Advantages for the Customers
There is quite a lot of reasons why internet shopping is good for the end users as well as for the companies. Customers will avoid traffic jams, looking for the parking place and wandering around the shops. They can easily compare offers from different electronic catalogues and web sites. Internet stores does not close, shopping is easy and private. There are not so many obstacles, customers do not need to communicate with the shop assistant or be confronted with the persuasion and emotional pressure.

Internet offers much broader selections of products. Web shops are not limited with the physical limits, they have almost unlimited range. There is also the possibility of comparing products in very convenient way that even the best shop assistant can not provide.

For example, Amazon.com offers a list of bestselling products, vast description of products, reviews from experts, opinions of customers and recommendations based on the previous purchases. Online shopping is interactive and immediate. Customers can often adjust the configuration of information, products and services according to their desires, and have them instantly available after that. They get better control over the processes thanks to the Internet.

Advantages for the Sellers
E-commerce brings lots of advantages also to the sellers. Internet is a powerful tool for creating relations with the customers. And because it is interactive, it is extra efficient marketing tool. Companies are able to electronically contact customers so that they can learn more about their needs and wishes. Online customers ask questions and voluntarily provide important feedback and companies can make their services better based on the feedback.

Internet and other electronic systems brings in the advantages like cutting costs and improving speed and effectiveness. Internet companies does not have maintain big stores and pay the rent, insurance and other fees. Companies like Amazon.com have even the advantage of getting money from the customers on another day from the purchase but pay to their suppliers (distributors of books and publishers) a month later. Companies like Dell Computer or General Electric achieved with the direct connection of factories, suppliers, distributors and customers through internet, extensive cost savings, which resulted in lower prices for their customers.

Because of customers communicating directly with the manufacturers, internet marketing often leads to lower costs and to higher effectiveness of distribution and logistic functions like processing of the orders, management of supplies, delivery and sales support. Electronic communication is usually cheaper than traditional printed. The company can create an electronic catalogue for a fraction of costs they would pay for printing and mailing of classic paper catalogues. Internet marketing as well provides flexibility because it can be adjusted anytime (like range of products and their prices).

Internet marketing tools
Internet marketing is used for the communication with customers, for promotion of products and services at company’s websites and finally it serves as a shopping medium. The actual act of shopping is most often processed at the website but there are also some other ways like e-mail but they are not used so often. In order to get customers to buy something from a company, it needs to drive enough potential customers to the website at first.

There is quite a lot of tools that internet marketing uses to satisfy the above mentioned issues. Let us take a closer look at them.

Search engines
It is much easier to make sales with customers that are calling a company rather than the company is calling them. In the latter case it is much harder because they are interrupting people who are not in the state of mind to buy. But when the customers call, they are in the state of mind to buy because they want the company to solve their problem. In this kind of situation the customer looks in the yellow pages – and in the internet – uses a search engine. Search engine is a tool that enables users to locate information on the World Wide Web. Search engines use keywords entered by users to find web sites which contain the information the customers are looking for. Some of the most popular world search engines:

- Google.com
- Yahoo.com
- Altavista.com
- Excite.com
- AskJeeves.com

Popular search engines in Slovakia:
- Zoznam.sk
- SuperZoznam.sk
- Centrum.sk
- Atlas.sk
- Google.sk