Google Trends as Complementary Tool for New Car Sales Forecasting: A Cross-Country Comparison Along the Customer Journey

Running head: GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
Google Trends as Complementary Tool for New Car Sales Forecasting: A Cross-Country
Comparison along the Customer Journey
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
1
Executive Summary
The objective of the study is to explain the structural framework for the recent study ‘Google
Trends as Complementary Tool for New Car Sales Forecasting: A Cross-Country’. The section is
comprised of different sections and subsections. The paper is aimed at analysing the reasons
behind the consumer preference and taste for goods and services between India and South Korea.
The vast literature work has been done to develop the initial phase of the structural framework.
Thereafter, it discusses the different model frameworks to highlight the differences between the
conceptual ideas of the different authors. It emphasises on the customer oriented study to make
the more approachable for the customer oriented analysis. A number of diagrams have used to
elaborate the conceptual framework of the current study. Finally, it highlights the importance of
the Google Trend Application in the Market of South Korea and India.

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
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Table of Contents
2. Theoretical Framework................................................................................................................3
2.1 Systematic Literature Review...............................................................................................3
2.2 Buying Decision Models.......................................................................................................5
2.2.1 Five-Stage Model of the Buying Process.......................................................................5
2.2.2 The customer Journey.....................................................................................................8
2.3 Cultural Dimensions in India and South Korea................................................................12
2.3.2 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions...................................................................................13
2.3.3 Cultural Differences in India and South Korea............................................................19
2.4 Google Trends Predictions and Forecasting.....................................................................20
2.4.1 Predictions and Forecasting..........................................................................................20
2.4.2 Judgment Forecasting as a Source of Inaccuracies.......................................................23
2.4.3 Google Trends Application Fields................................................................................25
Now- casting and Forecasting with Google trend Trends data......................................................25
Reference list.................................................................................................................................30

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
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2. Theoretical Framework
The chapter illustrates the theoretical framework of the current research paper. It explains
the significance of the literature review to evaluate the research gap. This section is structured
emphasizing on two models, AIDA and Kotler’s Five-Stage Model. The AIDA model deals with
the customer journey, whereas, the Kotler’s model explains the logics behind different consumer
pattern. Afterwards, the paper highlights the influential role of the culture on the consumer
behavior with respect to India and South Korea. The chapter practices the Google Trend
Application to determine the important economic variables on the basis of the internet users. The
consumption pattern of the internet users plays the key role for the Google trend. The final
section highlights the concept of prediction and inference to give the complete view on the
customer journey across the two countries. All the disparities in the consumption pattern are
critically analyzed along with the background information. Moreover, the implications of the
human nature are critically reviewed while proceeding with the Google trend analysis.
2.1 Systematic Literature Review
Literature review is a vital step for the development of a research work. The effectiveness
of the entire research project is deeply associated with the literature studies. It guides the
researcher towards it research objectives. Selection of the proper articles, journals and books are
the key tools to develop a constructive research paper. According to Alvarado-Herrera et al.
(2017), a review process can be categorized into five steps or three steps. However, most of the
research studies prefer to apply five stage model for the detailed coursework. The five step
methodology is interactive and comprehensive in nature. Wolfswinkel (1967) is the developer of

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
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the five stage model. He believes that literature review is subject to the grounded theory method.
The theory is comprised of five different objects. First- find out relevant research papers, second-
selection of relevant literature, third – analysis of the selected literatures, and fourth –
presentation of the study. Finally the fifth option is to enlighten the insight view of the study
including the conclusion.
It has been observed that scarcity of the proper research paper is a huge concern for any
researcher. The literature work is restricted to relevant academic journals, articles or textbooks
available in the last decade. The current paper is focused on discussing the first three aspects of
the five stage model. Meanwhile, the study includes proposed review technique in the support of
the key literature study. For instance, the study does not include the data related to the social
media including Facebook or Instagram while considering the field review developed by the
Google Trends Applications. This technique is followed to narrow down the scope of the
research work as well as volume of the literature papers. Therefore, the researcher needs to
invest comparatively less time on the literature study. Along with that appropriate dataset is
required to precede the research project. The data base EBSCO data, Google Books, Scopus and
Google Scholar. In the field of the research work, Google Scholar plays an important role as it
vividly mentions the author’s name along with the publication. The details introduction of the
research paper helps the researcher to find out the appropriate research material to leverage the
research area. A set of keywords and their combinations are used to select the most useful
research literatures. Most predominant keywords are Google Trend Prediction, Google Trend
Analysis, Customer Journey, Kotler’s Five Stage Model, Cultural Influences on Consumption,
Purchasing decision method, Cultural differences, India, South Korea, Hofstede’s Cultural
Dimension, Forecasting, Web Data Predictions and Predictive Analysis. With the help of these

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
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key search words, the researcher is expected to find out appropriate literature studies. This
research process is the essential task to cite the significant research articles for the current
research paper. The third step is dedicated to select the suitable articles as per the need of the
study. In-texting process is comprised of backward and forward (Bartels & Onwezen, 2014). A
research paper is generally focused on the abstract, introduction and summary portion of every
paper. This provides sufficient idea about the paper. In this way, the research can get an overall
idea of the paper and hence, the analysis is expected to be relatively strong. The role of the
comparative analysis is significant to evaluate the significance of the research project. It explains
how one research study is different from another study. An appropriate differentiation between
the studies raises the importance of the research project. The current literature survey is
developed on a number of scientific articles, books, internet resources and insight resources
available on the online platform.
2.2 Buying Decision Models
2.2.1 Five-Stage Model of the Buying Process
A number of studies have observed that a number of research papers have been
developed to describe the five stage model. Consumer behavior is the key central idea of this
model. Bartels & Onweze (2014) classify the buying decision into five different stages, including
information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchasing strategy and purchasing behavior. This
model is known as Kotler’s Five Stage model. Every stage of the model is assigned to fulfill the
different objectives of the research work. It has been observed that every stages of the model are
interrelated to each other.
Purchasing
behaviour
Purchas
ing
strategy
Find out
alternatives
Search
Information
Problem
Identification

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
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According to Kotler (2012), research problem needs to be recognized at the beginning of
the research project. The model is marked as traditional decision making model. The model leads
the customers to reach their final goals to buy their products and services. The consumers realize
the need of purchasing goods and services step by step. Most of the consumers follow this
strategy to optimize their consumption goals. Meanwhile, the intensity of the choice and
preferences guides the customers to identify the objectives behind product choice. In this regard,
another research theory by Engel, kollet and Blackwell (1968) can be considered as the
fundamental step of the five stage model in order to analyse the consumer behaviour. The model
is comprised of two comprehensive stages. The first stage is dedicated to analyse the impacts of
the marketing tools on the consumer choice. These marketing tools include television, online
social platforms and newspaper. After collection of the data, consumers enter in to the second
stage in the decision making process. This second step analyses the external impacts of the
influencing factors. The information provided by the manufacturers for the customers play the
influencing role underlying the consideration for purchase. Branding of the product is the
important parameter of the second stage. Branding reflects the standard of living of the
consumers.
Meanwhile, the ample information provides data on the alternative goods of the desired
products. It has been observed that substitute goods play significant role in determining the price
of the desired product (Dhandra & Park, 2016). If there are a large number of substitute products
available in the market, the consumer will get sufficient opportunity to transfer its choice of the
products from one good to another good. For example, tea and coffee are the substitute goods. In
this case, the customer will prefer to buy coffee is the price of tea increases. A little change in the
Figure 1: Kotler’s Five Stage Model
Source: (as created by the author)

GOOGLE TRENDS AS COMPLEMENTARY TOOL FOR NEW CAR SALES
FORECASTING: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON ALONG THE CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
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price of the goods brings significant impact on the purchasing amount of the desired products. It
is noticed that closed substitute goods are highly price elastic.
In this regard, some companies offer experimental opportunity to realize the practical
utility of the product. This practical experience genuinely helps the consumers to acknowledge
about the multiple characteristics of the product and services. This inclusion of different sources
of information leverages the buying power of the consumers and reduces the risk factors related
to the products. Contextually, the availability of the large size information builds the strong
brand image for the company (Dwivedi, 2015). This ensures the company’s strong reputation in
the product market and hence, the customers feel confident about purchasing of the desired
product. The initial set of information reveals the key important characteristics of the product.
The next step is counted as the third stage of the Kotler’s model. The latest modification of this
model depicts that the multiple stages of information gathering depends on how a consumer
collects the data. it is a non-singular approach. In this case, the diversity in information is highly
expected.
Therefore, the customers need to wise while taking his purchasing decision for the
product. Both the negative and positive consequences need to be evaluated while finalizing the
buying decision. The buyer should purchase the products when the benefits surpass the negative
consequences related to the consumption of the products (Gupta & Sahu, 2015). The analysis
needs to cover both the upside and downside aspects of the buying decision. Meanwhile, the
consumers often suffer while gathering information in an appropriate way. The post purchase
actions are greatly associated with the pre purchase actions. Keller notes that customer’s level of
involvement is highly appreciable to get a successful outcome from the purchasing decision of