CHAPTER I-Introduction

Introduction
Now a day’s people are more into Internet and this became part of their lives and
holds the attention of retail market which arise the fundamental issue in front of sellers
when they embark on selling something especially non-essential goods in which mode
of selling they should choose to satisfy themselves and the consumers. There are both
online and the traditional brick and mortar shops available to fulfill their interests. This
abundance of choice available for consumers has thrown up a serious challenge for
companies regarding the way they should target consumers to maintain competitive
advantages.

The increase in technology provides good opportunities to the seller to reach the
customer in much faster, easier and in economic way thus online selling is emerging
very fast in recent years because of the technologies we have today. Millions and
millions of people were selling online. On the other hand, the selling of product from
actual market is continuing since years. Many customers go for purchasing in actual
stores so as to examine the product and hold the possession of the product just after
the payment for the product. In this contemporary world customer’s loyalty depends
upon the consistent ability to deliver quality, value and satisfaction. Some go for offline
shopping, some for online and many go for both kind of shopping. The focus of the
study is on the seller’s choice to sell on internet or at the traditional stores of non-
essential products based on the factors that may affect their decision making.

Background of the Study

The evolution of selling had several distinct phases of development during the
course of late 19th and 20th centuries. Industrial revolution of late 19th century caused
a tremendous amount of exchange of goods between people and nations all over the
world. Strategic resources at this time were capital and resources companies’
controlled. However, from 1960s a new age in the area of selling has started. It was an
Information Age. From 1960s till now information has radically changed how selling is
being conducted, methods and attitudes towards selling. In this age, strategic resource
of the business is information and it is defined by customer relationships. Adding value
is the primary success criteria of the selling process. Of course these are generalised
notions of the evolution in selling (Dudovski, 2013).

At the present time shopping becomes part of every day’s life. Some get the
necessities from shopping, others get something more. It is viewed as a way to release
the stress, a way to complete some desire in the mind, or a way to add some flavor to
the mechanical way of life. Shopping is probably one of the oldest terms used to talk
about what we have all been doing over the years. Then again, in ancient times, the
terms that would have been used would be ‘trading’ or ‘bartering’ and probably even
‘market.’ So what has traditional shopping have to offer now that the internet has
opened up a wider and more enticing market to the current consumers.

In the developed countries like the United States, it has become almost a norm to
make purchases on the online platform especially for non-essential products. However,
in a developing country like Philippines, majority of people still depend on the actual
stores to make purchases in different categories. Although in the last few years, online
shopping has become quite a craze among the masses especially among the teenagers
and youngsters, in absolute numbers; offline shopping is still way ahead of its online
counterpart.

In the present day context, learning and analyzing consumer behaviour is

extremely vital for the success of a business, be it online or offline. Consumers drive the
market. All the business activities are carried out keeping in mind the interests of
consumers. Online selling and shopping, which is recent phenomenon in the Philippine
context has gathered steam in the last few years backed by increasing penetration of
internet has resulted in consumers spoiled for choice. The healthy competition between
the online stores and the actual store counterparts have lead in a new era where
consumers can pick and choose the medium of shopping to fulfill their shopping
interests. Some of the key differences between the two medium of selling are the
means of gathering product information, perceived risk and the ability of consumers to
access similar kinds of products according to their preferences.
It can be said that selling as profession and a discipline went through a lot of changes
during its lifetime. Beginning from Industrial Revolution’s simple, unsophisticated and
seller oriented methods to modern time’s value added selling, its priorities and
environment changed a lot. But one thing remained constant, sales person’s ability and
need for sales people to close sales, find relevant solutions and adding value to
customer business activities. Technology and communications did change the field, new
techniques and paradigms were invented. However, without actual sales person all
these things are tools and no more than that. With ever more informed and educated
customers sales is becoming even more challenging and vital in business operations.
Team work and background operations empowered the selling instead of diminishing its
role in the organisation. Sales again became important and relevant at this age of
information as it was in more recent industrial revolution period (Dudovski, 2013)