An empirical study of the differences in consumer behavior in an Dissertation

An empirical study of the differences in consumer behavior in an e-commerce environment compared to the traditional commerce - Dissertation Example One area of social concern that technology seem have gained much grounds today is business in general and marketing to be specific. When technology was ‘born’ at first, little did anyone think that it was going to grow beyond being used for office and secretarial purposes into becoming a tool for buying and selling: courtesy the internet! The internet has actually come to be an integrated invention that has coalesced the functions and activities of almost every major invention before it. To this effect, Leiner et al (2011) notes that â€Å"The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this unprecedented integration of capabilities.† Before the advent of the internet and even in its early days, general marketing trend of people was typically influenced by doing business with traditional stores. In those days, one came into contact with produ cts and services because one traveled some distance. Again, one bargained for prices of goods and services by meeting the manager in person. Today, all such bureaucracies have changed because of a new phenomenon of marketing known as electronic shopping, simply referred to as e-shopping. With e-shopping, people just have to click the button of a mouse in the comfort of wherever they are and they get a list of as many products as they want. Again, technology has made it possible that one does not have to walk to a particular shop to get things bought and payments made. All these are done via the internet. And of course, the ease with which e-shopping comes has greatly affected consumer behaviour. According to the University of Delaware (2006), â€Å"buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products.† This research work is therefore dedicated to giving an empirical study of the differences in consumer behavior in an e-commerce en vironment compared to the "traditional" commerce. Specifically, consumer behaviour among students of a selected university shall be examined to ascertain the effects that the online shopping has had on their consumer behavior. To this effect, students buying behaviour on electronics shall be critically examined in relation to electronic shopping. Research Aim The primary aim of this research work is to find out whether consumers buy differently online as compared with traditional way of doing business. Then if they do, the researcher will be concerned with finding out factors that influence their decisions. Specific Objectives In other to achieve the broader research aim set above, the researcher has developed the following specific objectives. It is the hope of the researcher that the achievement of these specific objectives would lead to the achievement of the wider researcher aim. The specific objectives are as follows: 1. To explain what consumer behaviour is 2. To find out the different types of consumer behaviour 3. To explain what electronic business is in general and what electronic shopping is to be specific 4. To distinguish between factors that influence consumer behaviour with traditional businesses and factors that influence consumer behaviour with electronic business. 5. To discuss the role of electronic business/shopping in ensuring business growth 6. To find out the positive influence of e-shopping on consumer behavior