An Appraisal of the Effectiveness of the Internet as a Marketing Avenue To Customers in Nigeria

The importance of internet marketing has received significant public and corporate attention. However, marketing on the Internet has not received an overwhelming response in Nigeria. The study thus set out to identify the areas of current usage of the internet for marketing, determine the constraints to the effective use of the internet as a marketing platform in Nigeria, and examine how effective internet marketing has been to bank operations. Data for the study were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The results showed that pricing, customer relations, promotions, and advertising were areas of high significant usage of internet marketing in the banks while constraints to the internet as a marketing platform included high cost of maintenance, information security concerns, and erratic power supply. It was also discovered that the use of internet marketing has effectively reduced staff cost, volume of manual transactions, and number of customers physically attended to. A positive significant relationship was discovered between internet marketing and the customer base of the banks. It was concluded that in spite of some constraints in the use of the internet as a marketing medium, it could also serve as a handy medium to service customer needs. Keywords: Internet, Marketing, Internet Marketing, Customer Base DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-12-07 Publication date:June 30th 202