e-marketing: Towards a Conceptualisation of a New Marketing Philosophy

Introduction

The recent revolution in computer science, the Internet, information technology (IT), media and communications has changed the nature of business and marketing practices. A growing numbers of companies and enterprises use the Internet and other electronic tools to communicate with suppliers, business customers and end users of their products and services. New forms of marketing have presented an opportunity for all kinds of enterprises to grow in a dramatic and dynamic way.

This research argues that the adoption of Electronic Marketing (e-marketing) by enterprise, regardless of size, can change the shape and nature of its business all over the world. The fast propagation of the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), information technologies (IT), communication technologies and computer sciences has created dynamic new electronic channels for marketing, and most companies today find it essential to have an online presence (Liang and Huang, 1998). But alongside these opportunities there are problems associated with the dynamics of this new interactive media. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that much previous research has misused the term e-marketing and are using the terms E-business, e-marketing, E-Commerce and Internet-marketing interchangeably as if they are similar or have the same meaning, which is incorrect (El-Gohary, 2009). Consequently, this research aims to add to the accumulative body of knowledge in the fields of e-marketing by attempting to conceptualise e-marketing as a new marketing philosophy.

This chapter provides a comprehensive illustration of the differences between the concepts of e-marketing, Internet Marketing, E-Commerce and E-Business to build a ground base of understanding for these different concepts. This understanding will provide benefits for entrepreneurs, policy makers, students, practitioners, researchers, and educators though providing a clearer view and deep complete understanding for all the aspects related to e-marketing. The chapter also provide a detailed discussion for the main commonly used e-marketing components