of taking the records of the transactions by the partners of the retailing as well as trading they may know enough about the consumers this example can be used when the collection of data is easier to collect by than what you are thinking when you have no options for the database. For the focusing the targeting the contents of the media may be a great means. For the target of the specific group the media of magazines as well as online system are finely sharpen. 2. Develop the supplementary types of media: It is necessary to make the diversification when more than fifty per cent of the dollars of marketing are engaged in one media. For the boost of the efficiency as well as the visibility it is necessary to ensure interlace together a program which is used to present the message by the different media in several ways. The linkage of the cross media can be effective for the different target. 3. Experimentation with straight retort medium

For the responses of the direct ways complicated extended arrangement money-making, emailing by online, preparing the banner as well as the campaigning for the search engine are included with it. In the context of the total dollars of the marketing promotions of sales as well as responses from the customers directly make up to fifty per cent. The organizations may miss the powerful ways to connect with the customers if they have no present online system otherwise eight hundred numbers for the advertisement. And they may fail to evaluate the program of the marketing efficiency. 4. Influence medium opportunities of merchandising: Now most of the organizations of the media offer more than one type of media and they are willing to use several media. To get this advantage cross media purchasing are raising as the general way. A great means for the expansion of their offerings for the advantages as well as for getting the efficiencies to the consumers of cost they present the media organizations. It should be known to them about the greatest worth that one helps them for driving the perfect deal. Distinctive programs of the merchandizing have promotional products, for entertainment providing the tickets otherwise generous activities, on-line visibility, right of entry to file, buy and sell show tie-ins otherwise display, events in-store in addition to additional. For the partners of the trade as well as sales force these activities may give ten per cent or more worth of the media purchasing and it also gives different types of the incentives. 5. Make as well as excavate a file of clientele along with prediction: To build as well as analyze the database of the consumers is one of the good ways of investment of marketing. For the building the database for the marketing the database of customer service, database of the warranty, files of billing as well as others may be play a good role. To contact with the consumer in addition to the predictions by the use of online service, mailing, telephoning, extra information on the ownership, utilizations may be organized in addition to utilized to prepare the effective programs for both the retention of the previous consumers as well as acquire the new consumers for the organizations. For enhancing the effectiveness of the targeting these models are utilized in many ways in the economic services as well as factories. 6. Launch manifold performance metrics: Many of the marketers who are sophisticated start their activities online basis by the focus group otherwise by the test mail offering. Several proposals may be examined otherwise the same proposal with the several criteria of the target. On one occasion in the marketplace more than eight hundred numbers may be utilized for tracking the efficiency of the several media, proposals otherwise the offers. There are other types of the metrics of performance. These are as follows: sales panels of the retailing, inquiries of the email, and exclusive visitors of the website. 7. Time purchases to the souk: It is an error to buy the media by the thump. Several price for the cause several medium, many times of the day otherwise still positioning in the medium. Over and over again it is very valuable for paying a bit additionally the quality of the consumers concentration is enough. 8. Level reverse imaginative requirements: It is an common error to make particular imaginative for each inclusion, online, in addition to endorsement on the assumptions which is necessary for avoiding ablaze out customers by the one otherwise two original executions. Mainly the fact is that the development f the creative ways is expensive as well as most effective is underused. In the advertisement of the efficiency the relevance has been shown again as well as again to be more important than the facilities in the studies. 9. Improve the proffer: Omitting the offer is a very common mistake. Unless the compelling the cause the peoples may not go to the email, phone or the computer. From the studies it can be said that the offer of the value addition for example data otherwise the game for the satisfactions or riddle may be used to generate the responses of the related peoples. To learn about the goods websites provide many ways for incenting the customers. The consumers are not interested to waste their time for the complex offers. So the organizations should provide the simple form of the opportunities for the desired consumers. 10. Targeting the accessible clientele: It is true for the people to retain the existing customers than attracting the new consumers for the goods. In spite of everything, they discuss about the demand for the products as well as the interests about the brand otherwise the solutions. There are some problems in the posing the existing consumers. These are the reasons for the rewarding the people who will purchase the goods as well as the reducing the margin on the previous goods. Customer segment is the solution of this problem. All the consumers are not treated equally. In this the highly valuable customers should be rewarded for encouraging them to buy again as well as new customers also is rewarded. Reduce the costs of non working as the extra bonus Every agency should clear that they should not exceed the media cost no more than ten per cent. Through the specialized services of marketing most of the service agency may be accessed by the lower expensive than the total agency of the full service. From the part of the organizations this requires additional cooperation otherwise they should use the external specialist. However, by the utilization of project based service in the media planning the cost may be reduced as well as with the purchasing, analyzing the files, strategies for the communication can be used.

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Part 1(for customres) Please mark () a box for each question 1. Gender Male Female

1. Age 1. How old are you now?

1. Education

Post graduate

Graduate

Undergraduate

1. Occupation

Student Others

Housewife

Employee

1.5 Monthly Income Less than 5000 Above 13000 5001 - 8000 8001 10000 10001 13000

1=strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3=neutral, 4= agree and 5= strongly agree. Website design factors Rating It is quick and easy to complete a transaction at this website. This site has competitive prices. This website has a good selection. This website understands my needs. The website provides in-depth information. I feel comfortable in surfing this site. The site doesn't waste my time. The level of personalization at this site is about right, not too much or too little. Website reliability factors The product that came was represented accurately by the website. You get what you ordered from this website. The product is delivered by the time promised by the company

Website customer service factors The company is willing and ready to respond to customer needs. Inquiries are answered promptly. When you have a problem, the website shows a sincere interest in solving it. Website security factors I feel safe in my transactions with this website. This website has adequate security features. Product portfolio factors I feel that my privacy is protected at this site. The company provides wide ranges of service packages The company provides services with the features I want The company provided me many useful free services (e.g. message board) The company provides most of the service functions that I need All my service needs are included in the menu options

Part-2 (for employees) 1=strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3=neutral, 4= agree and 5= strongly agree. Statement Our company prefers online marketing to traditional marketing After adopting the internet marketing the profitability of our business is increasing Due to the adoption of the emerging trend of internet marketing our business has grown with high pace over the last few years Our online marketing strategies (promotional, product, channeling strategy) are attractive to the customers Our online marketing strategies contribute to maintain brand equity, customer equity M&Ms value share, sales, cash flow are increasing as a result of online marketing efficiency Rating

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