E-commerce – trends and development opportunities

Abstract

The paper describes the tools of marketing communication with e-customers and trends
concerning e-commerce. Special attention has been paid to personalization and recommender systems.
The paper treats the characteristics of consumer behaviours on the business-to-customer
market and the main barriers in customer relationship management. In this context the relationship
with e-customers and the tools of marketing communication in electronic customer relationship have
been described. The rapid growth of e-commerce has created product overload where customers on
the Web are no longer able to effectively choose the products they are exposed to. There is a lot of
imperfect information and a large supply available for consumers, and so it is extremely difficult to
identify their own needs and preferences and ways for satisfying them. Recommendations are a type
of communication and an especially important issue in e-marketing. It is easy to find many websites
where a customer needs advice before taking the decision to purchase a product. Therefore, recommendations
are a powerful tool to assist customers in these decisions. The paper refers to the challenges
resulting from the growing importance of network and virtual communities, where the consumer
is perceived as a value co-creator.