Impact Of Virtual Marketing In Business Development: A Case Study Of Tesco In South Korea

Discuss about the Virtual Marketing Technique.

Virtual marketing is a new technique that many organizations are applying in order to introduce innovation the marketing strategies of the organizations (Barnes, 2016, p.11). Marketing is the one of the most fundamental duties of the organization. Implementation of appropriate marketing strategies can bring about desired results in the profit margin of an organization. Virtual marketing includes the practice of social networking devices and other technological advancements to achieve the virtual marketing objectives of the organization. Virtual marketing strategies are the result of the implementation of change management strategies inside the organization. Marketing strategies of the organization change according to the changing needs of the market, i.e. customers in the industry (Griffin et al. 2017, p.25).  In this assignment, the impact of virtual marketing in the business development of the organization will be discussed an evaluated. Tesco is a leading general merchandise retailer. It has stores in the several countries of Asia and Europe. The organization has adopted virtual marketing strategies for their stores.

Determination of objectives is important to perform any kind of activities. In this part of this assignment, selection of appropriate research objectives is significant to bring about desired outcome from this research assignment (Denham, 2016, p.41). Researcher needs to explore several avenues of business development in order to understand the implication of virtual marketing in the business development process of the organization.

• To develop un understanding on the changing needs of the customers with the passing of time
• To perceive the impact of virtual marketing strategies in the future development of the organization
• To evaluate the impact of virtual marking strategies in the development of overall industry

The second largest market of Tesco outside United Kingdom lies in Asia, especially in South Korea. Tesco has launched their virtual stores in Seoul (Tescopoly.org. 2017). South Koreans are used to spend longest working hours. They have lesser time than others to go the traditional grocery stores to purchase products of their daily requirements. By identifying their daily needs, Tesco introduced their virtual shop concepts in the market of South Korea. Though the virtual marketing strategies prove their potentialities in the development of the organization, this study will specifically focus of the virtual stores of Tesco in South Korea.

Tesco declared the decision regarding their virtual store investment in South Korea in 1999. They tied up with Samsung in order to use their mobile technologies in the virtual marketing strategies of the organization (Tescopoly.org. 2017). They introduced the use of Home plus app to implement the virtual marketing strategies of the organization in South Korea. They connected to the delivery services of the services associated with Home plus app. In 2011, Tesco introduced their first virtual store in Seoul, South Korea.

Virtual Stores

Virtual stores are established in the public places like, bus stands, subways, the places which are frequently visited by the daily consumers in daily basis. Tesco used to maintain popular grocery stores in the several places of United Kingdom and other countries. Customers are accustomed with the quality of their products and services. Virtual marketing strategies of the organization may attract their additional attention towards the products and services of the organization (Wu et al. 2017, p.459). Interested customers need to download a Home plus App in their mobile phones. Customer needs to enter into the Virtual stores of the organization and use their mobile phones to scan the QR codes of the products. In the virtual stores, there are no actual products that are displayed; the posters of the actual products are designed according to the patterns of the product and shelf structure of the Tesco grocery stores. Organizations kept the look of the virtual store same as the looks of the grocery stores of the organization to make it more acceptable to the customers of the organization. The products scanned by the customers are stored in the basket of online server of the organization (Murahari and Joshi, 2016, p.21). After the payment has been made by the customers, Home plus app send a notification regarding the delivery of the products. According to delivery norms of the organization, the products are delivered to the required address within scheduled time.

According to the sales performances of the Tesco, the virtual marketing strategies of the organization have been proved to be a huge success. As per the recent research data, almost the instances of 900,000 app downloads has noticed over year in South Korea. The online sales percentage of Tesco has been increased to 130 percent, after the introduction of virtual stores and relevant apps. The number of registered app users increased by 76 percent in South Korea. Organization should keep modifying their virtual marketing strategies to access further success in this regard.

The management of Tesco should realize the needs and requirements of the concerned customers they are serving in order to fulfill the objectives of the regarding their virtual marketing strategies. South Korea is a country having around 50 million of people. They are counted as he 12^th largest economy of the world and 4^th largest economy of Asia. Organization needs to understand the use of virtual technologies in the virtual marketing strategies of the organization (Verhoef et al. 2017, p.19). In these days, the shopping activities of the customers usually involve the use of technological advancements. Use of virtual technology gives the consumers a sense of physical presence in the stores they are planning to shop from. Customers want to be present in the shop before their desired products in the time of shopping. Though, their hectic schedules in life do not permit them to spend a quality time in their shopping practices. Virtual marketing strategies of the organization provide them the opportunity to spend a reasonable amount of time to serve the purpose and criteria of their shopping (Kim et al. 2017, p.26). The behavioral concept lies behind the virtual technology is the satisfaction the customers gain being physically present in the time of their shopping.

Relationship between the Consumers and Virtual Technology

Researcher explores the previous topics on the relation between the consumers and virtual technology in order to relevant understanding on the research objectives of this assignment. In order to understand the mentioned relation, researcher needs to study the related topics, like-

• Development of Virtual environment in the industry
• Development of Virtual object in the industry
• Personalization of Virtual technologies
• Sensorial Enrichment
• Spatial Interaction

Books and studies regarding the Development of Virtual environment in the industry helps the researcher to understand the concept of 2D and 3D technological advancements in the shopping practices of the customers in the concerned community (Kesharwani et al. 2017, p.46). This study enables the researcher to compare the utility of 2D and 3D technological devices in geometric and materialistic display of the product. In this study, researcher experienced the impact of virtual affordances in the shopping preferences of the consumers.

The studies related to the Development of Virtual object in the industry focus on the interaction pattern of the consumers with the virtual objects. The concept of virtual handbag in the virtual marking strategies of the organization involves the use of different virtual objects like, web cam, TV screen, computers etc (Cisternas Vera, 2017, p.21). It helps the organization to develop user friendly strategies for their customers to provide better the shopping experiences.

Personalization of Virtual technologies helps the organization to provide recommendation services to their customers. Virtual technological assistance acts as an shopping assistant for the customers. They guide customers by providing them information regarding variety of relevant products as per their choices and preferences.

There are some studies which provide relevant information regarding how the relation between the consumers and virtual technologies influences the shopping experiences of the individuals by indulging them in Sensorial Enrichment (Kesharwani et al. 2017, p.46). Researcher found out the importance of auditory experiences in the shopping behavior of the consumers.

Spatial Interaction implies the use of special technologies in the shopping experiences of the customers. It indicates the use of different controlling and monitoring system in the virtual marketing strategies of the organization.

I-Other relation studies the influence of relations between different consumers and between the consumer and marketers in the virtual environment of the industry. Virtual technologies are useful in creating telepresence experiences in the virtual marking strategies of the organization (Deighton et al. 2017, p.137). Virtual Communication Technologies are more advanced compare to other communication techniques used by the organization. Other communication techniques used in the communication system of the organization are, text messages, email, telephone etc. Virtual communication system broadens the arena of the marketing activities of the respective organization and shopping experiences of the customers. The extensive use and availability of smart phones and internet enables the consumer to access the advanced virtual communication shopping facilities provided by the organization. Research tries to focus on the following points of this study in order to understand the marketers-consumer and consumer-consumer relationship in the context of virtual marketing.

I-It Relations- Instrumental Relations between consumers and Virtual Technology in Shopping Activities

Dissemination on virtual Communities:

Virtual communities can be viewed as typical social groups with common taste in choices and preferences. Virtual communities are formed through the use of virtual media (Eli et al. 2016, p.58). Virtual communities evince collected choices of contemporary groups. Research explores the influence of these virtual communities in the marketing strategies of the organization.

Trustfulness on Virtual Communities:

Virtual communities share information regarding the availability and effectiveness of the products among themselves. These are helpful to increase product related awareness among the consumers (Deighton et al. 2017, p.137). Trustfulness of the virtual communities involves the issues related with online information and policies of respective organization.

Social Structure of Virtual Communities:

Social structure of the virtual community displays the social trust and transparency criteria of the respective virtual groups (Eli et al. 2016, p.58). The influence of social model in the virtual communication groups determines the preferences of these groups regarding the purchase of a particular product.

Social Presence of Consumers in Virtual Communities:

Every consumer belongs to particular society. Every society bears some particular traits of culture. Virtual communities express the cultural preferences of the respective groups in the social networking sites (Deighton et al. 2017, p.137). Researcher gets involve in some affairs of these groups to evaluate the influence of these groups in the virtual marketing strategies of the respective organization.

Use of Potential Consumers, Virtual Communities as the Marketing Tools of the organization:

Respective organizations use their satisfied customers and these virtual informal communities as effective marketing tools of the organization. These consumers and communities are helpful develop potential market for the products of the business organization (Eli et al. 2016, p.58). Researcher studies the effect of these communities in the virtual marketing strategies of the organization.

The study of I-World relation evinces the behavioral responses of the consumers regarding their virtual shopping as well as the real world shopping experiences. Researcher mainly focuses on the area where customers express their preferences in virtual shopping over real world shopping and vice versa (Panov, 2017, p.21). Tesco is providing virtual shopping experiences to their customers. They have also real world stores and customers worldwide are experiencing real world shopping through their stores. Tesco now can compare the prospects both selling and marketing strategies in the development of the organization.

Consumer Perception regarding the Virtual Products in the respective Shopping Space:

Virtual shopping environment helps the customers to perceive virtual imprint of the actual products. Researcher of different times and ages used to study the satisfying ways and processes of product display in the virtual shopping environment. The connection between the technological advancements and consumer preferences determines the effectiveness of virtual shopping in the contemporary industry (Irwin, 2016, p.34). Customers seem more satisfied with the 3D display of the virtual products rather than the 2D features of the online products placed in the company or retail marketing websites. 3D feature of the virtual products satisfies the selection need of the customers.

Virtual Environments and Shopping Intentions:

Shopping intentions come before actual shopping experiences of an individual. The marketing strategies of the respective organization concentrate on developing shopping intentions among the customers of the organizations (Panov, 2017, p.21). Researcher studies the impact of shopping intentions of the customers in increasing the importance of virtual selling strategies in the industry.

Somewhere Between Bricks-and-mortar and Virtual Shopping:

There is a relation between bricks and mortar shopping and virtual shopping. There are the instances of several literature concentrating on the concerned relationship. Some researcher explores the multi dimensional effect of virtual environment in the shopping experiences of the customers and the impact of such multi dimensional effects on the real world shopping experiences of the individuals (Irwin, 2016, p.34). Virtual shopping is the new idea of the business organizations and they need the support of real world shopping infrastructure in order to bring about drastic changes in the shopping practices of the industry.

Conclusion:

In the conclusion of this literature review, it can be said that virtual technology plays a significant part in the virtual marketing strategies of respective organization. Introduction of Virtual shopping stores by Tesco can be counted as the appropriate implementation of the change management strategies to bring about revolutionary changes in the production process of the organization. Researcher tries to meet the objectives of the study by collecting relevant information on the related topics. This study will help the organization to perceive the future development of the organization on the basis of virtual shopping strategies and environment of the organization. This study will also help the future researchers to undertake further research on the related topics.

Reference Lists:

Barnes, S., 2016. Understanding Virtual Reality in Marketing: Nature. Implications and Potential.

Cisternas Vera, F.O., 2017. Essyas on the Impact of New Technologies on Firm-Consumer Relationships.

Deighton, J., Goldenberg, J. and Stephen, A.T., 2017. Introduction to Special Issue: The Consumer in a Connected World. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), pp.137-139.

Denham, G., 2016. System and method of providing a virtual shopping experience. U.S. Patent Application 15/086,991.

Eli, K., McLennan, A.K. and Schneider, T., 2016. Configuring relations of care in an online consumer protection organization. Careful Eating: Bodies, Food and Care, p.173.

Griffin, T., Giberson, J., Lee, S.H.M., Guttentag, D., Kandaurova, M., Sergueeva, K. and Dimanche, F., 2017. Virtual Reality and Implications for Destination Marketing.

Irwin, S.O.N., 2016. Digital Media: Human–Technology Connection. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kesharwani, A., Sreeram, A. and Desai, S., 2017. Factors affecting satisfaction and loyalty in online grocery shopping: an integrated model. Journal of Indian Business Research, 9(2).

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Murahari, J. and Joshi, R., Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., 2016. System and method for creating interactive personalized virtual stores. U.S. Patent Application 15/009,281.

Panov, A.I., 2017. Behavior planning of intelligent agent with sign world model. Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, 19, pp.21-31.

Tescopoly.org. (2017). South Korea | Tescopoly. [online] Available at: https://www.tescopoly.org/country/south-korea [Accessed 11 Aug. 2017].

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Wu, J., Thoreson, N., Koo, J. and Kim, A., 2017. Co-design Visual Displays in Virtual Stores: An Exploration of Consumer Experience. In Managing Complexity (pp. 459-462). Springer International Publishing.