Buyers and Online Behaviors

Chapter Three

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Chapter Three Learning Objectives

• To identify the types of buyers who are online and their distinguishing characteristics

• To learn what buyers are doing online

• To identify who is not online and why

• To understand other types of behaviors that occur online and why they interest internet marketers

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Online Buyer Types

On the web marketers can• Reach previously inaccessible buyers

• Make offers 24/7/365

• Sell more products

• Reduce operating costs

• Save transaction time and expense

• Develop new revenue streams

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Online Buyer Types (cont’d)

Buyers are• Personal use consumers

• Enterprises

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Online Buyer Types (cont’d)

Buyers are• B2C - business to consumer

• B2B - business to business

• B2P - business to government, public sector

• C2C - consumer to consumer

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Online Buyer Types (cont’d)

• Difficult to characterize the “average” online consumer

• Changes over time

• Today, they are – Younger, more children and students, slightly

more women than men, growing numbers of ethnic minorities, connecting more from home, more international

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Online Buyer Types (cont’d)

• Enterprises

• Federal, state, local governments

• Colleges and universities

• Hospitals, medical clinics, doctors, health care organizations

• Churches, religious organizations

• Other groups

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What Buyers Are Doing Online

• Communicating

• Seeking information

• Gaming and seeking entertainment

• Purchasing

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Who Is Not Online

• Digital divides between– Those online and not online

– Richer and poorer nations

– Geographic regions, urban and rural areas

– Income groups

– Education levels

– Younger and older consumers

– General U.S. population and Native Americans

• Others are offline by choice

• Consumers with disabilities offline not by choice

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Who Is Not Online (cont’d)

• Others are offline by choice– Technophobes, people who fear loss of privacy or

safety, neo-Luddites

• Consumers with disabilities offline not by choice

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Other Behaviors

• Social isolation

• Addictive and impulse control behaviors

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Other Behaviors (cont’d)

• Complaints

• Anticorporate activism

• Community building

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Current Effects Of The Internet Economy

• Access

• Speed

• Reduced inventory costs

• Reduced supply costs

• Worldwide exposure

• Pricing transparency

• Reduced intermediary costs

• Customer satisfaction

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Current Effects Of The Internet Economy (cont’d)

Tomorrow's internet• Faster and more stable

• More secure

• Virtual reality

• New jobs and occupations

• Wireless

• Speech commands

• Multiple concurrent web access

• Barrier-free