An Investigation of the importance of E-Commerce and Internet Essay

An Investigation of the importance of E-Commerce and Internet Marketing - Essay Example This has brought with it several positive impacts such as reduced cost of advertising and convenience in doing business; however, there have been a few negative impacts as well including easier anonymity for criminals and a faster and wider spread of false stories. This report will look at the growth of E-commerce and internet marketing and evaluate their total contribution to the economy as well as the negative impact they have had. Procedure This research employed the use of secondary research method that involves finding of relevant literature related to e-commerce and internet marketing. Therefore, this research involved finding information in scholarly databases and academic libraries, supplemented E-books and online sites that provided relevant and credible data. Secondary research has the distinct advantage of availability of pre-recorded data, which also means a lower cost of doing research. It however bears the risk of data being outdated and finding the data required unavai lable without a means to conduct a study. Findings The US government began tracking internet sales in 1999 when they only accounted for 1% of all sales done within the country. Since then, internet sales have had an astronomical growth with an average rate of 92% annually. Traditional forms of doing business have been overshadowed by online commercial activities. One of the fields that has benefitted immensely from E-commerce is the travel and hotel industry where making reservations and booking travel tickets has been made more convenient. As of 2000, E-commerce was responsible for 24% of all transactions in this industry (Khattree and Rao 2005, p.525). Although used in almost all fields, some industries have experienced an exponential growth in the use of internet marketing and sales. The hotel industry is one of these industries that have experienced a significant growth in use of online marketing with a 70% increase in its application as of 2007 (Harris 2008, p. 35). Success in it heavily depends on an online presence and, E-commerce has contributed significantly to the industries growth and has aided new companies be competitive who otherwise would not have been able to afford the advertising rates of traditional modes of advertising. Internet marketing has been of great benefit to small and medium sized enterprises. As compared to the traditional methods of marketing, internet marketing allows for building of social networks. Online marketing allows for the business to have a personal touch as one can communicate directly with the manager via e-mail (Linton n.d.), this is crucial for the development of these businesses which do not have brand recognition as it wins them customer loyalty which is crucial for them since they cannot have price-wars with their larger competitors. E-commerce has changed the way different industries provide their services one of them being the medical field. The creation of websites such as WebMD has resulted in provision of h ighly specialized services being accessed even in remote areas as well as around the globe. This has resulted in better overall health and has been beneficial to doctors who do not have to travel to remote areas to provide medical care. The use of E-commerce has also meant that retailers get more details