Strategies in Response to Porter’s Competitive forces in Electronic Commerce

E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce refers to use of the Internet to conduct business transactions. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily since the spread of the Internet. E-Commerce is fundamentally changing the economy and the way business is conducted. E-Commerce forces companies to adopt new strategies to expand the markets in which they compete, to attract and retain customers by tailoring products and services to their needs, and to restructure their business processes to deliver products and services more efficiently and effectively. As businesses shift their focus from building a customer base to increasing revenue growth and profitability, companies should reevaluate their current business strategies, if any, and develop new strategies that provide a clear path to success. This paper focuses on McCarthy’s four Marketing Mix model and Porter’s five competitive forces model for understanding strategies adopted by Internet companies that respond to the five competitive forces and thereby achieve a competitive advantage over others.