Online Marketing Places: Comparative Study Between Gumtree and Facebook Market Places
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Information
Online marketing has turn out to be a common practice for both large enterprises and Small and Medium Size enterprises (SMEs). Online marketing has been preferred over traditional marketing strategy due to its increased precision (accuracy), speed, as well as cheapness. Unlike in traditional media, online marketing, especially through social media, reaches the target customers within a short period of time (Ajina, 2019).
Social media technologies such as Facebook have significantly influenced the interactions of people. For this reason, Facebook has grown to a giant marketing and advertisement avenue. Companies and individuals have embraced Facebook as an online marketing platform. Facebooks online marketing business model entails a diversified industry using ads, promotions, and campaigns. Facebook has diversified products and services that assist in the social connectivity of people. Therefore, Facebook has connectivity of over 2.5 billion people (Khobzi, Lau, and Cheung, 2019).
1.2 Problem Statement
With the advent of advancement in communication and information technology (ICT), the application of the internet has revolutionized the way business is conducted. Apart from the introduction of online payment systems such as PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer, Mastercard, Wire transfer, and others, the internet has improved the marketing industry. For this reason, several companies have embraced online marketing strategies. In contrast, others have adopted their business models as online advertisers; online marketing is a massive industry with a huge trend in innovation and technology (Mitić, 2019).
In this manner, the online marketing strategies have included the use of social media as digital marketing tools. Therefore, large enterprises, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), have embraced online marketing strategies via social media. Therefore, companies such as Facebook, Twitter, eBay, and others have been contracted for marketing services and products. In this manner, businesses can interact with their potential and existing customers through chat engines, commentaries, walls, and chat rooms (Raben, 2019).
Due to competition and advancement in technology, different strategies have been employed in the online marketing/digital marketing industry. For instance, recently, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have been intensely used in online marketing. Online marketers have enhanced their capacity to reach the target customers by use of AI, chatbots, as well as web-assistance automation. All these technologies assist in reaching accessing large population of customers as well as reaching out to the target customers (Raben, 2019).
However, selecting the best online advertisement method is a task that requires critical thinking. Often, business managers and entrepreneurs find themselves in hard decision-making positions on the selection of the best online marketing platform. In this manner, the business owners and marketers need to consider various factors such as cost, efficiency, and popularity. Moreover, while selecting the online marketing platform, one has to find the target audience. Different online marketing platforms have different marketing approaches and the way to reach target customers. Furthermore, the identification of the target audience/customer assists in the management of budget allocations to minimize loss of funds while marketing to the wrong people (Ajina, 2019).
1.3 Study Questions
The study will seek to answer the following questions;
- Between Facebook and Gumtree, which online marketing platform is better?
- Between Facebook and Gumtree, which one is cost-efficient?
- Which online marketing platform has a better Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
1.4 Objectives
The following are the objectives of the study:
- To determine the best online marketing platform between Facebook and Gumtree.
- To determine the most cost-efficient online marketing platform between Facebook and Gumtree.
- To identify which online market platform has better AI between Facebook and Gumtree.
1.5 Significance of the Study
In the modern business environment, advancement in online technology has revolutionized marketing and stiffened competition. Specifically, the internet has become a significant tool for advertising and marketing. Therefore, the application of online marketing (digital marketing) has increased the globalization of brands and companies. In this context, the internet has been used in the marketing to enhance the connectivity of the customers and the brand or business, accessing customer’s perceptions, introducing new products as well as assessing the performance of a product. Furthermore, the application of social media has been appropriate in marketing due to its ability to reach a larger population than the traditional media (Palazon, Delgado-Ballester, and Sicilia, 2019).
Although social media and the internet have been significant in boosting the online presence and market share for companies and brands, each online platform has its unique characteristics that attract customers. Furthermore, each online marketing strategy has a set of strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, project managers and marketers have difficulties in the selection of the best online marketing platform. Each online marketing platform has its unique method of reaching out to new customers, costs, as well as business compatibility. In this case, each online platform has a unique connection to access to new and existing customers. The strategies payment, as well as billing cycles, influence the cost of marketing. Other factors, such as the application of AI to link to the customers, also influence the choice of online marketing platforms.
The study herein would be important in assisting the project managers in selecting the best online marketing platform depending on various characteristics. The characteristics that influence the selection of an online marketing strategy including but not limited to;
Type and Size of Business. Businesses that sell digital products or those in the banking and finance sector require a significant deal of online marketing. Additionally, large international companies may have a higher demand for online marketing as compared to small local companies.
Number of Customers. The size of the customer base influences the type of online marketing strategy. For instance, a business that has many customers would require online marketing as opposed to one with only a few customers.
Location of the business and the customers. The distance between the company and the potential customers influence the necessity of online/digital marketing.
1.6 Scope of Study
The study will include a comparison between two types of online marketing strategies; Facebook and Gumtree. The comparison will involve factors such as cost, simplicity, business compatibility, popularity, as well as the application of Artificial Intelligence. The study will use a quantitative method. Data will be collected by application of the questionnaire; that will be given to the marketing managers of different companies within Bedfordshire, UK. A total of 1000 respondents will be used in the study. The questionnaire will have a maximum of 10 questions.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 The role of Internet Marketing on e-commerce
Within a significantly short time, and a specific characteristic of dynamicity, the internet has changed the business environment. The internet has changed office life as well as the face of life at home. The internet has been a significant factor that drives changes within businesses to enhance globalization, communication, transport, as well as marketing (Bran, Bodislav, and Mitriţă, 2020). However, the application of the internet in the business environment is impacted by strategy, sector, national economy, as well as the level of technology. The marketing also influences the profitability of online businesses. Internet marketing is favored by the incorporation of other communication technologies such as social media. According to a study conducted by Felipa (2017), the thesis was simply summarized as marketing + internet=ecommerce. In this study, the author was interested in finding out the opportunities as well as the challenges of using internet marketing within the concept of e-commerce (Felipa, 2017).
The definition of e-commerce is found within the framework of the internet of things (IoT). In simple words, e-commerce means the operation of a business by the use of electronic means. In this case, the electronic commerce entails the application of the internet to carry out business functions such as ordering, payment, tracking, value-chain management, communication, as well as marketing and advertising (Macnamara, 2020). Therefore, the IoT technology has been adopted by various industries as well as companies to improve the operation of businesses. The implementation of IoT in businesses requires the development of machine controls, site monitoring, file management systems, and many others (Liu, Feng, Lin, Wu, and Guo, 2020). Therefore, businesses that run as e-commerce models require the construction of databases, quality controls, as well as internet security platforms that enhance the flow of business events. The internet of things is mainly based on four major categories of machine control and monitoring, such as monitoring, diagnostic, software updates, as well as maintenance. According to the study conducted by Orbis Research (2020)., the factors mentioned above are crucial in the enhancement of the productivity of e-commerce. The study also found out that the primary characteristics that push e-commerce to embrace IoT are reduction of operation cost, time-saving, as well as an expansion of the market (Hsieh, 2020).
There has been a significant increase in companies that adopt advance technologies to enhance the customer base and meet their demands easily. Therefore, the IoT has increased its popularity as a method that reduces the cost of operation for businesses (Bhatnagar and Kumra, 2020). The interconnectivity of the market, such that homes, businesses, and offices, use interconnected devices. Therefore, IoT enhances speedy and real-time communication between one device to the other (Kumar, Rajesh, Nancy, Abirami, and Murthy, 2020). Such communication saves the cost, especially during marketing and advertisement. The rapid flow of information at a low price enables the business to save time and money that would be used in the case of the application of the traditional media (Kumar et al., 2020).
However, the growth of IoT is affected by various government regulations on internet communication. Such regulations affect the advertisement and marketing of the various electronic business, such as online gaming. The government also levies taxes that limit the spread of IoT. Other disadvantages of IoT include the unavailability of high internet connectivity in remote areas (Cheruvu, Kumar, Smith, and Wheeler, 2020). Therefore, effective e-commerce comes with a demand for efficient infrastructures such as internet and telecommunication infrastructure. Investing in the IoT requires high initial capital.
For this reason, businesses that intend to run as e-commerce need to acquire special infrastructures such as servers, sensors, software, as well as computers (Srivastava and Singh, 2020). Furthermore, e-commerce companies need to employ highly qualified personnel to act as network security administrators, software engineers, as well as risk assessment staff. Customer service and other departments need to have superb knowledge of the application of the internet and other communication software. Therefore, the initial costs of beginning e-commerce with the aim of implementation of the IoT business models are significantly high for small businesses (Orbis Research, 2020).
2.2 Advantages of Digital Marketing
Customer satisfaction is a major component that influences the success of any business. Therefore, all companies struggle to improve the customer’s experience by fulfilling their needs. Efficient customer satisfaction is linked to customer loyalty, increased sales, as well as increased profits. Internet marketing enhances customer satisfaction through the provision of instant feedback. Companies develop digital marketing apps that increase the speed of responding to customers’ needs (Lu, Suhartanto, Gunawan, and Chen, 2020). For instance, the application of search engine optimization (SEO) technology assists in gathering the necessary information for the client. Such technological advancements save the time that the customers need in a selection of items on the physical shelves. The development of web-based business models assists the customers by saving time, money, and energy used in shopping. For instance, customers do not need to physically travel to do their shopping (Lu et al.,2020).
The value addition to online marketing supports the fulfillment of the customers’ needs. The use of online marketing in business ensures that the customers’ perceptions are considered in the design of the products (van de Sand, Frison, Zotz, Riener, and Holl, 2020). The inclusion of the customers’ perceptions about the quality of the products assists in enhancing their satisfaction. The value addition strategies include marketing campaigns, pricing, as well as interaction with the customers. Direct communication with the customers offered by online marketing, assists in the assessment of the performance of the products and services. As the customers share their experiences, the company can track the ways in which the market position of the products can be improved (Badre, 2020). In this case, the competitiveness of products is enhanced by the availability of product information within the customer’s domain. The more the customers know about the product, the more they are likely to purchase. In this manner, the high availability of product information on online platforms translates to a strong influence on the customers purchasing behavior (Cinar, 2020).
Optional pricing strategies in online marketing assist the customers in making informed purchasing decisions. The nature of humans in any market is the selection of the best price for products and services. The online marketing strategies give such powers to the customers; the customers are allowed the opportunity to review the products and compare different features related to pricing. The price of goods on the online market is associated with different payment options such as payment on delivery or scheduled payments that assist the customer in making an informed judgment about buying (Viloria, Li, Guiliany, and de la Hoz, 2020).
The ease of online businesses cannot be overlooked. Online marketing is simple; the access of product information is instant as well as readily available irrespective of time and geographical location. The open-access of the online shops assists the customers to view the products for instant or future purchase. The customers have the opportunity to order products in the comfort of their homes and offices. In this case, online customers cut on the costs of travel and transportation. The online companies have increased sales due to the fact that online platforms cut across different locations. The indiscriminative access of the internet assists the customers to get the product information from various places; therefore, the sales and profits are increased (Lu, Suhartanto, Gunawan, and Chen, 2020).
The application of online marketing improves the relationship between the customer and the business. The online marketing strategies use the feedback mechanisms through instant messaging, chat engines, chatbots as well as ratings and reviews. The customers and businesses interact on the internet and understand more about each other. The business is informed of what the customers’ needs, and the customers are informed about what the company is capable of doing (Behera, Gunasekaran, Gupta, Kamboj, and Bala, 2020). The customers learn about the terms and conditions, strengths, and weaknesses of the business and what the company is doing about the negative traits. The advantage of maintaining a good relationship assists in building customer loyalty and satisfaction. The good relationship between the company and the customers assist the business to build its sustainability strategies. Other advantages include the perception of the sense of belonging; the customers feel that they are part of the company. Indeed, customers are part of any business; it is important to understand that the customers need to be as close as possible to the business. All the decisions within the business, such as improvement of quality and diversification, must include the customer. Online marketing enhances the connection between the customer and the company (Butkouskaya, Llonch-Andreu, and Alarcón-del-Amo, 2020).
2.3 Facebook Online Marketing Boosts Business
There has been evidenced by a tremendous change in the relationship between the customers and the business. In the modern business world, the relationship between the customers and the business is relevant than ever (Stone, 2019.). In this manner, constant communication between the business and the customers has become necessary for the maintenance of success and sustainability. The social media comes as a significant tool applied by the businesses. Various companies have embraced social media in their online marketing strategies as a method of reaching out to customers. The social media has been efficient in the breakthrough of various businesses that have excellent online marketing (Kingsnorth, 2019).
Social media has the potential to break or build a business. The widespread of positive information about a business on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter is a positive trend to business growth (Zadeh, Zolfagharian, and Hofacker, 2019). Social media has a wide range of people and companies that form the customer base for different companies. Therefore, a positive social media presence boosts sales and profits. For this reason, companies and businesses have embarked on the maintenance of an active online presence that ensures an efficient interaction between the customers and the industry. However, the negative information on social media spread at an alarming speed. The negative information on social media may lead to deterioration of the business performance. Any negative information that goes into social media has a negative impact on the performance of the business (Nunes, 2019). Customer satisfaction, confidence, and purchasing behavior are negatively impacted by the negative publicity of a product or a business. Therefore, online marketers are obliged to take the necessary measures to control the spread of negative publicity of the business. The likes on Facebook have more meaning to a business rather than mere words and numbers (Nunes, 2019).
In 2016, the total number of active Facebook subscribers on daily basis hit close to 1.13 billion. Consequently, the company reported a high revenue of $27.63 billion. Therefore, Facebook stands out as one of the most active and influential social media networks. Regarding the business model, Facebook has capitalized on the diversification of products. In this manner, Facebook owns and operates several affiliate companies such as Instagram and WhatsApp. The products herein are engineered to operate on the social integration and connectivity of people and companies via the internet. For this reason, Facebook and its affiliates have been intensively used in online social marketing (Hoffman, and Gold, 2016).
The diversification of the products and simplification to enhance social networking has given Facebook a better competitive advantage against its rivals, such as Google Plus. The diversification of the product has enabled Facebook to connect customers and companies and thus to make it a favorable tool for communication. In the modern business world, any business must manage an online social media page (Upadhyay, 2019). Facebook has brought about diversification in connectivity between the customer and the businesses by the provision of online marketing and advertisement platforms. For instance, Facebook operates Facebook Payments Inc., which allows it to generate revenue. Some of its products, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, are significant in social networking and instant messaging. Others are engineered towards the provision of virtual reality, such as Oculus. In the industry of advertising and marketing, Facebook owns Atlas, a leading company in the generating ads and measurement of performance. Atlas is a fundamental player in offering advertising and marketing services (Gabarron, Luque, Schopf, Lau, Armayones, Wynn, and Serrano, 2019).
The user-targeted advertisements make the basic source of income for Facebook (Sung, 2020). The company has built its business model from the unique capabilities of targeting the right customer in the advertisements. The specificity in targeting the customers has enabled the potential investment in its pitch deck (Cecen, 2019). The technology used by Facebook entails an extensive application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that assists in boosting the accuracy in marketing (Kaiser, Ahuvia, Rauschnabel, and Wimble, 2019). The accuracy in marketing included but not limited to location, time, social status, groups of interest, as well as purchasing behavior. AI technology enhances the accuracy in targeting potential customers and reduce the costs of marketing on the basis of revenue and time (Davenport, Guha, Grewal, and Bressgott, 2020).
2.4 Facebook Surpasses Gumtree in Online Marketing
In 2016, Gumtree underwent tremendous changes aiming to take the top position in the UK above Facebook and Google in the online marketing arena. The company changed its logo as well as introduced a new brand listing. Google controlled the UK digital market, with 45.7 million monthly subscribers. Facebook followed closely at 40 million subscribers. Unfortunately, Gumtree’s unique monthly users stood at a lower position of 15.3 million. Therefore, Gumtree had a significant ambition to overturn the UK digital Market. In the previous year (2015), Gumtree had utilized 40% of its ad’s revenue in the development of the high-profile online presence in conjunction with other autonomous brands like BT sports (Hobbs, 2020).
However, to control the UK digital market, Gumtree has to do more, especially on the online marketing platform (Southern, 2020). The company has to improve its customer base from 16 million monthly subscribers. The total overhaul of the company’s website and mobile application has been driven by the urge to become more user-friendly. The company’s new logo is also simplified and has an increased memorability in the users’ minds. Gumtree also needs to improve on building trust among its customers to enhance its reliability and customer loyalty. The 24hour customer support at Gumtree enhances its competitiveness as well as user-friendliness. The building of customer’s trust is essential towards competitive advantage against its rivals such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Monster, Zoopla, Airbnb, and others. Gumtree ensures that the company builds trust in connection with the ‘real people’ rather than virtual users (Southern, 2020).
2.5 Disadvantages of Facebook and Gumtree Online Marketing
Although digital marketing has been a major milestone towards the enhancement of online marketing and advertisement, it has been associated with a plethora of disadvantages. Firstly, digital online marketing has been overdependent on technology. The application of digital marketing, such as the use of social media, relies heavily on the availability of the right technology, such as the internet. The accessibility to the internet must exist on either the customer and business end. In this case, the company and the customers have to meet the costs of the provision of internet connection as well as devices that can communicate through the internet. The companies are expected to construct e-commerce websites, web-based applications, as well as B2B communication networks that rely on the availability of internet technology. An itch on the internet, such as break-ups, lead to miscommunication and potential loss of customers (Kingsnorth, 2019).
In this context, bot Gumtree and Facebook are highly dependent on technology; all their operations are performed online. Both of the online marketing platforms use technology to reach out to their customers. However, Facebook has a larger online exposure than Gumtree. The application of social media platforms enables Facebook to reach a larger pool of customers than Gumtree. Therefore, Facebook is has invested much in technology to enhance both business and social media parts of its application. Apart from the high costs of the technology, Facebook has been always on the move to improve the customer’s satisfaction since its online presence would bring about a huge collapse in case of negative publicity. Gumtree has not been efficiently covered in the online platforms; its customer base has remained lower than that of Facebook.
Secondly, the security and privacy issues make online marketing a hard experience. There exist different security threats on the customers’ personal data, whereby the data may end up in the wrong hands of hackers and cybercriminals (Bendle, 2020.). Therefore, companies are expected to meet the extra costs of securing their digital data so that it is not compromised by cybercriminals (Wang and Herrando, 2019). In a study by Butt, Abbod, and Kumar (2020), the customer’s data in a significant number of online businesses are not well protected. Therefore, customers have reported a wide range of threats from online cyberstalkers and cyberbullies. Therefore, customers have been raising concerns over the protection of their personal data used in online transactions as well as online marketing campaigns. The negative impact of the customer’s perception of online/digital marketing restricts their purchasing behavior as well as interaction with the companies via online platforms. The anonymity of supported by the application of the internet has led to thriving of dark-web businesses whereby online marketing has become the potential prey of cybercriminals. The customers’ personal data is stolen and leads to financial loss as well as psychological torture by cybercriminals (Godawatte, Raza, Murtaza, and Saeed, 2019). Facebook has become a major target of cyber criminals unlike Gumtree. Therefore, Facebook has invested much on the development of security platforms due to its extensive customer population.
Online marketing comes with an increased cost of maintenance; the companies need to contract third parties to carry out marketing and advertising campaigns. However, it is not guaranteed that the online marketing campaigns must promote the products. There are specific technologies such as SEO and AI that require expensive investment in personnel and infrastructure (Pourkhani, Abdipour, Baher, and Moslehpour, 2019). The increased globalization increased competition; even local businesses are expected to compete with international corporations. The operation of businesses becomes harder and costly since the companies are expected to invest more resources in marketing (Pourkhani et al., 2019). Facebook has integrated communication technologies such as chat engines, text messages, video calling, as well as
The availability of online information to the customers’ disposal has increased the pricing competition due to higher pricing transparency. The customers are more informed about the pricing and hence have the power to compare between different companies. Therefore, businesses experience an increased pricing competition on the online platform. Furthermore, the companies operating online have a global presence and hence increased worldwide competition (Johnston, Hine, Kishore, and Southgate, 2019).
Again, the negative reputation of businesses due to the real-time complaints by customers brings about a conflict between the delivery of goods and services and customers’ satisfaction. In this manner, the negative feedback, comments, and rates given by customers have a negative impact on the sales and profit (Gavval and Ravi, 2020). Therefore, companies are forced to enhance their competitiveness by maintaining a high profile on social media that require constant monitoring and customer service. The costs of training, recruitment, and maintenance of online support systems and customer care increase the cost of operation. Consequently, the revenue of a business may drop significantly due to high expenses on online support management (Song, Wang, Chen, Benitez, and Hu, 2019). Both Facebook and Gumtree are likely to be affected by negative publicity due to their online availability through social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube.
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The chapter herein discusses the methodology of the study, including the sample size, sample selection, method of sampling, data collection methods, as well as data analysis. The study will use a random sampling method whereby 100 marketing managers will be interviewed. The criteria of selection will mainly depend on the responsibilities of the respondent in the respective firm. The study will use the questionnaire to collect the data from the respondents. The study will utilize quantitative data that will be analyzed using SPSS version 2.0 software.
3.2 Type of Research
The study will assume the quantitative research method due to its varied advantages. The quantitative research method will be essential in the description of the quantity and measurement of variables depending on the research objectives. The quantitative research method would be appropriate due to its ability to express numerical differences and trends in data that would be significant in understanding the market situation for businesses (Ghauri, Grønhaug, and Strange, 2020). In business research, quantitative data is vital in assessing the market size, the number of customers, as well as the impact of business models on sales and profits. Therefore, measurements using numbers (quantitative) is essential in business surveys because it is used to indicate the performance of a business enterprise on the basis of customer satisfaction and the delivery of services (Gray, 2019). In the case of the study, the quantitative data will be important in the identification of the favourable online marketing strategy between Facebook and Gumtree. The quantitative data will be significant in making informed judgements on the best method of online marketing (Shekhar, Prince, Finelli, Demonbrun, and Waters, 2019).
3.3 Sampling
The study will use a random sampling technique to enhance the reliability of the data (Vijayalakshmi, and Sivapragasam, 2019). Systematic random sampling will be applied because the population of online marketers in Bedfordshire is quite large. The researcher will collect data from 500 companies that use online marketing in Bedfordshire and prepare a random list. From the list. After completing the list of companies, the researcher will use a fixed interval to get the desired respondent. The study will use 100 out of 500 marketers. Therefore, the interview will be for every 5th marketer (Wang and Lee, 2019). The systematic random sampling would be appropriate for the study because it eliminates bias in the data. The systematic random sampling would also be appropriate for the study since there would be little expectations for data manipulation (Cevallos-Torres and Botto-Tobar, 2019).
3.3.1 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. The respondents who will be used in the study will have to meet certain criteria for enhancement of the credibility of the information. For instance, all the respondents must be online marketing managers of business enterprises within Bedfordshire. The marketers must be working in their respective firms. The respondents will also have over six months of experience working in their respective firms. The marketers will be excluded from the study if they belong to a third-party marketing organization. Therefore, contract online marketers will not be included in the study. The study will also exclude the marketers who have worked for less than six months. The study will not use the marketers who have had cases of conflict of interest in their companies. Other exclusion criteria will involve any cases of previous criminal offences, and the history of inappropriate marketing strategies such as misrepresentation.
3.4 Data Collection
The study will rely on secondary data as the source of information. The research will entail collection of data concerning the two online marketing platforms from online database journals. The research will search for different words related to Facebook and Gumtree on the basis of the study objectives. The key search words/phrases for application in the study will include, ‘comparison between Facebook and Gumtree’, ‘cost-efficiency of Facebook and Gumtree, and ‘application of AI in Facebook and Gumtree’. The sources that will have used questionnaires will be selected for application in the study. The questionnaire will be favorable for the study due to its simplicity; a quick and cheap method for data collection (Nayak and Narayan, 2019). The researcher will not be necessarily having to move to collect data; the costs of data collection will be minimal. However, using secondary data would be jeopardized by relying on the other author’s perceptions. The researcher will not make follow-up calls to remind the respondents to respond to the as in the case of live-online questions (Brown, Wäppling, and Woodruffe-Burton, 2020). Other methods such as live video calls using Skype would have been appropriate to enhance the credibility of the data. In this case, the data collected will be susceptible to bias since the researcher will not have access to first hand information.
The questionnaire would have eased the data analysis; the data will be easily converted to quantitative data. Therefore, the statistical analysis of the data will be easier. The standardized questionnaire will be used; therefore, the comparison of the responses to determine the differences and similarities would be easy. By using simplified answers for only selecting, the respondents will find it easy to fill and resend the questionnaire. The respondents will not spend a long time thinking and writing the responses (Opie, 2019).
The questionnaire would have closed-ended questions only; the respondents will be required to give pre-set responses to each question. The closed-needed questions will be essential in the collection of data such as rating to measure the strengths of the marketing strategies. Therefore, the data collection will be simplified due to the minimized chances of errors in encoding the responses (Desai and Reimers, 2019).
However, due to the technicality of getting the consent recommendations, the study will use secondary data. Again, the application of secondary data would simplify the method of data collection by cutting the costs such as travelling costs. The secondary data method of collection would reduce the time and costs of data collection since online databases will be applied for data collection.
3.5 Data Analysis
After the data has been collected, it will be cleaned and organized for coding. The cleaning of the data will entail removal of the incomplete and blank questionnaire. The coding will involve assigning numerical scores to the responses. For instance, in a question requiring the selection of one response from two options, the first option will be assigned “1” while the second will be assigned “2” (Barannik, Tupitsya, Gurzhii, Barannik, Sidchenko, and Kulitsa, 2019). After completing the data coding, the data analysis will be conducted using SPSS version 2.0 software. The software will be selected due to its efficiency in analyzing quantitative data. The software will be used to analyze different aspects of the data, such as means and variances. The software will also be used to develop a visual presentation of the data such as bar graphs and pie-charts for easier interpretation of the data (Garson, 2019).
3.6 Ethical Consideration
The study will not involve dealing with personal data, such as emails and telephone numbers. Therefore, the study will not require use of enhanced data security measures to ensure that personal data doesn’t get into the wrong hands. The study will not require to seek consent from the respondents to participate in the study. The researcher will not have to clarify the purpose of the study and the roles of the participants. The researcher will also not have to elaborate on the free will to participate in the study to the respondents (Axson, Giordano, Hermann, and Ulrich, 2019). The data will involve secondary information from databases that will be collected from open access databases. The information such as filled questionnaires and any electronic information concerning the study will be absent. Therefore, there will be no need to store files and protect them with passwords in the computers (Abrams, Abrams, Cullen, and Goldstein, 2019). The data collected will be used for the study purpose only; it will not be sharaed with third parties for other purposes such as marketing (Ducato, 2020).
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION
The expected results of this study would reflect that online marketing via Facebook is better than that of Gumtree. Therefore, majority of the respondents prefer marketing via Facebook for Gumtree. The study would also indicate that the factors such as cost efficiency and the technology advancements influence the selection of an online marketing platform. In this context, the cost of Facebook online marketing is lower and efficient than that charged by Gumtree. On the issue of application of AI in marketing, Facebook would indicate having a better AI than Gumtree. Therefore, the application of AI in marketing enhances the accuracy of selecting the target market.
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
Selecting the best online marketing platform has been a challenge to majority of the project managers and marketers. Online marketing poses a threat of expansion of competition, customer’s expectations, costs, as well as increased investment into technology. Although online marketing poses challenges in the growth and development of businesses, it has been embraced by large and small businesses. There exist factors such as technological advancements and cost efficiency that affects the application of an online marketing platform. In this manner, the online marketing industry has been characterized stiff competition that entails innovation and creativity. Therefore, companies have invested in online marketing by use of third-parties such as Facebook and Gumtree. Both Facebook and Gumtree have a significant market share in the UK. However, due to the diversification of the products as well as social integration, Facebook has a larger market share than Gumtree. For this reason, Facebook is more preferred for online marketing than Gumtree.
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