Impact of Differences in Culture on the Behavior of Consumers and

Online Marketing

By

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Motivation for the Research2

Research Questions2

Aims and Objectives3

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW4

E-commerce Development and Online Business4

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY6

Research Design6

REFERENCES8

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Background

There has been a strong impact of Internet development on worldwide marketing techniques and environment. There has also been interest developed among different firms, regarding the traditional stores of mortar and bricks and such organisations have started to develop websites for selling out products and reaching customers at the door step (Davis 1989 325) . There are numbers of firms that have started using the internet technology for attracting customers as this technology helps in connecting and reaching the customers directly. As these firms are able to reach customers worldwide, thus, they also need to understand the impact of culture on purchasing behaviour of customers.

With an increase in the challenging and competitive environment, the trends of online shopping have emerged widely. With this, more and more companies and customers are moving towards promoting E-business. Thus, it can also be assumed that the success of E-business and online shopping trend depends on the companies ability to correctly judge and present products according to the expectations of the customer (Joines 2003 70).

In Europe, which is also termed as the home for the highest fashion cities of the world, the concept of online shipping and ecommerce business has also been eagerly embraced by the firms and consumers. According to a research, it has been observed that around 40 million of the customers available online are fond of fashion and most of them belong to a higher income level, including females and a higher number of youngsters.

Motivation for the Research

Particularly, websites operating in the global brands market are supposed to lead the customers, who are looking for saving money, time and want to conveniently access the information, towards the facility of shopping online. The importance of online retailing has been well recognised by the retailers as a marketing tool for retaining and attracting the right customer (De Mooij 1998 70). That is, in order to encourage repeat purchases and attracting new visitors, there is a requirement of building websites that are able to meet the customer needs and demands. The companies should analyse the importance and effectiveness of their online web from the perspective of the customers.

The websites of global brands are still facing various issues and problems, a few of which are due to the differences in culture displayed over website i.e. British websites only take into account the characteristics of people belonging to Britain. Organisations that desire to engage in international business with the help of the Internet must consider the cultural impact and communication through website as well as the tools and content. Additionally, the sensitivity to and awareness of the differences in cultures is one of the major premise associated with success in the global environment. As a result, online retailers are facing main challenge of understanding the web behaviour of consumers depending upon ...