Online consumer behavior of e commerce

Editor's Notes

• #4: Most of the time, it refers to the sale of products via Internet.
• #5: Analysts look at how consumers respond to various aspects of an online business, and compare the factors that led to a consumer either making a purchase or leaving the website.
• #8: Stage 1. Need Recognition Perhaps you’re planning to backpack around the country after you graduate, but you don’t have a particularly good backpack. Marketers often try to stimulate consumers into realizing they have a need for a product. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Gatorade, Powerade, and other beverage makers locate their machines in gymnasiums so you see them after a long, tiring workout? Previews at movie theaters are another example. How many times have you have heard about a movie and had no interest in it—until you saw the preview? Afterward, you felt like had to see it. Stage 2. Search for Information Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/bus203 Saylor.org 5 Maybe you have owned several backpacks and know what you like and don’t like about them. Or, there might be a particular brand that you’ve purchased in the past that you liked and want to purchase in the future. This is a great position for the company that owns the brand to be in— something firms strive for. Why? Because it often means you will limit your search and simply buy their brand again. If what you already know about backpacks doesn’t provide you with enough information, you’ll probably continue to gather information from various sources. Frequently people ask friends, family, and neighbors about their experiences with products. Magazines such as Consumer Reports or Backpacker Magazine might also help you. Internet shopping sites such as Amazon.com have become a common source of information about products. Epinions.com is an example of consumer-generated review site. The site offers product ratings, buying tips, and price information. Amazon.com also offers product reviews written by consumers. People prefer “independent” sources such as this when they are looking for product information. However, they also often consult nonneutral sources of information, such advertisements, brochures, company Web sites, and salespeople. Stage 3. Product Evaluation Obviously, there are hundreds of different backpacks available to choose from. It’s not possible for you to examine all of them. (In fact, good salespeople and marketing professionals know that providing you with too many choices can be so overwhelming, you might not buy anything at all.) Consequently, you develop what’s called evaluative criteria to help you narrow down your choices. Evaluative criteria are certain characteristics that are important to you such as the price of the backpack, the size, the number of compartments, and color. Some of these characteristics are more important than others. For example, the size of the backpack and the price might be more important to you than the color—unless, say, the color is hot pink and you hate pink. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/bus203 Saylor.org 6 Marketing professionals want to convince you that the evaluative criteria you are considering reflect the strengths of their products. For example, you might not have thought about the weight or durability of the backpack you want to buy. However, a backpack manufacturer such as Osprey might remind you through magazine ads, packaging information, and its Web site that you should pay attention to these features—features that happen to be key selling points of its backpacks. Stage 4. Product Choice and Purchase Stage 4 is the point at which you decide what backpack to purchase. However, in addition to the backpack, you are probably also making other decisions at this stage, including where and how to purchase the backpack and on what terms. Maybe the backpack was cheaper at one store than another, but the salesperson there was rude. Or maybe you decide to order online because you’re too busy to go to the mall. Other decisions, particularly those related to big ticket items, are made at this point. If you’re buying a high-definition television, you might look for a store that will offer you credit or a warranty. Stage 5. Postpurchase Use and Evaluation At this point in the process you decide whether the backpack you purchased is everything it was cracked up to be. Hopefully it is. If it’s not, you’re likely to suffer what’s called postpurchase dissonance. You might call it buyer’s remorse. You want to feel good about your purchase, but you don’t. You begin to wonder whether you should have waited to get a better price, purchased something else, or gathered more information first. Consumers commonly feel this way, which is a problem for sellers. If you don’t feel good about what you’ve purchased from them, you might return the item and never purchase anything from them again. Or, worse yet, you might tell everyone you know how bad the product was. Companies do various things to try to prevent buyer’s remorse. For smaller items, they might offer a money back guarantee. Or, they might encourage their salespeople to tell you what a great purchase you made. How many times have you heard a salesperson say, “That outfit looks so Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/bus203 Saylor.org 7 great on you!”? For larger items, companies might offer a warranty, along with instruction booklets, and a toll-free troubleshooting line to call. Or they might have a salesperson call you to see if you need help with product.
• #9: The first elements to identify are factors that motivate customers to buy products or services online. They are divided into four categories. The external factors are the ones beyond the control of the customers. They can divide into five sectors namely demographic, socio-economic, technology and public policy; culture; sub- culture; reference groups; and marketing. Internal factors are the personal traits or behaviors which include attitudes, learning, perception, motivation, self image. The functional motives is related to the consumer needs and include things like time, convenience of shopping online, price, the environment of shopping place, selection of products etc. The non-functional motives related to the culture or social values like the brand of the store or product.
• #11: The "amazon era" of technology and e-commerce has made cost and convenience a forefront of retail and consumer product business.  Low prices, ease and efficiency are top motivators for many consumers when choosing stores, brands and products. Shoppers are moved to transaction and brand loyalty by a range of factors. By 2020 online commerce sales is expected to cross $120 billion. Specialization and customization are the underlining features of online trading
• #19: Mobile apps also boost the in-store experience by streamlining multiple channels (omnichannel retailing) into a seamless buying journey for the consumer. Integrating a digital catalog into a retailer’s physical store can improve the customer experience and increase sales significantly by generating a simple way for the consumer to find and learn more about appealing products. As technology continues to evolve, so too will the growth of e-Commerce apps. One of the primary tactics that retailers utilize is figuring out a way to make it easier for a customer to purchase goods or services by simply tapping a button on their phone.
• #21: Metro cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi, with greater population accounted for most online shopping. Flipkart also noted that “sales of branded products across categories saw a sharp increase. Although shoppers between 25 and 34 years of age were most active on e-commerce portals, a surprising number of older people also shopped online in 2016.
• #22: Drone delivery: companies have been working their way around to innovate the delivery process to shorten human effort as well as time.  Personalized Customer experience is growing. New policies will be introduced to improve connectivity, particularly through smartphones. Google's buy now button: Google is reportedly working on its own “buy now” style button that would allow e-shoppers search for products on Google and purchase them with a single click, right through Google's own search results page.