Background
The eBay Company has been in existence for 18 years. The company provides an online marketing platform for used, refurbished and new products across the globe. Besides, the company offers the online money transfer service called the PayPal.
Due to stiff competition from other online marketing companies, the growth of eBay has been unsteady since 2007. At present, eBay wishes to reclaim its lost glory as the market leader. Specifically, the company’s C.E.O Mr. Donahoe is facing the dilemma of balancing expansion and sustainability as more competitors penetrate the online marketing industry.
Recommendations
The first recommendation is to adopt an operation efficiency strategy to reduce cost of running the company so as to increase the net profit. Secondly, the eBay company should adopt consumer centricity strategies to tailor its products to the preference of consumers.
Thirdly, the company should carry out content development and intense advertisement in the media to create awareness of its new products. Finally, the company should create a dynamic and functional team within its expansion structure to ensure sustainability of the gains made.
Basis for the recommendations
Operation efficiency
Operational efficiency and market niche provide an indication of how well the company manages its resources, that is, how well it employs its assets to generate sales and income. It also shows the level of activity of the corporation as indicated by the turnover ratios. The level of activity for the eBay has remained relatively stable despite the threat of competition, and constant change of taste and preference.
In order to stay afloat, the company should streamline its operational costs and introduce freelance marketers paid on a commission. These marketers will operate from their homes to save the company’s daily expenses of running its business from a central point (Aaker 31). Through implementing this proposal, the company will reduce its wage bill and seal cost loop holes.
Consumer Centricity
Properly designed online marketing and product distribution management facilitate the success and sustainability in online marketing. To increase credibility and maintain professionalism, the current channels of reaching the consumers at eBay should be tailored to encompass processes and features that flawlessly facilitate a healthy and a lifetime relationship between the business and its clients.
The new development elements that the eBay company should incorporate include trust, liability acceptance, distribution, fair retribution process, and passing accurate information to target audience to restore confidence within these networks. This strategy will ensure that the business is sustainable.
As opined by Kotler (2007), the desired awareness created in the online platform and different distribution packages is essential in sustaining online trade. For instance, the safety and security of the customer over the cyberspace trading platform have become such an important issue in determining consumer behavior (Kotler 29).
Thus, introduction of a Secure Online Shopping System (SOSS) is vital towards survival of the eBay business. Secure online shopping system is a platform where consumers are able to make orders on a particular product and make payments using their credit cards. Introducing the modified SOSS platform at the eBay company will ensure the safety and security of clients interested in the company’s product.
Functional team
Essentially, the success of e-marketing depends on proper alignment of a functional team that is responsible for the creation of flexible and quantifiable measurement tracking tools for reviewing results periodically.
Reflectively, the eBay company should introduce a functional team with the essential knowledge in social media and tools used in marketing via the Internet. Besides quality in service, delivery and customer satisfaction depend on the support team as indicated in the distribution channel of its competitors’ online marketing segment.
Therefore, customer retention is achievable through the creation of reliable, informed, and passionate support team at eBay (Kotler and Gary 12). In addition, the plan should include a monitoring matrix that maps out potential competitors and identifies online weaknesses and strengths of the eBay clients. Moreover, the reporting criteria for the eBay business should reflect the success of marketing calendar and set periodic targets (Koufaris 216).
Creation of content and advertisement
Creation of content is extremely essential when dealing with internet marketing communication within the industry that eBay operates in. It is necessary to determine the online behavior of the target market before selecting the best channel for internet marketing at the eBay to minimize the issue of changed consumer preference. The new content at the eBay should be given time to enhance its online presence by constantly updating information on current product trends (Kotler and Gary 9).
Essentially, success of brand and product management depends on a proper alignment of a functional idea into the creation of flexible, involuntary, and quantifiable measurement of perception among the target audience. The eBay company should realize that promotion of its products is not merely an advertising function. It should come up with both advertising campaigns and promotional strategy that is defined by the nature of the market, the size of the market, and the preferences of its customers (Koufaris 216).
Alternatives, risks, and assumptions
The main alternative was to adopt a highly structured and broad differentiation strategy in designing market segmentation policies.This alternative was not suggested since it aims at establishing the broadest possible mechanism for optimizing returns in the same way as the operation efficiency strategy. The risk may be the inability to dwell on specific features which make the eBay’s products unique and appealing to target clients since consumer preferences in this industry are unpredictable.
Works Cited
Aaker, Don. Building strong brands. New York: The Free Press, 2006. Print.
Kotler, Paul. Marketing management: Analysis, planning, implementation and control. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 2007. Print.
Kotler, Philip & A. Gary. Marketing: an introduction, New York, NY: Pearson, 2013. Print.
Koufaris, Michael. “Applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to Online consumer behavior.” Information System ResearchJournal 3.2 (2002): 205-223. Print.