Marketing Paper-E-Marketing Competitive Analysis

E-Marketing Competitive Analysis

The final project is assigned in lieu of a final exam. The final project asks you to examine and assess real-world e-marketing competitive activities. This is your chance to apply and assess essential knowledge and skills in e-marketing. Your performance will be scored on a rubric indicating how successfully you meet specific standards. The final project, due to complexity and length, will be graded within 1 week after the due date for on-time submissions.

Prepare Your Final Project as Follows

You are asked to select a specific product or service that you are interested in purchasing from two e-competitors. For example, you may choose to purchase an interactive video player for your niece from the Wal-Mart or Best Buy websites. The item or service must cost at least $300 in order to create a significant purchase that requires the sellers to overcome online buyers’ concerns and enable effective online commerce.

You must get your instructor’s approval for the product or service and the two e-competitors you will assess. See the course schedule and the Weekly Announcements for the due date for submitting your product or service.

Once you have gained approval, you will be asked to assess how effectively your pre-selected e-competitor’s website serves your buyer needs, using the marketing mix (4P).

Product or Service Strategy (Customer)

How, specifically, does the product/service benefit the user?
Identify key value proposition message(s).
Identify target segment(s) served.
Why do they buy (luxury, worthwhile, comfort, instant or deferred gratification)?
How well does the website content help the user/buyer decide?
How well does the website answer specific buyers’ questions?
Price (Cost)

Note: Value = Perceived Benefits less – (Price Paid + Transaction Costs + Opportunities Lost)

What are the key transaction costs in this offer beyond list price?
Identify key pricing approach(es) (predatory, coupons, skimming, frequent user discounts, other).
Explain base price + extras; possibly options or monthly fees.
How effective is the site privacy policy?
What evidence shows the site is secure in terms of your personal information?
Are warranty issues covered (duration, dispute resolution, return policy)?
Promotion (Communication)

Psychographics: why, specifically, does your buyer choose this e-product/service?
How effective are key selling messages on the site?
What does epinions.com or a similar site say about the offer?
How are traditional marketing and e-marketing media blended by competitors?
How are new media (social media; mobile media) used by your e-competitors?
Does the website fit the company’s image (luxury/quality/price)?
Is that image coherent throughout the site?
Does the art support or interfere with the message?
How well does the site promote itself (up-sell) within its own pages?
Place (Convenience)

What is the market scope (regional, national or global)?
What is the method of delivery (direct to you, via intermediaries, other)?
What evidence is there of customer service effectiveness?
What evidence is there of customer relationship management effectiveness?
Is there access to e-mail and/or phone communication from the website?
Is there access to text message response or web chat from the website and/or other social media sites?
Is there access to menus, the site index, and the home page from each screen?
Are there accessible navigation aids (buttons, screen visibility, position)?
Is there simplicity of flow (two clicks to info; three clicks to buy)?
Do external web links assist the user?
Use your instructor as your consultant during your project.

Use texts, research, and analysis to convert these into possibilities – the fifth “P.”

The fifth P is your e-competitor improvement recommendations and lessons learned from your assessment experience. Consult our grading rubric for guidance.

In addition, there will be up to 4 points that may be deducted based on starting your presentation with an effective executive summary and compliance with all submission requirements below.

Your final project will be a MS PowerPoint presentation including Slides and Notes. Your notes should also be submitted separately as one Word Document

Plan on a minimum of 15 and no more than 25 bullet-listed MS PowerPoint slides complying with each of the following requirements below. If you do not comply with these requirements, one or more points can be deducted from your total final project points:

Place your “speaking” and research notes under each slide.
The title page, agenda, executive summary and reference slide(s) are not included in the slide count.
Include an executive summary section at the beginning of your presentation after your presentation agenda (similar to table of contents) page. The executive summary should no more than 2 slides and include the most key point and recommendation from each agenda section your presentation, plus which etailer should get the purchase and why.
You must use simple bullets (no more than one sentence or phrase long per bullet) on the slides, with explanatory notes below covering all of the questions above for each “P” and any additional questions that are pertinent that you want to add.
Be sure to use evidence, examples and comparative analysis in your notes below the slides.
Social media and mobile marketing must be analyzed and written about for each section of the presentation (Parts 1,3,4,5), except social media and mobile marketing does not have to be discussed during Part 2: Price/Value/Cost unless it is applicable and then do include it.
Recommend improvements for each e-competitor as part of the discussion for each “P” of the marketing mix. Not having any recommended improvements will lead to a lesser grade.
Summarize your e-marketing lessons learned from your assessment.
Submit your final paper on time. If late, point(s) may be deducted.
Do a final spelling/grammer check before submitting your presentation.
Your presentation should include a reference slide and appropriate in-text (in-slide) citations.
Include at least six (6) references in your presentation from 2015 to the present. The Web sites and major social media site(s) of your selected product/service and 2 e-tailers plus your course text should automatically be included. Add at least one additional source to this list.
Discuss your e-tailer selection in detail in the body of your final presentation, both on a slide and in the notes section.
Be sure that you have possibilities listed for both e-tailers for all of the 4Ps. It is not acceptable not to have enhancements for each e-tailer. From this course, it is important to have learned and be able to share what any e-tailer can do as future possiblities.
Share the lessons learned in the “Lessons Learned Section” you have gained from completing this assignment and how it strengthens you as an emarketer.
Include a title slide as your first slide with your full name, presentation title, professor and class name plus submission date.
Have footnotes with correct in-text (in-slide) citations.
Include, for each entry in the reference page, the author, title, city and state of publication, the publisher’s name, year of publication, and page numbers used as in APA style guide.
Use presentation software (Microsoft PowerPoint or similar) and documentation software for your notes (Microsoft Word or similar) and name your file name as follows (MRKT457AuthenticAssessmentYourLastNameYourFirstName)
Follow the grading rubric