Medimond Template 13 AGORA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICAL SCIENCES, AIJES, ISSN 2067-3310, E - ISSN 2067 – 7669, VOL. 15 (2021) Application of B2C digital marketing Valentina Simona Pașcalău1 1 Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timișoara, Romania E-mail valentina.pascalau73@e-uvt.ro Abstract The purpose of this paper is to understand the application of digital B2C marketing. Companies market directly to end customers or decision-makers through B2C marketing. Most B2C customers base their decisions on how they feel about a product or service, not on facts or how useful it is. B2C marketers can take advantage of this by developing customized content that appeals to the emotions of their target audience. Keywords: B2C online markets, company perspective, consumer perspective, online shopping behavior 1 Introduction The widespread adoption of digital technologies by consumers and businesses has resulted in significant changes in marketing practices. The expansion of customers' knowledge levels as a result of increased access to information and the digital transformation of business and exchange activities, necessitates the creation of new application of B2C digital marketing. To begin with, B2C stands for Business to Consumer and B2C marketing is defined as the promotion of a company's products and services to potential customers. With that in mind, it's no surprise that businesses employ B2C digital marketing to reach out to the customer. Because B2C digital marketing is heavily reliant on technology, firms now have access to a wide range of channels through which to reach out to their target audiences. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) markets have made a substantial contribution to the commercial development of the Internet by encouraging transactions on various e-commerce sites from a growing number of customers around the world. In order to become a sustainable enterprise in the face of an uncertain business environment, world marketing masters Kotler and Kartajaya (2000) proposed that decision makers can formulate marketing strategies from three aspects: corporate strategy, corporate tactics, and corporate value. B2C e-commerce platforms are facing new hurdles as the consumer market changes. 2 B2C ONLINE MARKETS B2C online markets will be analyzed from two perspectives: the consumer perspective and the company perspective. 2.1 The consumer perspective The online consumer profile is a profile that has a significant impact on a customer's online shopping behavior and experience, as well as assistance in identifying online shopping intentions. mailto:valentina.pascalau73@e-uvt.ro 14 Consumer loyalty is something that B2C e-commerce platforms strive for, and it is based on the value they provide. Brand building is at the heart of value creation, and brands require the backing of services and processes. First and foremost, brand development. The communication of platform brand culture and the optimization of platform merchants' quality are required for the development of B2C e-commerce platform brand image. Factors such as ease of access to the Internet, level of technological skill, perceived benefits of making an online purchase, and demographic variables all influence online purchasing behavior. An online store offers several benefits to its shoppers: it is open 24 hours a day, offers instant personalized promotions, prices are dynamic and reflects market demand, offers recommendations and reviews from site users. Online consumer behavior can be analyzed from two perspectives (Doherty and Ellis- Chadwick, 2006): the profile of online consumers and the online shopping experience of consumers. There are two types of variables in a consumer profile: classification variables and character variables. Personal characteristics that tend to remain static throughout a person's life or vary slowly over time are called classification variables (age, education, income, mobility, race, ethnicity). These factors can be used to classify potential customers into target groups that can be contacted through various communication channels. Because character variables include traits related to customer perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes, they are more difficult to understand and recognize (innovation, experiences, emotions).These factors increase, change, or change significantly faster than time-varying variables. Consumer attitudes regarding the Internet and their purchasing intentions are influenced by their opinions about many aspects. Variables that can be considered: Customers want their specific personal information and financial information to be stored securely when they supply it. Regarding the risk, online shoppers make purchases in an uncertain atmosphere, with little information about the exchange relationship and the risk involved. Consumers face six sorts of risks, according to Bauer (1960): financial, product performance, social, psychological, physical, and time-wasting dangers. Risk reduction has the ability to increase trust. Because it's impossible to totally eliminate the risks of online shopping, one possible option is to identify ways to boost client confidence (Chang et al., 2013). Online shopping is hampered by a lack of confidence. Service provider skill, product performance, corporate reputation, happiness with previous contacts, and resemblance are all factors that influence trust. The degree to which an individual believes a new technology will enhance and improve their performance is referred to as perceived utility. When used in the context of online buying, the utility refers to the time and effort required to learn how to shop online in comparison to the retailer's level of service excellence. Ease of use refers to an individual's belief that using a new technology will be simple. Several features of the online shopping experience have been recognized as having an impact on the consumer's perception of the process. As a result, positive experiences with service delivery and site security increase customer satisfaction (Doherty and Ellis-Chadwick, 2006, 15 2010), while site design, ease of navigation, and a high level of valuable services and products increase loyalty customers and improve the consumer experience. Customers have high expectations in the following areas: delivery, prompt response, availability, convenience, customer service. 2.2 The company’s perspective The company's perspective refers to the evolution of online retail, different types of online tactics and managerial and strategic issues. There are three categories of business strategies that can be adopted by online retailers: bricks-and-clicks companies, click-and-mortar companies and pureplay companies. Brick-and-clicks companies are long-term businesses with physical locations that use the Internet as a marketing tool or sales channel, either strategically or tactically. For security reasons, online shoppers prefer to buy from companies that also own physical stores. Click-and-mortar companies are virtual businesses that use an online sales model to meet customer demand, but their sales are supported by a physical distribution infrastructure that includes warehouses. The advantages of this form of business include lower costs of operating a physical store and the elimination of barriers to consumer mobility. Pureplay companies are a completely virtual business that operates exclusively online. These businesses do not have their own physical stores or physical delivery systems. Outsourced services include storage, packaging, shipping and returns. Companies become retail channels as they increase their use of the Internet to provide information, provide customer service, and sell online. Companies that operate in the business-to-consumer sector and use the Internet both as a communication channel and as a sales channel are called retail (Doherty et al., 1999). Companies that operate both offline through physical stores and online through virtual stores are called omni-channel retailers. Companies must consider three criteria to survive in the omni-channel world: Stocks are being phased out, and a separate user experience is being created throughout the purchasing process. Companies must develop ways to tie the internet and offline worlds together, rather than relying on discrete marketing operations. Increasing digital interaction opportunities through a better understanding of customer purchase habits (e.g., through digital advertising and mobile promotions): Analyzing and measuring client buying behavior at all points of engagement in order to fully comprehend what influences buyers' choices and purchasing decisions. 3 Conclusions The discrepancy between the customer's expectations for the online offer and the actual performance of the online offer influences the online performance of the retailer. Tavis and Glade (1988) proposes managerial and strategic challenges to address inconsistencies in performance and managerial implications, therefore, performance discrepancies relate to: the disparity between the strength of the brand and the offer on the website, the disparity between the power of the brand offline and online, the lack of alignment between the nature of the online competitive environment and the maturity of consumer demand, inertia in decision making. 16 Thus, in terms of these discrepancies, companies must design sites that match consumer expectations; failing to do so can result in a drop in company sales as customers will browse and buy from other sites. Additionally, increasing the strength of the internet brand is a difficulty for businesses. Competitors will gain a competitive advantage if they do not spend in establishing and consolidating their online brand, even if their brand is weaker. In many areas of commerce, the online market is still in its infancy. These markets can provide businesses with a competitive advantage. Barriers to reaching out to customers must be addressed. Budgetary constraints are misaligned because the costs of doing nothing refer to the loss of an opportunity at best and a competitive advantage at worst, budgetary limitations are misaligned. More market segments will develop as a result of the comprehensive and in-depth integration of the new generation of information technology, the desire for innovation will rise, and the consuming scene will be constantly reconstructed. B2C e-commerce platforms will likely encounter a more volatile consumer market in the future. If B2C e-commerce platforms wish to thrive in the tumultuous retail sector, they must collaborate on marketing plans that consider three factors: strategy, tactics, and value. The focus of a company's marketing, which must be distinguished effectively, is defined by strategy. Tactics to improve the company's market competitiveness and lay the groundwork for the company's brand building. Value increases a company's impact, which helps it maintain its market position. REFERENCES [1] Bauer, R.A. , (1960), Consumer Behavior as Risk Taking, Dynamic Marketing for a Changing World, Proceedings of the 43rd. Conference of the American Marketing Association, 389-398 [2] Chang, H.H., et al (2013), Building trust online: interactions among trust building mechanisms, Inf. Manag., 50 (7) (2013), pp. 439-445 [3] Doherty, N.F., Ellis-Chadwick, F, Hart, C., (1999), Cyber retailing in the UK: the potential of the internet as a retail channel, ISSN: 0959-0552 [4] Doherty, N.F. and Ellis‐Chadwick, F.E. 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