ATTITUDE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING

ABSTRACT: The study investigated the attitude of university students towards online shopping with a reference to Jumia, Konga and Olx respectively. The study was anchored on Technological Determinism Theory. A survey research method was adopted while a questionnaire was used to elicit responses from students of Unilag, Akoka Lagos. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) with the aids of SPSS. Findings show that with advancement in technology particularly social networking and online stores, it has facilitated online shopping among the youth whereas, Lack of trust, absence of physical interaction and fear of being deceived and duped have been identified as some of the challenges facing online shopping all over the world especially in Africa and Nigeria in particular. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) with the aids of SPSS. It was recommended that Online payment for products and services such as money perfect, credit card, debit card, online signed cheque and others should be protected while many easier payment options should be designed to make the online payment easier, effective and fraudulent free.

CHAPTER ONE

 Introduction

1.1       Background to the Study

            Almost all human activities on earth have been revolutionalised and witnessed a tremendous change from their conventional process due to advancement in the internet in this twenty-first century.  One of the human activities greatly influenced in this era is the mode of shopping, marketing, advertising and communication. Electronic marketing is sometimes used interchangeably with woo-commerce, e-commerce, online marketing, online shopping, e-shopping, internet marketing and it is the process of browsing and searching products information in a virtual online environment in order to provide sufficient information for the purchase decision, and then implement the purchase action. Mengli, M. and Rui, M. (n.d)

            E-Commerce (online shopping) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the internet, especially the World Wild Web (Akbar and James, 2014) cited in (Tech target, 2007-2012).  Online shopping is a form of E-commerce whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller over the internet.

            Online shopping is done through an online shop, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop or online store. All the products in online stores are described through text, with photos and with multimedia files. Many online stores will provide links for extra information about their products. They often make available, safety procedures, instructions, manufacture specifications and demonstrations (Akbar and James, 2014) cited in (Tech target, 2007-2012).

            Easy access to the internet has driven consumers to shop online in fact according to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) communication policy (2001), online shopping is the third most popular activity on the internet after email use and web browsing (Muhammad and Nasir, 2011).

            Online shopping is becoming popular in Nigeria today especially one students of tertiary institutions who have gained knowledge of computer and the internet compared to secondary school and rural dwellers. i.e for someone who shops online must be able to read, have knowledge of the internet and computer or Smartphone operation etc.  Other reasons for its popularity is the ability to shop online and get it delivered at the doorstep, easy to compare alternative products, etc

            The growing number of internet users is one of the factors responsible for buying and selling practices. For instance, the number of internet users in Nigeria has further increased to 93.4 million, according to a new report on Internet status in the country. The report obtained by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, indicated the country has recorded about 14 per cent growth in mobile internet subscriptions between January and the end of July 2015. According to the data, which shows that Nigeria’s mobile Internet ecosystem is gaining momentum, telecoms networks collectively boosted mobile Internet subscriptions on their networks from 81.8 million in January to 93.4 million in July (Kunle, 2015).

            The growth of online users thereby attracted marketers to recognize its use as an important part of their marketing communication strategies because it helps organizations to communicate with their customers in two-way i.e bi-directional or interactive in nature. These interactions help marketers determine customers’ needs and understand what their market might look like.

            According to ACNielsen Report on Global Consumer Attitudes towards Online Shopping, 2007. Established that books, airline tickets/reservations, clothing/shoes, videos/games, phones,  computers, journals, and other products and services are the most popular items purchased on the internet.

            Through electronic marketing and internet communication business firms are coordinating different marketing activities such as market research, product development, informing customers about product features, promotion, customer services, customer feedback and so on. Online shopping is used as a medium for communication and electronic commerce, it is to increase or improve in value, quality and attractiveness of delivering customer benefits and better satisfaction, that is why online shopping is more convenient and day by day increasing its popularity.

            Not only benefits but also risk is associated with online shopping. Generally speaking, internet users avert online shopping because of credit-card fraud, lack of privacy, non-delivery risk, lack of guarantee of the quality of goods and services. Concerned authorities are devising policies to minimize the risk involved in e-business.

            Today in Nigeria, there are lots of e-shops serving millions of Nigerian online users who can trust online platforms as another alternative means of buying and selling particularly among students of tertiary institutions who are versed in the operation of computer, smartphone and knowledge of the internet. Among the popular online store is JUMIA which was a startup with an aim to mimic Amazon’s success by delivering a wide range of items, from toys to generators across the African continent in 2012 by a team that included Jeremy Hodara, Sacha Poignonnec, Tunde Kehinde, Raphael Afaedor, and Leonard Stiegeler (Wikipedia, n.d).

            Konga.com is another Nigerian electronic commerce company founded in 2012 with headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos. It offers a third-party online marketplace, as well as first-party direct retail spanning various categories including consumer electronics, fashion, home appliances, books, children’s items, and personal care products (Wikipedia, n.d).

            Similarly, olx.com is the most popular Pakistan’s free local advertisement services. We manage to get to even the smallest village. olx.com.ng is completely free and very simple to use, hence it is used by millions of users. On olx.com.ng buying and selling is possible i.e it is a platform where sellers and buyers meet. People buy a different range of items from phone,  car, cloth, wristwatch, bags to animals farm products etc  (olx.com, n.d).

            It is against this backdrop that the research examined the attitude of university of students towards online shopping with a case study of Jumia, Konga and Olx respectively especially with a few to know the extent to which they use the trio-e-commerce sites, their challenges, benefits and the most visited e-commerce site among students. 

1.2       Statement of the Problem

            An increase in the number of organizations and companies that are exploiting internet business communication, advertising and marketing prompted online shopping. With this emerging field of shopping, the interest of marketers is also increasing in studying what actually motivates consumers to shop online. Fierce competition among online sellers have forced them to gain a competitive edge in the field of virtual shopping (Akbar and James, 2014).

            In order to gain competitive edge in the market, marketers need to know the consumer behavior in the field of online shopping. So it is important to analyze and identify the factors which influence consumers to shop online in order to capture the demands of consumers despite lack of complete trust in Nigeria due to the fraudulent activities by the popular “yahoo yahoo guys”, absence of physical interaction and fair of being deceived and duped which according to Olayinka (2015) have been attributed to some of the challenges hampering online shopping and marketing on the social media and internet in general across the globe especially in Africa and Nigeria in particular because it is relatively a new medium of communication.

            Also, internet users avert online shopping because of credit-card fraud, lack of privacy, non-delivery risk, lack of guarantee of quality of goods and services. Concerned authorities are devising policies to minimize the risk involved in e-business. To this end, research examines the attitude of University of Lagos students towards online shopping with case study of Jumia, Konga and Olx.

1.3       Objectives of the Study

1. To determine the attitude of UNILAG students towards online shopping.

2. To examine factors that influence UNILAG students in shopping online.

3. To examine challenge(s) hampering UNILAG students in patronizing goods and services online

1.4       Research Questions

1. What is the attitude of UNILAG students towards online shopping

2. What factors influence UNILAG students in shopping online?

3.  What challenge(s) hampering UNILAG students in patronizing goods and services online?

1.5       Significant of the Study

The research is significant because is beneficial to business firm, school, government, individuals and researchers.

Company: Difference companies will find this research very interesting as it will keep them aware on the benefits of using online platform when it comes into making products and services known to the world and how cheap it always be to use online.

Researchers: People that will be carrying out research in relation to this will find the materials useful as it will provide them a clue to their own research.

Academic: It forms part of academic materials that students, lecturers, researchers and company can turn to when looking for solution to advertising on ICT, social media, GSM and other related aspect.

1.6       Scope of the Study

            The research has been narrowed down to online shopping among University of Lagos students. The institution is selected because of its proximity to the researcher as it will be difficult if not impossible to study all tertiary institutions in Nigerian due to the time available for this study, other considerable factors were geographical locations, age, sex and educational background of the respondents were considered before administration of research instrument. 

1.7       Limitations of the Study

            There are many limitations ranging from not knowing where to start, not knowing who to consult or approach for materials not knowing what next to write in various segments of this study and not actually knowing who to put me through in achieving this study and others are:

1. Stress from other academic activities is one of the limitations to the research work
2. Financial constraint to travel to different places.
3. Duration for the research work is relatively short
4. Materials that are available on this topic is relatively small as the concept is new or people have been written from that angle.

1.8       Operational Definition of the Terms

Attitude: This refers to the feelings, view, behaviour and choice of UNILAG students towards shopping online products and services.

University of Lagos Students: These are the undergraduates of University of Lagos which comprises of male and female

Online Shopping: The act of buying and paying for tangible or intangible goods and services on the internet.  

Jumia, Konga and Olx: These are some of the popular e-commerce firms that offers goods and services for Nigeria online.  

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