Factors Influencing Online Shopping Behavior - Essay Example

The primary features of online shopping help in providing business accuracy, flexibility of design, and readiness for accessibility (Gay, Charlesworth, & Esen, 2007, p. 173). Today internet is an increasingly popular medium of shopping due to its shopping convenience. This research paper focuses on this subject because of its growing relevance among the young generation.

The behavior of the consumers in shopping is highly essential for businesses in tracking the discrete preferences and engineering their strategies for focusing on the key requirements of the consumers. Various factors stand in the way of influencing the behavior of consumers. From the standpoint of Warner, various external influences which affect the consumer’s behavior are demographics, socio-economics, technology, public policy; culture; subculture; reference groups; and marketing. Within the domain of internal influences, attitudes, learning, perception, motivation as well as self-image and semiotics are various psychological attributes affecting consumer behavior in online shopping. From the studies of a scholar called Sheth, it can be also found that the consumers are predominated by mainly two types of motives which are functional as well as non-functional.

It is a common agenda that people in today’s world have drastically changed their shopping patterns and there has been the application of various strategies by companies towards positioning their products systematically and successfully. The marketing managers while strategizing optimal marketing plans and concentrating on the four ‘P’ of marketing, product placement becomes highly essential. The application of online shopping finds its difficult importance as life in today’s world has taken a jet propulsive pace and people need their products available at their doorsteps. Majority of the people in today’s world go for online shopping as it reduces cost and helps them purchase their necessary things sitting in the comfort of their homes. The students within the UK provide a huge target market for alternate retailers as the students are accustomed to this above-stated lifestyle. Online retailers fetch the ultimate opportunity in influencing undergraduate students with online shopping making business potential customers into active ones.

A brief literature review is necessary for discussion regarding the role of online shopping facilities associated with changing consumer behavior. There is a wide collection of literature present which directs toward explaining the increased habits of consumers for shopping online.

Within the domain of online shopping, the attribute of trust is required. Inadequacy of trust creates potential obstacles to the success of online retailing. The knowledge of the students is highly required for balancing the trust levels. Online shopping varies to a wide extent from the crux of normal shopping as it cannot be felt by human sense organs until the product is delivered physically. Researchers Graham and Charlton state that online retail has been on an improving trend but still 24% of shoppers are in the midst of confusion. It is also a fact that online fraud is declining to give a positive boost to students and other consumers in general.

Customer trust is a function of certain factors associated with the external environment. The dimensions are graphic design, structure design, content design, and social-cue design.

Graphic design acts as a first impression to the customers of online shopping. From the studies of scholars Kim and Moon in Korea, the main clipart as well as that of the overall layout, and three-dimensional dynamic structures have been the potential reasons for customer attraction, but complications and over-utilization of technology may act as a potential hindrance to the undergraduate online shoppers.