Unit 12 | P6 | Explain the challenges of globalisation facing a selected business when using the internet as a marketing tool

Unit 12 

P6 

Explain the challenges of globalisation facing a selected business when using the internet as a marketing tool 

My business of choice is Apple.  

The challenges that Apple might be facing due to globalisation when using digital marketing, are as follows: 

• Payment Security & Payment Systems, 
• Meeting customer expectations, 

• Overload of market feedback, 
• Keeping up with changes in technology, 
• Ensuring that the SEO for their websites and social media pages are set correctly, 

Payment security and payment systems 

 This is a problem for businesses – especially for such a business like Apple – since customers may feel scared to provide their payment details over the internet. The main reason for this is basically the fact that there are too many unreliable sites that could contain viruses, which can simply get hold of our private information. Apple uses SSL certificates to ensure customers that their private details will be protected at all times, and for the payment gateway, they use PayPal which is considered as one of the few safe payment gateways – customers like to use PayPal, as their money is protected in case something goes wrong.  

 Meeting Customer expectations  

 The internet has increased customer expectation of businesses, this is caused by many factors such as: 

• Competitive pricing  
• Quick delivery 

• Secure payment 
• Communication 

The customer expectations in business have increased for businesses because of the internet. The reasons are mainly because of the competitive pricing, quick deliveries, secure payments and the forms and ways of communication, keeping in touch with customers. Apple doesn't really face any issues regarding competitive pricing as they are the sole manufacturer of their product lines, and resellers like Carphone Warehouse and Three cannot really compete with their prices because Apple makes the products. Quick delivery is the case with Apple as well since they offer free next day delivery on orders over £40. Regarding secure payment, Apple uses SSL certificates to ensure customers that their private details will be protected at all times, and for the payment gateway, they use PayPal which is considered as one of the few safe payment gateways – customers like to use PayPal, as their money is protected in case something goes wrong. Communication and customer service is a key for Apple, therefore they have introduced their Apple Geniuses who are there to help with any sort of problem a customer of Apple's may be facing; it could be hardware or software related, Apple got you covered.  

 Overload of market feedback 

 Businesses that resided to the online platforms as well receive many more customer feedbacks than any other high street business. Feedbacks can include compliments, complaints as well as opinions etc. Digital marketing allows businesses to use these feedbacks for their advantage, as their target audience will be able to see all the positive feedbacks (even if these are less than the number of negative feedbacks) therefore generating more sales, and revenue. Even though customer feedbacks are something that the target audience likes to read, there are businesses who fake these reviews for their own benefits – which is why there are many people who don't always believe the feedbacks.  

 Keeping up with changes in technology 

 Technology is always changing in this world to look better or simply just to function better. Technology is used nearly everywhere and nearly everyone is connected to the internet in some way, shape or form. Apple has to keep up to the standards of today's technology, and provide the latest and greatest at all times in order to be able to compete with other big brands – such as Samsung, Sony etc.  

 Ensuring that the SEO for their websites and social media pages are set correctly  

SEO is really, really, really crucial for online businesses as this is what helps businesses reach customers through search engines. Let's put this into perspective; Business A doesn't care about their SEO, whilst Business B does. I search for the keyword "cars" in Google (which is one of the most popular search engines used globally, to date) and Business A comes up on the 4th page, whilst Business A comes up in the middle of the 1st page. This is how much SEO matters. Basically, if Apple didn't focus on their SEO for their websites and their social media pages, third party blogs that review technology might come up before Apple in the search results.