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导读：此文是一篇英格兰本科coursework，专业是Dirent＆Digital营销，全文表述的是Wi-Fi是直销商的强大营销工具，对直销模式的进一步发展起到了积极作用。目前，Wi-Fi对直销的影响体现在，它可以帮助销售人员与消费者进行更方便、快捷的沟通，建立他们之间的信任。
1.0 Introduction引言
Wi-Fi技术的推广允许用户在无线保真度覆盖范围内随时随地快速浏览网络。有了无线保真度，人们可以打长途电话（包括国际长途），浏览网页，收发电子邮件，下载音乐，通过数码照片，而不用担心速度慢和费用高的问题。基于以上原因，越来越多的人开始使用Wi-Fi。对于企业来说，如何利用Wi-Fi进行营销已经成为他们思考的问题（Reed和Lansford，2014年）。事实上，直接营销诞生于间接营销之前，然而，在当今的商业世界中，直接营销的使用频率和广度都低于间接营销，Wi-Fi的出现是直接营销者的强大营销工具，对直接营销模式的进一步发展起到了积极的作用。本文首先回顾了有关直接营销和Wi-Fi的文献，然后以Debenhams为研究对象，了解其在直接营销中使用Wi-Fi的策略。最后，分析了Wi-Fi对直接营销的当前和未来影响，以及在使用Wi-Fi时应考虑的问题。
Promotion of Wi-Fi technology allows users to quickly browse the web within the coverage area of wireless fidelity anywhere or anytime. With wireless fidelity, people can make a long-distance telephone call (including international calls), browse the Web, send and receive e-mail, download music, pass digital photos without worrying about problems of slow-speed and great expenses. Based on the above reasons, more and more people begin to use Wi-Fi. For enterprises, how they make use of Wi-Fi in marketing has become the problem they think about (Reed and Lansford, 2014). In fact, direct marketing was born before indirect marketing, however, direct marketing is used less frequently and widely than indirect marketing in today's business world, emergence of Wi-Fi is a powerful marketing tool for direct marketing marketers, it plays a positive role for the further development of direct marketing models. This essay first of all reviews literatures relating to direct marketing and Wi-Fi, followed by taking Debenhams as a case study object to understand its strategy of using Wi-Fi in direct marketing. Finally, the author analyzes the current and future impact of Wi-Fi on direct marketing, as well as the issues that marketers of direct marketing should take into consideration in using Wi-Fi.
2.0 Literature review文献综述
2.1 Direct marketing直接营销
直销是指营销人员利用面对面的态度，通过解释、示范等方式，直接向消费者介绍产品和服务，开展消费品营销活动。直接营销是一种营销方式，不是通过各种商场、超市等传统的公共销售渠道，而是通过制造商或经销商来实现产品销售。
Direct marketing means that marketers make use of face to face manners, by ways of explanation and demonstration to directly introduce products and services to consumers, as well as conduct consumer goods marketing. Direct marketing is a way of marketing which is not carried out through a variety of shopping malls, supermarkets and other traditional public sales channel, but through manufacturers or dealers to achieve product sales (Ma, Hou, Yao and Lee, 2016).
Producers sell products directly to consumers, the main ways include electronic mail order, direct sales, etc., as manufacturers directly sell their products to consumers, it is possible to reduce the cost by cutting out middleman, and the sales will be rapid. Direct marketing is actually a marketing model of transferring some profits of products from agents, distributors, advertisers to direct sellers and consumers, it can help to achieve win-win state among enterprises, consumers and direct marketers (Ma, Hou, Yao and Lee, 2016).
According to characteristics of products and consumers, direct marketers take advantages of certain sales techniques to explain, demonstrate, trial products, which is better able to convince consumers to buy and provide better service to consumers (Oliveira et al., 2015).
Through direct marketing, as sales staff has a direct contact with customers, they can better gather customers’ feedback, needs and send these kinds of information rapidly to the enterprise, helping to improve and upgrade the corporate strategy product production and product design (Oliveira et al., 2015).
Success of direct marketing depends on several factors. Oliveira et al. (2015) point out success of direct marketing requires that the products sold should meet consumer demand, high quality products with low prices is one of the key factors for success direct marketing. They note that success direct marketing requires establishment of a relationship of mutual trust between salespeople and consumers, which requires sales staff to provide quality services to facilitate the timely communication with consumers. Ma, Hou, Yao, and Lee (2016) finds that direct marketing requires that salesperson should have high sales skills to effectively demonstrate the characteristics of products to consumers, ultimately impressing consumers to facilitate the buying behavior of consumers.
2.2 Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is the technology which can wirelessly link PC, mobile phones with the network. With the development of wireless network technology and changes of people’s lifestyle, more and more people use Wi-Fi, for enterprises, application of Wi-Fi to commercial areas is a very valuable subject (Reed and Lansford, 2014). Compared with wired networks, Wi-Fi has the following characteristics. Firstly, transmission through Wi-Fi is very fast, speed of the world's fastest Wi-Fi is up to 100Gbps, which is comparable to the speed of wired network and other wireless networks, contemporary Wi-Fi technology can guarantee that Wi-Fi transmission speed can meet the personal and business use of the Internet (Waqar, Chen and Vardy, 2016). Secondly, within the coverage of Wi-Fi, users are allowed to have an access to the Internet anywhere at all times, they can enjoy online securities, video-on-demand (VOD), tele-education, telemedicine, video conferencing, online games and a series of broadband value-added services anywhere and achieve mobile office at all times. Using a wired network, consumers can access at home or in their office, therefore, Wi-Fi can be seen as complementary of wired network. (Reed and Lansford, 2014). Finally, using Wi-Fi costs lowly, for manufacturers, they do not need to spend much money for wired network, thus saving a lot of money, and in most cases, consumers can enjoy free Wi-Fi, consumers can browse website, video for free through the use of Wi-Fi. Using 3G or 4G wireless network will cost certain sum of money, if consumers need to watch or download video through 3G or 4G wireless network, it will cost quite high. (Gunasekaran and Harmantzis, 2008).
2.3 Discussion
Considering from the characteristics of Wi-Fi, the use of Wi-Fi in direct marketing is valuable. Firstly, Wi-Fi can help with more convenient and speedy communication between sales staff and consumers to build trust between them. Secondly, through Wi-Fi, people can surf the Internet fast and enjoy Internet search, Internet telephony, video and other network services, consumers can easily understand the product-related information via Wi-Fi, it also facilitates sales staff’s provision service and displaying products to customer through Wi-Fi. Finally, it costs lowly in the use of Wi-Fi, it lowers communication costs and facilitates communication between direct marketers and consumers.
3.0 Case study
Debenhams is a leading department store and it has a large number of direct-sale stores in Britain, Ireland and Denmark. It sells products designed by their designers, in order to better promote the sale of these products, Debenhams uses Wi-Fi for direct sales. In 2011, Debenhams introduced "virtual shopping store" Mobile App based on LBS services in the UK. Debenhams set Wi-Fi device in several well-known locations, such as Trafalgar Square in London, Glasgow's George Square, Centenary Square in Birmingham, Manchester's Albert Square, Cardiff Castle in Cardiff. Through the Wi-Fi, consumers in these places can use the App to choose their favorite dress sold by Debenhams, and then the users’ image of wearing the evening dress will be displayed in their mobile phone screens. With the App, consumers can communicate with the sales staff to get a 20% discount offer, after providing their address, they can purchase directly and share the experience of purchase with their friends through Facebook and Twitter (Tode, 2011).
4.0 Analysis
4.1 The ways in which Wi-Fi has affected direct marketers
This case is a typical case of using Wi-Fi in direct marketing. First, Wi-Fi can help with more convenient and speedy communication between consumers and Debenhams’ direct marketers, consumers can use Wi-Fi to consult the direct marketers about product prices, colors, styles and other information about products, which helps to build trust between these two parties. Second, consumers can use Wi-Fi and the App to understand their own image of putting on certain clothing, which can help consumers to understand features of the products to choose their most satisfactory products. Third, as long as consumers are in certain locations, such as Trafalgar Square in London, Glasgow's George Square, Centenary Square in Birmingham, etc., they can take advantage of Wi-Fi to buy Debenhams’ products, which making shopping easy and free, consumers do not need to be kept in front of the computers at home to use the network to communicate with Debenhams’ sales staff, and with Wi-Fi, this communication is free. Finally, consumers can use Wi-Fi to share the experience with their friends through Facebook and Twitter. On the one hand, a positive assessment of the shopping experience can stimulate other consumers to shop through the App; on the other hand, Debenhams’ sales staff can also make use of Facebook and Twitter to communicate with consumers to understand their views and respond to consumer complaints, as well as collect consumer opinion in time, which has a positive meaning for establishment of a mutual trust between Debenhams and consumers. #p#分页标题#e#
4.2 The ways in which Wi-Fi will affect direct marketers
Internet of things is the next hot spot of the world Internet industry, its value can reach more than one trillion US dollars, the meaning is the convergence of a variety of items through a variety of wired and wireless networks with the Internet. The aim is to achieve connection between things, people and the Internet, which is easy for people to identify, manage, control and use these items. As a wireless communication technology, Wi-Fi plays a positive role in the development of Internet of things in the future, it also provides a new tool for staff in direct marketing. For example, in the use of a washing machine equipped with Wi-Fi, sales personnel can allow consumers to achieve remotely control through the use of a mobile phone App, which can help sales staff to better display the performance of the washing machine to consumers to stimulate consumers’ purchase behavior (Reed and Lansford, 2014).
In the future, more and more people will use Wi-Fi, but privacy leakage problems during use of Wi-Fi will be paid more and more attention. For example, in the process of using Wi-Fi, people’s locations, data of consumption will be disclosed, on the one hand, disclosing such information and data will cause compromise of consumers’ personal privacy, on the other hand, enterprises hope to use these data for precision marketing to improve sales. Therefore, in future, in the use of Wi-Fi in direct marketing, it is needed to find a balance between these two aspects. Enterprises must fully respect consumers’ privacy, in collecting consumer data and information, they must first obtain the consent of consumers, and ensure that within the scope of being permitted by laws to use this information (Oliveira et al., 2015).
5.0 Conclusion
Wi-Fi is a powerful marketing tool for direct marketers and it has played a positive role in the further development of direct marketing models. Currently, the impact of Wi- Fi on direct marketing is reflected in that it can help sales staff to carry out more convenient and speedy communication with consumers to build trust between them. Excepting that, consumers can easily understand product-related information via Wi- Fi, it also facilitate sales staff’s provision of services and displaying products to consumers through Wi- Fi. Finally, using WiFi costs lowly, which lowers communication costs and facilitates communication between the two sides. Future impact of Wi-Fi on direct marketing is that it provides direct marketers new tools for marketing, it may lead to issues of disclosure of personal privacy, which requires direct marketers to make legitimate use of customer data and information.
References
Gunasekaran, V. and Harmantzis, F. C. (2008). Towards a Wi-Fi ecosystem: Technology integration and emerging service models. Telecommunications Policy, 32(3–4), 163-181.
Ma, S., Hou, L., Yao, W. and Lee, B. (2016). A nonhomogeneous hidden Markov model of response dynamics and mailing optimization in direct marketing. European Journal of Operational Research, 253(2), 514-523.
Oliveira, V. N., Coelho, M.J.F., Souza, D.L.T., Boava, F., Boava, I.M., Coelho, B.N. (2015). A hybrid variable neighborhood search algorithm for targeted offers in direct marketing. Electronic Notes in Discrete Mathematics, 47, 205-212.
Reed, D. and Lansford, J. (2014). Wi-Fi as a Commercial Service: New Technology and Policy Implications. Telecommunications Policy, 38(8–9), 827-837.
Tode, C. (2011). Debenhams tries on augmented reality for holiday-themed mobile promotion. Available from: http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/author/chantal-tode (Accessed on April 23, 2016)
Waqar, W., Chen, Y. and Vardy, A. (2016). Smartphone positioning in sparse Wi-Fi environments.
Computer Communications, 73(1),108-117.
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