A study on the E-Brands and case studies of Amazon.com, Boo.com & Gap

Over the past few years, there has been an explosion in the online world - an explosion that is also a harbinger of how business will operate in the future. Supply chains are being rethought, products and services reconfigured, and business models revamped. As such, the Internet is having a profound impact on the way business is being conducted in ways that are often disruptive to traditional methods. This is creating new challenges and opportunities. The Internet provides the opportunity for companies to reach a wider audience and create compelling value propositions never before possible (e.g. Amazon.com's range of 4.5 million book titles), while providing new tools for promotion, interaction and relationship building. It is empowering customers with more options and more information to make informed decisions. The Internet also represents a fundamental shift in how buyers and sellers interact, as they face each other through an electronic connection, and its interactivity provides the opportunity for brands to establish a dialogue with customers in a one-on-one setting. As such, the Internet is changing fundamentals about customers, relationships, service and brands, and is triggering the need for new brand-building strategies and tools.

In the midst of this, aggressive Internet start-ups have emerged, creating strong brands that are putting established brands at risk. Internet companies such as Yahoo!, Amazon.com, America Online (AOL) and eBay have been able to build powerful brands in a few years, whereas it has taken decades for traditional companies to achieve the client base, customer affiliation and level of sales, that these Internet start-ups have achieved.

[...] In maximizing the customer experience, companies have to find innovative ways of leveraging the information and relationship building characteristics of the Internet THE IMPORTANCE OF ONLINE CUSTOMER LOYALTY According to a recent study of senior executives believe the success of an e-business initiative depends entirely on its ability to build customer loyalty. In fact, it could be argued that customer loyalty is even more critical online. This view is reinforced by in-depth studies carried out by Bain & Co. (2000) which identified the following factors: - Companies will not break-even on one-time shoppers - often, customer acquisition costs are high, and to recover their investment, companies need to retain customers so that they return to the site repeatedly. [...]

[...] The essence of Yahoo!'s brand- building strategy is highlighted in a simple statement made by Karen Edwards, VPBrand Marketing of Yahoo!, really focused our marketing efforts on attracting new users and providing an experience that makes them stay2” CASE STUDY: AMAZON.COM COMPANY OVERVIEW Amazon.com has become synonymous with e-commerce, and is one of the few Internet brands that is recognized all over the world. It is the 57th most valuable brand in the world, and the most widely recognized e-commerce brand name in the US (with 60% awareness). [...]

[...] This is based on the outcome of the primary research (in-depth case studies), with reference to the theoretical themes that emerge from the literature review and in terms of the practical implications for companies Scope of the Study To understand what vital role a brand name might play in contributing to the success of a cyber company, it will be necessary to understand the context of current issues within the Dotcom industry and to identify the main players within the Dotcom industry, their brand building strategies, their successes and failures, and lessons from them. [...]