E-commerce is emerging as a great level given that organized retail is still not ubiquitous across the length and breadth of the country with large retail chains making up less than 10% of the market.E-commerce is helping people in smaller towns in India access quality products and services similar to what people in the larger cities have access to. It being forecast that close to 60% of online shoppers would come from beyond the top eight large cities by end of this year.Increasing internet penetration has helped to expand the potential customer pool. Internet penetration is only about 10% (or about 121 million users) as against about 81% in the US and 36% in China. However this number continues to rise at a consistent pace because of falling prices for broadband connections. The first World Wide Web server and browser, created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, opened for commercial use in 1991. Thereafter, subsequent technological innovations emerged in 1994: online banking, the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut, Netscape's SSL v2 encryption standard for secure data transfer, and inter-shop’s first online shopping system. Immediately after, Amazon.com launched its online shopping site in 1995 and eBay was introduced in 1996.  In the past decade, there has been a dramatic change in the way consumers have altered their way of shopping. Although consumers continue to purchase from a physical store, consumers feel very convenient to shop online since it frees the customer from personally visiting the store. Internet shopping has its own advantages and it reduces the effort of travelling to a physical store. Decisions can be made from home at ease looking at various choices and prices can be easily compared with the competitor’s products to arrive at a decision. This study highlights student’s attitude towards online shopping and their product preference on online shopping. This enable the e-retailers to support their online customer better by developing suitable marketing strategy in order to attract and convert potential customer as an active customers by encouraging them in an efficient way to make a purchase decision. Keywords : Online Shopping, Consumer Perception, Buying Behaviour, Purchase Decision,      e-Commerce

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Consumers’ Perception on Online Shopping

This study endeavours to understand customer satisfaction in online shopping while investigating the major reasons that motivated customers' decision-making processes as well as inhibitions of online shopping. The Kotler and Killers (2009) Five Stage Buying Process Model was chosen as the basis of framework of this study to explain customer satisfaction through their motivations to buy products online. The existing literature was reviewed to discover reasons that would influence customers positively or negatively towards shopping online. Surveys were conducted by distributing questionnaires in the Wrexham area (North Wales) to gather data for this research. SPSS software package was used to present research data graphically and to test research hypothesis. From the findings, it was discovered that respondents use internet to purchase products through online because they believe it is convenience to them and the term convenient includes elements such as time saving, information availability, opening time, ease of use, websites navigation, less shopping stress, less expensive and shopping fun. In contrast, along with respondents' mind-sets, online payment security, personal privacy and trust, unclear warranties and returns policies and lack of personal customer service are the foremost barriers of online shopping. Furthermore, the result of hypotheses established that even though online shopping is convenient to all consumers, online payment system and privacy or security anxieties have significant impact on online shopping. Finally, some recommendations have been offered for online retailers to take initiatives for making online shopping more admired and trustworthy.

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Customer Satisfaction in Online Shopping: a study into the reasons for motivations and inhibitions

Marketing has been impacted by social media platforms and the Internet developments. To survive fierce competition, corporations have to take advantage of all the opportunities provided by Social Media (SM). Marketers need to evaluate the effectiveness of different SM channels and Return on Investment (ROI) measurement is critical in the management of SM marketing campaigns. This paper assesses SM ROI using Princess Andriana Hotel in Rhodes, Greece as a case study. It clarifies complicated concepts related to SM ROI measurement. A comprehensive framework, built around the landscape of SM ROI assessment supports measurability. A netnographic observation revealed suitable metrics for the evaluation of the SM activities. Five SM channels and a set of analytics tools were combined to measure SM ROI. The result identified both financial and non-financial returns. Finally, recommendations for future assessment of SM campaign are provided.

Social Media Return on Investment and Performance Evaluation in the Hotel Industry Context

Background: Concerns that Internet gambling has elevated the prevalence of problem gambling have not been substantiated; however, evidence suggests a subgroup of Internet gamblers do experience higher rates of gambling harms. Greater overall involvement in gambling appears to be predictive of harms. The purpose of this study was to examine differences between Internet gamblers with a single or multiple online gambling accounts, including their gambling behaviours, factors influencing their online gambling and risk of experiencing gambling problems. Methods: Internet gamblers (3178) responding to an online survey that assessed their gambling behaviour, and use of single or multiple online gambling accounts. Results: Results revealed that multiple account holders were more involved gamblers, gambling on more activities and more frequently, and had higher rates of gambling problems than single account holders. Multiple account holders selected gambling sites based on price, betting options, payout rates and game experience, whereas single account holders prioritized legality and consumer protection features. Conclusion: Results suggest two different types of Internet gamblers: one motivated to move between sites to optimize preferred experiences with a tendency to gamble in a more volatile manner; and a smaller, but more stable group less influenced by promotions and experiences, and seeking a reputable and safe gambling experience. As the majority of Internet gamblers use multiple accounts, more universal responsible gambling strategies are needed to assist gamblers to track and control their expenditure to reduce risks of harm.

Greater involvement and diversity of Internet gambling as a risk factor for problem gambling

The purpose of this study is to evaluate hotel companies’ social media marketing efforts using the “6Is” social media monitoring framework. More specifically, in this study we set out to understand how hotels disseminate information, engage with consumers, and distribute products through social media. We investigate the presence of the top 133 hotel brands in China on the top domestic Chinese social media sites in order to identify to what extent the hotel industry in China recognizes the potential of this marketing tool. The findings indicate that the majority of the hotels actively and consistently use the Sina Weibo and Wechat platforms for their social media marketing.

An Examination of Social Media Marketing in China: How do the Top 133 Hotel Brands Perform on the Top Four Chinese Social Media Sites?

1. Principles and Drivers of the New Marketing Environment 2. Strategy and Models for the Virtual World 3. Online Marketing Planning Issues 4. Online Marketing Research - Principles and Practice 5. Online Buyer Behaviour 6. Positioning for Traffic and Profit. Search Engine Optimisation 7. Permission and Personalisation Online 8. Website Development - Design and Content 9. The Online Product 10. Pricing Issues on the Web 11. Online Communication Tools 12. Online Distributuion and Procurement 13. Online Marketing Legal Issues

Rita Esen

Papers

Online Marketing: A Customer-Led Approach