Internet Marketing and an Impact on Buying Behaviour of Teenagers - Personal Statement Example

Internet Marketing and an Impact on Buying Behaviour of Teenagers Introduction Internet marketing and e-commerce activities are growing rapidly in the current business world. Internet is a place where most of the current teenagers assemble for different activities. Internet marketers know the interests of teenagers in Internet related activities and they often put attractive marketing ads in front of the teenagers using the services of popular Internet websites. For example, social networking websites as orkut, myspace, facebook, etc. are extensively used by the Internet marketers to catch the attraction of the teenage community. This paper briefly analyses the impact of Internet marketing activities on the buying behaviours of teenage community taking the Internet marketing and the buying behaviours of the teenage community as two separate variables. Internet marketing Page, K., & Uncles, M (2004) define Internet marketing as a marketing strategy adopted by many entrepreneurs to reach out their customers through Internet with an organized plan and a smart marketing campaign. The author argues that the online market is growing at a rapid pace compared to the retail market, so that anyone with the need to make money select Internet as his first choice. As per the statistics available, in the fourth quarter of 2005, US retail ecommerce sales totalled $26.5 billion with an increase of 27.5% just from the third quarter of 2005. At the same time millions of people are exploring opportunities in Internet that made the competition stiff in online marketing. The author put forward two things; an effective plan and a aggressive marketing for success in Internet marketing. He has pointed out that a website without planning and the identification of target market will definitely end in failure whereas in-depth planning will increase the chances of success more. The author also argued that even amidst the stiff competition, the future of the Internet marketing is bright (Hartman, J. B., Gehrt, K., & Watchravesringkan, K., 2004). Mick, D.G., & Fournier, S (1998) defines Internet marketing as a marketing campaign with the help of the traditional offline marketing methods. Apart from the offline marketing strategies he has pointed out other methods such as site optimization, linking and indexing, implementing online marketing partnerships with high-profile online businesses, paid keyword advertising, etc. as the successful strategies for Internet marketing. Buying behaviours of the teenage community Lenhart, A., Rainie, L., & Lewis, O (2001) reflects on buying behaviours of the teenage community in terms of their attitude toward appearance. They argued that the marketers should make advertisements to target “jockettes” (young women who have active life styles) and “young metrosexuals”(young men focussed on their outward appearances) in order to convince the teen community. Gender and brands can influence the buying habits of teens according to the author. Park, C., & Jun, J.K (2003) summarizes buying behaviors of teenagers with respect to the cool looking technology and customizations of products are essential for attracting teen customers. Personalization, style and functionality are the major features of a product which influence the teen community. Impact of Internet marketing on buying behaviour of teenagers The online purchasing behaviour of teens for goods like books, apparels, dining, music, practices are around half of the teenage consumers that has risen significantly from the 31 percentage of statistical from the result December, 2000 (Park, C., & Jun, J.K., 2003). Teens are the major segment of Internet visitors. This is not easy to convince the teen community with conventional methods of marketing. A business plan and marketing strategies is essential for canvassing the teen community through Internet marketing. The size of the Internet market is growing at a rapid pace that shows that the teen community is actively participating in Internet purchasing. Online purchasing power of teenage section is large in current market that is supposed to follow the rising curve over the years as projected by E-retailers. An optimized site and online marketing partnerships can increase teenager’s Internet purchasing. For example, social networking sites are popular among teenagers nowadays. Marketing ads displayed in such websites like Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, etc. can boost the Internet sales. For that purpose effective partnerships are required among the e-commerce entrepreneurs. “Jockettes” (young women who have active life styles) and “young metrosexuals”(young men focussed on their outward appearances) are keener in searching for rare cosmetic products, clothes, footwear, ornaments, etc with the help of Internet. This is possible to purchase a product from China staying in America using Internet and credit card. The teen community use the Internet for identifying the fashion trends in the external world and they will use Internet for their purchasing requirements form external world (Childers, T. L., Carr, C., Peck, J., & Carson, S., 2001). Cool looking technology, customization of products, style and functionality, etc. are the major entities that can attract the teenage community. Teenage community always looks for unique products. They are not much interested in traditional products used by most of the people in the world. Style and functionality can attract the teenagers more than anybody else. Adolescence is a period in which the attraction toward the opposite sex is at the higher level. To catch the attention of the opposite sex teenagers adopt all possible means and customization of products or uniqueness of products are essential for catching the attention of them. Conclusions Internet marketing definitely has positive impact on the buying behaviours of the teenage community. Teenagers are frequent visitors of Internet and they often more interested in buying unique products. They are more fashion savvy compared to others and keener in knowing more about the products in the external world. Suitable marketing strategies can improve the Internet purchasing from teenage community. References 1. Page, K., & Uncles, M. (2004). Consumer knowledge of the World Wide Web: Conceptualization and measurement. Psychology & Marketing, 21(8), 573–591. 2. Childers, T. L., Carr, C., Peck, J., & Carson, S. (2001). Hedonic and utilitarian motivations for online retail shopping behavior. Journal of Retailing, 77(4), 511–535. 3. Hartman, J. B., Gehrt, K., & Watchravesringkan, K. (2004). Reexamination of the concept of innovativeness in the context of the adolescent segment. Journal of Targeting, Measurement, and Analysis for Marketing, 12(4), 353–365. 4. Lenhart, A., Rainie, L., & Lewis, O. (2001).Teenage life online.Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project. 5. Mick,D.G., & Fournier, S. (1998). Paradoxes of technology: Consumer cognizance, emotions, and coping strategies. Journal of Consumer Research, 25, 123–143. 6. Park, C., & Jun, J.K. (2003). A cross-cultural comparison of Internet buying behaviour: Effects of Internet usage, perceived risks, and innovativeness. Journal of International Marketing Review, 20, 534 – 553, MCB UP Ltd Read More