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Online Buying Behavior: Prospects for Online Sale Promotions Strategies in


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Online Buying Behavior: Prospects for Online Sale Promotions


Strategies in Pakistan
Mukaram Ali Khan1, Abdullah Khan2, Syed Sohaib Zubair3

Abstract
Online markets or arena is the focus of many organizations and entrepreneurs.
Various aspects and prospects of this growing industry have been researched.
However, this research was conducted to study the impact and role of various Online
Sale Promotions strategies on Online Buying Behavior with reference to the Pakistani
industry. Pakistan’s online market is expanding day-by-day increasing the internet
coverage and internet literacy, therefore, companies should be aware of the precise
strategies to be opted to attract potential customers. This study follows a quantitative
research strategy where the sample (299) has been collected through convenient
sampling strategy. The data has been collected using an instrument developed based
on the literature reviewed. Following the reliability analysis, descriptive statistics was
used to compare the behavior and preferences of the customers based on their
demographics. After the descriptive analysis, hypotheses developed in the light of
research objectives and literature, were tested using correlation analysis and multiple
regression analysis.

Keywords: Online Buying Behavior, Online Sale Promotions, Marketing, E-Commerce

1. Introduction
International Telecommunication Union estimated that about 3.2 billion people
(almost half of the world’s population) have internet access, whereas approximate of
44.6 million users are from Pakistan. Annual Digital Growth revealed that Pakistan’s
internet users have increased by 21 percent (10 million users) over the past year. This
huge increase in number of internet users reflects the potential for companies or brands
involved in online business.
Several online shopping platforms or websites are successfully operating in
Pakistan trying to attract customers through various promotion techniques such as
variety of products, round the clock service, free shipment, lowest price claims,
replacement warranty, cash on delivery, and others.
This study intends to explore the impact of online sales promotions on the online
buying behavior as a prospect potential tool for growth in this industry. The sales

1
PhD Scholar, Anarka Yildirim University, Anarka, Turkey. mukarram_619@yahoo.com
2Instituteof Business Administration, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
a.khan217@hotmail.com
3PhD Scholar, Institute of Administrative Sciences, University of Punjab, Lahore,

Pakistan and Research officer (IQTM), University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.


sohaib.iqtm@pu.edu.pk

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promotion is operationalized under five dimensions that include; Buy-One-Get-One-


Free, Price promotions, Free Gifts, Free Shipments and E-coupons.
Peattie and Peattie (2009) concluded that price promotions do not have effect on
consumer’s perception about quality of a product. However, the purpose of this study
is not to observe the consumers’ quality perception of online sales promotions in
Pakistan.
Daramola (2014) stated that during the sale promotions, customers tend to ask free
gifts even before receiving the main goods they paid for, though Malik and Sachdeva
(2015) claimed that promotions do not effect the purchasing behavior. Moreover, the
objectives of sales promotions are to counter the moves of competitors, to attract new
customers, to motivate sales force for great efforts, and to enhance brand image.
As price promotion is a significant tool for online sale promotion, likewise, Buy-One-
Get-One-Free (BOGOF) is also an active tool to enhance the sales volume. Gilbert
(1999) advised that along with price lessening, coupons or refunds or BOGOF were
found positively influencing the buying behavior of customers.
The third dimension of this paper is to test the influence of free gifts offers on online
buying behavior. Raghubir (2004) conducted such study in California and found that
free gift promotions may lead to different results in different environments. At a local
study in Karachi, it was found that free gifts help in increasing customers loyalty. Some
stores outlet offer free gifts to their regular customers.
The other important factor which is expected to influence the online buying behavior
of customers is the idea of “Free shipment”, also referred to as free home delivery. It
has been observed that usually customers hesitate to shop online because of delivery
charges. It makes the product more expensive to its customers (Javadi et al., 2012).
Lastly, E-coupons is another dimension of online sale promotions included in this
study. E-Coupons can be defined as “Electronic certificate that can be exchanged as a
dicount at the time of purchasing sevices or products” (MMA, 2007). Blundo et al.
(2005) argued that E-Coupons can play a vital role in sale pattern of products.
E-coupons is the electronic version of hands-on discount tickets which consists of
bytes concept and is redeemed at online selling platforms during e-commerce dealings
(Jakobsson et al., 1999).
Palumbo (1998) pointed out that the typical internet users of the 20 th century are
educated, moreover, the US National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) indicates that income has direct a positive relationship with online
purchasing. In this context, as Pakistan has relatively low literacy levels and ultimately
lower consumers’ income, the effect of online sale promotions calls for testing of the
said phenomenon.

1.1 Problem statement


E-Commerce and trading markets are the future with integrated digital systems
around the globe. It is important for business to explore and understand the buying
behavior of a large market of customers that exists in the virtual space. However,
research on impact of online promotions on online buying behavior has been carried
out in Asian context; limited work has been specifically done in Pakistan keeping in view
the online sale promotions for online shopping. For that matter, this research focuses
on the idea and the respective importance of various sales promotion strategies that

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retailers and businesses may opt in order to influence buying behavior of online
customers. With an increasing online market in Pakistan, it is necessary to tap this niche
and develop business strategies in order to gain competitive advantage.

1.2 Objectives of the Study


In the context explained above, this study aims to:
 Examine the prospects of Online Sale Promotions Strategies for Online Buying
Behavior in Pakistan
 Examine the relationship between Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) offer and
Online Purchasing Behavior
 Investigate the influence of Price Promotions on Online Buying Behavior
 Explore the impact of Free gifts Promotions on Online Buying Behavior
 Find out the relationship between Free Shipment and Online Buying Behavior
 Test the effect of E-coupons on Online Buying Behavior

1.3 Significance
Internet users in Pakistan are increasing rapidly; hence, the market potential of
online markets is also growing. This study will help to provide empirical evidence
towards the prospects of sales promotion strategies with reference to online buying
behavior in Pakistani industry.
Ultimately, the aim of the seller is to enhance its sales and to earn profit, for which
they use different promotions and offers. Studies have shown that the online promotion
enhance the sales volume. This study emphasis on identifying the relation between
online sales promotion tools in lieu with online buying behavior. Internet and
telecommunication are the future, therefore the online shopping industry or the B2C E-
Commerce industry needs to stay vigilant in an era where things are rapidly changing
and the competitions is very high, and where the customers have a wide range of choice
to choose.

2. Literature Review
Internet based market is one of the best platforms for selling products or services.
According to Svensk (2014), internet users are growing at the rate of 17percent from
2013-2014. Sim and Koi (2002) pointed out that the usage rate and internet involvement
has direct impact on online buying behavior. In this value conscious world, people are
seeking for different types of sale promotions. Competitors of every field are trying to
attract customers by using different practices of sale promotions. Most of the studies
have suggested a positive relation between sale promotions and buying behavior.
Results from most of the studies conducted in US/EU may not have external validity
across all cultures due to many differences in information and communication
technology (ICT) as well as social and economic variances (Akman & Rehan, 2014).
Some of the researchers are of the view that online purchasing of promoted
products can be impulsive, where, website design, web expertise (Wu et al., 2016),
hedonic and functional motivations (Akram et al., 2017) or other situational elements
(Chung et al., 2017) can play an imperative role.
According to Obeid (2014), the basic motives behind sale promotions are to
enhance revenues, attract new customers, and balance of stock. Sale promotions are

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not only effective in temporarily increasing sales but is also cost-effecive as compared
to other marketing gears like advertising (Cuizon, 2009). Xu and Huang (2014)
suggested that online shoppers are more price sensitive due to freely available least
search cost and straight price comparisons, as contrast to physical purchasing. The
price promotions (straight discounts) were used as independent variable to check the
food consumption (Martin, Bauld, & Angus , 2017), according to aforementioned
reseachers, price promotions have more worth in Europe and Scotland.
England (2016) identified that the increase in sales due to multi-buy products is
29percent - 35percent while that of temporary price reduction is 20percent -25percent.
Kotler and Armstrong (1997) found out that sale promotions encourage people to
purchase for short intervals of time. Though, some researchers argued that sale
promotions enhance the repetition of purchasing if the customer becomes satisfied with
the product that is being promoted, it is more likely that they will purchase the product
even when the promotion is over.
A similar study was conducted in Bahawalpur, Pakistan on 200 respondents and
used correlation and regression analysis to find out the strength of relationship between
price discounts and consumer buying behavior and results were quite positively
significant (Ashraf et al., 2014).
Moving onto the second dimension i.e. buy-one-get-one-free, Mughal et al. (2014)
studied buy-one-get-one-free as independent variable and tested its influence on
consumer buying behavior in Pakistan, the sample was of 200 which included
professionals, university students and other purchasers like housewives. buy-one-get-
one-free has a considerably positive relation with consumer buying behavior. A study
conducted in retail sector analyzed the relationship between buy one get one free and
consumer buying behavior with sample of 160 of two supermarkets of Guildford, United
Kingdom and results concluded that there was a positive significant relationship
between BOGOF and consumer buying behavior (Shamout, 2016).
Rizwan et al. (2013) argued that buy-one-get-one-free and price discounts have a
more significant effect than other promotional strategies on customer purchasing
behavior.
The results for online buyers might vary in comparison to offline customers,
because of the trust element that is involed between the BOGOF offer and the quality
of the product. In an another study, it was concluded that due to potentiality of frauds
and scams, Online Buyers tend be skeptical towards bonus or package deals (Yin &
Jin-Song, 2014).
England (2016) stated that multi-buy products have greater impact on sales volume
than temporary price reduction. Hawkes (2009) proposed that price promotions resulted
in an icrease in sales from 12percent to 60percent in short-term. In addition, 17percent
of augmented sales arose with planning while remaining 83percent purchased volume
was the outcome of promotion itself (England, 2016). This study was conducted in US
and Scotland.
Moving onto the next dimension of online sale promotions, Hui Tseng et al. (2001)
defined free gifts as “buy A, get a free gift B; that is, A and B were dissimilar products”.
Some investigators claimed that free gifts promoting practices have adverse
relationship with buying behavior, whereas others opposed this argument. The posing
of free gifts is not as much easy as it seems. According to Raghubir (2004), the

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managers should be very active in offering free gifts, if the low valued brand’s product
is offered with costly product, the consumers are likely to pay for that product. On the
other hand, if the cheaper product is presented as a free gift, the consumers are less
willing to pay for the main product. However, it is practically difficult to follow this free
gift strategy alone in market for a longer period of time (Chirkov, 2003). Moreover, it is
also identified in the European market segment where free gifts can lead to the less
significant consumer buying behavior (Park & Yi, 2019).
As far as free delivery is concerned, in a study conducted with the help of 14 in-
depth interviews in Sweedish setting on online promotions and consumer buying
behavior, it was concluded that boredom plays an important role in purchasing online
and free delivery positively affects the online consumer behavior intent in such scenario
(Sundstrom et al., 2019). As the online purchasing is amassing, the shipping cost is
gaining importance. Koukova et al. (2012) stated that it is important but difficult to select
a shipping way to recover the delivery charges. According to previous research,
shipping fee is a significant obstacle for online shoppers to purchase the product
because they have to pay an additional or extra cost.
The review of documents by Kantar concluded that individuals purchase more
goods when the delivery is free. According to Rakesh et al. (2012), high priced products
seem more attractive with reduced price promotions but with low shipment costs but
looks unappealing if shipping price is extraordinary.
Moving on to the last dimension of online sale promotion strategies being discussed
in this study, E-coupons (titled as electronic coupon) are the innovative sale promotional
tools used in the market.
E-coupons are the digital analogue of the paper coupons used to attract customers
for buying by offering some varieties of discounts or gifts. E-coupons are mostly used
in service corporates like amusement parks, restaurants, and travel agencies (Kang,
Hahn et al., 2006). Mohan (2006) informed that e-coupons also contain description of
products, its value, restriction on its use and other fields. According to Zheng et al.
(2017), a study conducted on effectiveness of electronic coupons on 537 online users
following a longitudnal research design and revealed that the results were positive &
significant. However, the literature is very limited as far as this dimension is concerned,
particularly with reference to Pakistan. Hence, this study emphasizes to explore the
impact of e-coupons on online framework in Pakistan’s context.
In the context of the discussion above, following hypotheses have been developed
in the light of research objectives:

H1: There is a positive relationship between online buy-one-get-one-free and online


buying behavior.
H2: There is a positive relationship between online gifts offer and online buying
behavior.
H3: There is a positive relationship between free home delivery offer and online buying
behavior.
H4: There is a positive relationship between online direct price discounts and online
buying behavior.
H5: There is a positive relationship between e-coupons and online buying behavior.

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3. Theoretical Framework

Figure 1: Theoretical Framework

Source: Author Compilation

Figure 1 gives the diagrammatic presentation of the independent and dependent


variables along with the hypotheses. Five hypotheses are presented in the said figure
1.

4. Methodology
This study is conducted to find out the views, attitude, perception and behavior of
Pakistani people about sales promotions (BOGOF, price promotion, free shipment, gifts
and e-coupon) in online context. The quantitative research approach is followed to test
the hypotheses. Cross-sectional research design is followed in order to carry out this
study. Primary data is collected through structured questionnaire, which was developed
for collecting measuring the variables under consideration.
The questionnaire has two components, the first part consists of demographic
information which are important for study, this includes, age, gender, education, income
etc. The second part consists of 25 items, which are measured using a five point Likert
scale. Reliability is calculated with the help of Cronbach’s alpha and threshold of 0.60
is followed.
Due to homogeneity of the population, the non-probability convenient sampling
technique is used in this study. The sample size of 350 was initially planned by using
Krejcie and Morgan table (Sekaran, 2003). The valid response of total sample is 299

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with response rate of 85.4percent. SPSS version 23 software is used to analyze the
collected information by applying various statistical tools. The unit of analysis for this
study is ‘individual’.

5. Data Analysis and Findings


In this study, the data is collected from 299 effective respondents of different areas.
The descriptive analysis of the study is done by comparing means having independent
variables Age, Gender, Income, Internet usage and Online buying status and their
variations with online buy-one-get-one-free offer, online free gifts offer, online direct
discounts, free home delivery and e-coupon.

5.1 Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF)


Buy-one-get-one-free offer can be identified based on gender and education. As
shown in table 1, the intermediary females are most reactive to buy-one-get-one-free
offer and the male having matriculation degree are least reactive to BOGOF. The others
have approximately equal attractiveness towards buy-one-get-one-free offers.

Table 1: Buy-One-Get-One-Free
Education Gender Mean
Matric Male 2.2000
Female 2.4667
Total 2.4000
Intermediate Male 2.4821
Female 2.5800
Total 2.5246
Graduate Male 2.4899
Female 2.3754
Total 2.4416
Post Graduate Male 2.4682
Female 2.3833
Total 2.4382
Total Male 2.4809
Female 2.4295
Total 2.4597
Source: Author Compilation

5.2 Online Free Gifts Offer


The online free gifts offer is compared on demographic variable that are online
buying status and gender. The table 2 shows that males who have purchased online
are most reactive to online free gifts offer than female and males who never purchased
online are also more reactive to online free gifts than females. The other males and
females are also reactive to online free gifts but less than this overhead discussed
category.

Table 2: Online Gifts


Buying Status Gender Mean
Yes Male 2.8465
Female 2.7793

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Total 2.8179
No Male 2.8804
Female 2.6019
Total 2.7774
Total Male 2.8555
Female 2.7397
Total 2.8078
Source: Author Compilation

5.3 Online Free Home Delivery Offer


The online free home delivery offer is evaluated with the basis of internet usage
and income. The table 3 shows that the internet users who use internet less than 3
hours and having income 20,000 to 50,000 PKR are less reactive to free home delivery
but less than 3 hours internet users having income 60,000 to 80,000 PKR are most
reactive to free home delivery offer. The other shown categories have average
attractiveness to online gifts offer considering their mean values.

Table 3: Online Free Home Delivery


Average Usage Income Mean
Less than 3 hours Below 20,000 2.1957
20,001-50,000 1.9000
60,001-80,000 2.8333
80,001-110,000 2.7500
Above 110,000 2.6250
Total 2.2708
3-6 hours Below 20,000 2.3333
20,001-50,000 2.1532
60,001-80,000 2.2250
80,001-110,000 2.3056
Above 110,000 2.3571
Total 2.2789
More than 6 hours Below 20,000 2.3457
20,001-50,000 2.0278
60,001-80,000 2.2750
80,001-110,000 2.1667
Above 110,000 2.3816
Total 2.2569
Total Below 20,000 2.3130
20,001-50,000 2.0794
60,001-80,000 2.3261
80,001-110,000 2.2813
Above 110,000 2.3986
Total 2.2688
Source: Author Compilation

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5.4 Online Direct Price Discounts


The online direct discounts are observed by gender and buying status. As shown
in table 4, the males who have purchased online are more reactive to online direct
discounts than females and vice versa.
Table 4: Online Direct Price Discounts
Gender Buying Status Mean
Male Yes 2.7480
No 2.6064
Total 2.7098
Female Yes 2.5691
No 2.7308
Total 2.6042
Total Yes 2.6719
No 2.6507
Total 2.6667
Source: Author Compilation
5.5 E-Coupon
The e-coupon offer can be identified based on online buying status and average
usage of internet. In table 5, it is clear that people who have purchased online and
internet usage less than 3 hours are less responsive to e-coupon but the internet users
of 3-6 hours and have never purchased are more reactive to e-coupon offer.
Table 5: E-Coupon
Buying Status Average Usage Mean
Yes less than 3 hours 2.5769
3-6 hours 2.6147
more than 6 hours 2.7060
Total 2.6553
No less than 3 hours 2.5526
3-6 hours 2.8537
more than 6 hours 2.7500
Total 2.7568
Total less than 3 hours 2.5667
3-6 hours 2.6925
more than 6 hours 2.7107
Total 2.6807
Source: Author Compilation
5.6 Reliability Analysis

Table 6: Reliability Analysis using Cronbach’s Alpha


Variable Cronbach's Alpha No. of Items
Online Buying Behavior 0.602 4
Buy One Get One Free 0.634 5
Direct Price Discounts 0.599 4
Free Gifts 0.674 4
Free Home Delivery 0.639 4
E-Coupons 0.717 4
Source: Author Compilation

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With reference to table 6, measures for the variables and their dimensions
included in this study were put to reliability test using Cronbach’s alpha, the value for
which was found reliable for each of the variable i.e. greater than 0.60. According to
Nunnally (1978), Cronbach alpha of 0.5 - 0.6 is considered as sufficient, whereas value
greater than 0.6 is considered appropriate.

5.7 Hypotheses Testing


Pearson Correlation gives the information about the direction (either direct or
inverse) and intensity of effectiveness of one independent variable(s) on dependent
variable(s). In table no. 7, the correlation between online buy-one-get-one-free and
online buying behavior is 0.218 and P-value is 0.000 at the significance level of 0.01,
which shows that H0 is rejected. It means buy-one-get-one-free has a direct but weaker
impact on online buying behavior.
In table 8, P-value is 0.000 and correlation between online gifts and online buying
behavior is 0.342 at significance level of 0.01. In this case, online gifts have positive
relation and moderate impact on online buying behavior.

Table 7: Online Buy-One-Get-One-Free Offer and Online Buying Behavior


Buy one get one
free Online Buying Behavior
Buy one get one free Pearson Correlation 1 .218**
Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 296 296
Online Buying Behavior Pearson Correlation .218** 1
Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 296 299
Source: Author Compilation
Table 8: Online Free Gifts Offer and Online Buying Behavior
Online Free
Online Buying Behavior
Gifts
Pearson Correlation 1 .342**
Online Free Gifts Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 297 297
Pearson Correlation .342** 1
Online Buying Behavior Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 297 299
Source: Author Compilation

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In table 9 the free home delivery offer has positive but weak impact on online buying
behavior. The statistical values that are calculated by Pearson Correlation is r = 0.257
and P-value = 0.000.

Table 9: Free Home Delivery Offer and Online Buying Behavior


Online Free Online Buying
Home Delivery Behavior
Online Free Home Pearson Correlation 1 .257**
Delivery Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 297 297
Online Buying Pearson Correlation .257** 1
Behavior Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 297 299
Source: Author Compilation

Table 10: Online Direct Discounts Offer and Online Buying Behavior
Online Direct Online Buying
Discounts Behavior
Online Direct Discounts Pearson Correlation 1 .457**
Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 297 297
Online Buying Behavior Pearson Correlation .457** 1
Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 297 299
Source: Author Compilation

In case of online direct discounts, as shown in table 10, it has moderate relation
with online buying behavior. The P-value is 0.000 and R-value is 0.457 under the
significance level of 0.01 > 0.000 = P-value. It means H0 is rejected in this case.
As per table 11, P-value is less than significance level, i.e. 0.009 < 0.01; it means
H0 for this relation is rejected. The R-value is 0.138, which shows that e-coupon has a
very weak impact on online buying behavior but has positive relation between them.

Table 11: E-coupon Offer and Online Buying Behavior


E-coupon Online Buying
Behavior
E Coupon Pearson Correlation 1 .138**
Sig. (1-tailed) .009
N 296 296

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Online Buying Pearson Correlation .138** 1


Behavior Sig. (1-tailed) .009
N 296 299
Source: Author Compilation
5.8 Regression Analysis
The findings of Pearson Correlation concludes that all the independent variables
have positive relation with online buying behavior. The regression test is used to check
that which independent variable is more influencing the online buying behavior. Table
12 shows the model summary with R square value of 0.236 whih shows 23.6percent
variability in the model. Also, it can be said that independent variables predict
23.6percent variability in the dependent variable i.e. online buying behavior in this case.

Table 12: Model Summary


Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate
1 .486a .236 .223 .51918
Source: Author Compilation
a. Predictors: (Constant), E-COUPON, BOGOF, ONLINE FREE HOME DELIVERY, ONLINE
DISCOUNTS, ONLINE FREE GIFTS
Table 13: Regression Analysis
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
(Constant) 1.410 .215 6.572 .000
1
BOGOF (X1) .008 .066 .007 .123 .902
Online Free Gifts (X2) .152 .061 .156 2.478 .014
Online Free Home Delivery
.057 .059 .057 .975 .331
(X3)
Online Price Discounts (X4) .350 .059 .366 5.926 .000
E-Coupons (X5) -.007 .063 -.006 -.108 .914
Source: Author Compilation
a. Dependent Variable: ONLINE BUYING BEHAVIOR
Table 13 shows that the significant Beta values are of online free gifts and online
price discounts i.e. 0.152 and 0.350 respectively. However, Beta values of online free
home delivery, BOGOF and E-coupons are found to be insignificant. Based on the
results shown in table no. 13, a regression equation is formed:
Y = 1.410 + 0.152X2 + 0.350X4

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The above equation shows that online directs discount and online free gifts are the
best possible predictors of online buying behavior.

6. Conclusion
This study is conducted to analyze the buying behavior of online Pakistani’s under
the light of five sale promotions that are offered in the online domain. These promotions
includes Buy-one-get-one-free, free gifts, free home delivery, discounts and e-coupon.
Under the sample of 299, 175 respondents were male and 124 were female. Out of this
sample, 223 people have done online purchase while the remaining has never
experienced it yet. Descriptive analysis shows that only 46 (15percent) have the usage
duration of internet less than 3 hours, 128 (43percent) are those who have 3-6 hours
usage duration and 124 (42percent) are from above 6 hours users out of 300 people.
After online buyers, the first target market of online sellers is internet users that are
growing rapidly. This shows that the future of online businesses is bright because of
vast market availability.
Talking about income, low income is the barrier in the online purchasing. Analysis
of income shows that about 50percent are those having income less than 20,000 PKR.
The barrier of low-income audience can be solved by online sale promotions because
limited income makes people more price or value conscious.
The regression equation also illustrates that customers are more responsive
towards discounts i.e. they want lesser prices instead of more valued as buy-one-get-
one-free and other variables.
From all above discussed variables, online direct discounts and online free gifts
offers have significant relation with buying behavior in online context. The online market
of Pakistan has lesser income, that is why they belongs to price conscious and are good
respondents of discounts offers instead of buy-one-get-one-free offer or e-coupon.
E-coupon is a new term for most of the people in Pakistan. As per the data analyzed
in this study, the statistically important sale promotion that shall be used to attract
customer in online context is direct price discounts and free gifts offers.

7. Managerial Implications
The managers of online selling companies suggested that they should use direct
price discounts and free gifts offer in online context. They can expand their market share
and increase sales volume by attracting customers through such discounts and gifts
offer. Buy-one-get-one-free, free home delivery and e-coupons are less responsive
techniques, nonetheless significant.

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