Introduction:
In this age of a dynamic digitized world, the businesses are online 24 hours every day, and in view of the globalized aspects of businesses, the online connectivity is of paramount importance to create the connect with consumers to keep the brand’s value and attributes activates in the consumers mind.
The e-shopping has gained at a rapid pace and, one of the main reasons of the rapid growth is the presence of consumers online through social media, most of the consumers buy only online in view of the options available.
For marketers to be able to create a potent e-shopping consumer base for products and services. The one aspect that is paramount is customer satisfaction. The reasons how a marketer can generate customer satisfaction is by taking care of numerous aspects that in essence generates satisfaction i.e. by delivering in estimated time of delivery, quality and promise of product, return & replacement procedure, email alters, post buy service; are some of the elements mentioned in an online shopping customer experience study by UPS (Comscore, 2016).
The aforementioned aspects leads to loyalty as well as recommendation as most online purchases do have some sense of recommendation or feedback from satisfied consumers.
Literature Review:
The most important factor of a customer decision to buy a product is primarily dependent on marketing and how it influences the shopping decision making, considering earlier the online users were predominantly young, the satisfaction levels were different, but with a broader & mature consumer base making online shopping decisions, the techniques in terms of marketing and the increasing usage of tactical promotions have made the e-environment intense.
Social media is one tool that has greatly impacted on e-shopping significantly, since everyone is connected digitally at all times, the retailers have got a broader scope to market and connect with consumers on a constant basis.
Online shopping in spite of being a complex process, in view of navigating the websites, the transaction system, and interactivity with the customer service teams, have opened up new possibilities for consumer in terms of convenience and most importantly the decision making is in the hands of the consumers at all times.
The online customer’s satisfaction depends on numerous aspects and a surprisingly top feature and attributes earlier in the decade was the product range with regards, the convenience of the process as discussed earlier and most importantly, in view of the scams that entails the online shopping, however, it is interesting to note that privacy that includes the technology used in the online portal was the factor least taken into account by the consumers (Christian & France, 2005).
Understanding the consumer behavior is very important and of the leading voices in the research of e-commerce and its different aspects, including consumer behavior Turban et al (2010), pointed towards a behavioral pattern that in essence the buying decision of customers.
In a detailed article by Pawel Grabowski (2014), the buying decision is documented into 4 stages i.e. recognizing a need, Solution search for the need, the alternative available and finally Purchase decision.
As quoted in Pawels’ article a FPP Model of online consumer behavior by two management professors Ujwala Dange and Vinay Kimar, the model explored the internal and external factors of the consumers buying decision and eventual satisfaction (Appendix 1).
The external factors includes culture, demographics, marketing, website access and friendliness and policies to name a few, these factors are predominantly consumer driven by the companies to make their website and product and services top of the mind in the terms of reference and eventual buying.
The internal factors as discussed focuses more on the consumer that eventually creates a satisfactory decision making at the end of the buying process and includes need, perception, social belonging and attitude.
Personalizing the experience of consumers when buying online is also very important and making efforts to create an emotive connect is paramount to induce loyalty as well as repeat buy that is the cornerstone of any business.
The key thus, to crating a consumer base that is satisfied with the e-shopping experience is to comprehend the consumer’s internal factors and also pay great attention to the external factors to create sync amid both the factors that will lead to a satisfied experience.
Discussion:
In the current age and times the online shopping behavior is influenced a great deal with the advent of hash tags #, since social media as a marketing tool has taken the world by storm and the availability of the message on a constant basis on the mediums, face book, twitter Instagram, snap chat to name a few, influence the consumer to buy simply by reading the comments of the users and people in general.
It is true that most of the brands use bloggers to write positive content with regards to the brands usage, the affirmation of the peers both known and unknown is a key factor in the consumers’ satisfaction both pre and post shopping of products online.
The adaptability of the website on all mediums namely, laptop, tablets, mobile phones is also important factor of customer satisfaction in relation the experience that they will have on an online portal.
In view of the reviewed literature the companies that can create trust in the online operational procedures, especially payments and delivery with quality are the ones that stand a chance for creating a string brand value and with many online shopping portals and virtually every company have an online portal, it is imperative that consumer impression has to be instant, starting from the home page, loading time of the page, ease of surfing the website and very easy to fill in forms to complete the process,
After sales service is also a key component in creating a satisfied base of customers. Good customer service is important as e-shopping is just part of the business and the offline business is impacted by any issues that the consumers may encounter both in an online and offline interaction with the buying process in all aspects that also includes price, quality and delivery on time.
Conclusion:
E-shopping has become a major part of the transactions process for consumers and companies alike, the e-shopping has a global appeal as the customers from all over the world connect online to purchase services and products as and when required.
The globalization has added to the e-shopping significantly, since most companies have outlets globally, thus, the trust factor is created automatically; companies that are not global always look forward to create a satisfied consumer base to be able to sustain and grow profitably.
E-commerce is still in the phase of realizing its fullest potential; the aforementioned study reveals that the main factors required to successfully satisfy the consumers is to keep the operational mechanics and service provided an enjoyable ‘experience’ that generates positive word of mouth for the business and a loyal consumer base.
Works Cited
ComScore. “What Factors Influence the Online Shopping Experience?” The Online Shopping Customer Experience Study, a report commissioned by UPS. 2016. Date of Access Feb 26, 2016. https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2012/6/What-factors-influence-the-online-shopping-experience
Christian. S. L. and France. B. “A conjoint analysis of online consumer satisfaction”. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research vol. 6, pp. 95-111, 2005. Date of Access Feb 26, 2016.
Pawel G. “Key Factors Influencing Online Consumer Behaviour – Backed By Research”. Ecommerce insiders. Date of Access Feb 26, 2016. http://ecommerceinsiders.com/key- factors-influencing-online-consumer-behaviour-backed-research-1981/
Turban et al. “Electronic Commerce. A Managerial Perspective. Chapter 4: Consumer Behavior, Internet Marketing and Advertising. pp. 186-191. Global Edition. Pearson.
Appendix 1
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Pawel G. “Key Factors Influencing Online Consumer Behaviour – Backed By Research”. Ecommerce insiders. Date of Access Feb 26, 2016. http://ecommerceinsiders.com/key- factors-influencing-online-consumer-behaviour-backed-research-1981/
