How digital marketing effort can influence purchase/customer behaviour

In the previous steps, we looked at the influencing factors on customers purchasing online and the transformation of customer behaviour.

Considering the competitive environment and rich online information availability, these influences and transformations are not just generated from one company or a few companies’ digital marketing efforts. They also come from macro and micro-environments, including the customers themselves and technological development.

We would like you to watch an interesting TED Talk on this topic. Search on the TED website for Angela Wang’s talk, ‘How China Is Changing the Future of Shopping.’

Anglea talks about the transformation of shopping in online environments from both the company and customer perspectives. She uses examples from the contemporary Chinese e-commerce environment to highlight how customer behaviour is changing and how firms are innovatively grasping and driving customer needs. She identifies three key principles (ultra-convenient, ultra-flexible and ultra-social) which are driving strategic innovation in Chinese online firms.

Your task

Having watched the video, what is the transformation in the customers’ behaviour from offline to online?

If you wish, have a go at discussing these equally important questions:

• How is the integration of different media channels important in driving online customer behaviour?
• How would concepts of convenience and spontaneity work in different contexts – for example, fast-consuming goods vs luxury products?
• Do you think the spontaneity aspects of online consumer behaviour mentioned in the video are past, present or future behaviour of customers?
• In your opinion, have any new behaviours emerged due to advances in technology? Think about any new products, service offerings or marketing models in online business.