A Study of Factors Impacting Online Shopping of Thai Students

This report, a project report for the Business Management Research in Practice module at the University of Northampton, investigates the factors influencing online shopping behavior of Thai students. The research explores the impact of various factors, including convenience, time-saving, market trends, privacy, security, and product reliability, on the purchasing decisions of Thai students. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, utilizing both primary and secondary data collection methods, including surveys and literature reviews. The research aims to identify the key drivers and barriers affecting online shopping among this demographic and provides recommendations for businesses seeking to understand and cater to the needs of this consumer segment. The report includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, analysis, discussion, and conclusion, offering a comprehensive overview of the research findings and their implications for the e-commerce industry.

Running head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN PRACTICE
Business Management Research in Practice
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Acknowledgement
The completion of the study gave me an enormous satisfaction, as I have learnt several things
regarding online shopping and its impact on the business environment and customers. The
completion of the study taught leads me to large field learning with respect to academic
study. On the completion of the project, I would like to thank a number of people who helped
me to complete the project on time. Firstly, I thank my supervisor, who helped me throughout
the project. I thank my colleagues who help me to select the topic for project. I thank my
assistant supervisor who helps me to apply data collection methods. Last but not least, I thank
my parents and friends who encourage me to work on the project.
Thanking you all,

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Table of Content
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................6
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................6
1.2 Background to the research..............................................................................................6
1.3 Problem Statement...........................................................................................................7
1.4 Research aim and Questions............................................................................................8
1.5 Research Objectives.........................................................................................................8
1.6 Significance of the study..................................................................................................8
1.7 Outlining research methodology......................................................................................9
1.8 Consultation process undertaken with the organization...................................................9
1.9 Summary..........................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................11
2.1 Analysing the existing papers............................................................................................11
Theme 1: “Factors affecting consumers’ attitude toward online shopping and online
shopping intention in Bangkok”...........................................................................................11
Theme 2: “Internet Usage and Online Shopping”................................................................12
Theme 3: “Online Shopping”...............................................................................................12
Theme 4: “Technology influencing online shopping intentions of shoppers”.....................13
Theme 5: “Factors influencing online shopping behaviour of consumers”.........................14
Theme 6: “Purchase Intention and Consumer Behaviour”..................................................15
Theme 7: “Technology Acceptance Model”:.......................................................................17
Theme 8: “Domain specific innovation”..............................................................................17

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Theme 9: “Shopping orientations”.......................................................................................18
Theme 10: “Impulse purchase orientation”..........................................................................18
2.2 Gap in the existing research papers....................................................................................19
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................20
3.1 Research Paradigm (Research Philosophy)...................................................................20
3.2 Research Questions........................................................................................................21
3.3 Data Collection Method.................................................................................................21
3.4 Research Setting and Instruments:.................................................................................22
3.5 Sampling methods:.........................................................................................................22
3.6 Ethical Consideration.....................................................................................................23
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................24
4.1 Process of analysing the data.........................................................................................24
4.2 Process of interpreting the data......................................................................................24
4.3 Findings..........................................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION..............................................................34
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION................................................40
6.1 Conclusion......................................................................................................................40
6.2 Research Limitations......................................................................................................41
6.3 Recommendation............................................................................................................41
6.4 Strategy for implementing the recommendation............................................................42
References................................................................................................................................43

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List of Graphs
Graph 1: Gender of the respondents.........................................................................................24
Graph 2: Frequency of Online Shopping.................................................................................25
Graph 3: Factors affecting decision making in final election of the products.........................26
Graph 4: Visit to retail store before making the final purchase decision.................................27
Graph 5: Online shopping medium used for buying items......................................................28
Graph 6: Idea of products buying products online...................................................................29
Graph 7: Barriers keep customers away from doing online shopping.....................................30
Graph 8: Alternatives that persuade the shoppers to purchase online.....................................31
Graph 9: Reliability of products online....................................................................................32

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Topic- “A study of factors that impact on online shopping of Thai student at the
University of Northampton”
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
It is identified that Electronic Commerce is relatively new business channel entailing sells
and purchasing goods and services through technology based network. The recent
development of technology such as advancement of online business channels have made it
possible for the marketers to target and reach a wide market within a short precise time
period. The most influential factors for online shopping from existing studies mainly pay
attention to convenience and time saving, while the growth of online shopping industry is
persistently stable, there are many more factor influencing the online shoppers that are
investigated in the study. The use of internet technology has been rapidly developing in
Thailand since 1998. In addition to this, any sort of business that is perform through internet
channels tend to receive good opportunities for the success of the business as the key
customers are already there. The major purpose of the research is to investigate behavioural
intentions of Thai students of University of Northampton toward online shopping and
simultaneously the study also examine the factors that impact them to shop online.
1.2 Background to the research
As put forward by Lim et al. (2016), several number of factors could affect a
consumer’s repurchase intention on shopping website repurchase intention on shopping
websites and some of these could be interactive and may attract consumers to repurchase. On
the other side, Akbar, and James (2014) performed a study and found that besides websites’
interactivity, the other factors such as repurchase intentions, trust, customer satisfaction,
privacy and perceived interactivity. It is identified that there have been several articles have

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been written on the issue of online shopping including trust, customer satisfaction and
privacy which remain at the core of many studies. On the other side, Ludin and Cheng (2014)
defined privacy and secrecy of consumers’ information which the websites keep confidential
and according to the author, an individual is more likely to perform a continued usage when
such usage is considered to be relevant. Notwithstanding, as the market keep enhancing and
the information technology keeps on changing gradually, the perceived usefulness need to be
timely examined as should the repurchase online intentions of the shoppers. The existing
studies have particularly focussed on some particular online channels such as eBay.com to
examine the repurchase intentions of online shoppers. However, the present study identifies
and examines the major factors impacting the online behaviour of Thai students of
University of Northampton. The University of Northampton is working in partnership with
the Village international Education Centre in Thailand. Students of many foreign nations
pursue education in Northampton University and the quality of campus life is improving
which is reflected on their lifestyle such as increasing attachment to online trends and
technology.
1.3 Problem Statement
It has been identified that internet users have been increasingly growing in Thailand since
1999 and there are almost 11.9 million Thai users at present who use the internet on a regular
basis and almost 20% of whom have experienced online shopping (Vaidehi 2014).
Nonetheless, due to changing market environment, growing risk of online shopping such as
privacy of consumers and increasing number of ecommerce vendors, online shopping
activities have largely been affected. Thus, to understand the impact of this influential factors,
the study particularly investigates the attitudes of the students of University of Northampton
toward online shopping.

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1.4 Research aim and Questions
The aim of the research is to examine influential factors creating impact on online
shopping of the students of University of Northampton. The following are the potential
research questions of the thesis.
 What are the factors that are impacting Thai’s students purchase behaviour toward
online shopping activities?
 How do Thai students react to the dynamic trends of online shopping?
1.5 Research Objectives
 To identify the factors influencing Thai student’s purchase behaviour towards online
shopping?
 To review the existing theories and models of online shopping directly influencing
online shoppers
 To evaluate the attitude of shoppers towards the online shopping activities in
Thailand
1.6 Significance of the study
Due to technology advancement, conventional marketers find new ways to reach the wide
target market. On the other side, consumers also find it easy to make selection of the products
they want to buy, as they have multiple options of retailers online. Nonetheless, there are a
number of factors such as market trends, privacy and security in online purchasing, reliability
of online products have significant impact on the purchasers. Thus, this study helps to learn
the impact of the stated concern on the shoppers. The study particularly measures the impact
on Thai Students of University of Northampton, as Thailand particularly observed a set of
dynamic trends in ecommerce sector caused by increasing development of technology. Study
also helps to forecast the future impact of the stated factors on consumers. In addition to this,

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the study helps Northampton University to learn about the recent market trends and
strategies in ecommerce sector, which could further help the organization to shape their
marketing and management courses.
This study has helped to identify the different social media factors affecting the
purchasing behaviour of the Thai students. The market in United Kingdom is highly saturated
and it is difficult for companies to gain competitive advantage for a longer period of time.
Findings of the study have been helpful for the companies in ecommerce industry to develop
strategies to meet the current needs of consumers. The rationale behind this is, e-commerce
sector is most likely to face dynamic trends which often causes failure or leads to a moderate
success; thereby, businesses require more knowledge regarding market trends, economies and
services to deal with the overall nature of market. So, finding of this study provides an
authentic guidance in terms of handling the trends, economies and services.
Number of students migrating to study in United Kingdom has increased and there have
been a significant increase in Asian population as well, so addressing the needs of these
consumer segment can definitely increase the market share of retailers by examining their
online shopping behaviour and develop offers and products based on their needs.
Furthermore, this study also helps the ongoing research projects being undertaken in e-
commerce by presenting the findings that involve market drivers, scale of economies creating
impact on the sector, current needs of consumers and market trends. So that the ongoing
studies performs the investigation with relevant data and generate a suitable outcome.
1.7 Outlining research methodology
Research methodology or the selection of research techniques are one of the significant
aspects of the research; this means the selection and the application of chosen techniques
determine the outcome of the research. The present study includes primary data analysis. So,

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to perform the analysis, research paradigm has been chosen aligning with these two types of
data collection processes. Positivism research philosophy has been selected because the
research findings are normally judged against the criteria of validity, reliability as well as
generalizability. Primary data has been collected by performing a survey among the Thai
Students of University of Northampton, while the secondary data has been collected from
books, journal articles and websites of some particular e-commerce channels in Thailand.
1.8 Consultation process undertaken with the organization
For the purpose of performing the study on the chosen context, the university has been
informed about the process and significance of performing the study. The board members of
the university has been requested to authorize the data collection process for the study. The
entities involved in the study are decided by the University Authority.
1.9 Summary
This chapter presents and introduces the topic along with a detailed background to
online shopping and the influential factors associated with the topic. It is learnt that
advancement in technology and dynamic market trends have a strong impact on the shoppers.
Simultaneously, the factors of privacy and security of online payment, reliability of items
also remain as the barrier to online shopping. Thus, the research questions set in the chapter
revolve around the potential factors impacting online shoppers and their attitudes. Research
objectives and questions are aligned based on which a review of existing papers have been
performed in the following chapter.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Analysing the existing papers
Theme 1: “Factors affecting consumers’ attitude toward online shopping and online
shopping intention in Bangkok”
As put forward by Hsu et al. (2014), due to evolution of globalization in different
sectors, business from one region linked to others and the customers remain across the
boundary. Due to such business entities, the exchange of information about the products and
services become much quicker than ever. Presently, internet has become a significant way of
carrying out all sort of business transactions. A study performed by Jadhav and Khanna
(2016) highlights the fact that the evolution of internet plays a great role in the establishment
of e-commerce. This study reveals that online shopping becomes third most popular internet
activity after instant messaging, web browsing and emails. However, Akar and Nasir (2015)
arguably mentioned that although there is clear progress in e-commerce caused by the
development of internet activities, the industry as a whole is yet to pay attention to
convenience in e-commerce activities. This means it is true that consumers prefer online
trends or shopping but their preferences are also driven by factors like security of
transactions, reliability of the products and knowledge. On the basis of this argumentative
fact, it is worth stating that the internet activities and online shopping are yet to reach the
convenience level. Conversely, a study conducted by Gao and Bai (2014) mentions that
tremendous growth of internet demonstrates that there exists a wide market where e-
commerce could play a significant role and to make e-commerce activities more prominent
organizations should understand different factors that influence customers to perform online
shopping activities. Nonetheless, this finding is superficial compared to the above concern.