The Extent to Which E-Commerce is Likely to Influence Consumers Buying Decision in the next Ten Years
Introduction
E-commerce is one of the new technological developments in the business industry. Many companies are aiming to secure a good competitive advantage in the market. They do this by targeting large market segmentation (Ayensa et al., 2016). Companies which use e-commerce system tend to have customers within and outside the country which the business is headquartered. E-commerce can be traced back to few decades ago when companies such as E-bay, Amazon and Alibaba were formed. These are some of the e-commerce giants which are making billions of profits in each financial year. Study has shown that consumers behave differently when it comes to shopping online. Therefore, this research proposal aims at finding out at what extent the consumers are likely to the influenced by e-commerce in the next decade.
Research questions
- How do consumers behave in regards to e-commerce?
- What is the likeliness of having more companies operating e-commerce in the next decade?
- What is the relationship between e-commerce technology and consumer behavior theories?
Problem statement
Research found that many buyers are making impulse buying through online shopping than physical retail buying. Customers who use technology in making purchases tend to buy more than those who visit a retail shop. A study of online shopping in UK showed that many customers prefer buying goods from their comfort zone without travelling to the shop. This issue has affected the operations of physical retail stores which depend on customer visits.
Proposed structure of the study
This study will involve both primary and secondary sources of information. Primary sources will include the physical research done on the ground. In other words, it will represent the information obtained from the data collected, analyzed and reported. Different methods will be used to collect that information from the relevant individual and organizations. This information will be found in the methodology section of this proposal. On the other hand, the secondary sources of information will represent the existing literature, theories and assumptions on the topic of study. The existing sources include books, journals and websites. This information will be shown in the literature review page of this proposal. Thereafter, the proposal will have a conclusion based on results of the study. This structure aims at showing the picture of the current market in regards to the information of the topic of study.
Literature review
A study conducted by Hong et al. (2016) found that e-service environment impacts consumers; online shopping behavior. According to this study, a research was conducted on different e-services which are related to business. Apart from the actual buying through e-commerce platforms, the study also focused on the payment methods used by those companies which are operating online. The findings showed that many e-commerce companies use online payment platforms such as PayPal, Payoneer and bank transfer among others. The mode of payment influenced the way consumers bought some goods. Additionally, 90% of the sample population was loyal online customers in different e-commerce platform. They suggested that they find more satisfaction from online shopping that physical retail buying.
In 2015, a research done by Sharma and Lijuan found that the quality of an e-commerce’s company website determined the satisfaction of buyers. Almost all e-commerce companies operate through websites and mobile applications. The website contains all the relevant information on the products. The website is also the place where the consumers interact with the business. Therefore, the website should be designed clearly to enable customers to navigate through. Sharma and Lijuan used more than ten e-commerce companies and the customers who have interacted with the different websites. According to the report presented, more than 60% of the sample size indicated that the website gave them satisfaction on the different companies.
As far as provision of goods and services is concerned, the website included all the information including the side effects of the product. Information search is always the first stage of consumer buying decision. If the website contains all the relevant information, the consumers will not relent from buying the product. The website should also provide the payment method as well as tracking services for the delivery of goods and services to different destinations. Consumers who shop online considers the fact that they can find a wide range of products through the website as opposed to incurring traveling costs to go shopping.
E-commerce also has some challenges. Ethical issues in business are likely to be caused by online shopping (Lu et al., 2015). One of the most important aspects of online shopping is trust. The customers trust that the company will deliver the goods to their required destination regardless of the fact that they have to pay prior to the delivery. Therefore, those people who have trust issues would not buy from online retailers. Moreover, customers tend to buy goods which they have not seen physically. Actually, the pictures of goods displayed on the website might not show the physical condition of the actual products. Despite of lack of physical contact between the two parties during the time of making orders, the customers have to trust the process.
In regards to the risks involved in e-commerce technologies, a study carried out by Featherman and Hajli in 2016 found that the existence of different social media platforms influence consumers’ buying decisions. Due to the existence of the social media platforms, marketing activities faces some problems such as stiff competition from the market giants. In this industry, there are many companies which are considered to have a good competitive advantage. E-bay and Amazon have many customers from different countries around the world. Their systems enable people to shop and to receive their goods in good time regardless of their destination. Customers tend to prefer those e-commerce companies which are highly rated in the industry (Pantano and Priporas, 2016). The main reason behind this notion is that consumers influence each other. This is evident through various comments which are done by customers who have bought the same product from a particular vendor. If the product has positive comments, the consumer is likely to buy it.
Methodology
The methodology will provide a guide toward the success of the research activity. The method involved in this study will be precious enough to meet the requirement of the research policies as well as answering the research questions.
Method outline
The method outline will begin with the establishment of a research team. The team will consist of people who are experienced in different aspects such as data collection, analysis and even interviewers. Then a research population will be identified in the market. The population will be the area in which the study is to be conducted. The data obtained from the data analysis will be used to present the findings.
Research opinion
E-commerce is likely to influence the consumer behavior in the coming years. Notably, this technology has tremendously affected the operations of many retail businesses. Additionally, the industry is improving faster (Bai et al., 2015). In the next decade, there will be more e-commerce companies as compared to the current number. This issue can affect the operations of those retailers who operate physical outlets. Therefore, the issues should be addressed through the implementation of effective technology. For instance companies should go by the customers’ preferences.
Research design
The research will incorporate both qualitative and quantitative data. For qualitative data, the research team will rely on the theoretical assumptions and opinions of the research population. Consumers’ ideas on the topic of study will be regarded as qualitative part of the study. On the other hand, qualitative data will entail the mathematical interpretation of the current market structure in regards to the topic of study. These two aspects of research will enable the research team to come up with a conclusive report on the topic of research.
Data collection process
Interview will be used alongside questionnaires to obtain the opinions pf the consumers. The research will focus on the consumers who are loyal customers to different e-commerce companies and those who are not using e-commerce. The main aim of the interview will be to get the insights from the actual consumers. Additionally, the questionnaire will incorporate different questions which attempt to answer the research questions. For instance, those who are not using e-commerce will be asked if they would consider using it at any given time.
Data analysis
In this research, content analysis will be used to analyze the qualitative aspects of the study. The analysis will involve thorough scrutiny of the ideas presented by the respondents. I will use statistical test to analyze quantitative aspect of the study. The statistical test will determine the degree of relevance of e-commerce on consumer buying decisions. Particularly, T-test will be used to determine the mathematical representation of the findings.
Sampling method and Sample size
Random sampling will be used to find the respondents. This type of sampling is one of the good methods since it enables the respondents to present actual information. The reach team will consider 2,000 people as the sample size. This number will show a good reflection of the market.
Limitation of the study
Apart from the efforts involved in carrying out this research, the financial aspect is also relevant. Conducting interviews and travelling to from one place to another will cost a given amount of money. Therefore, the research is expensive.
References
Ayensa, E., Mosquera, A., & Murillo, Y. (2016). Omnichannel customer behavior: key drivers of technology acceptance and use of their effects on purchase intention. Frontiers in psychology 7, 1117
Bai, Y., Yao, Z., & Duo, Y. (2015). Effects of social commerce factors on user purchase behavior: An empirical investigation from renren.com. International Journal of Information Management 35 (5). 538-550
Featherman, M., & Hajli, N. (2016). Self -service technologies and e-services risks in social commerce era. Journal of business ethics 139 (2), 251-269
Hong, W., Tam, K., & Yim, C. (2016). E-service environment: Impacts of web interface characteristics on consumers’ online shopping behavior. New directions in theory and practice, 120-140
Lu, C., Lu, Y., Gupta, S., & Yang, S. (2015). The effect of differences between e-commerce and m-commerce on the consumers’ usage transfer from online to mobile channel. IJMC 13 (1), 51-70
Pantano, E., & Priporas, C. (2016). The effect of mobile retailing on consumers’ purchasing experiences: A dynamic perspective. Computer in human behaviors 61, 548-555
Sharma, G., & Lijuan, W. (2015). The effects of online service quality of e-commerce websites on user satisfaction. The electronic library 33 (3), 468-485