Online Advertising

Abstract

E-business also known as electronic business is about doing business online through internet. It includes promoting, buying and selling of products and services of almost every industry, processing payments, delivering the product or service to the end customer from any location to customer’s location. It is the popular trend of today. Internet has bridged the gap between customers and sellers and have brought in a revolution to the traditional method of reaching out to the customers.

Online advertising is a form of internet marketing for doing promotional activities to reach to the customers. There are various other forms of electronic advertising which includes email marketing, social media marketing, mobile advertising, and digital advertising. These e-advertising modes have helped businesses increase the revenue drastically over the past years and hence has enabled almost all industries to bring its presence online.

The U.S. Census Bureau News shows the growth of retail e-commerce sales in U.S. As per the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for quarter 2 of 2017 shows an increase of 4.8% from the quarter 1 of 2017 sales and Total retail sales for quarter 2 of 2017 shows 0.5% increase from quarter 1 of 2017. This increase in sales is not just in the present year but also shows an increase of around 16% when compared to previous year.

Important points to consider before online advertising

• Ensure that the advertisement provides all required information to the target customer to enable them buy your product / services without misleading them using fake details and promises.

• Disclosures and disclaimers should be clear and easily available to consumers before making the purchase and sufficient details should be provided in terms of transaction that will be done.

• Get consent from customers for sharing further promotional messages or emails through different electronic modes

• Show true experience of the endorser in the advertisement to avoid credibility issues

• Mention the currency along with cost of product and services

• Consider all technological limitations of advertising online.

• Do not advertise or market products and services that can be harmful for customers health and safety

Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent organization in the U.S. that provides all information to consumers about fraudulent business practices, fake advertisements and prevents consumers from unfair ones. Apart from the general regulations for online business there exists certain other standards and regulations for US e-commerce. It also prevents consumers from fraudulent telemarketing calls.

Any e-commerce retailer offering “Made in USA” products has to follow the Made in USA Standards. The FTC provides guidance of its enforcement policy for advertising and labelling which also includes all forms of digital, electronic promotional marketing of Made in USA products and other US origin claims.

Laws and Regulations that govern e-business and online advertisements

Below mentioned are the laws that govern merchants doing business online to ensure that accurate, fair and true information is shown in online advertisements and the marketing practices does not mislead the customers :-

1. License and permit – The licence and permits are same for online store as that for a normal physical store. Ensure to get the business insurance on time to cover the offerings.

2. Taxes – Tax norms differs from country to country. Hence before planning