Blog Entry 1

Explain the concept of digital marketing and its application on eBay

1A：Explain the concept of Digital marketing：

Digital marketing refers to a marketing method that realizes the marketing target by means of the Internet, computer communication technology and digital interactive media. Digital marketing will make use of advanced computer network technology as much as possible to explore new markets and new consumers in the most effective and cost-effective way.

Digital marketing has three important communication concepts, permission marketing, content marketing, and customer engagement. Repeated interactions reinforce customers' emotional, psychological or physical commitment to the brand. And over time, a person's involvement, interaction, intimacy and influence on a brand will increase. Permission marketing is about exchange value, exchange communication, and analysis, such as Facebook. Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that focuses on creating and disseminating valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a well-defined audience and ultimately drive profitable customer behavior.

1B. CASE STUDY (E-BAY)

eBay now has 168 million active buyers, a large portion of which are overseas, and is growing. This article will discuss how eBay uses digital marketing and other methods to achieve continued growth.

First of all, the eBay marketplace is famous for its core services, providing software tools to merchants who trade frequently, such as turbo lister, selling manager, shipping calculator and so on. Today, 60% of transactions are done through software. It also uses artificial intelligence to find the best deals for buyers. eBay has also developed a trust and security program to prevent fraud from harming customers, as online transactions are prone to fraud. For example, eBay's credit rating mechanism can increase the trust of sellers, including the feedback profile of each registered user, safe harbor data protection methods and standard procurement protection system.

Since 2009, shopping has become more and more popular on mobile devices as consumers' consumption habits change. By 2014, purchases on mobile devices accounted for 20% of the total purchases. By the end of 2017, 50 percent of eBay transactions involved at least one moving contact.

In 2007, eBay launched its own community site (Http:// neighborhoods.ebay.com)  where users can discuss highly engaged brands and products. In January 2008, eBay announced changes to its marketplaces business in three areas: fee structure, seller incentives and standards, and feedback, aimed at improving the shopping experience. And the detailed seller rating (DSRs) allows the seller to review in four areas: the described product, communication, delivery time, and shipping costs. For example, more accurate descriptions and better pictures can help improve conversion rates, increase a good shopping experience, and avoid excessive shipping costs.

Gareth Jones, head of marketing for eBay UK, told marketing week in 2016 that by updating the brand with traditional media, we needed to get people to look at eBay in a completely different way. He says we are in an age of digital marketing, but he thinks that TV is the best channel to build a brand. This is based on tests that show that television is the best way to get people to re-evaluate the eBay brand. Television is still an excellent medium and has a continuing presence. If you ask someone where shopping is on black Friday, their first priority is to buy it on eBay.

Here are eBay's key strategies for success: optimizing the inventory search-driven marketplace, offering competitive pricing, shipping, and returns policies, creating mobile-friendly page descriptions, and selling with a customer-centric attitude. eBay users can use many useful tools to help them differentiate their products on eBay. Personalized eBay profiles and seller ids are a small and simple way to enhance your brand in a professional way. Then, eBay's global shipping program (GSP) is a simple way to put your product in front of eBay's global shoppers. When using GSP, you don't have to worry about any of the logistical details involved in global shipping.

Reference

Chaffey, D, & Ellis-Chadwick, F 2019, Digital Marketing, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, United Kingdom. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 August 2019].

Content marketing institute. (N.D) What is content marketing? Viewed from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

Shopify. (N.D) Differentiating Your Brand on eBay. Viewed from https://www.shopify.com/guides/sell-on-ebay/brand-strategy

Shopify. (N.D). Key Strategies for eBay Success. Viewed from https://www.shopify.com/guides/sell-on-ebay/listing-optimization

FINANCIAL TIMES. ( N.D). Definition of digital marketing. Viewed from https://web.archive.org/web/20171129124232/http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=digital-marketing

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