Drivers of Digital Consumer Behavior within a Consumer Context Research Background

 
The past decade has witnessed a dramatic change in the shopping habits of consumers.
The usage of digital technology in researching, browsing, and purchasing has witnessed
transformation from segment-sporadic or specific to mainstream (Kiboro & Karanja, 2015). As a
result, there is a non-reversible and undeniable shift in the retailing landscape. The
transformation in consumer behavior has been tremendously influenced by digital technology,
particularly in terms of their shopping experiences. A recent digital consumer study by Kiboro
and Karanja (2015) has revealed that almost 50 percent of consumers have undertaken tasks
related to shopping using their mobile phones. Due to the increased usage of digital channels by
consumers, retailers have embraced numerous strategies towards attracting and retaining the
omni-channel shoppers. Such strategies include content marketing, mobile alerts, free shipping
offers, as well as website design, among others.
Problem Statement
Today’s shoppers are leveraging technology as a way of enhancing their shopping
experiences. Existing research has shown that drivers or motivations of digital consumer
behavior have been associated with the dramatic shift in behavior of consumers to include
technology advancements. Digital technology investments have also become a critical strategic
imperative for most of today’s retail brands. At the heart of digital consumer behavior is
personalization, which has played a central towards ensuring that conventional behavior of
consumers has shifted with technological advancements. As a key driver of digital consumer
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behavior, personalization has hit the mainstream. Notably, although proactive brands have
become more proactive in providing innovations towards enhancing the experience of shoppers,
there is a limited research conducted on how the expectations of consumers have changed as they
portray greater expectations from the retailers. The proposed research seeks to examine the
rationale behind the shift in digital consumer behavior and how it influences consumer outcomes.
Research Questions
The proposed research will be focused on responding to the following research questions.
i) What are the drivers for the digital consumer behavior from a consumer perspective?
ii) What is the impact of the drivers for digital consumer behavior on consumer
outcomes and experiences
Research Objective
The proposed research seeks to examine the drivers of digital consumer behavior within a
consumer context, including how the behavior affects behavioral understanding of consumption
outcomes. The research will utilize a qualitative research method to establish the perspectives
and findings of existing research on the topic understudy. This will be realized through the
review of numerous articles on the research topic.
Literature Review
Most of the modern day consumers are increasing the personalization of their digital
experiences as they sample a diverse digital niche content. From customized start pages, to
blogs, to recommendation engines, the “connected consumers” are capable of navigating their
individual landscape, which portrays a greater niche that expected previously. Yasav (2015)
revealed that about 60 percent of consumers have personalized their start/home pages