Customer behaviour towards online shopping - Essay Example

Introduction 1.1 Introduction The development of the Internet has not only provided a technological tool but also an essential tool for commercial dealings. In recent years, business people and their customers have increasingly used the Internet for a variety of purposes. Businesses use the Internet and other online functions such as electronic mail as a means of advertising their products and popularizing their brands to their prospective customers. The Internet has also made it possible for consumers to research the brands and products they intend to buy and then purchase their desired products online.

Businesses that have embraced the use of the Internet have seen their organizations grow at the same time that they have seen their costs of advertising shrink (Evans, 2009). Such firms have also witnessed an increase in overall sales levels due to increased online shopping. Industry related sources such as the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG, 2012) anticipate that Internet sales just in the UK will be approximately seventy seven billion pounds or more by the end of year 2012. The Internet can have profound effects on the way one conducts business.

It has become a vital tool and avenue for carrying out trade and aids to trade, i.e. commerce. As a tool, it equips buyers and sellers with adequate information on products and services. As an avenue, it overcomes the limitation brought about by geographical distance, time zone, and the need for a physical office. Great Britain has experienced the fastest growth in terms of electronic shopping in the entire Europe, having estimated sales of sixty eight billion pounds in the year 2011 representing an increase of 1.

6% (Wood, 2012).. This paper considers general Internet usage in the context of marketing, provide an overview of online shopping, and discuss the profitability of online shopping over the past few years, before looking at Tesco and Asda specifically. Finally, since the factors that affect consumer confidence towards online shopping are diverse, it is important to study some of the factors within e-marketing frame such as product, price, promotion, distribution and customer service. Technological factors and demographics as well as social factors are also important and are considered as the macro environment of marketing.

The World Wide Web has dramatically increased the general use of the Internet. In 1993, the World Wide Web was developed to be a commercial tool by the British scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Instead of using the Internet's “World Wide Web“ as a technological tool, the Internet quickly became an effective commercial outlet for vendors and customers. By late 2000, the Internet already had more than 450 million online users thanks to the convenience of the World Wide Web. According to estimates by Nua, there were already more than 30 million hosted websites as reported by the various server organizations by that time (Web update, www.nua.ie/surveys).

This proves that the Internet environment is very effective and important for business (www.emarketing.com). E-business success through the Internet is also evidence of increasingly new customers to online shopping for company products and services.