It was 1990 when Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser, and 1991 when it opened for commercial use. In 1994 e-commerce burst onto the scene with the creation of secure online banking and the convenient opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut. During that same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. Also in 1994 the German company Intershop introduced its first online shopping system. In 1995 Amazon launched its online shopping site, and in 1996 eBay appeared.

Nowadays the online shopping market grew 10% and 11% per year in the United States and Western Europe, respectively, and researchers forecast that online sales will continue to grow at that rate through the next decades (Sehgal, 2010). This growth is not surprising given the many advantages that online shopping offers to consumers: apparent privacy, low search cost, time saving, full product information, and no time restriction on shopping hours. Certainly Internet shopping is more convenient than in-store shopping for specific products.

With approximately 2.3 billion users accessing the World Wide Web in 2012 for search purposes it is imperative to understand the dynamics of online marketing. Just a few years after its massive diffusion, electronic communication by way of the Internet has become an integral part of our day-to-day life. We usually start and finish our day by checking our e-mails and are accustomed to communicating rapidly with other people around the word. No one could have imagined this even a decade or so ago.

Social networks have increased and expanded swiftly. Communicating, posting, exchanging ideas, advertising, finding information, and making transactions are just some of the activities of Internet users. As for online shopping, search engine tools allow people to quickly find almost anything they need or desire from among the millions of services and goods available. Plus, they can easily stay informed about online orders, technical features, recommendations, prices, and online stores.

Moreover, starting from the end of 1990s, the impact of new information and communications technology (ICT) tools and techniques has significantly affected the way firms and institutions approach and communicate with their stakeholders. This phenomenon has led to a wide stream of studies developed both by academics and practitioners. While many studies have focused on specific tools and their employment, others have addressed changes in the marketing concept itself, highlighting the strength of the Internet-fostered connection between firms and consumers. As we will briefly discuss, this connection is a new aspect of the already established relational marketing.

The widespread use of the Internet has enabled greater convenience and flexibility. Customers can shop when they want, at any hour of the day or night, shifting power away from brick-and-mortar retailers. Digital technologies also provide mobile convenience for consumers and for businesses with Wi-Fi. It should be emphasized that the “new” consumers who focus on online shopping value their time a lot, know what they want, and do the research necessary before purchasing in order to avoid being disappointed or exploited. The Internet offers the flexibility they like, increasing the level of competition for sellers, as there are no physical boundaries in online shopping. Furthermore, the Internet provides a new transparency regarding price, promotions and new products.

We can say that online or Internet marketing refers to marketing practices that use the web to drive sales and enhance brand awareness. Mohammed et al. (2001) provided a more formal definition: “the process of building and maintaining customer relationships through online activities to facilitate the exchange of ideas, product and services that satisfy the goals of both parties.” Online marketing works in conjunction with traditional types of outbound marketing such as advertising on television and sponsorship. There are different types of online marketing depending on the channel: e-mail marketing, social media marketing, mobile marketing, and so forth. Different terms are used for the overall subject of online or Internet marketing—digital marketing, web marketing and e-marketing—but these are all essentially synonyms.

The new digital marketplace has exacerbated the fluidity of the marketing environment. Although online marketing bases its foundation on traditional marketing techniques, it can be more precisely considered as its evolution—but not one that makes traditional marketing extinct. The two types of marketing, traditional and online, are best integrated in order to achieve the most success. Thus a marketer should decide in the case of each product or service whether to launch a mix of online and traditional marketing practices or to offer them singly through one or the other venue. For example, a possible danger of using only online marketing would be losing the loyalty of pre-existing customers of traditional marketing. A new area of research conducted by Gummesson and Gronroos (2012) highlights how relationship marketing is relevant to retain both traditional and online customers and prevent customer dissatisfaction in both.

Table 1.1 lists some of the differences between traditional and online marketing to serve as a basis for discussing the characteristics of some specific strategies. Though the categories are not exhaustive, they are those most indicative for comparison.

However, the Internet has additional characteristics that make marketing different from the traditional approach: (1) the ability to inexpensively store vast amounts of information at different virtual locations, (2) the ability to provide information on demand, and (3) relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers.

Online marketing created a new set of rules for marketing in general by offering greater transparency, more consumer power and choice, and added cost efficiencies. Established businesses have had to adjust to these changes as they have been forced into a high level of online commitment in order to compete. In every case, marketers have to focus on the consumer and what is important to him or her. Even when consumer appears only as customer reference numbers or as codes on the dataset, successful businesses try their utmost to keep close communication with them by the most appropriate means. Technology plays a crucial role here. Merging technology and marketing competencies is desirable to classify consumers and keep track of them. “Technology” in this context means the adoption and use of digital technologies across internal and external business functions and processes.

After the initial explosion of the Internet era has come a phase of maturity in which marketers are aware of the benefits of technology but often don’t have the vision or technological understanding to optimize and integrate the Internet’s potential. In the future this integration will be necessary in order to meet the overall goal of keeping the old traditional models updated on the changing business and social environment brought about by the new online world.

This product alignment takes into account product characteristics that influence consumers in the purchase decision-making process. The implication here is that marketers and e-retailors can adapt the way they give relevant information to their customers to enhance sales. The search, experience, and credence product classification system has been used as an accurate approach to evaluating consumer behavior in many areas related to marketing, psychology, and sales. The key features of these three product groups are as follows:

It is important to remark that in the online shopping context consumers do not behave in the same manner when they buy products of different categories (search, experience, credence) due to the product perceived risk, price levels, and replacement rate associated with each category.