Effectiveness of online advertising on customer purchase intentions: Morrison's Case

Effectiveness of online advertising on customer
purchase intentions: Morrison's Case

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................7
1.1 Background of the Study.......................................................................................................7
1.2 Rationale of the Study............................................................................................................8
1.3 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................8
1.4 Aim and Objectives................................................................................................................9
1.5 Research Questions................................................................................................................9
1.7 Structure of Dissertation......................................................................................................10
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................12
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................12
2.2 Advertising...........................................................................................................................12
2.3 Strategies of Online advertising and its Significance..........................................................13
2.4 Consumer buying behavior..................................................................................................18
2.5 Impact of online advertisement on consumer buying behavior...........................................19
2.7 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................21
Chapter 3: Research Methodology.................................................................................................22
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................22
3.2 Research Paradigm...............................................................................................................22
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................22
3.4 Research Purpose.................................................................................................................23
3.5 Research Strategy.................................................................................................................23
3.6 Data Collection Methods.....................................................................................................24
3.7 Sample Selection..................................................................................................................25
3.8 Data Analysis plan...............................................................................................................25
3.9 Ethical Consideration...........................................................................................................26

3.10 Limitations of the Research...............................................................................................27
Chapter 4: Results, Analysis & Disscussion..................................................................................28
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................28
4.2 Hypothesis............................................................................................................................28
4.3 Customer perception towards online advertising.................................................................28
4.3.1 Demographic.....................................................................................................................28
4.3.2 Perception of respondents towards Online Advertising and Shopping............................32
4.3.2 Interpretation.....................................................................................................................37
4.3.3 Customer perception towards Morrison’s advertising and products................................38
4.3.3 Interpretation.....................................................................................................................42
4.3.4 Descriptive Analysis.........................................................................................................43
4.3.4 Interpretation.....................................................................................................................44
4.3.5 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................45
4.4 Store managers perception towards online advertising.......................................................48
4.4.1 Frequency table.................................................................................................................49
4.4.2 Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................52
4.5 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................54
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation................................................................................55
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................55
5.2 Recommendation.................................................................................................................57
Reflective statement.......................................................................................................................59
References......................................................................................................................................60

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Title: “To evaluate the effectiveness of online advertising on customer purchase
intentions: A case of Morrison plc”.
1.1 Background of the Study
In the present era where competition in every sector is hampering the functioning of
business enterprises, it has become essential for the firms to carry out effective strategies so that
desired results and outcomes can be generated. In this regard, advertising is considered as one of
the most significant tools for making business operations successful. However, it is one of the
major keys to open the door of contemporary corporate market (Aaker, 2006). Every company
irrespective to its sector is making huge investment on advertising its products and services so
that they can promote their offerings in an effective manner and generating higher demand. In
general terms, advertising is the medium through the means of which company can spread the
messages to its target audience by spending adequate funds. However, it is the means of creating
communication platform between company and customers. Advertisement is also taken as a very
strong strategy of promoting products and services that are offered by an organization to gain
attention from customers and targeted groups and sometimes used just to remind customers mind
about the products (Smith, Meurs and Neijens, 2006).
Operating in one of the most competitive environments of retail sector, it is important for
the senior authority of Morrison plc to use advertising as the major tool for promoting or
marketing its wide range of offerings so that customers can be influenced for buying the
commodities. For the current dissertation, Morrison plc has been selected which is the fourth
largest chain of supermarkets in UK. Operating in retailing industry, Morrison has to face
mammoth amount of pressure from its competitors. Thus, this research is based on UK’s retail
industry mainly on Morrison supermarket and its online advertisement and study of the way in
which it is affecting the consumer’s buying intentions. Also, the study of range of competitors
that are using same kinds of strategies of online platform for advertisement is covered in this
research. Moreover, this study tries to explore positive and negative effects of advertisement on
business and also on purchase intention of customers. Furthermore, present study focuses on
evaluating the effectiveness of online advertising or the contemporary advertising on customer
purchase intention with regard to Morrison offerings. With changing trends, it has become vital
for companies especially in retail sector to indulge new approaches and methods for marketing
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and promoting their products so that purchase intention of target audience can be influenced in
the favor of company’s offerings.
1.2 Rationale of the Study
As illustrated above, changing environment and trends has affected the functioning of
several businesses. However, it is important for the senior authorities to ensure that they employ
suitable strategies and tactics which lead in generating effective results and outcomes. Looking at
the present market condition of retail industry in UK and around the globe, it has become
significant for companies that are operating in it to ensure an effective marketing and
promotional strategies. In this regard, online advertising is one of the most significant tools for
promoting the products especially when there is wide range of substitutes or alternative
commodities available. The main purpose of researcher behind carrying out this study is to
understand the extent to which online advertising effectively influencing the customer purchase
intention. However, incidentally, the traditional form of advertising such as television and print
media are failing to deliver the message to customers in an effective and efficient manner.
Sometimes, too much repetition in the message creates monotony in the mind of consumers.
Further, the new generation is shifting its interest towards retail food product as it provides
readily available authentic information about the offering (Brettel and Attig, 2010). Further,
online marketing also allows the scope of interaction with different customers through different
social media which sometimes influence the behaviour of consumers.
The study aims to analyse the impact of online advertisement on customer's purchase
decisions and reason behind selecting this particular research topic is increasing frequency of
online purchase of goods and services. The study has been carried out so as t identify the
effectiveness of online advertisement and its contribution in growth of retail business. All the
retail entities in UK marketplace have started selling the goods through online sources and this is
another imperative reason to find out the effectiveness of online advertisement. Customer intends
to purchase goods from online services because they consider the source convenient enough to
purchase variety of products. Online advertisement also reflects that retail industry is concerned
towards technological innovations. Further, customer purchase products from online sources
when they find the services highly valuable and different as compared to the competitors. As
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compared to other retail entities, Morrison's have also entered into online marketing because that
allows the business entity to persuade more customers towards business services.
1.3 Problem Statement
In the current research, investigator focuses on developing suitable understanding
regarding the use of online advertising in influencing the purchase intention of customers. In
traditional advertising, repetitive marketing with similar type of information sometimes creates a
lot of distraction in the mind of consumers. Instead of choosing a particular product, consumers
become confused with the message delivered by the organization. Despite of huge investment in
the promotional campaign, Morrison plc is facing similar type of problem. Somehow, the brand
awareness and market penetration gets stuck despite of such a heavy investment. Thus,
organization is losing its market share and sales as compared to its competitors. Thus, through
the means of present study, researcher will illustrate the significance of online advertising for
attracting large number of customers as well as for influencing them to buy the products.
1.4 Aim and Objectives
Aim:
Main aim of present research is to evaluate the positive and negative impacts of
advertisement from a company which are delivered to customers and the response given by them
and the behaviour and perception of consumers towards the product based on advertisement.
Objectives:
In order to achieve the above defined aim, it is important for the investigator to develop
various small objectives that will lead to understand different aspects of the selected topic.
However, objective of this research is to study the impact or effectiveness of advertisement that
is delivered through various mediums and also, the buying behaviour or purchase intention of
consumers depending on the advertisement of product. Followings are the main objectives of
current study:
 To study various mediums of delivering and producing advertisement, including online
and offline.
 To identify the impact of online advertisement on customer's purchase decisions.
 To evaluate the relationship of online marketing with company's sales and profitability.
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