Pros and Cons of Internet Marketing

Modern people are increasingly resorting to online shopping, as a result of which online commerce is becoming commonplace. But before you rush to the virtual store (without leaving the couch), you should better evaluate the pros and cons of online marketing. Among the companies in this area there is a fierce struggle for leadership in search engines, so they bring down a wave of information on customers.

Features of the Internet Marketing Environment

When evaluating it, it is necessary to simultaneously evaluate a combination of three factors:

• time;
• prices;
• direct contact.

Advantages of Internet Marketing

• The ability to buy goods in the online store by placing an order directly from the computer.
• The relatively low cost of the product is due to the fact that advertising on the World Wide Web is much cheaper than on television, and its production is also much cheaper than any other type of advertising.
• Contact reliability. It has been noted that the "attention index" on television is only 5-8%, in the media – 10-15%, but on the Internet – 40%. If we take specialized sites, then this figure is almost equal to 100%.
• The psychological comfort of the buyer’s personality lies in the fact that he can form his own idea about the product without any psychological pressure from the seller.

• Thanks to the ability to turn on feedback at any time, you can get additional clarifying information.
• Thanks to the flexibility of the marketing policy, it can be quickly changed during operation at no extra cost.
• You can quickly respond to changes in the market situation: change prices, assortment, descriptions of goods and services.
• By analyzing customer reactions to various offers, you can collect data about their needs and instantly make corrections to advertising.
• No costs for dissemination and delivery of information.

The combination of these factors pushes potential buyers to cooperate and repeat visits to the online store.

Disadvantages of Internet Marketing

• In Internet marketing, it is not only impossible to guarantee a quick return, but it is even very difficult to predict the result. The work of an Internet marketer, which consists in promoting a brand, is a rather difficult and lengthy process.
• The return rate here is also not too high, it cannot be compared with the return rate from contextual advertising. Internet marketing is set for the long term, with the formation and development of the brand, the gradual growth of customer confidence.
• Internet marketing has costs, as in any business, where you have to invest money first and then make a profit later. There are many directions of expenses: sites, personnel, social networks, hypotheses. Therefore, you need to immediately put it on the balance sheet as a cost item for investing in Internet marketing. There is an opinion among marketers that in order to count on a guaranteed result, you need to invest at least 10% of your income in marketing every month.

• Limited audience. So far, not all people make their purchases via the Internet, but only a small percentage of buyers. However, it is constantly growing.
• The huge scale of the World Wide Web, which is littered with real garbage, among which it is far from easy to find the necessary and useful information.
• A systemic drawback is the virtuality of the product, which can neither be checked by hand nor simply touched. To solve it, attempts are made to post high-quality videos and photos of the object of sale from various angles, but there cannot be an infinite number of them.
• A noticeable shortage of good Internet marketing professionals causes poor quality of their services. The reason for this situation in the Russian segment of the Internet is the lack of real money here, which is often replaced by free services or barter. Although the situation is slowly changing.
• The use of Internet resources is still associated with a share of the danger of disclosing personal data or hacking payment systems.

Internet marketing certainly has a positive impact on business. As a result, companies seek to further develop this type of commerce, eliminating its shortcomings and increasing the number of positive aspects.