Impact Of E-marketing On Consumer Buying Decision: A Case Study Of Coles Supermarket, Australia

E-marketing techniques

In the current scenario, customers have become highly influenced by the electronic media (Olson et al., 2018). Due to the availability of the technological uses in the industry, e-marketing has gained the customer attraction. Through different social media channels, the companies introduced its products and services in the market. It is true that the development of e-marketing in the industry has played an influential role in developing the business practices (Njau & Karugu, 2014). The brand image of an organization is also being developed through the e-marketing practices. In this study, the company named Coles supermarket has been highlighted. The company has focused on designing the attractive webpage for promoting its products in the market and through different advertisements in the company has focused on grabbing the attention of the customers. In order to maintain the loyalty of the customers’ online marketing is very effective (Gregory, Ngo & Karavdic, 2017). In the current situation, it has been identified that the business companies are adopting the online marketing strategies because it has become more influential in decision making process of the customers compared to the others commercial tools.

The aim of this research is to identify the influences of e-marketing in customer buying decisions in the context of the supermarket industry. The factors which positively and negatively influence the buying behaviour of the customers have been highlighted. At the end of the study, it has focused on providing the effective recommendations, which are required for overcoming the barriers regarding the e-marketing.

• What is the impact of e-marketing in terms of influencing the customer buying behaviour?
• What are the factors that affect the supermarket industry both in the positive and negative manner?
• What should be the recommendation of overcoming those barriers in Coles supermarket?

Concept of e-marketing

E-marketing is being considered as the process of executing and planning the distributing, developing the pricing strategy, conception and promotion of the service and products of an organization in the computerized environment (Duki?, Ruži? & Duki?, 2015). In the case of using the internet, the worldwide promotions can be introduced by the organization. In the words of Sheikh, Shahzad & Ishak (2016), online marketing is being introduced for identifying the needs of the customers’ in an effective manner. In the e-marketing, the company gets the chance to maintain the transparency regarding its new product development and others offers in to the customers (Dutt, 2014). The concept of e-marketing has been introduced into the market after the increasing influences of technology in the market. It can be said that the e-marketing is beneficial for the organization to increase its popularity in the market.

There are various e-marketing techniques which are popular in the current industry such as search engine marketing, email marketing, blog marketing, social media marketing, article marketing and viral marketing (Bleoju et al., 2016). In the search engine marketing, the company keeps promoting its products through the internet for increasing its visibility. The search engine promotion is being done through the contextual advertising, paid placement and paid inclusion. In the case of email marketing, the direct communication is being done through the email. In this process, the business organizations deliver the commercial messages (Yang, Maher & Conroy, 2015). On the other hand, in the case of blog marketing, marketing is being done through the weblogs. In the blogs weekly and daily information’s regarding the organization are being posted. In the current situation, the social media has become one of the popular techniques in e-marketing.

Factors that influence customer behavior

Through different websites such as Instagram, Facebook., Twitter, likendin, Flicker, YouTube and other channels the organizations promote products so that the attention of a large number of customers can get increased (Bleoju et al., 2016). Customer relations, sales and business reputation are being influenced by the e-marketing. In the case of article marketing, the short articles are being introduced by the organizations.Bio line and box are being included in the article marketing. In the articles, the well-written contents are being introduced by the organizations. Viral marketing indicates the process that influenced the brand image of an organization. The reputation of the organization is being introduced by the viral marketing technique.

There are various factors which play an influencing role in the case of influencing the customer behaviour. The financial situation of the customer is being reflected by the social standard. Therefore, Rani (2014) stated that depending on the financial status the needs and Demands of the customers get changed. On the other hand, it makes the customer price conscious. Technology is being considered as other influential factors for driving the buying behaviour of the customers. It can be said that the people who are fond of technology, always choose the new products on the market and their preferences are being changed depending on the modern facilities. According to Pappas (2016), it is also true that brand image plays an important role in the case of driving the customers’ attention. People who are brand conscious mostly prefer the products of the company which has already established its strong reputation in the market. On the other hand, it has been identified that availability and uniqueness are also very influencing in the case of purchasing decision of the customers. It is true that the purchasing behaviour also gets changed due to the family and friends influences (Maniatis, 2016). Most of the times, the family and friends influence the customer, by telling their previous experiences regarding the products or services of a particular organization.

In order to develop the research project analysis of the topic is required so that the problem can be easily identified. Hence, the identification of the issue will be done in the first step. In the second step, the project for the research will be designed. In this case, after researching the market, the current situation will be analyzed. Depending on the situation secondary research will be done for gathering the information. Collecting journal articles and others statistical data the information will be gathered. After collection, the data the data analysis process will be done in an effective manner. Depending on the collected data the ultimate findings will be identified.

Methodology

In the current scenario, it has been identified that due to the increasing uses of technology in the business industry the needs and demands of the customers have changed. In this situation, it has become very difficult for the organization to satisfy the customers’ need. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the old generation is not habituated with the modern technology. As its result, the generation gap is increasing the disappointment of the customers. It is true that in most of the cases where the target market is both the aged and young people, the organizations are not being able to understand which promotional strategy will be suitable for grabbing the attention of the target market (Li, 2015). In this study, different factors those are influencing the e-marketing, as well as the buying behaviour of the customers, will be highlighted.

(Source: created by the author)

In the above diagram, the e-marketing has been linked with the Consumer buying behaviour. It has been shown in this diagram that if the e-marketing positively influences the customer buying decision, it will help to increase the sales of an organization. With the increasing sales, the rate of profitability can get increased. As its result, the organization will be able to gain the competitive advantage in the market.

The methodology is being considered as one of the important parts of every research project (Smith, 2015). Here the process and methods which will be used in the research are being discussed.

In order to identify the research problem, choosing an appropriate, the research design is very important (Silverman, 2016). There is three types of research design, descriptive, exploratory and explanatory research design. In order to conduct the research, the descriptive research design will be selected as it will help to get the detail information regarding the topic.

Research philosophy can be classified into three parts such as positivism, interpretivism and realism. In this research, the positivism research philosophy will be followed. It will be chosen for the study because problems can be easily analyzed through this research.

Two types of data are there one is primary, and another is secondary (Lewis, 2015). In the primary data collection survey and interview are being done for collecting the data. On the other hand, in the case of secondary data collection process, the information is being collected from the previous journals and articles. In this case, the research will be conducted depending on the secondary data. Different journal articles and statistical data from the authentic sources will be collected for the research.

Action plan

Secondary qualitative data will be collected for achieving the objectives of this research. It can be said that by collecting the qualitative data the information can be gathered in detail, which will help to reach the ultimate goal.

Following the data protection act, the research information will be collected from the authentic sources. Any kind of logo of the company will not be used in the assignment. It will do the proper referencing of all the information that will be used in the research. The researcher will ensure that the assignment will not be copied from any sources and it will be ensured that the project will be used only for the academic purpose.

Action	1st -3rd weeks	4th to 6th weeks	7th to 9th weeks	10th to 12th weeks
Identification of the problem
Research and development
Developing a research plan
Secondary data collection
Data analysis
Research findings

Figure: Gantt chart

(Source: created by the author)

The study will focus on identifying the influencing factors those influence the e-marketing. In this process, the positive and negative impact of e-marketing will be identified through the research. Analyzing the secondary data the study will shed light on the importance of e-marketing in order to gain the competitive advantage in the market. Here the study will highlight the e-marketing practice as the important influencing factor for understanding the Demands and needs of the customers. The sales revenue, as well as the development of the brand image of an organization, are being influenced by the e-marketing. Therefore, in this research, the important strategies that can help to increase customer satisfaction as well as increase the sales revenue will be discussed in the context of e-marketing.

References

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