Online Shop Needs Web Site Design and Internet Marketing

Every online shop must invest capital in assets such as web site design 
which are written off over several years as well as funding shorter term 
programs such as advertising and internet marketing.

It pays to take the time to carefully define who actually is the target 
market because competitive advantage is crucial in your web site design.  
You should have a clear understanding of all competitors to your online 
shop, and use SWOT analysis to better understand both your business and 
that of the competition - then investigate the internet marketing 
environment thoroughly using a PESTE analysis and identify your unique 
selling points on which you will focus your marketing. Be realistic when 
assessing your critical success factors - giving yourself an misleadingly 
high score will not help you in your marketing.

Audience definition systems help with targeting and are therefore a 
useful part of marketing research - this research and analysis of your 
potential market is crucial to your long term success. 

The costs can be high in terms of numbers of contacts made and the amount 
of business actually done at the time  unless you understand what is 
happening in the market and the trends and desires of the customers. You 
must try to anticipate and satisfy the needs of the consumer.

Promotion is complementary to media advertising not a substitute for it - 
the main split in marketing definition systems is between consumer products 
and business-to-business products.