Impact of Online Marketing in Molding Consumer Behaviour

E-commerce has seen a significant development and growth in India, post ‘Liberalisation’ that occurred in the year 1991. Since over the years Indians have taken to online modes of shopping, they have been looking for the convenience of buying with the comfort of being at their homes, along with products being delivered to them at lower costs. The various advantages available to the online consumers has led to a transformation of the brick and mortar businesses to turn towards online business models, hence very evidently, the relevance of online marketing has been significant, post year 2005.

Though it is true that the relevance of online marketing has increased due to consumers ‘online buying’ behaviour and frequency of purchase being made, it is also evident that digital marketing has been responsible in moulding consumer behaviour. The online initiatives through owned, earned and paid media are collectively responsible for moulding a consumer's perspective in terms of recall value, consumer involvement levels as well as purchase decisions about products and services; displayed and sold, online. There are various tools used by online marketers that help in creating a brand recall for a consumer. Such tools include the use of earned, owned and paid media. Owned media is the brand website-which is used for showcasing the various products online. Earned media is the tool that uses social media; where the initiatives are taken for engagement of consumers, online and direct interaction with them for creating a buzz about the products, offers as well as the promotion of any landmark achieved by any brand. The Paid media is the tool where there is creation of online advertisements, in the form of banners, videos as well as promoted posts on social media that are used in the circulation and are then influencing the minds of the consumers. These are thereby collectively making it a reason for the consumers to make up their minds for a particular brand or deciding on the purchase of products belonging to these brands. There are several ways how the marketers have tried to reach the audience on the digital platform. They have created many modes of reaching out to them via internet. The main gadgets used by consumers are desktops/laptops, mobile phones (smart phone/feature phone), tablets.

This study is aimed towards having a wholesome view of the change in consumer behaviour, as a consequence of initiatives taken online-in order to increase online consumer engagement, consumer traffic as well as conversions being made through such initiatives, as well.

There are various kinds of initiatives taken online that create awareness about the products. The initiatives most definitely begin through owned media-where websites are attractively decorated and details are carefully placed, in order to make them appealing for the consumers and also to let them have ease in purchasing products. This step is then followed by earned media-which is about social media creating a buzz on Facebook/Twitter or LinkedIn and other networks where a consumer spends maximum time in a day. The last is the paid media where the advertisements are created for the purpose of online marketing and creating awareness of events. The researchers have worked towards knowing the various ways in which consumers get influenced and are motivated to go ahead and participate in the online engagement and ultimately go on to make a purchase.