Conceptualizing Online Shopping Behavior in Thailand (Research Paper Sample)

Conceptualizing online shopping behavior in Thailand
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Abstract
Thailand has over the years seen explosive growth in the arena of B2C e-commerce (The Nielsen Company (Thailand) Limited, 2010). Trends and patterns indicate that this growth is poised to further accelerate thus the increasing need to conceptualize Thailand’s consumer online shopping behavior in order to promote B2C e-commerce in Thailand. Master Card did a survey of online shopping in the Asian community, and as can be seen from appendix one of this paper, online shopping is a relatively new concept to the people of Thailand thus the need for a thorough investigation of the variables that affect online consumer shopping in Thailand. The paper will specifically study the consumer shopping behavior of Thai citizens ranging from 15 to 24 years of age. The paper will primarily concentrate on the middle and rich income earners of this group, as they are the ones who have enough money to access internet and likewise do online shopping. Additionally, and to further narrow down the research, the paper will focus on a specific product, shoes. The research will be seeking to find out how often Thailand citizens of the aforementioned age bracket and class, purchase shoes online. Additionally, since Thai citizens normally shop at Thai online shopping malls, we will look at this groups shopping behavior as regards their own Thai online shopping malls, as opposed to other worldwide online shopping sites. This group of people is appropriate for study due to their frequent internet access, and interest in shopping. Master Card did a survey in 2009 which showed that 80% of the Thai population had access to the internet and that out of that 80%, 43% of the people use the internet for online shopping. The survey also revealed that those who frequently accessed the internet were citizens of the above given bracket, and they did so for pleasure purposes, such as shopping. Appendix four of this paper also shows statistics of internet users and this age bracket fits in well with these statistics. It is the hope of the researcher that through this paper, more information will be available as regards the shopping habits of Thai citizens. The research will also look at the variables that affect the online shopping behavior of this group in the hopes that it will produce statistics which would see to it that the key stakeholders involved in B2C e-commerce e.g. the retailers, distributors and information providers have sufficient information to continue driving the online market forward, and in addition, information that would cater to the needs of this specific group. Variables to be assessed include the attitudes (opinions, feelings) of this group towards online shopping, the key motivators to them shopping online, how their previous online shopping experiences affects their buying decisions, online information search, online purchase intentions, and factors that would encourage them to repurchase products online. Theoretical and managerial implications of online shopping will also be looked at. To further facilitate understanding and interpretation of online shopping behavior as regards this group, a prototype model of consumer online shopping behavior of this group will be developed. This model will be developed after a critical look at other current and traditional models available as regards online shopping. The final model will be one that integrates several best ideas from the models which will be looked at and in addition, the findings of the researcher during research. The purpose of the final model is to integrate all the research findings into one concrete framework that explains the shopping behavior of the chosen study group. In capturing all the facts about the chosen group’s online shopping behavior, those in the online sales business will be better able to serve this study group’s needs and additionally, other researchers coming into this field, will have a model by which they will relate with.
Title of Thesis
The title of this thesis is as follows: Conceptualizing the online shopping behavior of Thai citizens ranging between 15 to 24 years of age from the middle and rich social classes. Additionally, the paper will focus on a specific product, shoes. The research will be seeking to find out how often Thailand citizens of the aforementioned age bracket and class, purchase shoes at their own online shopping malls.
Purchasing over the internet is one of the most rapidly growing forms of shopping, with sales growth rates that outpace traditional shopping methods. Internet has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, and today, the internet is a large network, widespread around the world (Yuan, 2005). People worldwide have conceptualized the benefits of the Internet most especially the ease in which they can transact business through the Internet thus its growing use.
Thailand ranks among the many worldwide countries to embrace Internet use. The history of Internet use in Thailand dates back to 1995 (Chuanlan, 2007). The Internet Thailand Company was the first ISP provider in Thailand, and the springboard from which commercial use of Internet began. Research shows that Thailand in 2008 had approximately 16 million Internet users (Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, 2009). Most Internet users in Thailand rely on broadband Internet, which is commonly available in the large cities and towns comprising Thailand (John Bozman, 1997). There is a lag though in Internet accessibility especially in the villages of Thailand where the technology of broadband has not quite hit them yet. These villagers mostly rely on dial-up to access Internet as dial-up prepaid cards are readily available in shops (Max, 2001). 
Thailand not to be technologically left behind introduced in 2008 the first 3GSM ever. This was in demand from customers, who craved for faster Internet connectivity statuses, which would see to the satisfaction of their Internet shopping cravings. This want for better connectivity and Internet services is also seeing a push for Fibre internet in the country (Erik, 2000).
This wide spread push from the people of Thailand for better Internet services in Thailand most especially in the large cities and towns, has had a major influence on online shopping. The government of Thailand has also played a big role in seeing the construction of an environment that is conducive for online commerce activities (Kamel et al., 2009). The government of Thailand has put in place measures that promote online trade and commerce ensuring the future of B2C e-commerce in Thailand is bright (Kevin, 2005). In addition to this, another catalyst to e-commerce in Thailand is the measures being put in place to ensure and enhance security and privacy thus leading to the people’s trust and confidence in e-commerce. Security concerns as regards online shopping in Thailand have been rampant. In fact, a survey done by MasterCard showed that online shopping security and value for money are the two most important concerns for the Thailand online shoppers (MasterCard worldwide, 2008). Additionally, the survey goes to point out that out of those Thai citizens interviewed concerning online shopping, 50% do not feel safe shopping online. According to MasterCard, 87% of the Thai citizens surveyed generally feel that there needs to be more done in terms of providing online shoppers more secure payment methods and 85% of the surveyed additionally feel that more convenient payment methods need to be availed (MasterCard worldwide, 2008).
Another survey as regards security concerns and online shopping was conducted this year by Unisys Security Index. The survey was done on Americans, and they were asked about how they feel as regards shopping online, and the security aspect of it. The group surveyed totaled to 1,004 consumers, and the overall consensus was that they are indeed highly concerned about online shopping most especially when it comes to the aspect of security. In this 2010 survey, 20 percent of those surveyed stated that they were extremely concerned about online shopping; this statistic is up from the previously conducted one which was in 2009 whereby only 16% were extremely concerned. Of those surveyed, another 23 percent indicated that they were very concerned about shopping online and the potential risk factors that portended. Issues such as identity theft and the safety of online payment methods ate at the minds of the surveyed Americans who shopped online. Additionally, about 64 percent of those surveyed indicated that they were seriously concerned (Moscaritolo, 2010). These variations of concern only go to portray the seriousness of the online shopping issue especially as regards shopping. Only when the security iss...