Role of Website Navigation and Appearance in Influencing Customer's Purchase Decision: A Case Study of H&M

This research proposal aims to understand the role of website navigation and appearance in influencing customer's purchase decision, using H&M as a case study. The study will analyze the importance of website development, evaluate different features influencing purchasing decisions, and identify the importance of website interface, navigation, and design.

ASSIGNMENT 2: RESEARCH DESIGN
PROPOSAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESEARCH TITLE...................................................................................................................1
Research Question..................................................................................................................1
Research Objectives................................................................................................................1
Background of the study.........................................................................................................1
Rationale of the study.............................................................................................................2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES............................................................................................3
Research Approach.................................................................................................................3
Research Philosophy...............................................................................................................3
Research Design.....................................................................................................................4
Data Collection.......................................................................................................................4
Data Analysis..........................................................................................................................5
Ethical considerations.............................................................................................................6
Validity and reliability............................................................................................................6
GANTT CHART........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................9

RESEARCH TITLE
To understand the role of website navigation and appearance in influencing customer’s
purchase decision: the case study of H&M
Research Question
How website navigation and appearance affects the purchase decision of customers towards
H&M?
Research Objectives
 To analyse the increasing importance of website development for organizations.
 To evaluate different features of website influencing the purchasing decision of
customers.
 To identify the importance website interface, navigation as well as designing in order to
attract more number of customers.
Background of the study
Nowadays people are becoming highly conscious about online shopping and majority of
them are looking for best options. However, due to the availability of wide range of options
people are becoming so specific. An organization working online requires having more attractive
features through which they are able to attract more number of customers.
According to Bai, Law and Wen (2008) converting online visitors into buyers are
becoming one of the most difficult tasks for organizations. It is becoming highly essential for
organizations to attract more number of customers by providing them quality services (Bai, Law
and Wen, 2008). Consumers often behave in certain ways through which they can express
themselves. By expressing themselves they are able to get required services.
According to Gurleen (2014) due to the remarkable growth of internet users in past two
decades, internet has transformed in a huge way. It is the best effective way through which
people can easily communicate with each other and make their purchase decisions accordingly
(Gurleen, 2014). Changing customers purchasing decisions by providing them quality products is
becoming crucial tasks for organizations.
From the past several years the rapid growth has been seen among online shopping. There
is drastic move of people towards the online website or organization. However, making website
more attractive is regarded as most important concerns for the firm. According to Hennes &
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Mauritz by developing attractive appearance and setting proper navigation of sites companies are
able to retain more number of customers (Hennes & Mauritz). Website appearance is one of the
best factors through which organization can make their consumers happy.
On the other hand, researchers had argued that when it comes to website navigation the
whole system works as road map. It is a system of all the different areas and information
contained within the website of company. In order to provide good experience to visitors it is
highly essential to keep the navigation clear. Wang, Dai and Yuan (2008) stated that sites
navigation also helps in exceeding the company’s objectives. However, there are mainly three
factors which require to be taken into consideration i.e. business, its goals as well as audience.
These are the elements which affects the total strategy of company (Wang, Dai and Yuan, 2008).
Through this, they are able to make their consumer’s happy and change their buying behaviour
as well. Moreover, it is being determine that in order to attract huge base of customer’s website
appearance and navigation plays a most important role.
In this regards, the present study is taken into consideration which gives appropriate
information with regards to the increasing role of website appearance and navigation in changing
buying behaviour. For the same, H&M company is selected which is Hennes & Mauritz Swedish
multinational retail clothing company. They are having their online existence with H&m.com
where they usually sell clothing for men, women as well as teenagers. Company try to develop
their website more attractive and easier in order to make their consumers best shopping
experience.
Rationale of the study
Attracting customers towards the online website of companies are becoming most
difficult tasks for firms. Nowadays people are becoming more social and highly aware about the
use of internet and its related features. For the same, they are demanding more quality services.
One of the biggest issues faced by organizations these days is just to maintain the trust level
among customers towards the online shopping. There are various factors which might leads to
shift their consumers towards the competitors of company. Website navigation
The main rationale of this study is just to identify the effect of website navigation and
appearance on purchasing decision of customers. Keeping consumer happy and gaining their
support and trust is becoming highly difficult. This requires providing them quality services and
making first impression is last. It is highly related with the designing of website and development
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of great virtual design as well. It incurs huge costing due to which most of the firms are not able
to develop such sites. Making it more attractive than competitors is also becoming highly
difficult in today’s globalized world.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
This section keeps huge importance for any research as it is the only way through which
researcher is able to gather most suitable and required information for given subject matter.
There are different research methodologies on the basis of which researcher can collect best
suitable information with smooth processing (Definition of Research, 2013). Some of the most
common techniques are as follows:
Research Approach
In order to carry out the research in an appropriate format it is highly essential to select
the best research approach. Inductive and deductive are two most common research approaches
which helps researcher in finding out best suitable results (John, 2012). At the time of using
Inductive research approach researcher is able to accumulate the relevant data earlier for any
specific area. With the help of data accumulation researcher is able to draw several theories upon
it. However, this approach is quite time consuming but it provide appropriate information as per
the given subject matter (Rossi, Wright and Anderson, 2013). On the other hand, deductive
approach is just opposite to inductive and it is being taken into consideration at the time when
hypothesis is being formed.
On the basis of judgement on hypothesis best results can be attained and valid conclusion
can be drawn. As far as this research takes place, Inductive research approach is regarded as a
most suitable approach. It is being regarded as no hypothesis is being developed and all the
theoretical aspects have been studied (Goertz and Mahoney, 2012). Further, Inductive research
approach is one of the most suitable approaches which essentially supports in gaining knowledge
about the role of website navigation as well as appearance in changing consumer buying
behaviour.
Research Philosophy
In order to get most appropriate results and outcomes researcher requires selecting the
most suitable philosophy for the given subject matter. It helps the researcher in making collection
of data in efficient and appropriate manner as it is based on the assumptions and values (Denzin
and Lincoln, 2011). Mainly there are three types of philosophy i.e. positivism, Interpretivism and
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realism. Here, positivism philosophy will be applied at the time when hypothesis is being
developed. On the other hand, Interpretivism helps in building up appropriate information and
understanding about the given subject matter (Gioia, Corley and Hamilton, 2013). In this
regards, the best suitable research philosophy here in the present study is Interpretivism as it
highlights the truth behind simple facts. Moreover, this philosophy is being utilized due to its
qualitative nature. With the help of this, researcher will be able to produce end results from the
data collected. Further, it can be define Interpretivism philosophy helps researcher in framing
appropriate findings about the effects of website navigation and appearance on consumer
purchasing decision.
Research Design
By gaining better understanding and discretion of the subject matter most effective
conclusion can be drawn by researcher. For the same, a systematic plan can be prepared that
undertake all the specific and certain issues of the study. With the help of appropriate selection of
the research design probability of misleading information can be decreased (O'Leary, 2013).
Moreover, researcher can progress ensure the appropriate progress of the research conducted by
them. Different types of research designs are: descriptive, experimental, case study, meta-
analytic, etc.
By selecting appropriate type researcher can take better decision related to the nature of
data collection, sampling techniques etc. As far as present study is concerned, descriptive
research design will be the best suitable as it helps in identify most suitable information and
gaining better understanding about the role of website navigation as well as appearance.
Basically this method is used when researcher wants to describe any specific behaviour as it
occurs in the environment (Lazar, Feng and Dr. Hochheiser,2010). Consumer buying behaviour
might leads to affect due to the website appearance as well as navigation. They require
appropriate road map from where they can get required information in an attractive way. With
the help of descriptive research design, researcher is able to entail most suitable information.
Data Collection
This is the most important sections of methodology in which researcher go through the
appropriate data collection as per the given subject matter. Mainly there are two ways of data
collection i.e. primary as well as secondary. However, gathering primary information requires
prior approval from the third party. In order to collect primary information different techniques
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can be used such as questionnaire survey, interview techniques etc. These are some most relevant
and best ways which can be used to gather required information from any third person (Dunne,
Lusch and Carver, 2013). On the other hand, secondary sources are online sources such as online
articles, magazines, journals etc. However, finding proper information takes lot of time to
researcher as it requires huge surfing. At the time of finding out authentic and relevant
information researcher can put that information in the place of requirement. Identification of past
studies of different authors is considered as a most suitable way to gather information. It helps
the researcher in filling them past literature gaps and presenting their new articles.
In this regards, primary and secondary both sources can be used by researcher in order to
entail most suitable information about the given subject matter. For the same, primary data will
be gathered by researcher by the way of using questionnaire survey. This questionnaire will be
filled by the customers of H&M (Hoy, 2009). They can provide appropriate information about
the factors which affects their buying behaviour towards online shopping. In this regards,
consumers can give effective information about their perception toward the website appearance
as well as navigation. On the other hand, secondary information will be gathered from online
articles, books, journals, magazine’s etc. There are several existing past studies on the buying
behaviour of customers towards online shopping. It helps in identifying prevailing literature gaps
and framing most appropriate findings.
Sampling
Choosing appropriate sample helps in managing the time of researcher. By narrow down
the whole population into a sample population researcher leads to gather only specific and
required information. It also decreases the chances and probability of misleading of information.
There are mainly two types of sampling techniques i.e. probability and non-probability sampling
(Zikmund, Babin and Griffin, 2013). As per the given scenario, simple random sampling is one
of the best technique. This technique has been selected just to provide random chances to all the
people to give their answers. For the same, 100 customers of H&M is the best suitable sample
size. They can provide their viewpoints and insights about the role of website navigation and
appearance.
Data Analysis
After going through the data collection as per the given topic it is highly essential to
analyse those data. It helps in framing appropriate findings and developing better conclusion as
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well. For the same, there are two types of data i.e. qualitative as well as quantitative. By the way
of going through the qualitative data researcher can make in depth inquiry about the reasons
which govern the behaviour (Kimmel, 2009). Here, the qualitative data is being analysed by the
way of thematic analysis. On the other hand, quantitative data analysis requires using statistical
software and tool such as SPSS, Ms-Excel etc. In the present study, data will be analysed by the
way of using qualitative analysis technique.
On the basis of gathered responses from the customers of H&M different themes will be
framed. It presents their several viewpoints about their changing purchasing decision due to the
website appearance and navigating (Zikmund, Babin and Griffin, 2013). It provides relevant
understanding of the customers towards their purchasing behaviour and shopping from the
website of H&M. With the help of thematic analysis researcher can analyse the data in a
professional manner. It is the most effective technique which provides the overall analysis in a
more effective way by giving best conclusion and results.
Ethical considerations
At the time of conducting any research it is highly essential to follow all the ethics so that
proper authenticity of the study can be maintained. For the same, it is highly essential for
researcher to gather most appropriate and suitable data so that research can be conducted in
effective manner. Taking prior information is highly essential as it helps in maintaining trust and
authenticity (Merriam, 2009). At the time of gathering any information from third party it
requires to take previous approval and gaining their trust level by keeping all the information
secure. Any information should not be plagiarised. Further, all the ethical considerations needs to
be followed by researcher so that valid findings and results of the study can be developed in
detailed without any biasness and misleading.
Validity and reliability
Maintaining validity and reliability is regarded as major concerns for any study as it
support in getting effectual results. It is highly essential to gather all the information from the
authentic secondary sources so that reliability of the study can be maintained (Zikmund, Babin
and Griffin, 2013). Moreover, validity can be maintained by the way of gathering varied
responses from the respondents of H&M itself. In the present research, validity and reliability
will be easily encountered by identifying that all the results are gained in an effective manner.
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GANTT CHART
ACTIVITY/WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Writing the research proposal
Reading and understanding the
literature
Finalization of the objectives
Collection of primary and
secondary data
Analysis of the primary &
secondary data
Development of research
approach
Drafting of research
methodology
Formulating the questionnaire
Arranging interviews
Conducting interview
Gathering of the information
Findings of the Draft
Evaluation of the data
Finalizing other chapters
Draft findings chapter
Submission to tutor and awaiting
feedback
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Revising the final draft
Printing and binding
Submit
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REFERENCES
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