There are a few sleek and intelligent concepts doing rounds in the industry. These offer a fresh and innovative 'brand experience' to customers, aid in understanding consumer interests and increase personalized interactions. The new concepts are targeted-web-based media such as e-mails, web forms, e-news letters, interactive forums, web tracking, web research, personalized web sites, multimedia advertisements etc.

Internet marketing or 'e-marketing', has evolved. Previously stereotyped as a 'chic, classy and hip' style of marketing, it is fast becoming the norm as an increasing number of corporates are incorporating it into their marketing strategy. Experts and industry watchers predict an increase in the usage of e-marketing to respectable levels in roughly a years time. The estimated market size by the end of 2002 is Rs 150 crore. Although this figure is tiny, it is big enough to act as a launch-pad for this medium.

Says Ranjyoti Barooah, Chief Executive Officer, Brandquiver.com, the Internet marketing and advertising portal, "The interaction level that the Internet provides, is far superior to that of other mediums, such as television, radio or print. Through e-marketing, one can retain customers by understanding their buying habits and interacting on personalized levels to increase potential sales. This makes it imperative for corporates to look at e-marketing seriously. Corporates are testing the water by allotting small slices of their advertising budgets towards e-marketing. In about a year they will realise the benefits and adopt it as a norm."

Vineet Kumar Kapila, Chief Officer - Marketing and Alliance, Archiesonline.com, agrees, "Although still in its infancy, ignoring e-marketing could have adverse effects on marketing plans. The corporates have realised this and are adapting to this medium across all categories of products, by either buying impressions or introducing their own sites."

Already some corporates and Public Sector Units such as HLL, Phillips, ICICI, Sony, General Motors, Electrolux, TVS and Bharat Petroleum have begun experimenting with e-marketing by putting banner ads flash messages on chosen platforms such as indya.com, Rediff.com, indiatimes.com, sify.com, hotmail.com etc.

According to an Advertisement and Marketing (A&M) survey, the online advertising market in India stands at Rs 45 crore for 2000-01. This amounts to a little less than 1 percent of the total ad spend (Rs 5000 crore in the same year, for television, radio and print). Experts predict that this is expected to increase to around 4 percent by the end of 2002. The quantum increase in online advertising budgets is directly attributed to the expected growth of Internet users in India and the e-commerce market. As per Nasscom, the number of Internet users, which currently stands at 5 million is expected to reach 50 million by the year 2004. The e-commerce transactions are also expected to reach Rs 1200 crore during 2000-01, of which, Rs 100 crore will be retail transactions and the rest B2B transactions.

The major factors attributing to the imminent success of e-marketing are, the high level of interactivity, the 24/7/365 functionality and the unconfined boundaries.

Says Dr. J D Singh, Professor, International Management Institute (IMI), "The future will be the age of empowered customers. For the most part of this century, consumers have been either 'product takers' or 'price takers'. The development of the online systems, has allowed consumers to choose their own product characteristics and companies to develop customised products. The Internet's interactivity and personalization has changed the traditional passive consumer into an active designer."

Says Balachandran K Unni, Director e-Shopping, Rediff.com, "The value proposition of products and services offered in the physical world are essentially ‘limited point solutions’ that meet only part of a consumer need or want. In the online world, even simple banner advertisement can be both an advertisement and a direct marketing service. The banner raises the passive consumer’s awareness of a product. Yet it also encourages the consumer to pursue action by clicking on it."

However, there are certain hurdles to overcome before e-marketing becomes a viable business model. First and foremost are building trust and loyalty, rather than promoting it as a cost-effective option. "People go to a dot.com for convenience, comfort, trust, safety and savings. If the surfer is provided information at his convenience and comfort, it helps him make a rational choice and he will even be willing to pay for the service. E-marketing will never win by only portraying lower costs than traditional marketing," says Singh.

Experts such as Sumit Sarawgi of the Indian Institute of Management feel that, e-marketing must be defined to include the management of a consumer's online experience of a product, from first encounter through purchase, delivery and beyond "All consumer experiences - good, bad or indifferent - influence the perception of a product or brand. Since the Web offers complete ownership of consumer interaction, it also has the ability to improve their overall experience." he says.

With the gaining prominence of e-marketing — management and execution of strategic marketing programmes for customer acquisition, planning, customer retention and cross selling will come into play. This will require a tactically defined and developed eCRM strategy, to optimize consumer buying habits and increase the net conversion ratio of 'prospects' to 'advocates'. "Once a relation is built with, a customer, it can be sustained with significantly low marketing costs with high conversion rates," says Kapila.

With the complexities of e-marketing and the sheer numbers of websites, digital exchanges and portals, vying for the ad spends of corporates, the corporates will need the advice of specialists to get the most of their investments. This opens up the new market of 'e-marketing consultancy'. Many websites are now providing online e-marketing consulting and guidance to corporates. A few prominent ones are Delhi-Based brandquiver.com, Microland owned media2india.net and Intercept Consulting. Even a few software development firms such as Talisma and iGate Capital have developed specific e-marketing tools and solutions such as eCRM, ERP data management and Web-marketing.

With the Internet growing at an astonishing pace in recent years, marketers around the world are racing to take advantage of its interactive nature to communicate and foster exchanges and relationships with customers, suppliers, and the public. It is believed that the intrinsic strength of the medium and its unique advantage will make e-marketing a big reality in India soon.