Marketing management risks of online business: taxonomy, verification and assessment

Introduction. Digital transformation, which is characterized by the rapid pace of changes in the marketing environment, aggressive actions of competitors, high heterogeneity of consumer requests and preferences, has a significant impact on the business, namely, it requires the generation and implementation of new approaches to solving business problems, as well as achieving the set goals. In order to effectively conduct and develop an online business, it is necessary to follow new tendencies and trends in meeting the constantly growing requests, needs and preferences of online buyers, simultaneously levelling or eliminating risks that may arise in the short and long term with the greatest probability, as well as have negative effects for business. Purposes of our research are to develop the taxonomy marketing and management risks of online business by using multidimensional systematization and decomposition methods; to substantiate the scientific and methodical approach to verification and qualitative assessment of probability of the marketing and management risks for online business; to formulate recommendations regarding the formation of an intelligent IT security system for levelling and / or eliminating the risks of online business in the context of the implementation of the relevant risk management plan; to develop and test applied tools for effective risk management of online business. Methods. The symbiosis of general and specific methods is used to achieve the purposes, including: methods of dialectical cognition, generalization and systematization, abstraction, synthesis; statistical, dynamic and cluster analysis; formalization method; expert survey; calculation-analytical and comparative methods; matrix method. Results. The marketing management risks of online business in the digital transformation context are explicated and concretized. The taxonomy of marketing-management risks of online business is developed and represented like a multi-dimensional risks systematization as a result of their decomposition. The scientific and methodical approach to verification and qualitative assessment of the probability of the marketing and management online business risks is substantiated. The algorithm for the identification of the online business risks status is proposed. It reflects the consecutive stages of the qualitative risks groups assessment and determines the choice of a method for its levelling and / or elimination. The framework of the risk management plan for online business is developed. This framework takes into account triggers and consequences of risks onset. The matrix for monitoring the implementation of the risk management plan for online business is compiled. The phases of the intelligent IT security system development are substantiated. Conclusions. The proposed scientific and methodical approach and the developed applied tools are tested by the example of Ukrainian retailers’ online businesses. The testing results reflect the significance of the authors’ developments and proposals, as well as the expediency of their implementation for the successful set up and development of online business in the digital transformation context.