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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


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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, 



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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. 



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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. (2006), New perspectives in internet retailing: a review and 

strategic critique of the field, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 34 No. 4/5, 

pp. 411-428 

[5] Doherty, N.F. and Ellis-Chadwick, F.,  (2010),  Evaluating the role of electronic commerce in 

transforming the retail sector, The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 

20, pp.375-378 

[6] Kotler, Ph., Kartajaya, H., (2000), Repositioning Asia: Form bubble to Sustainable economy, Asia: John 

Wiley & Sons  

[7] Tavis, L. and Glade, W. (1988), Implications for Corporate Strategies,  Multinational Managers and Host 

Government Interactions, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame 


