Impact of the Internet on the Buying Process. Essay Sample

In recent years the internet has undeniably influenced consumers' buying process. As social media like Facebook and Twitter has enhanced access to product information by consumers globally. Ideally, apart from changing consumers' buying process, the internet acts as a source of consumers' empowerment. In reality, many consumers worldwide utilize the internet to source information on goods and services (Hakuna). Therefore, the internet improves consumers' buying process by enhancing exclusive research on products, consumers' awareness, and motivates consumers' purchase power.

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First, the internet enhances the exclusive research of products by consumers. There have been days where consumers often scanned catalogs for information on a company's products. With internet popularity, customers can study product information online and question ingredients used in the products (Hakuna). There is a lot of information on a company's internet website that enables customers to make final decisions on a product.

Additionally, the internet has enhanced consumers' awareness through building a successful customer relationship. The internet provides consumers with chat rooms, forums, and review boxes that provide consumers feedback on a company's products. Therefore companies must take care of the negative social replies to preserve their brand reputation.

The internet motivates consumers' purchasing power. In recent years, consumers have been more vigilant on their goods and services decisions (Hakuna). It is essential for companies to effectively use social media to inspire consumers rather than merely talking about their market products. Companies must create an emotional connection with their customers through the internet. Companies achieve this through loyalty programs and efficiently distributing their products in the market.

Technology advancement in the economic sector has caused an increase in the market's size due to the internet's globalization effect (Horrigan). Many people are opting to buy products and services on an online platform. This trend is causing a diversion in the automobile manufacturers to adhere to online buying and marketing products. The manufactures are developing creative ways to capture a bigger market in various parts of the world. Unlike stores, the internet offers a fair cost of products with discounts and offers on each product placed for sale. For instance, different companies' websites use Flash technologies to deliver a range of interactive features (Charoensuk).

Before technology advanced to greater levels, people searched through catalogs and magazines to know more about products. They incurred a cost for buying the magazines. However, these days the technology level has promised a better way of researching the products via online platforms. The platforms give a chance to ask questions about a product .i.e. their usage, expiry period, and maintenance in case of long-term good. With the internet, any customer can be confident of obtaining any product information since the internet has a lot of information to depend on while making product preference choices. Customers aim at getting more information through customer reviews on each product sold on the internet (iMPACT, 2020).

Consumers have always had the behavior of being cautious about how they spend their money on purchasing goods. So businesses have had to adapt to the situation and persuade customers to buy their products by using social media to convert many people into consumers. In recent years online marketing has always created room for interaction among customers (iMPACT, 2020). The best way for this is via social media platforms Facebook pages where one can be posting about the product and the user experience with the product.

Some product features offered by a business may not be availed in online stores, so some features have been availed to convince and increase the market of products (Jozef et al.). These in-store features include efficient delivery and loyalty programs. Giving the business a few benefits to the customer can ensure a more competitive edge in the market, hence creating confidence in its availability. The market created online also depends on the trust the customers have for the provision of a product.

The consumers ought to be aware of the quality of the products and the services offered in favor. With the increased use of e-marketing, creating a good friendship with the buyers has to be more than just a deal. Informing the customers about after-sale services helps in motivating them to come back again. This will make them make a more informed decision before making a purchase (iMPACT, 2020). A business should handle negative social responses more carefully and make the consumers aware of rectification and improvement. It is always normal that negative feedbacks travel faster than positive feedback. That will put the product provider on the toes to improve on the product, probably by informing the manufacturer of the good. In the case of services, the reviews on the web are considered almost immediately.

The influence on the behavior of consumers depends on external and internal factors. External factors rely on the consumer's environmental conditions, while internal factors originate from the buyer's mind. External factors divide into demographics,socio-economics, advancement in technology, market availability, and public policy. Internal factors include perception, motivation, and self-image. Consumers have these two types of motives while trying to purchase goods; functional and non-functional. In functional motives, the category is about consideration of time, the place to buy a product, and the shopping center's condition. All this information evidently can be available online before the actual shopping taking place. The consumer's non-functional motive is majorly about the culture and the values portrayed in the whole economy.

The internet offers a convenient way of online shopping as the main reason for online buying, and selling has been confirmed by customers (Jozef et al.). Online shopping allows a customer to do shopping at any time and at any reliable place. Such a benefit attracts many shoppers who are time-served. It does not require physical searching for the products. The whole process of shopping becomes so easy and time-saving. Internet shopping is becoming the main way of buying products; it saves money; for example, the customer's transportation cost is not incurred. The long waiting queues in shopping centers are no problem with internet shopping. The internet offers an enjoyable shopping experience without even getting pressure from congestion in shopping centers and salespeople.

Internet services provide a personalization experience in the business. For example, the customer can create a user profile and set their interested topics and favorite advancements in the market. Self-service technology allows customers to act as service providers to themselves. The internet then creates a positive impact on the buyers' behavior and loyalty of purchase. Gone are the days when responses about a product took a long time, up to a month. Through the internet, fast responses have been convenient. The feedback takes up to less than a day to reach a customer. Convenience is an important influencing factor that persuades a customer to go online.

There is always a linkage between the buyer's behavior and the internet because it influences the customer's decision while participating in the market (Banja and Hercegovina). The buyer's behavior will define the buyer's intention when shopping. The e-services offered aim at supporting the customer's decision to buy the product. A process that has been fully supported by the advancement of the technological and networking field.

A wide market is created every day as an online business continues to increase. For example, in the previous years before the advancement technology, educational institutions offered to learn using hard copies of books. Students did research using the books, which became inconvenient because of their size and the difficulty of finding a concept. The internet has improved learning through the online purchasing of books. A person creates an account which he pays to access online copies of books, making it easy for students. The more people demanding online books, the more the increase in the market. All this is possible because of the internet. Even at schools, the e-library programs have been initiated to cater to those interested in research in an online platform without buying hard copies of books (Horrigan, 2008).

Web experience of marketing officials makes it easy and possible for them to target a big market. For example, selling cars on an online platform is easy than waiting for a potential customer to visit the showroom. The demand for vehicles has increased worldwide, so advertising them via the internet can be promising. The seller can get a potential customer at any time from any part of the world. The problem of risking carrying large amounts of cash when paying for a product has been fully dealt with by e-commerce. The businesses have registered for pay bill numbers where customers can send money without carrying it to the shopping place. Not the less, there is the added advantage of comparison between products and deciding which one best suits you. For example, one can make a comparison between laptops and discovering their features via the internet. The whole process becomes fast and more efficient.

The Internet market is considered a perfect market all over the world. The understanding of an ideal market is the symmetry of demand and supply of goods and services. Both customers and sellers have a balanced chance of accessing the market and receiving any information. In a perfect market, the customer can get information and also give information as a buyer. The best channel to advertise and promote the products of a company is via the website.

In the global electronic economy, the telecommunication industry plays a major role in influencing business activities. Telecommunication providers are incurring profits by being the facilitators and providers of internet business services. Technology always considers the technological standard and networking support to the business organization to ensure their organizations' growth. When a market is competitive, businesses try to cope with the competition by venturing into technological product and service provision. The companies create platforms to understand customer needs better than their competitors.

Online information has a major impact on the decision reached to purchase a product. Individuals tend to use multiple sources when looking for the best good and services offered. This is suggestive that telecommunication technology is part of the competitive environment of a business. All the online product providers have the incentive to provide accurate information concerning the products that s reliable to the consumers. If the buyer requires a large commitment to make a good choice, the internet's influence is very helpful. User reliance on the multiple sources of information about goods shows how the internet is useful for dealing with tactical product purchase choices.