Importance of Evaluation of Consumer Behaviour - Research Proposal Example

Table of Contents Executive summary 2 1.0 Introduction and problem definition. 3 2.0 Methodology 7 2.1 Research design 7 2.2 Data collection instruments 7 3.0Study findings 10 3.1General consumer behaviour 10 3.1.1Consumer behaviour (part one) 10 3.1.2Correlation of variables 12 3.1.3 Consumer behaviour (part two) 15 3.1.4 Correlation test for consumer behaviour variables (part 2) 17 3.2On-line consumer behaviour (part one) 18 3.3 Correlation test for On-line consumer behaviour variables (part 1) 22 3.4 On-line consumer behaviour (part two) 24 3.5 Correlation test for On-line consumer behaviour variables (part 2) 27 3.6 Demographic information 29 31 3.7 Limitations and caveats of the study 32 3.8 Conclusion and Recommendation 33 References 34 Executive summary The study had the objective at investigating purchasing behaviour of the respondents. In order to achieve the research objectives, the study utilised a survey of sixty respondents, where structured questionnaires were administered. The research findings suggests that new products may not necessarily appeal to all persons, moreover online transactions is gaining popularity as a market destination, as well as for its appeal and allure to customers. 1.0 Introduction and problem definition. When many organizations launch products, they aim to have increased share of market. The success of the launched products will be determined by the market that is being targeted. There is a lot of variation in consumer purchasing behaviour with some of the consumers falling in the category of risk averse group ( dislike trying new products) and the other category being the risk takers. It is upon the marketer to understand the unique needs of consumers and their behaviour. In order for this to be achieved there is need for an in-depth study to be carried out about the customers external and internal environment as this will be beneficial in market plans formulation. The consumer behaviour comprise of all the processes involved in decision making and the physical aspect involved in acquiring, evaluating, utilization and the disposing of the goods and services. The consumer behaviour need to be seen as a function that has a lot of influence on marketing and the process of purchasing. The process of purchasing has its origin in the mind of the consumer and this has an influence on what the consumer will choose which is highly dependant on the relative advantages and disadvantages. Also of great importance is the customer behaviour after making the purchase as this is the source of information for the marketer on the project success. The various studies which have been done regarding the purchase of new products have elicited varied opinions. The consumer behaviour is very important on their process of trying new products as this involves both physical activities at the same time the decision making process. The consumer behaviour is observed to have multiple dimensions, being complex and a dynamic process that has influence on the whole decision making procedure. Bearing this in mind, it calls upon the organizations to adapt to strategies that are vital in the attainment of competitive advantage. This scenario makes the channels utilized by the organization to be of vital importance in the determination of how successful the product will be in the market. It is important for the business to implement a process that involves formulating a sound marketing strategy due to the fact that the customer behaviour is the determinant of the perceived customer value. The marketing strategy will essentially encompass market analysis, formulation of the strategy and making of decisions. In decision making the problem is recognized, information is searched for, evaluated and then the selection procedure follows and this has bearing on the decision to be made by the consumer. The behaviour of the consumer after the purchase of the product will dependant on the satisfaction derived from the product. The process of understanding the consumer behaviour towards new products in the market require that a market analysis to be conducted, that includes organization analysis. The process of conducting a market research aimed at ensuring that improved customer value is offered to the customer, this being the sole purpose of the company. The success of this is dependant on the needs of the consumer, what the company offers and the environment. A variety of factors will always influence the market, with the perception of the consumer and their acceptance new products creating many challenges for those that produces the goods and services. With increasing globalization, information dissemination has been increased; the internet is the hub of information worldwide. The effect of the internet in the daily lives of every individual cannot be ignored (Breitenbuch, 2004). Many companies have since developed and improved their presence online because of the importance of internet presence in increasing the productivity of the company in terms of selling its products as well as its services. B-2-C or Business-to-consumer is particularly the central business aspect involved in the analysis of individual people’s behavior online, this includes the sites they visit, surveys that they participate, the net hours spent online as well as the websites that these people visit online, this is the basic customer (Sinha, 2012). According to Khosrow-Pour (2006, p.846), research has shown the importance of customer behavior online which shows the possibility of these customers purchasing goods online. Understanding people’s behavior online is thus important as it helps online businesses determine their customers and hence focus on them. This is because their behavior can be predicted As noted by Khosrow-Pour (2006, p.846), some factors which help in predicting customer behavior online includes; look for information about products, through emails, and working online at work frequently, read news online at home, number of hours (at home), number/ frequency of clicking online banners and general agreement that the internet increases productivity. As noted by Laudon & Traver 2001 quoted in Khosrow-Pour (2006, p.846) these are the most important customer profile which essentially explain their behavior online. Other important aspects include; the demographics of people accessing the internet, it is evident that some demographic groups based in income, age, lifestyle, and education have different internet usage (Rainie & Packel, 2001, quoted in Khosrow-Pour, 2006, p.846). Traditional media forms such as TV are competing with the internet for the attention of the consumer. As noted by Kornum & Bjerre (2005) website visit by customers depend on a number of factors, such factors include; the appearance of the website (if its appealing to the eye), the time it takes for the website to load, the color balance in the website, the use of key words typed by the searcher in the search engine, information contained in the website and how the information contained in the website is current. According to Khosrow-Pour (2006, p.846), a survey conducted revealed that income, education, communication, accessibility, distributions, convenience, experiential as well as channel knowledge are positively related to online buying behavior. Gender is also a factor in online purchasing behavior, most male are more likely to purchase online as compared to the female gender. As noted by Fjermestad, Jerry & Romano (2006) an empirical study revealed that customer’s lifestyle and income are positively related to buying behavior in the internet. Consumers who are more prices oriented or time oriented and with relative more disposable income tend t shop online frequently. 2.0 Methodology The methodology involve a collection of research considerations such as research design, discussion on the data to be used , the alternative methods of data collection that could have been applicable, the content of the question and the type of data collected. 2.1 Research design In the process of this study some secondary data was reviewed on the subject matter. The major method used in obtaining information in this research was quantitative data collection. This involved a questionnaire being presented to the respondents and the data was analysed by use of the statistics program SPSS. The total number of respondents involved in this study were 60. 2.2 Data collection instruments The data collection process in this study involved quantitative method of data collection. The quantitative data collection involved sample surveying where a questionnaire was used . the process of data collection using a questionnaire is applied where information is being collected from the respondents and the results that is obtained is analysed through percentages, mean values and presenting the results in graphs and tables. On the process of fulfilling the research objectives the design of the questionnaire had a total of ten steps given in Malhotra and Birks (2007) Step 1: Specifying the information required for from the research The accomplishment of this was through deliberating on the information that was regarded as being relevant to the study. Step 2: selecting the method of data collection The study focused on the use of questionnaire in collecting the required data. Step 3: Number and type of questions There was a deliberation on the number of questions and type of questions to be used in this study. This step involved elimination of questions that were regarded to be unnecessary. Step 4: Ensuring that there is willingness of the respondents to respond to the questions in the questionnaire This was achieved by including brief introduction information which gave information what the questionnaire was all about. The questionnaire did not require the respondents to give their personal information and there were no sensitive questions. Step 5: Choice of question structure In the questionnaire there were a total 33 closed ended questions. The first section of the questionnaire involved responding to 14 questions the choice of response being a 5 point scale. The respondent was then required to respond to a question inquiring about the website they visited and purchased a product. Those who had not purchased any product were asked to indicate the same and complete their questionnaire feeling session at that point. The third section of the questionnaire involved responding to 17 questions the choice of response being a 5 point scale. The 17 questions gave information of respondents experience with online survey. The last section of the questionnaire requested the respondents to give some demographic information including age, occupation and gender. Step 6: Questions phrasing It was important for the questions asked to respondents to be scrutinized so that any errors could be detected and eliminated. There was also elimination of jargon that may be difficult to be understood by the respondents. Step 7: Questions order The questions were arranged in to four parts with the first part asking about purchasing behaviour of respondents, the second part required the respondent to declare if they were online shoppers or not, the third gave online shoppers tastes while the last was about demographics. Step 8: Identifying the form and layout In the process of coding the data numbers were used starting with one upwards as this ensured that entry of the data into computer was easy. Step 9: Questionnaire reproduction In reproducing of the questionnaire care was taken to ensure that the questionnaire was very attractive in appearance so as to make the answering of the questions by the respondents to be easy. Step 10: Use of pilot study for eliminating unforeseen problems In this study a pilot study was eliminated so as to save on time and financial resources 3.0Study findings 3.1General consumer behaviour This section gives more information on the consumer behaviour. The findings have been presented in two sections each section giving the study finding in one bar graph. 3.1.1Consumer behaviour (part one) This part gives the finding on the respondents response to questions designated Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6 and Q7. The actual statements representing the variables are as in the table 1 below TABLE 1: Statements representing variables Q1 to Q7 Designation Statement Q1 I like to take a chance Q2 Buying a new product that has not yet been proven is usually a waste of time Q3 When I see a product somewhat different from the usual, I check it out Q4 I am often among the first people to try a new product Q5 New products are usually gimmicks Q6 I like to try new and different things Q7 I am somewhat of an expert when it comes to shopping The response to the statements are summarized in Table 2 and diagrammatically represented in figure 1. From the figure it can be seen that there were four statements in which the majority of the respondents were uncertain Q2, Q4, Q5 and Q6. The highest uncertain score was Q4 where the score was 46.7% as can be seen from the figure. It can also be seen from the response to the statement (Q4) that 26.7% disagreed that they were often among the first people to try new products while 15% and 5% disagreed and strongly agreed respectively. From the figure it can be observed that majority of respondents indicated that the liked taking chances (Q1 response) where 30 and 45% agreed and strongly agreed respectively. When the respondents were asked if they thought they were shopping experts 21.7% strongly agreed 43.3% while agreed. The majority of the respondents indicated that they checked out products that appeared different usual as 16.7% were strongly agreed while 40% agreed with the stamen. Table 2: Response to statements Q1 to Q7 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Strongly agree 30 3.3 16.7 6.7 13.3 10 21.7 Agree 45 25 40 26.7 26.7 31.7 43.3 Uncertain/ neutral 8.3 40 23.3 46.7 36.7 33.3 16.7 Disagree 15 20 16.7 15 18.3 16.7 15 Strongly disagree 1.7 11.7 3.3 5 5 8.3 3.3 3.1.2Correlation of variables A correlation test was performed as a further investigation of the variables with results being as seen in table 3. From the table it can be seen the strongest and significant correlation was between Q3 and Q1 being a confirmation that the respondents who take chances are likely to try out products that appear somewhat different. From the table it can also be observed that there was a very weak and non significant correlation between Q7 and Q2. There was a significant correlation of 0.5 between Q7 and Q4 is an indication that most of the respondents who considered themselves as being among the first to try new products also considered themselves to be shopping experts. Table 3 Correlations of consumer behaviour variables (part 1) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q1 Pearson Correlation 1 -.200 .642** .313* .071 .486** .340** Sig. (2-tailed) .125 .000 .015 .588 .000 .008 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q2 Pearson Correlation -.200 1 -.070 .244 .354** .008 .110 Sig. (2-tailed) .125 .597 .061 .006 .949 .404 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q3 Pearson Correlation .642** -.070 1 .395** .093 .593** .442** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .597 .002 .477 .000 .000 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q4 Pearson Correlation .313* .244 .395** 1 .318* .500** .525** Sig. (2-tailed) .015 .061 .002 .013 .000 .000 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q5 Pearson Correlation .071 .354** .093 .318* 1 .303* .287* Sig. (2-tailed) .588 .006 .477 .013 .019 .026 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q6 Pearson Correlation .486** .008 .593** .500** .303* 1 .453** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .949 .000 .000 .019 .000 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q7 Pearson Correlation .340** .110 .442** .525** .287* .453** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .008 .404 .000 .000 .026 .000 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 3.1.3 Consumer behaviour (part two) This part gives the finding on the respondents response to questions designated Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12, Q13 and Q14. The actual statements representing the variables are as in the table 4 below Table 4 Q8 If I needed to purchase a new electrical good, I would buy the latest one available Q9 I enjoy giving people tips on shopping Q10 Overall, I like buying the latest products Q11 People think of me as a good source of shopping information Q12 When I see a new brand, I often buy it because it is new Q13 I like to experiment with new ways of doing things Q14 In the long run, the usual way of doing things is often the best The response to the statements are summarized in Table 5 and diagrammatically represented in figure 2. The highest uncertain score was Q11 where the score was 40% this being the percentage of the respondents that were uncertain that people thought that were good sources shopping information. On the same statement it can be observed that 26.7 agreed while 23.3% disagreed. From the graph it is observed that the highest score for disagreement of 36.7% was with Q12 where the respondents were to respond to a statement indicating that they bought products simply because they were new. Those who agreed with the statement were 20% while 30% were uncertain. Statements Q13 and Q14 had the highest scores for agreed of 48.3% and 46.7% respectively showing that as much as the majority of the respondents liked experimenting new ways of doing things they were of the opinion that the usual way of doing things was the best. Table 5 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Strongly agree 6.7 26.7 25 6.7 3.3 8.3 18.3 Agree 26.7 25 30 26.7 20 48.3 46.7 Uncertain/ neutral 25 13.3 18.3 40 30 23.3 25 Disagree 31.7 23.3 18.3 23.3 36.7 20 8.3 Strongly disagree 10 11.7 8.3 3.3 10 0 1.7 Figure 2 3.1.4 Correlation test for consumer behaviour variables (part 2) A correlation test was performed as a further investigation of the variables with results being as seen in table 6. The correlation test was also used as a linkage of the variables in part 1 and this in part two by in including one of the part 1 variables (Q1) in this test. From the table it can be seen the strongest and significant correlation was between Q8 and Q10 which is an indication that those respondents who indicated that if they needed to purchase a new electrical goods, they always bought the latest available also indicated that overall they liked buying latest products, this is expected. From the figure it can be observed that Q1 has significant correlation to three variables Q8 Q10 and Q13 with all of them being weak correlations. By induction this are the only variables which are likely to have significant correlation with Q1 significantly correlated customer bahaviour variables in part one. Table 6 Correlations Q1 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q1 Pearson Correlation 1 .291* .242 .256* .114 .088 .273* .064 Sig. (2-tailed) .024 .062 .048 .387 .504 .035 .625 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q8 Pearson Correlation .291* 1 .338** .753** .091 .140 .273* .203 Sig. (2-tailed) .024 .008 .000 .491 .285 .035 .121 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q9 Pearson Correlation .242 .338** 1 .415** .297* .133 .169 .115 Sig. (2-tailed) .062 .008 .001 .021 .312 .198 .382 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q10 Pearson Correlation .256* .753** .415** 1 .227 .106 .172 .052 Sig. (2-tailed) .048 .000 .001 .082 .421 .188 .691 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q11 Pearson Correlation .114 .091 .297* .227 1 .471** .339** -.160 Sig. (2-tailed) .387 .491 .021 .082 .000 .008 .221 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q12 Pearson Correlation .088 .140 .133 .106 .471** 1 .351** -.056 Sig. (2-tailed) .504 .285 .312 .421 .000 .006 .670 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q13 Pearson Correlation .273* .273* .169 .172 .339** .351** 1 .155 Sig. (2-tailed) .035 .035 .198 .188 .008 .006 .239 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Q14 Pearson Correlation .064 .203 .115 .052 -.160 -.056 .155 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .625 .121 .382 .691 .221 .670 .239 N 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 3.2On-line consumer behaviour (part one) This part gives the finding on the respondents response to questions designated Q15, Q16, Q17, Q18, Q19, Q20, Q21, Q22, The actual statements representing the variables are as in the table 7. Table 7 Statement Q15 The site has a good reputation Q16 This website is trustworthy Q17 The sites products are good economic value Q18 Overall, I am happy with the site’s prices Q19 The prices of the products I purchased from the site are too high, given the quality of the products Q20 I think the site is very entertaining Q21 The enthusiasm of the site is catching – it picks me up Q22 The site doesn’t just sell products, it entertains me Q23 Shopping on the site “gets me away from it all” The response to the statements are summarized in Table 7 and diagrammatically represented in figure 3. Statements Q15 and Q16 had the highest scores for agreed of 51.9% and 48.1%. From the variables score it is clear that the respondents were using sites which had good reputation and trust worthy with the respondents who indicated that they strongly agreed being 34.6% and 28.6% for Q15and Q16 respectively. From the figure it can be seen that 38.5 % of the respondents indicated that they had not been over charged in their online purchased while 28.8% agreed that there was overcharging. It is clear from the figure that there was the highest respondents were neutral on statements Q20 with a score of 46.2%, and 42.3% for both Q21 and Q22. Table 8 Figure 2 3.3 Correlation test for On-line consumer behaviour variables (part 1) A correlation test performed to determine the relationship between the variables yielded the results in table 9. From the table it is observed that the strongest significant correlation was between Q21 and Q20 with a correlation value of 0.628. This strong correlation is expected as both variables addresses the issue of the site being entertaining. There is also a strong correlation between Q22 and the two variables ( Q21 and Q20) as the variable the variable describe how entertaining the site is. The relationship between the other variables can be seen from the table. Table 9 Correlations Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 Q19 Q20 Q21 Q22 Q23 Q15 Pearson Correlation 1 .599** .314* .327* -.060 .137 .216 .052 .029 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .023 .018 .671 .334 .124 .712 .838 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q16 Pearson Correlation .599** 1 .562** .487** .067 .078 .107 -.112 .024 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .636 .584 .448 .427 .864 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q17 Pearson Correlation .314* .562** 1 .599** -.106 .154 .208 .083 .048 Sig. (2-tailed) .023 .000 .000 .453 .276 .139 .557 .733 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q18 Pearson Correlation .327* .487** .599** 1 -.113 .173 .255 .119 .171 Sig. (2-tailed) .018 .000 .000 .423 .219 .068 .402 .225 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q19 Pearson Correlation -.060 .067 -.106 -.113 1 .116 -.117 -.014 .418** Sig. (2-tailed) .671 .636 .453 .423 .412 .407 .923 .002 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q20 Pearson Correlation .137 .078 .154 .173 .116 1 .628** .556** .357** Sig. (2-tailed) .334 .584 .276 .219 .412 .000 .000 .009 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q21 Pearson Correlation .216 .107 .208 .255 -.117 .628** 1 .577** .387** Sig. (2-tailed) .124 .448 .139 .068 .407 .000 .000 .005 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q22 Pearson Correlation .052 -.112 .083 .119 -.014 .556** .577** 1 .339* Sig. (2-tailed) .712 .427 .557 .402 .923 .000 .000 .014 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q23 Pearson Correlation .029 .024 .048 .171 .418** .357** .387** .339* 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .838 .864 .733 .225 .002 .009 .005 .014 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 3.4 On-line consumer behaviour (part two) This part gives the finding on the respondents response to questions designated Q24, Q25, Q26, Q27, Q28, Q29, Q30 and Q31. The actual statements representing the variables are as in the table 10. Table 10 Variable Statement Q24 Shopping on the site makes me feel like I am in another world Q25 I get so involved when I shop on the site that I forget everything else Q26 The website makes it easy for me to build a relationship with this company Q27 would like to visit this website again in the future Q28 28. Compared with other websites, I would rate this one as trustworthy Q29 The website will keep its promises and commitments Q30 I’m satisfied with the service provided by this website Q31 I feel comfortable in surfing the web site The response to the statements are summarized in Table 10 and diagrammatically represented in figure 4. From the figure it can be seen that the variables with the highest agreed score were Q29, Q30 and Q31 with scores of 59.6% in both Q29 and Q31 and 51.9% for Q30. There was an overwhelming majority of respondent who indicated that they would visit their favorite website in future with 46.2% strongly agreeing while 34.6% agreed. The other variables were as seen in the table and figure. Table 11 Q23 Q24 Q25 Q26 Q27 Q28 Q29 Q30 Q31 Strongly agree 1.9 7.7 11.5 13.5 46.2 38.5 19.2 28.8 23.1 Agree 26.9 17.3 15.4 32.7 34.6 34.6 59.6 51.9 59.6 Uncertain/ neutral 42.3 28.8 23.1 38.5 5.8 19.2 15.4 11.5 9.6 Disagree 26.9 34.6 34.6 7.7 9.6 5.8 5.8 7.7 1.9 Strongly disagree 1.9 11.5 15.4 7.7 3.8 1.9 0 0 5.8 Figure 4 3.5 Correlation test for On-line consumer behaviour variables (part 2) A correlation test performed to determine the relationship between the variables and the results were as in table 12. From the table it is observed that the strongest significant correlation was between Q28 and Q30 with a correlation value of 0.67. There was also a strong significant correlation between Q29 and Q31. Other correlations between he variables were as in can be seen from the table. Table 12 Correlations Q24 Q25 Q26 Q27 Q28 Q29 Q30 Q31 Q15 Q24 Pearson Correlation 1 .602** .127 .004 .145 -.023 -.098 -.018 .022 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .368 .978 .306 .872 .490 .898 .878 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q25 Pearson Correlation .602** 1 .462** .117 -.012 .102 -.069 -.083 .043 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .001 .407 .935 .471 .625 .558 .765 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q26 Pearson Correlation .127 .462** 1 .379** .140 .396** .316* .199 .231 Sig. (2-tailed) .368 .001 .006 .321 .004 .023 .158 .099 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q27 Pearson Correlation .004 .117 .379** 1 .504** .511** .551** .638** .396** Sig. (2-tailed) .978 .407 .006 .000 .000 .000 .000 .004 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q28 Pearson Correlation .145 -.012 .140 .504** 1 .542** .667** .630** .486** Sig. (2-tailed) .306 .935 .321 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q29 Pearson Correlation -.023 .102 .396** .511** .542** 1 .606** .656** .629** Sig. (2-tailed) .872 .471 .004 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q30 Pearson Correlation -.098 -.069 .316* .551** .667** .606** 1 .716** .599** Sig. (2-tailed) .490 .625 .023 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q31 Pearson Correlation -.018 -.083 .199 .638** .630** .656** .716** 1 .623** Sig. (2-tailed) .898 .558 .158 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 Q15 Pearson Correlation .022 .043 .231 .396** .486** .629** .599** .623** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .878 .765 .099 .004 .000 .000 .000 .000 N 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 52 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 3.6 Demographic information The last part of the questionnaire involved the respondents giving demographic information where the results were as presented below. Gender From the figure it can be observed that the majority of the respondents were male who comprise of 58.3% while female comprised of 41.7% Figure 5 Websites From the figure it can be seen that ebay had the highest clients at 36.75, taobao came second with 13.3%. Figure 6 Age-group When the respondents were asked about their age the response was as shown in figure 7 . from the figure it is clear that the age group to which majority belonged was 22-25 with 50.0% while 35% were of age group 18 -21. Figure 7 Occupation When the respondents were asked about there occupation it was clear that al most all were students. Figure 8 3.7 Limitations and caveats of the study In this study there were several characteristics of design that were used in setting the parameters on the application and interpretation of the study results. The study involved only 60 respondents and this number is considered to be small and making general conclusion from it may not be the right. The data collected was entirely from primary source and this limits the quality of the results as observed by (Terry, 2007). The respondents who participated in this study were identified through random sampling. The knowledge of randomly sampled respondents may not sufficient as far as the subject matter is concerned and this therefore may have jeopardised the accuracy in the responses thus compromising on the validity of the collected data. 3.8 Conclusion and Recommendation From the study it can be seen that the respondents are greatly varied in terms of purchasing habits. There are those respondents who are very conservative in purchasing while on the extreme end there are those who can by anything as long as it is new. This therefore calls for marketers ensure strive to put new products in the markets which are of high quality so that those who like trying new products can keep up with the trend while those who are scared of trying new products can also realise new products are usually improved products. References Benedetto John and Paulo Ferreira, 2001, Modern Sampling Theory: Mathematics and Applications, Switzerland :Birkhäuser. Bidgoli, H.(2003). 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