Research Proposal On Consumer Behaviour Towards Online Purchasing

Aim and Motivation

Discuss about the Research Proposal on Consumer Behaviour Towards Online Purchasing.

The growth of the internet has created e-Marketing and online shopping opportunities for the customers around the globe. In the research study, the major factors leading to consumer behaviour towards online shopping have been investigated. By identifying a different class of the demographics, social status, income standards, age, and culture of the different population, the most essential factors influencing online purchasing can be delivered. The primary consumer behavioural study towards the online market can be effectively utilised by the e-commerce businesses operating in the online retail industry in any target market (Soopramanien, 2010). Furthermore, the outcome of the research will be significantly helpful for online marketers to penetrate several target markets according to the online purchasing behaviours of the target demographics.

In the contemporary business scenario, the shopping style of the consumers has been changed since the development of the internet. Through the expansion of globalisation, electronic marketing has become an integral part of the consumers (Ozdemir, 2008). Due to the improvement in technology, modern business organisations and retail marketers have created significant strategies at the online platform to convince maximum buyers. Therefore, the study of consumer behaviour towards online shopping can be supportive for the marketers to identify the most influential factors leading to online product purchasing.

The primary objective of the research is to conduct an analysis on consumer behaviour towards online purchasing. The study aims to conduct a qualitative research on consumer behaviour to known how consumers react on online purchasing. The study presents different views of consumers towards online purchasing by using different theories on consumer behaviour. On the other hand, it presents the factors that influence the choice of consumers while purchasing products over e-commerce portals (Buchanan, 2011). Hence, the research aims to develop better marketing model for e-commerce businesses to influence customers and attract them towards their products. Hence, a qualitative research method will be used in the study to conduct individual interviews to seek reliable outcomes from the research.

In the past decade or so, the internet shopping has become one of the trends of retail marketing for the consumers belonged to the high-class society. Akroush and Al-Debei (2015) reviewed the affecting factors leading to online shopping to determine how the consumer attitude directs a customer to purchase a particular product. Al-Debei, Akroush and Ashouri (2015) identified the perceived benefits of online purchasing prompting a consumer to shop using the internet platform. In another review, Chung and Austria (2012) provided the influence of social media messages in online purchasing. The purchasers are guided towards the products promoted at the social media platforms. Conversely, Huang, Schrank and Dubinsky (2014) investigated the effect of brand identity in online product shopping. Decisively, the online shoppers are attracted towards the brand products when purchasing online. Another research of Machleit and Eroglu (2010) described the emotional standpoint at the time of online product purchasing. Basically, the design of a website, product diversification, layout and user efficiency of the website have led to an increased online purchasing to a particular site.

Research Objectives

Understandably, latest website designs and layouts are leading the online shoppers to buy a product from that side by creating a change in purchasing behaviour. Herein, Mohammed (2014) reviewed the purchasing intentions of the young and adult consumers to identify the factors influencing their shopping tactics. Decisively, the young-adult consumers are largely directed by the information, pricing and product diversification offered by a website. If there are quality products at a reasonable pricing with an effective discount, the young consumers are eagerly purchasing the product verifying the given description.  The critical analysis of complex buying behaviour of the purchasers has shown that the online security in the transaction, promotion of the website through social media, references from the locality and affordability of products have impacted the online purchasing behaviour of consumers (Panitapu, 2015). Moreover, Wu (2013) reviewed the exceptional relationship pattern between consumer characteristics and consumer attitude in case of online purchasing. In the review, it is significantly clear that the online marketing ideas, presentation and branding of the business have made a massive influence on the purchasers buying online.

In the previous research, it can be seen that the online marketers and retail e-commerce sites utilised significant theories to identify the online purchasing behaviour of the consumers. The study of consumer’s attitude can be improved through the implementation of Consumer Buying Behaviour Process model so that in online sellers can take certain decisions based on consumers’ behaviour at the e-commerce platform (Ajzen, 2011). The theoretical model identifies the perception of need and value of a product towards the target demographics to influence the purchasing decision of the online shoppers. Convincingly, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) can be improvised to understand that customers’ procurement actions are guided by three major considerations i.e. behavioural beliefs, control beliefs and normative beliefs (Madden, Ellen and Ajzen, 2012). Behavioural beliefs lead to the final decision making of the purchasers whereas the other two reflects the attitude of the purchasers in the selection of a product at the online stage (Godin, 2013).

The online shopping platform is massively driven by the consumer behaviour and customer perception. Hence, the previous research studies focused on the primary shopping behaviours of the online purchasers while buying a product using the online platform. On this note, the contemporary issues and changing purchasing behavioural approach of the modern buyers are seemed to be missing in the previous literature. Also, the impact of latest web-based technologies on the online purchasing has to be determined through the study that has not included in the past research. Typically, the growth of e-commerce platform has seen to be uneven according to the previous research studies (Akroush and Al-Debei, 2015). Hence, a clear standing of the e-commerce market must be identified to ensure the effectiveness of online business. Justifiably, the previous research studies also failed to show the purchasing behaviour of the consumers at the larger perspective. Therefore, an elaborate research will be mandatory to fulfil the missing links.

Background and Literature Review

The primary purpose of the study is to identify the potential factors that influence the buying behaviour of the consumers while purchasing products through online portals. Along with that, it is important to know who the potential online customers in a demography boundary are. Furthermore, it is also important to known how the service and outlook of the portals impacts the choice of the consumers while buying any product from online stores (Cai and Krishnamoorthy, 2015). Along with that, the research aims to know what consumers think about online marketing and analyse the future prospect of the modern marketing model. Hence, the primary research question that will be used to conduct the study is as follows:

• What are the factors that influence the purchasing of a consumer through online stores?

Along with the primary question, there are several secondary questions that must be answered while conducting the study. The secondary research questions are presented herein below:

• How are the potential online customers in a demographic boundary?
• What do the consumers currently think about online marketing?
• What is the future prospect for online marketing?
• How can digital marketing used in order to influence customers to buy products through online store?

The research design is the blueprint of the study that helps to present the methodology that will be used to conduct the analysis. A descriptive research design has been chosen to conduct the study (Buchanan, 2011). An exploratory approach will be used to analyse the problems and answer the research questions in a thematic manner.

It is difficult to consider a huge population due to the limitations of the study. Hence, random sampling method will be used to conduct the interviews. Every one person out of the five will be chosen to present their views on online purchasing (Cai and Krishnamoorthy, 2015). On the other hand, a purposive sampling technique will be used to choose the literatures according that are developed on consumer behaviour to conduct the literature review.

Collection of data is one of the difficult and lengthy processes of a research study. In this study, the primary data will be collected by conducting individual interviews to observe the current thoughts of the consumers. On the other hand, the secondary data will be collected from the secondary sources such as books, articles, journals, government reports that are published in printed version or are available over the internet (Crawford, 2012). Hence, both of the data collection method will be used in the study to conduct the research.

A qualitative data analysis method will be used that is mainly exploratory research. The qualitative analysis will be used to gain proper understanding of the problems, its reasons, opinions and motivations. The qualitative analysis will be used to answer the research questions in a thematic manner and draw the findings using prior literatures. The qualitative research will help to observe the trends in opinions and thoughts of the consumers that are quite essential for explaining the findings of the study (Fallman, 2008). Hence, the findings will be presented in a descriptive manner to make it easier for the readers to understand. On the other hand, the findings and results will be supported with the primary data collected from the real life consumers to increase the reliability of the study.

Research Gap

The expected research will primarily identify the booming e-commerce business and its impact on the consumers in the developed as well as emerging markets. Through the analysis and review of the previous literature, a brief understanding of the process can be evaluated to improve the same for future. Meanwhile, from the research study, it will be largely clear that brand identity is an integral part of online shopping. Preferably, the online purchasers including young adults are seemed to purchase brand products on a regular basis using the internet platform. Conversely, the popularity and marketing efficiency of a website have contributed immensely to motivate the customers to the online shopping (Huang, Schrank and Dubinsky, 2014). Other than the branding and site popularity, security and features of an e-commerce website have led to online product purchasing improving the consumers’ attitude towards a particular site. Invariably, modern buyers consider the retail price and online product pricing on a regular basis before ordering a product online. Hence, the research will identify how the online marketers can manage the pricing to motivate online purchasing.

The focal point of the research is the factors that influence the online purchasing of the consumers. The research will explain the readers, different influencing factors that affect the purchasing choice of the consumers. The findings of the research will help to develop better online marketing models for the e-commerce marketers to attract consumers to buy products online (Glanville, 2009). Hence, the research contributes to the field of consumer behaviour to develop online marketing models and digital marketing tactics to influence consumers purchasing.

Conclusion

The purchasing behaviour of the consumer is influenced by different factors while buying products over online portals. Some of the major factors are the discount coupons, the service rendered by the company, the reputation of the firm, the use of internet media and many more. Hence, the research focuses on understanding the factors that influence online purchasing and recommend effective online models for the improvement of e-commerce businesses.

It is important to note that every research has certain limitations. The time constraint is the primary limitation of a research. Hence, it is important to plan the schedule of the primary activities of a research to avoid any sort of uncertainties. The Gantt chart is presented below for further consideration:

Gantt Chart
Main Activities/ Stages	Weeks
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Topic Selection
Secondary Data Evaluation
Preparation of Research Proposal
Research Proposal Submission
Preparation of literature review
Development of research methodology
Preparation of interview process
Collection of primary data
Data Analysis
Contrasting findings
Drawing discussion
Recommendations and Conclusions
Final Paper Submission

References

Ajzen, I. (2011). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), pp.179-211.

Akroush, M. and Al-Debei, M. (2015). An integrated model of factors affecting consumer attitudes towards online shopping. Business Process Management Journal, 21(6), pp.1353-1376.

Al-Debei, M., Akroush, M. and Ashouri, M. (2015). Consumer attitudes towards online shopping.Internet Research, 25(5), pp.707-733.

Buchanan, M. (2011). Methods of data collection. AORN Journal, 33(1), pp.137-149.

Cai, Y. and Krishnamoorthy, K. (2015). A simple improved inferential method for some discrete distributions. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 48(3), pp.605-621.

Chung, C. and Austria, K. (2012). Attitudes Toward Product Messages on Social Media. International Journal of E-Services and Mobile Applications, 4(4), pp.1-14.

Crawford, S. (2012). Evaluation of Web Survey Data Collection Systems. Field Methods, 14(3), pp.307-321.

Fallman, D. (2008). The Interaction Design Research Triangle of Design Practice, Design Studies, and Design Exploration. Design Issues, 24(3), pp.4-18.

Glanville, R. (2009). Researching Design and Designing Research. Design Issues, 15(2), p.80.

Godin, G. (2013). The theories of reasoned action and planned behavior: Overview of findings, emerging research problems and usefulness for exercise promotion. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 5(2), pp.141-157.

Huang, W., Schrank, H. and Dubinsky, A. (2014). Effect of brand name on consumers’ risk perceptions of online shopping. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 4(1), pp.40-50.

Machleit, K. and Eroglu, S. (2010). Describing and Measuring Emotional Response to Shopping Experience. Journal of Business Research, 49(2), pp.101-111.

Madden, T., Ellen, P. and Ajzen, I. (2012). A Comparison of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Theory of Reasoned Action. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(1), pp.3-9.

Mohammed, A. (2014). Deteminants of young consumers’ online shopping intention. International Journal of Academic Research, 6(1), pp.475-482.

Ozdemir, A. (2008). Shopping Malls: Measuring Interpersonal Distance under Changing Conditions and across Cultures. Field Methods, 20(3), pp.226-248.

Panitapu, M. (2015). Consumer Complex Buying Behavior. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Soopramanien, D. (2010). Conflicting attitudes and scepticism towards online shopping: the role of experience. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 35(3), pp.338-347.

Wu, S. (2013). The relationship between consumer characteristics and attitude toward online shopping.Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 21(1), pp.37-44.