Use of the Internet in Shaping Customer Orientation in the Light of the Results of the Quantitative Research

Abstract

The development of net society is immanently linked to growing scope of Internet use in marketing actions taken by various types of businesses. An expression of the ongoing changes is also the perception of consumers as active market players having high share in achieving the objectives of enterprises through participation in the processes of value creation and innovation. The aim of the paper is to show the role of the Internet in terms of the implementation of the principles of customer orientation. Shaping of customer orientation in the era of the Internet requires a search for innovative solutions in terms of its applications at various stages of the process of value man-agement for the customer that is, at the stages of defining and shaping the value as well as its communication and distribution. This makes it easy to move from a „push” model of economy consisting in adapting the offer to the identified demand to the „pull” model which assumes stimulation of the customer activity in initiating the development of new solutions for the market offer. The article was based on literature study, as well as the analysis and interpretation of the results of the quantitative research realized in the framework of the project „Internet marketing and use of new technologies in the conduct of business cooperation with customers”. The study has covered managers from various types of businesses responsible for the use of Internet in marketing actions and for the process of building customer relations. Questionnaire survey was conducted in 2013 on a sample of 150 companies operating on the Polish market.