How can bands get access to financing outside of the label system? Mike Clark, GD Worldwide:
198
In this section we look at the social and cultural impacts of the Internet. These are impor- tant from an e-commerce perspective since they govern demand for Internet services and
propensity to purchase online. For example, in Figures 1.10 and 1.14 respectively we saw how businesses and consumers have adopted different online services.
Further aspects of the social influence of the Internet are described in the references to the Information Society Initiative in this chapter and in the section on the online buying
process Chapter 9. Complete Activity 4.2 to start to review some of the social issues associ- ated with the Internet.
Factors governing e-commerce service adoption
It is useful for e-business managers to understand the different factors that affect how many people actively use the Internet. If these are understood for customers in a target market,
action can be taken to overcome some of these barriers. For example, marketing communi- cations can be used to reduce fears about the value proposition, ease of use and security.
Chaffey et al. 2009 suggest that the following factors are important in governing adoption of any e-commerce service:
Social and legal factors
Q. How can a band use the site as a marketing tool? Mike Clark, GD Worldwide:
The fact is that 45 of new music is discovered through personal recommendation – word of mouth. It isn’t about watching TV ads or looking at
who’s bought the front window of HMV this week. If you look at the online communities and sites like last.fm and Pandora, there is a lot to be said for recommendation as a
means of discovery.
What we’ve done on the site is to help you develop your fan base. There are tools to allow you to share tracks and you can give fans rewards for doing so. I think it’s a
far smarter way of marketing artists and creating that buzz. Very often, marketing money is spent against things that are certain. With a new
album, people will say ‘let’s do a huge advertising splurge’ across the UK but no one will get fired as they know that album will be successful. They very rarely use those tools
unless the artist has already become a success and they want to sustain that success.
Q. Why have you gone down the route of e-commerce rather than ad-supported content?
Mike Clark, GD Worldwide:
In some ways, you need to have an integrity in the rela- tionship between the artist and audience, but at a certain stage an artist may say that
he or she is prepared to work with a brand or brand owner if I think they can add value to my community.
For example, if a brand does want to sponsor an artist, he or she can talk to the audience and ask what they think. They have much more commercial control over
those relationships. For us, we haven’t ruled out the advertising route but we would never do it exclu-
sively inside the artists’ backstage areas. Where we might do it is in the Usync commu- nity itself – if a last.fm or Pandora wanted to create a Usync radio with Usync artists,
we may look at a sponsor to bring that to market.
Source: www.econsultancy.comnews-blognewsletter3229interview-with-mike-clark-of-gd-worldwide.html
Part 1 Introduction
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1
Cost of access. This is certainly a barrier for those who do not already own a home computer: a major expenditure for many households. The other main costs are the cost of
using an ISP to connect to the Internet and the cost of using the media to connect tele- phone or cable charges. Free access would certainly increase adoption and usage.
2
Value proposition. Customers need to perceive a need to be online – what can the Internet offer that other media cannot? Examples of value propositions include access to more
supplier information and possibly lower prices. In 2000, company advertisements started to refer to ‘Internet prices’.
3
Ease of use. This includes the ease of first connecting to the Internet using the ISP and the ease of using the web once connected.
4
Security. While this is only, in reality, a problem for those who shop online, the perception generated by news stories may be that if you are connected to the Internet then your
personal details and credit card details may not be secure. It will probably take many years for this fear to diminish as using the Internet slowly becomes established as a standard way
of purchasing goods.
5
Fear of the unknown. Many will simply have a general fear of the technology and the new media, which is not surprising since much of the news about the Internet non-adopters
will have heard will concern pornography, fraud and privacy infringements.
An attempt has been made to quantify the magnitude of barriers to access in a UK govern- ment-sponsored survey Booz Allen Hamilton, 2002 of different countries. Barriers for
individuals noted by the survey included:
No perceived benefit Lack of trust
Security problems Lack of skills
Cost.
Activity 4.2
Understanding enablers and barriers to consumer adoption
Purpose
To identify reasons why businesses or consumers may be encouraged online or may resist.
Activity
Access a recent survey in your country of attitudes to the Internet. In particular, you should concentrate on reasons why customers have used the Internet or have not used
the Internet at all. A compilation of research about the Internet and technology adop- tion is available at www.clickz.comstats. Examples of data are provided in Figures 1.10
and 1.14.
1 Summarize and explain the reasons for the levels of usage of the medium for
different activities.
2 What are the main enablers and barriers to higher levels of adoption of these different
activities and which actions should organizations take to increase adoption? Alternatively, devise an ad hoc survey to investigate attitudes to and use of the Internet
using friends, family or classmates as respondents. Example questions might include the following. What have you bought online? If not, why not? How many hours do you
spend online each month? How many e-mails do you receive or send? What stops you using the Internet more? What aspects of the Internet are you concerned about?
Answers to activities can be found at www.pearsoned.co.ukchaffey