Background of the Study
Digital marketing portrays that specific mode of adverting which is delivered through any established digital channels like social media, search engines, email, mobile apps, websites and many more (Khatri 2021). On the other hand, consumer psychology refers to the customs preferences and habits of the customers which drives them to buy any specific good or service. Lastly, purchasing decisions refers to the thought which forces any single consumer to buy any specific item or service. The aim of this research study is to identify the role and impact of digital marketing as a whole on the consumer psychology and the purchasing decisions of the UK consumers.
The research problem lies on the fact that there have been no prior research studies conducted on the very field of research especially considering the impact of digital marketing on two dependent variables of “consumer psychology” and “purchasing decisions” at the same time that too on the UK consumers. So, the particular research study is being conducted to bridge the identified gap to the literature base.
The aim of this research study is to ascertain the role and impact of digital marketing as a whole on the consumer psychology and the purchasing decisions of the UK consumers. The objectives of this study are as follows:
- To ascertain the impact of digital marketing on consumer psychology.
- To investigate into the impact of digital marketing on purchasing decisions concerning UK consumers.
- To ascertain the acceptance rate of digital marketing techniques by UK consumers.
The research questions which will be specifically framed for this research study are as follows:
- What is the impact of digital marketing on consumer psychology?
- What is the impact of digital marketing on purchasing decisions concerning UK consumers?
- What is the acceptance rate of digital marketing techniques by UK consumers?
The research hypothesis which has been framed to conduct the study upon are as follows:
- H01: Digital marketing does not have a positive impact on the consumer psychology.
- H1: Digital marketing have a positive impact on the consumer psychology.
- H02: Digital marketing does not have a positive impact on the purchasing decisions made by the UK consumers.
- H2: Digital marketing have a positive impact on the purchasing decisions made by the UK consumers.
- H03: Digital marketing techniques is not highly favoured and accepted by the UK consumers.
- H3: Digital marketing techniques is highly favoured and accepted by the UK consumers.
The entire research study that is the dissertation for which the proposal is being developed will be having five primary chapters. The first chapter will contain the introduction on the research paper. The second chapter will be having the literature review on the already available literature concerning the topic. The third chapter that is the “Research methodology” will be illustrating how the study will be conducted using what resources and tools. The fourth chapter will be discussing the primary results of the study after a thorough analysis and also will be discussing such results in details. The last chapter will be drawing a holistic conclusion based on the research results and finally would be recommending any improvements to be made in future studies conducted on similar topics or study area.
Digital marketing refers to the process involved in reaching and attracting customers through Several Digital Platforms such as social media, email, search engines and mobile apps
(Mothersbaugh et al. 2020). The digital marketing has recently transformed the methods adopted by the businesses to attract large number of customers. It enables the business to connect with the potential customers when they are online. It enables the entities to reach global market and attract customers from all over the world. It offers several advantages as it allows the business to reach its customers in the cost -effective and measurable way (Kingsnorth 2019). It further helps in increasing the online sales and brand loyalty (Nabieva 2021). Several researchers have studied the impact of digital marketing on the customer behavior pattern.
Research Problem and Rationale
The study carried out by Alghizzawi, (2019), focuses on the role of digital marketing in consumer behavior. The author reviews the published research on the above specified topic. The paper identifies the three dimensions of digital marketing that affects the consumer behavior including the social media platforms, mobile applications and the electronic word of mouth. The paper indicates the importance of digital communication in the tourism sector, explaining the changes in consumer behavior in tourist markets. The paper concludes that the social media platforms, eWOM and mobile technologies has become a part of everyone’s life and is a great way for attracting large group of customers. The paper also reveals that the digital surveillance has influences the tourist’s behavior and the usage of mobile applications and social media platforms.
Bala and Verma (2018) has critically reviewed the importance of digital marketing in the current business scenarios. It offers view on the current and future trends in the field of marketing. The paper is highly based on secondary data comprising of various researches, newspapers, magazines, reports, several websites and the information available from different internet sources. The paper acknowledges that the business can really benefit themselves through digital marketing such as content marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, campaign marketing, commerce marketing, e-mail direct marketing, optical disks, influencer marketing, display advertising, and games are becoming more common in the field of marketing. Nowadays, most of the adults spare their free time on internet and social media platform, which serves as an incentive to use the digital marketing platforms. The paper further argues that the digital marketing is cost effective and poses a significant commercial impact on the sales of the business. The online presence also enables the business to understand the need of the customers. It is essential for the business management to be aware of the customer motives as it gives a deeper understanding of what influences the customers. The paper concludes that the digital marketing would be more efficient when the businesses know about which social media sites is utilized by the target market.
According to Pal and Shukla (2020), the purchasing behavior of the buyer keeps on changing at a quicker rate. The paper also concludes that the computerized promotion has presented numerous difficulties to develop creative method of selling. The paper identifies that electronic and web innovations are changing the income streams, plans of action, flexible chains and client bases. The paper analyzed the behavior of the customers who buy the product through online channels such as taste messaging, search engine, e-commerce applications and so on. The purchasing pattern of the customers have been digitalized due to the advancement of the innovative conditions (Mahalaxmi and Rajnith 2016). Most of the youngsters prefer purchasing of products through online sales platform (Dar and Tariq 2021). The paper concludes that the behavior of the customers are in favor of digital market which is eventually good for the sellers. The digital market has been able to cover the broader area at the minimum time. The use of digital marketing is increasing and has the great potential to enter and attract new market for the businesses. This research is limited in the sense that it was based on the response given by the respondents, however, it does not focus on a particular brand or service.
Research Aims And Objectives
Khatri (2021) studies the role of artificial intelligence in transforming the consumer behavior. The paper highlights the role of digital marketing along with the changes in the modern technology while considering the changes in the trends and consumer preferences. The paper argues that AI has combined with the digital marketing to utilize machine learning, Big Data Analysis and the customer insights of the specific sector. The paper further states that the businesses are utilizing the AI for developing effective marketing strategies while reflecting the change in the consumer behavior pattern.
According to Durai and King (2015), states that the increase in the usage of internet has paved a way for digital marketing. The paper concludes that there exist huge opportunities for growth in the digital marketing. It also argues that the consumer needs and its structure are changing due to the impact of digital marketing along with the customer desires. The paper further concludes that the factors which are the constituents of digital marketing include marketing factors, functionality factors, service factors and consumer expectation factors.
The literature review suggests that the research in the field of digital marketing is increasing day be day. Several researches that are relevant to the topic are discussed and analyzed above. However, it has been observed that there was literature gap as no previous research has been conducted with the three variables that are used in this paper. The variables that are used in this paper include the digital marketing, consumer psychology or behavior pattern, and the purchase decision. This paper is focused on evaluating the role of digital marketing on the psychology of the consumer and their purchasing decision. However, previous researches have indicated that the development of digital technology in marketing has brought rapid change in the consumer behavior pattern.
The aim of this chapter is to identify the research methods and techniques through which the data to be needed for the study will be collected, analysed and interpreted through the study to fulfil the research aims and objectives.
Research philosophy which will be adopted here in this study is “Interpretivist philosophy (Snyder 2019).” This is because the study will make use of the knowledge, skills and expertise of the primary respondents along with the analytical skills of the researcher in analysing the quantitative results obtained through conduction of the primary survey which is desired under the “Interpretivist” research philosophy.
The research approach which will be used here for this study is “Deductive” approach. This is because the research hypothesis has been developed in the beginning of the study and later such hypothesis will be tested against the quantitative primary data collected through the course of the study thereby reaching the ultimate conclusion which is desired under the deductive research approach.
The research design which would be adopted for this specific research study is “Exploratory” research design (Ørngreen and Levinsen 2017). This is because the primary aim of this research study is to explore the role and impact of digital marketing as a whole on the consumer psychology and the purchasing decisions of the UK consumers.
The data collection plan illustrates how the data to be needed for the study will be collected and assimilated. It is to be specifically noted that the data which will be used for this study will be primary in nature. The data hence will be predominantly collected through the primary data collection technique that is through “Survey (Pandey and Pandey 2021).” The survey will be conducted on 50 respondents out of a total population of 100 people residing in UK. The respondent selection will be only done with the assistance of “Simple Random Sampling” method where a total respondent of 50 will be randomly selected from the population of 100. The respondents will be the users of any product residing within the country whose responses will be captured and analysed through the research using a statistical data analysis tool, the IBM SPSS.
The ethical considerations that the researcher will be abiding by firstly include that no primary respondent would be coerced for obtaining the primary data where due permission will be taken before hand from the respondents (Snyder 2019). Secondly, all secondary data to be used in the study would be properly referenced.
References and Bibliography
Alghizzawi, M., 2019. The role of digital marketing in consumer behavior: A survey. Int. J. Inf. Technol. Lang. Stud, 3(1), pp.24-31.
Bala, M. and Verma, D., 2018. A critical review of digital marketing. M. Bala, D. Verma (2018). A Critical Review of Digital Marketing. International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering, 8(10), pp.321-339.
Dar, T.M. and Tariq, N., 2021. Footprints of Digital Marketing on Customers’ Purchase Decision. Electronic Research Journal of Social Sciences and humanities, 3, pp.20-30.
Durai, T. and King, R., 2019. Impact of Digital Marketing on the growth of consumerism. Available at SSRN 3344421.
Khatri, M., 2021. How Digital Marketing along with Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Consumer Behaviour. International Journal for Research in Applied.
Kingsnorth, S., 2019. Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online marketing. Kogan Page Publishers.
Mahalaxmi, K.R. and Ranjith, P., 2016. A study on impact of digital marketing in customer purchase decision in Trichy. International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology, 2(10), pp.332-338.
Nabieva, N.M., 2021. Digital marketing: current trends in development. Theoretical & Applied Science, (2), pp.333-340.
Ørngreen, R. and Levinsen, K., 2017. Workshops as a Research Methodology. Electronic Journal of E-learning, 15(1), pp.70-81.
Pal, A.K. and Shukla, B., 2020. Impact of Digital Marketing on Consumer Buying Behaviour. Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 3(11), pp.209-220.
Pandey, P. and Pandey, M.M., 2021. Research methodology tools and techniques. Bridge Center.
Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of business research, 104, pp.333-339.