Article at a glance:

Marketing lessons from e-failures

When e-commerce was young and the outlook rosy, it seemed that the basic rules of marketing could be cast aside. Few people would now make that claim; in fact, many of the basic elements of the traditional marketing process still hold good. Why then have so many companies failed to follow this basic process? One of the main reasons is the speed with which it unfolds in e-commerce and the difficult trade-offs speed creates.

The take-away

This study of business-to-consumer marketing failures shows that speed still counts and that it is often necessary to fire without taking perfect aim. But a company has to know what target it is trying to hit. An e-business must have specific marketing goals from the outset, as well as a way to measure its success in achieving them.