The growth of digital marketing including e-commerce, social media and data-driven targeting, the marketing of services, and the adaptation of the marketing mix for international markets, including the standardisation versus adaptation decision.

What this theme is asking

OCR wants you to explain how marketing has changed online (e-commerce, social media, data-driven targeting), the special features of marketing services, and how firms adapt the mix when they go abroad. The international part connects directly to Component 3 and the globalisation theme.

The growth of digital marketing

Digital marketing has three big advantages over traditional marketing: it is usually cheaper (a small firm can reach many people for little), more measurable (clicks, conversions and reach are tracked in real time), and better targeted (adverts aimed at users by interest, location and behaviour). Its drawbacks are intense competition for attention, the cost of standing out, dependence on platform algorithms, and the legal and ethical issues of using personal data.

E-commerce and data-driven targeting

E-commerce lets firms sell without physical stores, reaching national or global customers at low fixed cost and trading around the clock. It also lowers entry barriers, so competition is fierce. Data-driven targeting uses what a firm knows about customers, their browsing, purchases and demographics, to personalise offers and adverts, raising conversion rates. The trade-off is privacy: customers increasingly resist intrusive tracking, and data-protection law (such as the UK GDPR) constrains what firms may do.

Marketing services

International marketing: standardise or adapt

Standardisation is cheaper (economies of scale in production and advertising), faster to roll out and builds a consistent global brand. Adaptation raises relevance and sales by fitting local needs but costs more and adds complexity. The right balance depends on how similar the markets are and how culturally sensitive the product is: technology standardises easily; food and humour usually need adaptation.

Examples in context

ASOS is a digital-first retailer with no physical stores, reaching a global young audience through social media and data-driven targeting. McDonald's glocalises, keeping the golden-arches brand worldwide while adapting menus (the McSpicy Paneer in India, the Teriyaki Burger in Japan). A small independent baker can use Instagram to build a loyal local following at almost no cost, competing for attention with far larger firms.

Try this

Q1. State two advantages of digital marketing over traditional advertising. [2 marks]

• Cue. Lower cost, better targeting, real-time measurability, wider reach, or two-way engagement.

Q2. Analyse one reason a firm expanding abroad might adapt rather than standardise its marketing mix. [6 marks]

• Cue. Differences in tastes, language, culture, income or law mean a standardised mix may fail or offend, so adaptation raises local relevance and sales, developed as a chain in context.