Customer Buying Behaviour: Online Shopping Towards Electronic Products - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Paradigm assumptions evident in the article 2 Summary of the research approach taken in the article 4 Critical Analysis 6 Areas where the researcher did well 6 Areas where the researcher could have improved 8 Conclusion 9 References 11 Introduction This report will look at analyzing the article titled “Customer Buying Behaviour: Online Shopping Towards Electronic Products” by Wang, D. & Yang, L. 2010. The article will be analyzed based on different actors which includes the different assumptions which is witnessed in the research, the research question, the research method and the results which has been achieved by carrying out the research. This will be followed by a critical analysis which will look towards analyzing the same article based on identifying whether the research was carried out correctly by analyzing the research method, sample size, ethical issues and other aspects. Lastly, the report will highlight the different areas which can be improved so that the relevance of the research findings improve and will help to bring about a change in the manner in which different variables have been identified. Paradigm assumptions evident in the article The article has different assumptions which has can be analyzed after going through the complete paper as the research carried out by the researcher tends to include those. The article focuses on finding out the perception of people towards online shopping without focusing on a specific field. The author has assumed that the same factors which have an impact on clothes or food items goods will impact the purchase of electronic goods. This is not true in a real sense as when a customer looks to purchase food products different factors like taste, brand might be examined but in case of electronic items quality, durability and price might be considered. This is a clear assumption as the researcher assumes that same factors will have a same relevance on food and electronic products. Based on the same assumptions the researcher has narrowed down the variables to electronic products and used the same highlighting the assumption which has been adopted by the researcher for the research. Further, based on the assumption that the factors which have relevance on the purchase of other products the same have been developed and directed towards electronic products Another assumption which has been highlighted is that the researcher uses few previously published articles and assumes that the small number of research articles will help to provide conclusive secondary evidence on the research topic. Further the researcher assumes and selects the articles by differentiating based on sources which might not be actually correct because differentiating them based on sources might lead towards selecting the wrong article. On the first instance few articles have been used and the researcher selects the articles based on his determination of the sources might not provide conclusive evidence of the research. The researcher assumes that the articles selected will provide proper and conclusive results which might be incorrect and will thereby not provide conclusive evidence regarding the research which has been carried out. The article also presumes that the articles which are used are ones which is based on consumer behaviour but in the real sense it applies to other products and not electronic products which reduce the relevance and reliability of the articles which have been chosen. The other assumption which has been highlighted is that the same size for the research is university students who tends to use online shopping as a mechanism for purchasing different products. The results which are obtained based on the sample survey might not be actually true for the entire population elsewhere. The research is based on the fact that the same can be applicable to the same demographics elsewhere but might not be actually true which has been assumed. This will thereby make reduce the relevance of the study as the different factors and variables which have been identified might be relevant to specific group and not might be true for all demographics. This is a big assumption which has been undertaken for the research and might lead towards other result if the same research is carried out elsewhere thereby highlighting the assumption which has been undertaken for the research. The different assumptions which have been highlighted have been assumed by the researcher and based on the assumptions the research has been carried out so that conclusive evidence and variable which impact the perception of customers while shopping online can be identified. Summary of the research approach taken in the article This section will look at analyzing the research problem, the method and procedure used for carrying out the research and the final conclusion which has been achieved in the research Research Problem: The researcher based on growing penetration of online shopping looks at analyzing the different variables and perception which impacts the customers’ attitude towards purchasing online products over the internet. This will be directed towards understanding the manner in which internet has a role in shaping the demand for different electronic products over the internet. Based on the different variables and dimensions the researcher also looks at analyzing the drawbacks which internet shopping presents so that it can be used by retail stores to develop their business and attract more and more people towards them. The overall hypothesis for the research has been developed due to growing popularity of internet shopping especially among the younger generation. This is matched by the fact that the growth in internet shopping has impacted retail stores adversely and has created the need and importance of developing a framework through which business can be retrieved and the retail stores are able to develop their business on a similar model and ensure better results over a longer period of time. Method & Procedure for research: The methodology which has been used for the research comprises both of primary and secondary research. For the primary research a survey is carried out among undergraduate students in Umea University where questionnaire is distributed among 250 students. The questionnaire has different questions pertaining to the research and the respondents have to provide different answers based on Likert rating. The process of primary research also ensures that all section of the students is adequately represented and proper information can be gathered and retrieved. For the secondary research published journals and articles are used from reliable sources. The reason for using secondary sources is that it will help to back the primary research with previous findings and will thereby help to improve the relevance of the primary research. The entire process which has been followed is quite clear and brings forward the manner in which the data collected will be interpreted through the use of SPSS so that relevant and correct findings can be generated which will help to answer the questions which has been asked. Result Achieved: The research helps to find out the different factors and variables which have an impact on customers’ perception towards online shopping. Some of the factors which are identified to be associated with online shopping are trust, ease of navigation, quality, security aspect related to transaction and personal information, refund of money when purchases gets cancelled, feedback process and the experience which customers gets while navigating through the different pages. The overall factors thereby highlight that customer give importance to customer and technology oriented factors. The research also helps to understand the fact that ease of shopping and the ability to carry the transactions from the comfort of the house has attracted more and more people towards it. Retail stores as a result are suffering due to it as the inability of the business to bring a change in the manner transactions are made and still using the traditional and old methods have impacted the overall demand for retail stores. Critical Analysis This section will look at carrying out the critical analysis of the article titled “Customer Buying Behaviour: Online Shopping towards Electronic Products” by Wang, D. & Yang, L. 2010. The critical analysis will be based on the appropriateness of the research by looking into methodology, sample size and other issues. The other area which the critical analysis part will cover is the areas which when improved would have ensured better research and could have improved the overall relevance of the research. Areas where the researcher did well The researcher was conducted in a proper manner and looked at analyzing the different aspect through which online shopping behaviour gets shaped up. The methodological approach which was used by the researcher was appropriate as the researcher used both the qualitative and quantitative method. The process of using quantitative approach ensured that fresh and raw data can be collected which was analyzed to understand the perception of the people and the manner in which their shopping habits got transformed. The use of quantitative method also provided an opportunity to understand the different factors which are present at the current situation and helps to examine the manner in which the overall business perspective changes. The process of using quantitative method looks at examining the manner in which the different relevance has on online shopping for electronic products. The researcher also backs the original research with secondary research where they look towards ensuring that the different past studies are backs the new findings. This has helped to improve the overall relevance of the research as it ensures that the new research which is carried out based on past research will ensure that the validity and reliability of the research will improve. Further, the different secondary resources which were used were published journal articles which will provide important relevance and will help to improve the overall validity and reliability of the research. The use of secondary resources have been selected carefully after analyzing the different papers and selecting the ones which will provide complete and true picture of the manner in which research decisions are taken (Hammersley, 2007). This has helped to ensure that the overall research improves and will provide important directives through which the overall research increased. The sampling method which has further been used in the research is appropriate as the research mechanism looks at using the non-probability sample techniques. Since the research is being carried out in Umea University where questionnaire is distributed among students from the university so using non-probability sample technique is appropriate as it will ensure that the papers are correctly distributed among the sample space (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). This will help to improve the overall relevance and importance of the research as the method which is used will ensure that the data gathered from the different personnel is appropriate and provides the required direction for further research to be carried out. The appropriateness of the research can be further ensured from the fact that the process looked at following all the ethical issues which is associated with the usage of data. Care and precaution has been taken to ensure that the details provided by the different respondents don’t gets leaked and the overall process of carrying out research provides conclusive evidence based on which better research process can be carried. The process while collecting data has ensured fairness and ensures that the questionnaire is distributed among the sample space without any biasness. The overall process has further been monitored and controlled and no question which goes against person in the society has been asked in the research. The overall research has been carried on ethical terms which can be seen by the fact that if the researcher has used some other ideas or views they have been adequately represented by providing the proper references. The details of the reference have further been provided at the end. The overall process which has been used is quite ethical and looks at providing complete details so that the manner in which different business decisions are taken based on it is correct and helps to identify the correct mechanism which has a role in shaping the behaviour of customer with regarding to online purchases. The overall process which the researcher has used in thereby appropriate and aims to provide conclusive evidence in the manner the research has been carried out. This has helped to improve the relevance of the research and helps to provide appropriate information which impacts online customer purchasing habits. This thereby transforms into a mechanism through which the overall validity of the research has grown and has provided the required directives through which better understanding can be garnered. Areas where the researcher could have improved The researcher could have increased the overall relevance and validity of the research by focusing on different areas and fields so that better results could have been achieved. On the forefront the researcher should have looked towards using previous research which focused on electronic products (Bent 2006). The researcher instead used journals and published literature which focused on online shopping for all products which includes durables and so on and didn’t focus on electronic products. This creates doubt whether using the same factors which impacts the purchasing of other products through internet will have the same impact on electronic products. The researcher if would have used previous papers for electronic products it would have helped to provide required information through which the different variables which are presently identified can be compared with previous ones and relevant decisions based on it can be taken. The other important aspect which needs to be considered at this juncture is that the researcher based on his discretion has selected and rejected paper which he feels correct. There could be situation where the selection of paper would not have been appropriate and would have resulted in creating discrepancies. The overall importance could have improved if the researcher would have identified the paper which fits on the research topic and helps to identify the manner in which the different factors impacts customers’ behaviour for online purchase. This would have helped the researcher to develop his entire questionnaire based on the factors which have been identified and would have provided the required directives through which better results would have been achieved. The other area which is seen is that the research is carried out in Umea University so the findings will be valid for the university and might not have its relevance on other areas. This limits the findings of the study as the research is applicable to only the university which has been selected. The importance of the research could have further improved if the sample size would have included other people apart from the university as it would have provided important information and knowledge through which the overall relevance of the research would have grown. This would have helped to understand the different variables and factors which impacts online purchasing and would have helped to find the factors which can be applied to others as well and would have increased the reliability and validity of the research. Conclusion The paper thereby looks towards analyzing the article titled “Customer Buying Behaviour: Online Shopping towards Electronic Products” by Wang, D. & Yang, L. 2010. The article has been analyzed based on different actors which includes the different assumptions which is witnessed in the research, the research question, the research method and the results which has been achieved by carrying out the research. This has been followed by a critical analysis which will look towards analyzing the same article based on identifying whether the research was carried out correctly by analyzing the research method, sample size, ethical issues and other aspects. Lastly, the report highlights the different areas which can be improved so that the relevance of the research findings improve and will help to bring about a change in the manner in which different variables have been identified. References Bent F. 2006. "Five Misunderstandings About Case Study Research." Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 219-245. Denzin N., Lincoln Y., 2000. Handbook of qualitative research, Thousand Oaks, California, Sage Hammersley, M., 2007. Case Studies in Classroom Research, Open University Press, Milton Keynes Wang, D. & Yang, L. 2010. Customer Buying Behaviour: Online Shopping Towards Electronic Products”. UMEA University Read More