TRADITIONAL versus Online Customer BEHAVIOR
Customer behavior has been analyzed for a long time. The basis behind this has been to understand how individuals or customers behave in certain situations and how to motivate them towards closing a sale. Whether buying products traditionally or online, some trigger or customer behavior happens. It is essential to understand the motivation. According to research, 'the underlying motives of the consumer are different from the stated motives and have multiple motives; Manifest and latent.
Manifest & Latent
Manifest is when the customer admits that they know the product, while latent is when they know about the product and are unwilling to accept it. Motivation helps the customers to achieve the goals of purchase.
Traditional customer behavior — Consumers can physically choose and check out what items or products they would like and their features, prices, and availability. The consumer has to leave their homes either walk or take a ride to the stores of their choice to buy what they want.
Online shopping customers have been able to directly buy goods, products, and services from sellers over the internet. They check what items are offered in the online stores and have the items delivered to their doorstep, workplaces, e.t.c. Traditionally products are tangible, instantly delivered at the same time. The customer may consume a lot of time to figure out what they want due to lack of proper information, less variety, and fewer choices for comparison. On the other hand, online shopping saves time searching for information, costs less, and compares the prices and products from any part of the world. Advantages of these customers can feel, touch, and even try the items and products they purchase. In some stores, they may even have the opportunity to get discounts on the things they want to acquire.
In online shopping, customers have various products and items to select from different online stores. From clothes, food, electronics, makeup, toys, and household items. It is easy to access them online since they are readily available. Also, they may have to search for the things they want from one store to another in some cases due to a lack of them locally.
Online Disadvantages
The disadvantage is that there may be insecurity, scammers, hackers, and even in some cases, irrelevant items being delivered. For instance, in a hacked account from the seller to the buyer who has no information about how online shopping works, maybe be lied to and lose their money and items. Also, products may not seem like what is advertised on the website.
Online shopping lacks a sense of touch. They are not tangible buyers may not know if the size, quality, quantity, and even color are exactly what they will receive. Another factor that may cause dissatisfaction is that most online consumers change their purchasing habits, especially when giving their personal and credit card information. Customers buying products online perceive a product as ideal, but the product may differ. It isn't easy to try or test the items before purchase, unlike traditional shopping.
Influencing Customers
In both cases, factors influence customers' behavior, such as the buyer's environment. Examples are buyers living in rural areas are more likely to purchase their product in traditional stores since it's convenient. Also, a lack of online shopping knowledge may be a challenge due to a lack of information on internet shopping.
Limiting Factors
The income of a person may influence their buying pattern. It decides the purchasing power, and thus the more an individual earns, the more likely their expenditure would be. Hence, they choose where to buy their desired commodities online or in traditional stores. Internet access may be another limiting factor for online shoppers, mainly in developing countries.
Social Life
The relationship between culture and consumer behavior is a vital force that profoundly impacts several things in people's lives, from their tastes to their knowledge and fundamental choices. Social lifestyle may contribute to buyer behavior on what product to purchase. Hence, understanding the class according to society, culture, knowledge, and perception towards products can significantly impact online marketing.
An individual's lifestyle also influences their buying behavior. It affects the style of a person's perception of products. For example, people tend to buy those products that advocate their profession and role in society. That is why digital marketers and SEO agencies should focus on cultural societal factors while marketing to diverse populations of consumers.
Doctors versus a Teacher
Buying decisions differ. For example, a doctor differs from that pattern of a teacher. Lifestyle means individuals' interests, values, opinions, and activities that reflect how they live in society. Personal experience also influences buyer decision-making on what, when, and how to buy, how often and where to buy, time, delivery method, and accessibility.
For instance, if a buyer chooses to purchase an item in a traditional store, they have to search for so long before they cannot find it and thus have to settle for what they want. Also, this may lead them to decide on online shopping and vice versa. In this case, the accessibility of the product may change the attitude of the buyer's behavior towards either shopping from a brick-and-mortar store or online.
Gender and Age
Gender and age also influence online and traditional shopping. Customers' buying behavior and preferences change throughout their lifecycle. For instance, younger buyers are more active in buying products online since they are easy, accessible, and fun. But, generations that have grown up with technology will shift more towards online shopping. This can be seen with retail stores closing at an alarming rate.
Gender is another factor. For example, women are fond of shopping. Therefore, online shopping store makes it even more accessible to shopping since they can access most of their required items online from households, clothes, makeup, baby stuff, and gift packs for their loved ones for special occasions such as anniversaries, birthday parties, and other, and have them delivered. According to statistics, men shop fewer than women in the same age brackets. Women between 18–35 years are more likely to shop online, but as online shopping is gaining popularity, the gap increases. On the other hand, a male has fewer items to buy.
Specific Products Sell Better
Online and traditional shopping differs from product to product. For example, daily essentials and apparels tend to conventional shopping due to tangibility and instant delivery. Whereas for some products like electronics goods and books, respondents trend towards online shopping.
It is believed that customers make purchase decisions on the receipt of small selectively chosen pieces of information. Thus, it will be imperative to understand what and how much information the customer requires to help them evaluate the goods and services offerings.
Take Away on Traditional versus Online Customer Behavior
Buying behavior is influenced by the benefits sought and the consumer's social environment. Moreover, consumers are especially receptive to marketing efforts at specific points in the life cycle. The Life Cycle Segmentation is used as, frequently, consumption patterns among people of the same age and gender differences, because they are in different stages of this cycle, which is to be intended as a series of stages, determined by a combination of age, marital status, and the presence or absence of children. To make a practical example, we can say that according to psychological studies, it has been proved that when young married couples move into the early divorced stage, their consumption patterns often revert to those of the earlier single phase of the cycle.
Overall, the internet will only push more online purchases by diverse consumers. As web design companies and developers continue to make the online experience easier and access to the internet becomes widespread, shopping online will become the norm. The COVID-19 pandemic has only provided a catalyst to this norm of shopping.
