Impact of Internet on Consumer Buying Behaviour in UK Fashion Industry

Global Marketing
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Contents
.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..............................................................................................................3
.CHAPTER.1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................4
.Research Aim .......................................................................................................................7
.Research Objectives .............................................................................................................7
Research Questions ...............................................................................................................7
Rationale of the research........................................................................................................7
Outline of the methodology....................................................................................................8
Structure of the dissertation....................................................................................................9
.CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................10
.What is the influence of internet on consumer buying behaviour?.....................................10
.What are the advantages of internet in changing buying behaviour for fashion retailers?. 13
.What are the methods for using internet to influence buying behaviour?...........................15
.What are the challenges of adopting to changing buying behaviour of consumers?..........18
.CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ................................................23
.CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS ...................................................................................30
.CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................44
Conclusion............................................................................................................................44
Recommendation..................................................................................................................44
.REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................47
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.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful and grateful for the support and help provided by my supervisor who made
possible the completion of work. The advice and guidance of my supervisor motivated me to
pass through all the stages of the current investigation. I am thankful that they have helped me
with forming research aim and objectives, going with my draft copies and assisting me with the
issues in the study. They have also assisted me with the right source for the collection of
appropriate data to meet the investigation's aim and objectives.
I would like to give special thanks to my family and friends for their continuous support
and understanding the significance of completing the study with great concentration.
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Title: A critical analysis to evaluate the role of internet in changing buying behaviour of
customers within UK fashion sector. Secondary Analysis.
.CHAPTER.1: INTRODUCTION
Buying behaviour of consumer refers to the decisions and actions taking by the consumer
before for choosing a specific product or service. The buying be beautiful consumer is dependent
on various factors include wide range of decisions such as comparing prices between competitors
and looking at the features of the product to decide if the specific product or service is worth
purchasing. Understanding buying behaviour of the consumers is important because it helps the
company create a specific marketing strategy which is able to influence the buying behaviour of
the consumer in order to increase the sales of the product. Businesses focus on identifying
patterns of buying behaviour so that they are able to predict the decisions taken by the consumer
when purchasing a specific product and understand the mind-set of the consumer. This helps the
company create marketing and sales strategies which is able to persuade consumers into
purchasing the products of the company and retaining the consumer for a longer time. In the
current digital age integrating Internet tools in overall marketing strategy of the firm is essential
to remain competitive.
This is because buying behaviour of consumers is affected by various Internet tools and
the power of Internet is extended to local as well as international markets. Currently it is more
common that businesses and consumers interact through Internet channels instead of physical
communication or interacting through physical outlets of the company. This trend showcases the
power of the Internet in influencing and shaping consumer behaviour and buying decisions. The
buying behaviour of consumer in the recent years is being affected because of the wide spread
usage of internet. Every consumer in the current age has internet facility which affects their
ability to make decisions in regard to purchasing specific product or service. This is because they
are able to use the huge amount of data present in the internet to assist their shopping decisions.
In addition to this consumers also have to make the decision of selecting a specific distribution
channel to purchase their product because of the internet. This is because internet has introduced
new distribution channel though which consumers can purchase specific product or service.
Email, social media account and official website are some of the options available to consumers
through which they are able to place orders for a specific product or service.
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Consumers utilize the Internet an online journals to gain more information about the
product and understand the ways in which competing products are performing in comparison to
the features offer specific product or service so that the most suitable product or service
according to the budget and needs of the consumers can be purchased. In this way influence of
internet has replaced physical shopping and going to the outlet of the company or reading
advertisements of a specific product or service on newspaper or watching it on television.
Nowadays consumers prefer online sources and the Internet more trustworthy to gain
information and make decisions about purchasing a specific product quickly. This is specifically
true in context of the fashion industry as consumers add rapidly shifting towards online channels
to order or make decisions about their specific fashion products or accessories. consumers
interact with fashion related content on various online channels on a daily basis which may be
related to a specific brand or is an organic interaction between two Internet users associated with
fashion products. this shapes the view of consumers regarding specific fashion items and
clothing lines and plays an important role in influencing the buying behaviour of the consumer.
In addition to this online but using journey also influences consumer behaviour as for that
if results while purchasing clothes online lead to increasing online fashion sale while negative
experiences reduce affinity of the consumer towards online shopping. These factors in ability of
businesses in the fashion retail industry and their ability to compete with international
ecommerce platforms who offered consumers wide range of fashion products through online
channels such as Amazon or boohoo. This is an important time for traditional fashion retailers in
United Kingdom as they need to develop their knowledge on the role of Internet on influencing
the mind-set of the consumers so that they are able to it’s just their sales and marketing
capabilities to attract increased online sales end seize large market share of the fashion retail
industry in United Kingdom.
This research focuses on understanding the influence and role of Internet in changing
consumer buying behaviour in context of the fashion industry of United Kingdom. The fashion
industry is affected by the Internet because the Internet trends related to fashion products and
accessories play an important role in popularizing specific clothing line or fashion products.
Completing a research on the impact of Internet on buying behaviour of consumers is significant
because it helps retailers in the fashion industry understand the ways in which the marketing and
sales strategy can be adopted to include Internet tools such as social media to influence consumer
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buying behaviour positively. Understanding the impact of Internet on consumer buying
behaviour in context to the fashion industry can also help determine the ways through which
consumer buying behaviour patterns can predicted so that future fashion trends can be estimated
more accurately. Estimation of future trends in fashion by understanding the role of Internet in
buying behaviour of consumers is significant in gaining competitive advantage in the fashion
retail industry.
This research will highlight the advantages of changing buying behaviour caused by the
Internet so that fashion retailers in United Kingdom are able to effectively utilize various Internet
tools to remain industry leaders for a long time. The fashion retail industry has already adopted
many online tools and many industry leaders in the fashion retail sector of United Kingdom have
initiated digital transformation in order to survive in the fashion retail sector for a longer time.
This fast adoption of digital technology in the fashion retail sector will continue to increase as
more and more online and e-commerce retailers enter the fashion industry in United Kingdom
increasing the competition for online sales.
It is important to understand the role of the Internet or buying behaviour of the
consumers in context of fashion products so that traditional retail organizations are able to
prepare for the changing landscape of the UK fashion retail industry and maintain competition
with emerging E commerce fashion retailers. In this context this research is significant as it helps
retail businesses with traditional structures understand the ways in which they can adopt online
marketing tools as well as Internet technology to influence buying behaviour of consumers and
increase their online sales to fit in with the changing environment of the retail industry. In
addition to this the challenges associated with utilizing Internet for influencing consumer buying
behaviour is another important area of this investigation as it will help retail business is in the
fashion industry deal with the barriers associated with digitizing their company and catering to
changing consumer behaviour caused by the Internet.
This investigation conducts secondary analysis on the UK fashion retail industry to
clearly examine the effect of internet on consumer behaviour. The UK fashion industry includes
both high fashion retail businesses and fast fashion retailers. Recently the UK fashion industry is
seeing rise in e-commerce fast fashion retailers. The fashion and textile industry in England,
Wales and Scotland employs 500,000 people, made up of 88,000 employed in manufacturing,
62,000 in wholesale, and 413,000 in retail (About the UK fashion and textiles industry, 2022).
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This numerical data showcases the huge size of the UK fashion industry which makes significant
contribution to the growth of the UK economy. Apart from domestic influencer many brands in
the UK fashion industry also have international demand and influence on the global fashion retail
industry which makes the UK fashion sector a leading source of fashion trends. Some of the
internationally famous brands from UK fashion industry are Stella McCartney and Victoria
Beckham. In case of UK fast fashion, Marks and Spencer has influence in international markets.
The current changes in consumer behaviour because of the internet need to be evaluated in order
to determine suitable business strategies and practices for UK fashion industry members which
can help them gain leadership position and increase market share in UK fashion industry.
.Research Aim
The aim of the research is to “evaluate the impact of internet in changing consumer
buying behaviour in the UK fashion industry”. Secondary Analysis
.Research Objectives
 To understand the influence of internet on consumer buying behaviour.
 To evaluate the advantages of internet in changing buying behaviour for fashion retailers.
 To critically analyse the challenges of adopting to changing buying behaviour of consumers.
 To examine the methods for using internet to influence buying behaviour
Research Questions
 What is the influence of internet on consumer buying behaviour?
 What are the advantages of internet in changing buying behaviour for fashion retailers?
 What are the challenges of adopting to changing buying behaviour of consumers?
 What are the methods for using internet to influence buying behaviour?
Rationale of the research
The main motive of conducting the present study is to carry out detailed data about the
significance of internet over changing consumer buying behaviour. In this modern world,
majority of population is dependent over internet for their education purpose, shopping,
entertainment and so on (Kazancoglu and Aydin, 2018). Retailers are also taking advantage of
this opportunity and focuses on influencing buying behaviour of the customers. Fashion retailers
are now dependent over internet because it is providing them way to reach global customers in
the short period of time. With the help of internet, fashion retailers are also taking great
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advantage of Instagram, YouTube, Facebook etc. because these are the social media platforms in
which people of every age-group are present. So, they are using methods through which they can
easily grab the attention of customers and also move forward to gain attention of the competitor's
products. Therefore, the current study will carry out in-depth information about how fashion
retailers use internet to influence the buying behaviour of their existing and potential customers.
It is identified that an organisation is able to influence their customers to increase their spending
with the help of internet. So, this report will also assemble the benefits which are gained by the
organisation with the adoption of internet and how they approach several customers. It also
includes the methods used under internet and social media for attracting customers to buy from
the brands. Along with this investigator will also focus over achieving two significant objectives
which are: personal and professional objective (Kanakaratne, Bray and Robson, 2020). In
respect of personal perspective, researcher will come to know about the behaviour and attitude of
the people. They will understand how behaviour of an individual gets changed when they get
what they needed. Investigator will also gain knowledge about the model of Saunders research
onion. It will help researcher to improve their information collection skill as well as writing skill
of those collected information. On the other hand, investigator will also learn about the need of
internet for businesses in the current competitive world. This report will suggest researcher about
how large scale fashion retail companies use internet to influence the buying behaviour of
customers. Thus, this knowledge will assist researcher when they will be working as marketing
manager in a retail firm. Therefore, this research is very useful for the researcher as it assists in
the attainment of personal as well as professional objectives. This also highlights how necessary
an internet has become for fashion retail companies.
Outline of the methodology
In the current study, researcher will focus over collecting qualitative piece of information
because this kind of information helps in identifying the concept and framework of the whole
topic. Secondary sources have assisted in carrying out information in short duration of time. The
sources considered in the current study are: books, journals, articles, publications, newspapers,
magazines and so on. With the assistance of theoretical data, researcher will gather in-depth
information about the whole topic so that proper discussion could be made and relevant
conclusion can be included. Therefore, the current study will be depending upon qualitative and
secondary information for achieving the current study's aim and objectives.
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