ONLINE MARKETING INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM; DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

ONLINE MARKETING INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM; DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Background of the Study

The Internet sprang from the cold war and technical rivalry between the USSR and the US. "While the World Wide Web was formed in 1991, its origins stretch back to 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I satellite," according to Wikipedia (Kachur 2020). The United States replied by establishing a department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), which established in the 1960s ARPANET, an experimental project of computer networks from which the internet evolved. Since then, the internet has made enormous contributions to research, and "by the late 1980s, the internet was being used by numerous government and corporate organisations" (Adjei and Noble 2018).

For several years, the internet was seen as an inclusive communicative tool of scientific and research institutions, and its academic role was prominent prior to the discovery of its commercial possibilities, which led to its commercialization. According to Oksana (2007), "until the mid-1990s, the research and academic communities accounted for the majority of the internet population, but the commercialization of the internet quickly gained enormous momentum, and the business community quickly became aware of the potential it has to offer." As the number of internet users grew in the 1990s, businesses began to see the financial potential of this new medium. Although there is no perfect agreement on when internet marketing began, the bulk of analysts point to 1994. According to popular belief, "major commercial usage of the Internet began in 1994, with the first banner adverts' on web sites, and the development of Internet-based malls' (the electronic version of a shop) such as Amazon.com in 1995."

According to Anderws & Bienchi (2017), statistics show that this nascent business, internet marketing, has grown at an astounding rate. The rate of expansion of this new marketing paradigm is so astounding that it is difficult to realise it is so young. In reality "Spending on internet marketing was almost nil in 1994, but more than $300 million in 1995. After a decade, marketing spending and the internet marketing industry have risen to about $500 billion (according to Forrester Research). It's difficult to imagine an organisation nowadays that doesn't have some sort of web presence." Shirvastav and Alam (2014) This brief historical overview concludes by emphasising how, step by step, online marketing has evolved into a much more complex activity. As a result, early internet marketing strategies such as online advertising and email marketing have given way to more modern, sophisticated approaches such as search engine optimization and social media marketing.

Chaffey et al. (2000) simply define internet marketing as "the application of the internet and related digital technologies to achieve marketing objectives"(12). This definition is a simple definition which, unlike the following ones, does not touch the important aspect of customer relationship. According to (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012: 508; Kotler et al., 2010: 493) Online marketing consists of measures and activities to promote products and services and build relationships with customers over the Internet. Shepard (2019) understands online marketing as ―carefully targeting users and getting them to interact with you while they‘re engaged with the most personal, intimate medium ever invented. The most comprehensive definition has been articulated by Chaffey (2007), he defines online marketing as ―Applying Digital technologies which form online channels (Web, e-mail, databases, plus mobile/wireless & digital TV) to contribute to marketing activities aimed at achieving profitable acquisition and retention of customers (within a multi-channel buying process and customer lifecycle) through improving our customer knowledge (of their profiles, behavior, value and loyalty drivers), then delivering integrated targeted communications and online services that match their individual needs". As this relationship concept definitions show online marketing revolve around interaction and building relationship with customers, a point which discriminates it from traditional, offline marketing.

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