ESL 91
SPRING, 2002
FOCUS DISCIPLINE RESEARCH PROJECTS
BUSINESS

Nadia


Nadia Manuylidi
ESL 91
Spring 2002

Essay Topic: Discuss how sales and marketing strategies have changed as a result of developing technology. What changes have occurred in advertising with the development of computer technology? How has developing technology expanded the marketplace for both businesses and consumers?

 

Our technology has progressed over the years, and so have the marketing strategies.  In the beginning people used posters and handbills to advertise their products.  Today people use many different technologies to do so.  Television and the Internet are the most popular ways to advertise products, and they play a very important role in advertising.  Because of these technologies the companies can advertise to as many people as they want.  The development of computer technology has brought a lot of changes in company’s advertising.  Computer use makes it a lot easier to look for something on the Internet and purchase a product.  Today’s technology offers a wide variety of advertisement options to businesses. Although, newspaper and magazine ads, and flyers still play a role, most of today’s advertisements are offered through television, radio, and the Internet.

The Internet is the cheapest and the easiest way for people to communicate with each other.  It also provides the easiest way for consumers and producers to find each other.  Producers create web pages to which consumers can log on and view, and purchase their merchandise.  Producers submit “keywords” to multiple search engines, thus making it easier for consumers to find exactly what they want.  All the consumers have to do is type the name or the description of the product, or even a keyword related to the product.  For example: if a consumer is searching for a specific item, which is not available in nearby stores, he/she can go to the search engine, type in the keywords and the search engine will provide him with a list of all sites that deal with that product.  Also the Internet makes it much easier to purchase a product.  As long as the consumer can understand the information about the product, he can order it.  For example suppose that the company I want to purchase a product from is located in Japan, but I cannot read Japanese.  I just switch the language button on English (in those with a build in translator), and here we go: now I can get all the info about the product and order it.

Some companies are able to promote their products and those of their affiliates to a larger number of consumers.  And these companies pay money to people who read their email advertisements or who watch websites with advertisements on them.  These companies have a system that tells them if the person is navigating the website or not.  Or in each pay email the reader must click on the link at the end of the email that he reads, and it will bring him to a new advertising page.  And actually a lot of people, who is watching the ads, purchasing the products from there.  So company makes a lot of profit doing this kind of advertising.  And by giving out the money to the people who watch the advertisements, company doesn’t lose anything.

HISTORY OF ADVERTISING

At the beginning of our century people didn’t use as much advertising as they do today.  First, people started to use space in newspapers.  Publishers sold free space in their newspapers and published the advertisements.  It was good for everybody; publishers made profits from newspaper advertisements, and companies got new consumers from putting advertisements in newspapers.       

            Then in the 20’s radio advertisements became one of the most popular ways to sell a product.  Radio advertisements began from the promotions of radio products.  After a while more and more companies started to pay money to the radio, so it would put their advertisement on the air.  Radio companies started to earn more money, and they created a numerous price plan for companies to advertise on radio.  So, the night advertisement would cost less then the day one because more people listen to the radio during the day than at night.

            Also at this time 24-hour supermarkets were open all over the country.  And because of advertisements they soon became very popular.  People were going to these supermarkets and they were buying packaged foods.  For example, cookies were placed in a package at this supermarket and not in share baskets, like it used to be before.  And thanks to advertisements these cookie packages were more popular than basket cookies.  Many other products also were wrapped in single packages, and consumers were preferring these new packed products.  At this time supermarket advertisements were saying, that if the consumer wanted fresh, clean products, he should buy them in a package.  Also advertisements were saying that products from the baskets are in the past, and if the consumer wants sanitary and healthy products, he should buy them in packages. This is how advertisements changed the supermarket system back in that time.

            After radio there was a television, and the new era of advertisement begun in 1950’s.  Now on television potential consumers were watching how other people enjoyed one or another product.  How beautiful these people were and how many celebrities liked to use all the new products because they were better than the old ones.  The new era of television advertisement told people what to eat, drink,-and wear to feel good and look beautiful.  The most surprising advertisements were getting more consumer attention.  A lot of companies were hiring celebrities and professionals to tell about their products.

            Then, when Internet started to take over the market, more companies began to use it for advertising because the Internet gave the companies more opportunities to sell their products.  And more companies started to hire professionals to create their own websites.  And the Internet became as popular as television is.  However using Internet space is much cheaper, than using television space.  And business from local became global, because the Internet is world wide. 

Today almost every large company has its own website.  A consumer can go there and find exactly what he wants, and it probably will cost him less,-than if he bought it in a store.  Because buying products from manufacturer is much cheaper, more and more people buy it this way.

TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS

Today almost every large company has its own website.  A consumer can go there and find exactly what he wants, and it probably will cost him less than if he bought it in a store.  Also the consumer has a variety of choices from where he can purchase a product.  On the Internet he can find as much different variants for his needs, as he want/can, which is usual store doesn’t have.  So, the Internet brings the store to the consumer.  For example: I went to the shoe store to look for something.  I didn’t find anything there and I also didn’t have a time to go to another store.  When I came home, it was about 10 pm; I went on the Internet and after a while found what I wanted.  Also at the time I came home, almost every store nearby was closed.  So, the Internet also gives us the 24- hour store, which is a very big plus for busy people.  As well, as the 24-hour store, a consumer can shop online in his underwear and no one would ever care about it.  He cannot do this when he goes to a regular store, where he has to hold on to a regular dress code.       

However, not everybody likes to shop online.  For me, for example, it’s hard to purchase something if I cannot try it on before I buy it.  And I’m pretty sure that a lot of people feel the same way I do.  So, because of people like me, a lot of companies have a store locator on their websites.  There the consumer just easily types the zip code where he lives, and the website gives the locations of every store nearby.  But this usually takes place when I want to buy clothes.  When I’m looking for books, or tapes, or whatever else, I can purchase it online and it’s much easier for me to do this, than to go to the store. 

Also companies who use the Internet make bigger profits than if they only had a local store.  Renting of the Internet space is much cheaper than renting of a store space in a business area.  It’s much easier for the small company to advertise themselves through the Internet.  All they have to do is to hire a good professional to create a very good website.  Then on this website the company has to put the information about store location, local deliveries, describing and price of the product, and pictures of it as well.  In this case most likely company will have more potential consumers and more profits as well. 

For the bigger company there are bigger profits.  If the company has a couple of store locations around the state/country, than it probably will have even bigger profits than in the case where it only had one store location.  Also a bigger company can allow itself to do long distance deliveries, which also make profits for the company and will give it more consumers all over the country.

MY RESPONSE

When I started to do my project I didn’t have any clue what to write about.  I did a little research and I found that the history of advertising mostly took place in the last century.  Over the last 100 years technologies has brought a lot of new and great ideas in our business.  Advertising, because of technology, became some kind of art.  And I cannot imagine my life without advertising.  Also, with today’s tendency in technology, tomorrow consumers most likely won’t even have to go to a store to purchase a product-any product.  Through the Internet more and more businesses and consumers complete their deals and it seems to have a promising future.  I really liked to do my project and I’m sure that knowing this information will help me in my future.  For example, this information will help me in my future business classes, or even (if I will decide to open one) in my own business.

CONCLUSION

In our day technology brings a lot of new and quality ideas in business.  Many companies use different technologies to promote their products.  By using the Internet companies multiply their profits by two or even three times.  Because using the Internet is so cheap and easy, almost every company in the United States has its own website.   In our days developing technology brought a lot of new opportunities to business owners and consumers. 

Return to the Top of this page

Return to the ESL 91 On The Web Home Page

© 2002--ESL 91--All Rights Reserved
Page last updated on May 28, 2002