What are the Customers Motivation in Purchasing Goods and Services Online?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Introduction to the Problem1

Background of the Study2

Rationale2

Research Questions3

Significance of the Study3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Consumer Online Shopping Behaviour4

Shopping Motivations5

Shopping Attitudes9

Perceived Quality10

Searching Costs and Transaction Costs11

Social Interactions13

Trust14

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY15

Study Selection15

Outcomes15

Study Participants15

Inclusion Criteria16

Exclusion Criteria16

Critical Analysis Framework16

Research Methodology17

REFERENCES18

BIBLIOGRAPHY37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction to the Problem

The revolution and the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web (www) in the 1990s as a means for global sharing of information has opened up an opportunity for business organisations as well as a whole range of new possibilities in marketing practice. The maturity of the internet in the 1990s gave birth to new a term that is generally known and acceptable depending on different uses of individuals and different business organisational transaction. This emergence gained momentum and became a concept for electronic business and marketers. One of the common terms used is the electronic commerce which is often referred to as e-commerce.

Yang, B., & Lester, D. (2005) argue that the internet together with the implementation of innovative business practices plays a fundamental role in the development of e-commerce. Zwass (2003) identified the framework of ecommerce as technologically based means to business transformation where the principal aspects of e-commerce fall into five activity domains, namely, commerce, collaboration, communication, connection, and computation. This identifies how important the internet is to business strategy and also a strategy to create a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies.

Recent research conducted in 2009 by Miniwatts Marketing Group for internetworldstats.com shows that the internet usage has increased phenomenally particularly in the business world. European Union has experienced a 239.9 percent increase in the use of internet from 2000 to 2009, with Ireland experiencing a user growth of 261.0 percent during the same period. With the Irish population of just over 4million (CSO), internetworldstats.com indicates Irish internet users to be 2,830,100, representing over half of the Irish population. This shows the internet is a wonderful medium for companies to reach potential customers and existing clients.

Background of the Study

From the perspective of motivation, there have been a lot of discussions and researches over consumer behaviour in the past. The work of Bailey (1957) identified the functional and non functional motivations for shopping, particularly in the retail purchase behaviour. The study of Ige (2004) revealed the level to which the motivation at non functional level might be realized with the help of web mediated shopping, ignoring the demographics (Channel, horizontal third level down).The distinction of non web shoppers and web shoppers of generation Y (horizontal fourth level) was done in the study conducted by Girard (2003). Other studies were associated with different aspects and sides of this framework. For instance, Garbarino (2004) grouped and identified various Web and non-Web retail shoppers by a number of factors including the demographics. The current research proposes the new generation as a very viable segment of market too.

Rationale

This study is aimed at providing regarding the web mediated shopper's purchasing features and characteristics by conducting a ...