A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Differential 

advantage

A desirable attribute of a 

product offering that is 

not currently matched by 

competitor offerings.

Online value 

proposition (OVP)

A statement of the 

benefits of e‑commerce 

services that ideally 

should not be available 

in competitor offerings or 

offline offerings.

Figure 8.15

The extent to which different types of segmentation variables tend to be 

predictive of response

Unknown

Demographic profile data

Lifestyle and

psychographics

Attitude and

preferences

Behaviour

Ta

rgeting variable most

pr

edictive of r

esponse

M08_CHAF6542_06_SE_C08.indd   356

7/23/14   1:51 PM

---

357

Chapter 8  Digital marketing

● 

How the proposition is delivered across different parts of the buying process.

● 

How the proposition will be delivered and supported by resources.

Ideally, the e-commerce site should have an additional value proposition to further differen-

tiate the company’s products or services. The site design will also need to communicate the 

core proposition of the brand or products.

Having a clear online value proposition has several benefits:

● 

it helps distinguish an e-commerce site from its competitors’ (this should be a website 

design objective);

● 

it helps provide a focus to marketing efforts and enables company staff to be clear about 

the purpose of the site;

● 

if the proposition is clear it can be used for PR and word-of-mouth recommendations;

● 

it can be linked to the normal product propositions of a company or its product.

Variani and Vaturi (2000) have conducted a review of failures in B2C  dot-  com companies. 

They believe that many of the problems have resulted from a failure to apply established 

marketing orientation approaches. They summarise their guidelines as follows:

First identify customer needs and define a distinctive value proposition that will meet them, 

at a profit. The value proposition must then be delivered through the right product and ser-

vice and the right channels and it must be communicated consistently. The ultimate aim is 

to build a strong,  long-  lasting brand that delivers value to the company marketing it.

Conversely, Agrawal et al. (2001) suggest that the success of leading e-commerce companies 

is often due to matching value propositions to segments successfully.

Some of the best taglines have been developed by the start-up companies, for which the 

OVP is particularly important. For example:

‘Compare. Buy. Save.’ Kelkoo (www.kelkoo.com)

‘Earth’s biggest selection.’ Amazon (www.amazon.com)

The Citibank site design (

www.citibank.com

) uses a range of techniques to illustrate its core 

proposition and OVP. For example, when the site was first included in this book, the main 

messages were:

Welcome to Citibank: The  one-  stop solution for all your financial needs.

Look for a product or service; Learn about a financial product; Find a location.

Different OVPs can be developed for different products or different segments. For Citibank 

UK, the OVP for its Internet banking service is:

Bank whenever you want, from wherever you are. Citibank Internet Banking gives you the 

freedom and flexibility to manage your day-to-day finances. It’s secure, convenient and 

very easy to use.

Many strategic digital marketing planning decisions are based around the OVP and the qual-

ity of online customer experience delivered by a company. Interactive Web 2.0 features can be 

particularly important for transactional sites in that they may enhance the user’s experience 

and so encourage conversion and repeat sales. Examples of how companies have developed 

their OVP through interactive features include customer reviews and ratings, podcast product 

reviews, a blog with customer comments enabled, buyers’ guide and video reviews.