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Foreword
We live in a rapidly changing world, and that change is most apparent in the world of marketing. When the well-known 4Ps of marketing (i.e., product, price, promotion and place) were developed in the 1960s, place was considered one of the most important factors in the business marketing mix. Today, for marketing on the internet, place is irrelevant. This has created a real dilemma for businesses. Because competition is intense, competing on the basis of price is not a good strategy. But because place is irrelevant and the buying experience occurs online, it also is very difficult for organizations to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
With the competition just a click away on the internet, businesses must find some way to distinguish themselves from their competitors. A factor that is relevant for internet marketing, and hence could substitute for place as one of the 4Ps in marketing, is perception; which includes the customer’s perceptions of trust, value congruence, and other intangible factors that motivate customers to complete a transaction. In general, trust is the lubricant that makes business possible.