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Electronic commerce has existed in the business‐to‐business marketplace since the 1970s, in forms such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and electronic funds transfer (EFT). With the emergence of the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, electronic commerce entered a new era which opened the door for an electronic business‐to‐consumer marketplace. Although the retail side of electronic commerce is still in its infancy, the Web medium offers great potential for building the customer‐base, promoting sales, and improving after‐sales service. Examines the concept of relationship marketing, which has caused a paradigm shift in business‐to‐business marketing during recent years. Extends the concepts of network marketing to the Web retail marketplace, and develops a market process model for Web retailing that outlines the stages of the relationship building process.

To date, most published work concerning effective Web site design has been based on personal opinion or experience, not on research. Uses 50 in‐depth interviews with Web site designers to identify key design considerations and online customer conversion and relationship strategies. A proposed model illustrates a direct relationship between Web site design and the online customer conversion process. Relationship marketing, integrated marketing communications, and segmenting, targeting, and positioning should guide both Web site design and customer conversion. Ultimately, a Web site should help to establish, build, and maintain long‐term customer relations. Managerial implications are introduced and discussed.

A fundamental internet marketing challenge is that consumers can quickly move from seeks to one web site to another if they cannot easily find what they want on a given web site. This paper address the web site navigational design issues associated with internet marketing.

A two‐year participant observation study in a UK tourism marketing organisation is provided in order to demonstrate a web site design approach in action.

Existing web site design approaches such as hierarchy charts and storyboards can assist in structuring web site content but do not necessarily cater well for making web sites straightforward to use by consumers. Human computer interface web site design approaches typically relate more to style, appearance and functionality than to structuring web site content. Web site content ranking and grouping can allow straightforward access to web site content, by making frequently required content the most accessible and by grouping related content for ease of identification. From a web site marketing perspective, the more accessible web site content relating to products and services offered, the more likely that such products and services will be purchased by the consumer.

If consumers are to use a web site and use it again in the future they need to be able to find what they require in a straightforward manner. Ranking web site content to present frequently required content earlier in the web site, and grouping web site content so that similar content appears on the same web page or on closely linked web pages can make a web site more straightforward to navigate. In a marketing context, the more accessible a web site, the more likelihood there is of repeat business from the consumer.

The originality of the research reported in this paper concerns the use of web site content ranking and grouping to design web sites that can enable straightforward access to information and transactions by consumers, and thus potentially increase both current sales and future repeat business.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of social marketing principles in Web 2.0 commercial and social marketing campaigns.

A literature review and online search were conducted to document the types of products and behavior change initiatives being marketed on Web 2.0 platforms. Case studies from commercial and social marketing were critically reviewed to determine whether they exhibited one or more of the principles of social marketing.

Results demonstrated that social marketers can employ the following social marketing principles to successfully design and implement a Web 2.0 campaign: consumer orientation, behavior change, market segmentation and targeting, mixed methods, exchange and competition.

The findings present originality and value to social marketers who want to effectively integrate, expand and apply Web 2.0 channels to meet their behavior change goals.

This paper aims to investigate the level of internet marketing in use and the web marketing strategies models implemented by the Italian Speciality Wineries (ISWs).

The paper surveyed a sample of 272 high quality wineries. The analysis of the existing web sites has been conducted through an adapted 7Cs model. The 7Cs model data analysis has been developed both at a univariate and a multivariate level. The entrepreneur's perception of internet marketing has been analysed through a market research questionnaire.

The use of internet marketing by the ISWs is at an initial stage. “Show‐case” is the main purpose while functionality is the most important web site characteristic. Five groups of wineries have been identified through cluster analysis. The web marketing approaches implemented revolve around the choice to effect online sales. The web marketing strategies map highlights that the future development of the ISWs web marketing models goes in two different directions. The entrepreneur's perception of quality of the web site is identified in navigability parameters.

The paper contributes to a greater knowledge of the strategic web marketing models utilized by Italian speciality wineries. It also discusses the entrepreneur's perception of internet marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the marketing initiatives taken by academic libraries to promote collection and services to their clientele. It specifically aims to examine academic library web sites for marketing approach, promotional and public relations activities.

The study relies heavily on web site exploration and interviews with library managers. A total of 22 library web sites were examined based on pre‐determined criteria developed from the extant literature and initial web site investigation. The paper also draws upon the authors' personal experiences and observations. Interviews were used to investigate university library manager's level of awareness of the library web site as a marketing tool and how they perceived this to be used to the library's advantage.

It is found that academic libraries are lacking in their promotional activities. Library web sites are not fully utilized as a marketing tool and an enabler to reach out to the community for promotion of services and collections.

The study is limited to Malaysian university libraries, therefore generalization to others is to be cautioned but there are important lessons to be learnt.

This paper will be helpful to libraries planning to implement a marketing strategic plan to improve its outreach to users and enhance the users' image of the library.

A study such as this is new in Malaysia and reveals several marketing strategies that may be useful to other academic libraries.

This paper aims to recognize whether government policy supervision or social network platform supervision can effectively promote the control of misconducts of web celebrity brand eWOM marketing and to identify the key factors influencing the unhealthy web celebrity marketing environment.

Theoretical research was employed to develop a practical approach for applying evolutionary game theory to eWOM marketing controlling strategies modeling via dynamic visualization, systematic simulation experiments.

Evolutionary game theory combined with dynamic simulation modeling can provide a formal approach to understanding web celebrity brand eWOM marketing decision-making in social media, which can thus support the control of unhealthy web celebrity marketing environment. The results demonstrate that the reasonable control of social platform control costs may be more effective than the government policy on web celebrity fake brand eWOM marketing behaviors.

The study enriches the research on the management and control of eWOM marketing as well as provides guidance for the sustainable development of the web celebrity economy in social media.

The paper aims to provide an overview of how UK conference centres have incorporated Web 2.0 applications, such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter, into their marketing communications strategies.

Following an analysis of the impacts of Web 2.0 applications on purchase decision‐making processes in general, the market environment within which conference centres promote themselves was examined. The results of a questionnaire‐based survey of UK conference centres' marketing communications strategies were then analysed.

The paper's findings suggest that while some UK conference centres have comprehensively adopted Web 2.0 applications into their marketing communications programmes, others have yet to harness the potential of these new promotional tools. A few serious barriers to wider adoption remain.

The extent to which the results may be generalised beyond the geographical parameters of this study may be limited, therefore further research is required, to test the findings across a broader range of locations. In addition, the insights provided by this study need to be complemented by research into the use of Web 2.0 applications by those who are responsible for selecting venues.

The paper considers the consequences of venues using Web 2.0 applications in their marketing communications strategies. These include potential loss of control of the venues' marketing messages, resource issues and the need to evaluate the effectiveness of these tools.

This study therefore takes a first step towards achieving an understanding of how venues are using the opportunities and dealing with the challenges created by the availability of Web 2.0 applications as potential and actual elements in their marketing communications programmes.

As evidence mounts on the importance of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to national and international economies and the opportunities presented to them by the internet, it becomes important to understand the key issues which determine internet adoption and utilisation. With literature on SME internet adoption fragmented and incoherent, there is also a need for conceptual framework development and testing to provide more focused research in this important area. Several researchers have also highlighted a need for research which concentrates more on specific industrial sectors rather than taking a more generalist approach to SME internet adoption. Within this evolving research context, the agri‐food industry makes a particularly relevant area of study, which this paper aims to study.

This paper addresses this purpose by conducting a study of 50 Northern Ireland SME agri‐food companies. The study utilises and tests a conceptual framework derived from the extant literature in relation to the determinants of SME web site adoption and utilisation.

The findings of this study point to the need for SME agri‐food companies to develop an awareness of the internet's efficacy for their business and a subsequent dynamic strategic approach in adoption and utilisation. However, the lack of marketing ability and negative industry norms prevalent within developed economy agri‐food industries will contribute negatively to internet adoption and utilisation. These will need to be addressed if the internet, and web site adoption and utilisation in particular, are to provide an effective business tool. The research findings support the conceptual framework's usefulness as a research tool. The findings point to the importance of marketing ability and industry norms in relation to their impact on the central determinants of internet adoption by the SME agri‐food companies studied.

In this paper it is contended that a lack of marketing ability and negative industry attitudes towards internet adoption and utilisation will constrain levels of awareness of the efficacy of the internet as a business tool for the individual businesses researched. The findings reveal that this will subsequently contribute to a lack of strategic web site development and subsequent utilisation.

The current study seeks to examine the impact of web marketing (through the company's website) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firms' performance across companies listed in the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX), Oman.

This research analyses qualitative and exploratory data taken from companies' website, annual reports (the financial year 2019), Google search and CSR report from 69 out of total 117 listed companies in the MSX to analyze the impact of web marketing on CSR and firms' performance proxied by return of assets (ROA), return of equity (ROE) and Tobin's Q (TQ).

Web marketing on CSR positively affects firms' performance. Especially, the positive effect of web marketing on firms' performance is stronger for listed companies. Web marketing enhances financial performance proxied by ROA, ROE and TQ.

The research findings provide new insights that are able to enlighten governing bodies in Oman to make standardized compulsory CSR spending (say, 0.5% on profit after tax) by listed companies in MSX.

This research presents evidence that web marketing on CSR can increase firms' performance and brand image among stakeholders. This is the first study to examine the impact of web marketing on CSR and firms' performance using empirical data in Oman.