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   Mixed-  mode  buying 

  The process by which 

a customer changes 

between online and offline 

channels during the 

buying  process.   

   Tactics 

 Marketing tactics to implement strategies and objectives are traditionally based around the 

elements of the marketing mix and models of how to engage customers throughout their life 

cycle as part of customer relationship management. In this chapter we focus on the market-

ing mix. (In  Chapter   9   , we will review the life  cycle-  based approach.) 

 The marketing mix – the 4Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion originally proposed 

by Jerome McCarthy (1960) – is still used as an essential part of implementing marketing 

   Tactics 

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Part 2  Strategy and applications

strategy by many practitioners. The 4Ps have been extended to the 7Ps by including three 

further elements that better reflect service delivery: People, Processes and Physical evidence 

(Booms and Bitner, 1981), although others argue that these are subsumed within the 4Ps. 

The marketing mix is applied frequently when developing marketing strategies since it pro-

vides a simple framework like that shown in Figure 8.20 for varying different elements of 

the offering to influence the demand for products within target markets. For example, to 

increase sales of a product the price can be decreased or the amount or type of promotion 

changed, or there can be some combination of these elements.

E-commerce provides new opportunities for the marketer to vary the marketing mix 

which have been summarised well by Allen and Fjermestad (2001).

There are some  well-  known criticisms of applying the marketing mix as a solitary tool for 

marketing strategy. First, the marketing mix is symptomatic of a push approach to marketing 

and does not explicitly acknowledge the needs of customers. As a consequence, the market-

ing mix tends to lead to a product rather than a customer orientation. To mitigate this effect, 

Lautenborn (1990) suggested the 4Cs framework, which considers the 4Ps from a customer 

perspective. In an e-commerce context the 4Cs can be interpreted as follows:

● 

Customer needs and wants (from the product) – the website is a mechanism for explain-

ing how the product proposition meets these needs and wants.

● 

Cost to the customer (price) – online the customer is likely to be comparing prices to 

other websites and traditional purchasing sources.

● 

Convenience (relative to place) – online this is the quality of customer experience in terms 

of the ordering process and fulfilment.

● 

Communication (promotion) – the website itself coupled with the methods of driving 

traffic to the site, such as search engine marketing and email marketing (as described in 

Chapter 9).

It follows that the selection of the marketing mix is based on detailed knowledge of buyer 

behaviour collected through market research. Furthermore, it should be remembered that 

the mix is often adjusted according to different target markets or segments. An increased 

focus on ‘one-to-one marketing’ which means tailoring of the offer for specific customers 

also sits uncomfortably within the 7Ps framework.

The