E - commerce Marketing

and Advertising Concepts

 Lecture Contents

 Consumers Online: The Internet Audience and

Consumer Behavior
 Consumer Behavior Models
 General model
 Online model
 The Consumer Decision Process and Supporting
Communications
 Consumers Online: The Internet
Audience and Consumer Behavior

 Around 75% (89 million) U.S. households have

Internet access.
 Intensity and scope of use both increasing
 Some demographic groups have much higher
percentages of online usage than others
 Gender, age, community type, income, education
 Consumers Online (cont.)

 Broadband vs. dial-up audiences, new mobile

audience

 Neighborhood effects
 What does make a difference for consumer purchases
on the Internet is whether or not the consumer is
located in “neighborhoods” where others purchase on
the Internet.
 Consumer Behavior Models

 Study of consumer behavior

 Attempts to explain what consumers purchase and
where, when, how much, and why they buy
 Predict wide range of consumer decisions
 Based on background demographic factors and other
intervening, more immediate variables
A General Model of Consumer
Behavior
Background Demographic Factors

 Culture: Affects entire nations (values, norms)

 Subculture
 Subsets formed around major social differences (society, age,
lifestyle, geography)
 Social networks and communities
 Direct reference groups
 Indirect reference groups
 Opinion leaders
 Psychological profile
 social status, food habits
 Direct Reference Groups

 Small informal groups with which individuals have

face-to-face contact and membership, and whose
norms and values have an influence on their buying
behavior; 
 Direct reference groups can be primary (for example,
the family) or secondary (clubs and societies to which
the individuals belong)
 Indirect Reference Groups

 This refers to the individuals or group of people that

an individual or marketing agency does not necessarily
have any direct face to face contact with but still use
them in reaching out to their target market.
 This group consists of musicians, sports personalities,
politicians’ film stars and TV stars. They are used in
playing a critical role in advertising given that they are
regarded as standard figures who are popular in their
respective fields.
 Opinion Leaders

 An opinion leader is a well-known individual or

organization that has the ability to influence public
opinion on the subject matter for which the opinion
leader is known.
 Opinion leaders can be politicians, business leaders,
community leaders, journalists, educators, celebrities,
and sports stars.
 Shoppers: Browsers and Buyers

 Shoppers: 88% of Internet users

 72% buyers
 16% browsers (purchase offline)
 Two most important factors shaping decision to purchase
online:
 Utility:
 Better prices, convenience, speed
 Trust:
 Sellers can develop trust by building strong reputations for
honesty, fairness, delivery
 How Consumers Shop

 How shoppers find online vendors

 Search engines—59%
 Marketplaces (Amazon, eBay)—28%
 Direct to retail sites—10%
 Other methods—3%
 Online shoppers are highly intentional
The Online Purchasing Decision
The Consumer Decision Process and
Supporting Communications
A Model of Online
Consumer Behavior
 A Model of Online
Consumer Behavior

 Decision process similar for online and offline behavior

 General online behavior model
 Consumer skills(how to conduct online transactions)
 Product characteristics(ease of packaging and shipment)
 Web site features: latency(delay in download), usability,
security
 Attitudes toward online purchasing
 Perceptions about control over Web environment
 Clickstream behavior
 the transaction log that consumers establish as they
move about the Web
 Clickstream factors include:
 Number of days since last visit
 Number of products viewed during last visit
 Number of pages viewed
 Supplying personal information
 Number of days since last purchase
 Number of past purchases