Loblaw

Loblaw The Web and Small Businesses

As Internet marketing grows, small businesses benefit from more exposure at a fraction of the cost. The cost of an Internet marketing platform is typically lower than other marketing platforms such as face-to-face salespeople, middlemen, or distributors. “It also allows firms to reach customers that may not be accessible due to temporal and locational limitations of existing distribution channels (Sheth 2005 p.611).” For example, specialty foods can be gotten from foreign lands with ease. Irish and British specialty food markets are worth approximately €6 billion and are expected to increase by €1.5 billion (Canavan 2007). Companies that could barely compete for local markets can now target the global market with Internet marketing tools and strategies.

Electronic commerce is the only way that small companies can go global in a short time. Electronic commerce bears fewer resources and less risk than would otherwise be involved in some markets (Foscht 2006). With technology like online shopping portals, traditional retailers can provide a multi-channel shopping experience for customers. This helps add value to their operations by using the internet to extend their product range (Kennedy 2006).Information Officer comes with the most responsibility and requires a solid awareness of every aspect of an organization. Competition is much stronger due to vast improvements in IT that expand the job market beyond local settings. Businesses can use tools such as Porter’s Five Forces Model, three generic strategies, and value chain analysis to evaluate different business segments and identify competitive advantage. IT can be used to strengthen or weaken each of the various forces. For example, loyalty programs that allow customers to earn rewards such as free airline tickets reduce the force of buyer power.

In addition to learning the definition of information technology and its impact on business, I learned about the different...