s faced with and why he should pay the asking price for it. Interactive marketing on the Internet provides an ideal medium for the satisfaction for all of the demands of todays consumer.Online shopping is an element of interactive marketing that has found itself under the spotlight. Internationally, the Internet is successfully selling everything from nuts and bolts to motorcars, property and traditional mail order products. While retail sites on the Web continue to grow, some sites are purely promotional. On the other extreme consumers are promised the lowest prices as the product is drop-shipped directly from the manufacturer to their doorstep. The Internet as a shopping mall has not enjoyed a favorable reputation as it is seen as a golden opportunity for sophisticated thieves to obtain credit card numbers. Recently, a groundbreaking development in online shopping was made by M-Web in collaboration with over a thousand tenants ranging from large corporations such as ABSA to small retailers and service providers. Bruce Cohen, general manager of M-Web interactive, claims that, The M-Web mall is designed to accelerate interest in online shopping by providing a one-stop shopping environment under one virtual roof.It is estimated that there is more than five million commercial pages on the Web, more than 100 companies are going online daily and that net-watching has become a dedicated function within many firms. Companies that are online are more inclined to use the medium as a means for communicating new product developments. The Internet is not yet a proven advertising medium that as such is untested, unregulated and unrefined. This very situation often results in wise businesses approaching Internet advertising companies that possess the necessary expertise to advertise effectively on the Internet.The origins of Web advertising are ironically rooted in what many consider as a frustrating method called spamming where messages c...
