Abstract

There is no part of our life that is unaffected by the digitalization of our everyday lifes. Likewise, Digital
marketing plays a significant role in influencing consumers perception of products and is a huge part of
marketing strategies of the present era. The study attempts to analyze how the consumer behavior has
changed over time with the coming of e-markets. The study undertakes 100 respondents from four
different age groups, 25 random consumers from each group, to study how consumer behavior is affected
through various factors such as customized purchase search, personalized marketing, etc. The survey was
based on a questionnaire consisting of 72 items. Results shows no significant difference in the factors
among the different age groups. However, further studies with larger sample sizes, varied age
groups, and diversity lare required to investigate land examine the test results.

Keywords: digital marketing, consumer behavior, website features, age groups

 1. Introduction
1.1 Digital Marketing

The promoting of products through technical mediums that gains consumer attention. The main
goal is the promotion of various brands through various types of media that is digital.

Digitalised advertisements ranges from net promoting to other mediums which doesn’t utilize
net. That includes phone messages, web-based social net, display advertises, search engine
advertising, etc.

Researchers have claimed that 'digital' simply is not just another more medium for advertising.
It’s a different and upcoming way of dealing with merchandising and behavior of the consumer.
Example, it expects corporations to investigate also measure estimation of number of times an
application has been downloaded on phones,number of times it has been retweeted on platform
such as Twitter, likes given Face book etc.

Brand names nowadays use digitalised marketing in various ways to advertise its products, create
hype about its product, get feedbacks, etc. Digitalised marketing does not only helps companies
in upsurge in number online clients but also focuses more on client making them feel more at
power. It helps in cooperation with the clients the brands get know the good as well as bad
aspects of items. There are various ways of interactions for buyers to put their input such as web
journals, youtube reviews, surveys, blogs, etc. The organizations look into this inputs and make
any change necessary to suit its clients.

It’s indeed essential for companies to invest on online merchandising in today’s age. As this
way they form an unique association with their clients. This can be seen through various
examples one being youtube having more than ninety seven million unique individual costumers
and facebook having one twenty six such.

1.2 Consumer behavior

Consumer behavior is studying how an individual chooses products based on their need, or
admiration of a certain item. Factors like brand integrity, trends and price play a key role. An
organizations basic purpose is analyzing the behavior of the consumer so that they can figure out
the needs and demands of their potential client and identify any loopholes or demands that has
not been met. The aspects of behavior of the consumer include:

1.2.1 Psychological Factors

 From day to day routine, customers face many matters that might be unique in their
thought process. This factor includes an individual’s perspective, their ability to grasp
information and their understanding a situation. The response to the merchandising will
be based on customer’s perception. Thus, psychological factors must be kept on mind
while developing strategies for marketing.

1.2.2 Social Factors

Social factors that influence a man includes various factors varying from an individuals
family to various social networks such as school and work. It also includes social status,
salary, role in the society, their living condition and social environment. Utilization of
social components for merchandising is quite a challenges cause the social aspects are
varied also difficult to differentiate. However its necessary to consider such aspects as
finally only reaction of the customer to such social ads compels them make their choices
accordingly. One instance being the use of a brand ambassador which can influence
buyers..

1.2.3 Personal factors

Individual variables can be unique as well as differ from person to person. These qualities
may affect a man’s decision, their interests also assessments. While thinking of personal
factors, choice is usually affected by aspects such as age, sex, foundation, culture, and
other individual issues.
For example an adult buyer would more likely spend their money on different products
based on comparison with other competitors while a young individual might be more
influenced by the brand name.

1.3 Relationship between behavior of the consumer and Digitalised

marketing

Digitalization have changed the whole ground for marketing. In todays age no one pays heed to
pamphlets or telemarketing. People lay more emphasis on online ads, messages about sales,
facebook invites on pre booking of demanded items, etc. if you want to have a successful
marketing propaganda an online presence is a must.

Technology has changed the consumers behavior towards products as well. With the coming of
internet the consumers are more empowered and aware than ever before. A huge array of
companies of various items can be availed just by one tap of the finger. Consumers demands
have increased, they want faster and better service from the company before, during and even
after the purchase of the item. The consumers with such a wide range of options want their
experience to be personalized and accessible, if the brand accessibility is not satisfactory
consumers don’t hesitate in moving on to other companies. Competition among companies is
more fierchat nowadays individual e than ever. However there are perks of digital marketing to
the companies as well. With the emergence of the net consumers have become impatient and
with features such as flash sale companies benefit from the consumers as they buy on impulse.

The most definitive change in the relationship between consumer and companies is that
nowadays individuals tend to ignore or run away from anything that they redeem to be
marketing. The consumers don’t want to be disturbed by insignificant messages from various
companies advertising their product. Marketers have to be smart about it and capture the
consumers attention through social media platforms, online campaigns, stories about how their
products influenced other individuals focusing on any type of positive emotion ranging from
nostalgia to sentimentality. Also marketers need to develop a long term relationship rather than
focusing on quick sell, keeping records of the clients purchases and interests, then creating a
personalized segment based on clients preferences.

These review of literature would help us in understanding the ever expanding and evolving
relationship of digital marketing and consumer behavior.
 2. Review of Literature
2.1 Review of Literature

Rahmat Hidayat (2017) The aim of this study to study how the behavior of the consumers is
affected by various factors and how the internal stimuli factors also influence the behavior of the
consumers in the digital market. The statistical tools used in this paper include Confirmatory
factor analysis to see the stimulus that mostly influences the internal factors. It is seen that the
internal factors have a very strong relation with stimulus such as motivation, personality, attitude
and learning. The motivation factor affects the behavior of consumer in using digital marketing
tools by 15%. In conclusion the optimization of digital marketing tools is 85% influenced by
consumer behavior, internal consumer stimulus and digital marketing.

The researchers Shelly Rogers and Esther Thorson, gives a model of digital marketing, that
consolidates the utilitarian and structural schools of thought. The demonstration is started wit h
the utilitarian view that list outs various reasons for which people use the net. Since most people
enter the internet with set goals,or plan, in intellect, the researchers decide that one model of
online processing should start with the functions of the Web. The functioning, adapts with the
ranging mode of the net users from goal oriented to idle surfing different sets of advertisements
are made accordindgly to influence the web client. Factors such as the aptitude level is used in
the ads to switch clients thought processes. If the client has low skill and high anxiety it would
leave an harmful impact otherwise if the client has high skill and low anxiety it would prove to
be benificary. Finally, creators use structural school of thought to classify various types of web
advertisement and some common features of all the ads under a board scheme.

Robert J Grant, Rodney J Clair et. Elias Kyriazis though the use of internet by consumers has
been in a rapid increase it however seems that the changeover has fallen short from expectation.
In many of the online buying situation the annual changeover in enquiry to sale is very low. As
researchers analyse the review of literatures based on product factor, use of information and
personal agents they find out that the main reason of such result is inadequate online information.
Poor presentation, inaccurate and unreliable credibility is the root cause of information roadblock
which affects the online search and thus the marketing of the product. To resolve this issue
researchers suggest that methods such as subjective evaluation of experience for various products
such as clothing, luxury items etc must be adopted, this will help to better understand the
complex behavior of consumer needs.

A study by Helen°Robinson analysed the seven creative devices that are used for marketing
online that can make the marketing in web more effective. Through the regression model random
samples of various banners is collected. These banners were drafted based on a sample ads of
gaming sites. This revealed that a large banner, no promotions and presence of information
works in favour of the games however company or brand names, action idioms proves to be
ineffective in garnering click baits and contrary to popular belief longer messages prove to get
more click throughs.

In an experiment by Tao Sun And Goodhue Wu we design a marketing strategy with the help of
mower’s 3M model to stimulate impulsive buying tendencies. The researchers start with the
examination of traits of online buyers. We see that the surface trait of buying impulsively is
effected directly by the element trait of how habituated you’re with the internet. Similarly the
trait of stimulation is dependent on the trait of material resource. Also researchers get to know
that emotional instability is proportional to internet addiction. Conscientiousness is proportional
to task orientation. Further implications of these findings are discussed

In this article by Shea-Fen Yap &Anaya Singh Gaur (2014) we discuss the conflict faced by an
individual during online shopping. To understand this topic better the researchers delve into the
fields of psychology and sociology. In the field of marketing this conflict has only been analysed
in the context of barter system however studies on dissonance in online marketing is very
limited. Research reveals the causes of conflicts is mainly based upon the price and quality of the
products that are determined through various sources such as reviews and online information

This study conducted by Rekhadhiya & Gayatri (2018) analyses how the coming of the internet
has affected the merchandising of luxurious cars in the Indian market. The hypothesis of the
study was that the online merchandising has positively affected the process of decision making.
For the results researchers adopted a multifarious methodology. The primary data was collected
from the sample area of delhi with the help of “area wise proportionate sampling”. The tests used
included “Wilocoxon Signed Rank, one sample binomial test And chi -square tests”. The results
showed that more than seventy five percent of the clients utilize online information during the
process of purchasing the item. Each stage of the decision making process from pre purchase to
post purchase is affected by digital marketing. The aspects that influence the customers mainly
include reviews and ratings. However it has been seen that while the decision making process is
heavily influenced by digital marketing but few actually buy the car from online.

This paper by Katherine Taken Smith (2018) surveys online marketing and its relationship with
the millennial. We analyse the various strategies used in marketing and how each of them affect
the online behaviour of the millenials. A sample of five seventy one millennial were surveyed,
the results revealed that coupons on online websites and ads on the side forum are generally
preferred, the millenials are negatively affected by the pop up ads. Visual attention can be
garnered with help of good graphics. Also the millenials are more likely to visit a site if the site
has vying prices and low rates of shipping and if they are given some discount or incentive
millennials are likely to write a review for the product online as well.

Angella Jiyoung Kim & Eunju Ko (2016) This study was conducted to see the influence of
social media on marketing of luxury brands. Self-administered questionnaires that include visual
stimulus were distributed among luxury consumers. Out of the 150 questionnaires only 133 were
considered for the test. The SMM consisted of five properties such as word through person to
person, in trend, entertaining, social interaction. The result showed a significant positive
correlation between the factors of SMM and purchase intention of the customers, trust especially
shows a very significant relation with a correlation of .034. The study proves that SMM used by
the luxury brands does have a significant effect on the purchase intention of the customers as it
focuses on providing customized services, building relations, and free entertaining items. Thus
using SMM would make a positive contribution to branding of luxury brands.

Bruno Schivinski & Dariusz Dabrowski (2016) The study was conducted on 504 Facebook users,
to see the influence of such social networks on the purchase behavior of the consumers. The user
generated media communication and how it influences the brand’s image, equity, attitude and the
customer’s intention of buying. The analysis was done on 60 industries of three different
industries which are nonalcoholic beverages, cell networking and textiles. The results showed a
positive implication of user generated media on the image and equity which in turn influences
the customers intention of buying. While the firm generated media only influenced the attitude of
the brand.

This paper analyses the factors such as selling shock how it influences buying of an product and
consumer reliance. The paper includes study by Nikolas Pappas which focuses on the
holidaymakers and their booking of online tickets. The results reveal that the perceived risk on
the internet are releative to the quality of the product and the trust between the corporate and the
consumer. Also marketing scheme and honesty about the risks involved beforehand helps on
earning the consumers trust, it almost provides you with managerial hypnotism that helps the
company in improvising their e tourism.
This study includes two experiments conducted by Barros W. Wojdynski& Nathaniel J. Evans
on indigenous advertisements and how language and positioning of these ads on internet affect
the consumers, also if the position of the disclosures affect visual attention in any way. The
results reveal that words such as advertised or sponsored with a middle or bottom position give
the advertisements more recognition but the recognition only garners more negative evaluation.
Moreover the position of the disclosure also determines the visual attention of the consumer.
In this article by Shea-Fen Yap &Anaya Singh Gaur (2014) we discuss the conflict faced by an
individual during online shopping. To understand this topic better the researchers delve into the
fields of psychology and sociology. In the field of marketing this conflict has only been analysed
in the context of barter system however studies on dissonance in online marketing is very
limited. Research reveals the causes of conflicts is mainly based upon the price and quality of the
products that are determined through various sources such as reviews and online information.
With the growing importance of online marketing we forget to focus on how it affects the
employees of the companies and organisations. This study by Peter S.H.LeeflAng, Peter
C.Verhoef(2014) analyses the changes in the behaviour of the employees of small companies
and organisations that have been brought about with digitalisation. The results revealed that the
employees of such small organisations seldom are affected by the online marketing. To expose
them to this digital era adjustments of the organisational concept, filing the talent gaps by
teaching them skills to implement net use in their activities, and appreciation of any efforts made
towards online marketing has created better opportunities for companies across all sectors.

This paper analyses the factors such as selling shock how it influences buying of an product and
consumer reliance. The paper includes study by Nikolas Pappas which focuses on the
holidaymakers and their booking of online tickets. The results reveal that the perceived risk on
the internet are releative to the quality of the product and the trust between the corporate and the
consumer. Also marketing scheme and honesty about the risks involved beforehand helps on
earning the consumers trust, it almost provides you with managerial hypnotism that helps the
company in improvising their e tourism.

Min Xiao, Rang Wang & Sylvia Chan-Olmsted (2018) This study focuses on how YouTube
influences the marketing by effecting the perception of consumers through their credibility of
information. An online two step, structural survey was conducted to see the correleation between
the variables. The result showcases that the trust, influence of the channel socially and quality of
the argument effects the perception of consumer on YouTube. Thus a strong positive correlation
was seen between information credibility and attitude of the channels

A study conducted by Albert Kagan & Soumi Chatterjee (2018) how the moral compass of a
consumer affects the evaluation of brand image in developing countries such as India. A survey
among Indian consumers was conducted for this study. The result showed that the foreign brands
if associated with positive evalaluations seem to boost the esteem of the consumers. Thus, proper
positioning of foreign brands would help in emphasizing the prestige of the brands.
2.2 Rationale

This study was conducted to see how the digital marketing has affected the consumer behavior of
people among the various age groups. As digital age is the new coming of age and it plays a
crucial role in the consumer behavior in today’s market. As the young adults are more involved
with technology than the other age groups, the present study will help us determine if age factor
has any significant role in consumer behavior of e-markets. The study helps us develop an
insight into the role of consumers in digital market and how age might play a significant role in
influencing it.

2.3 Objectives

The objective of this study is to do a comparison of consumer behavior in e-markets on the basis
of age groups. The study examines how the consumer satisfaction, website features and the
online buying experiences are affected by different age groups i.e young adults(21-30) ,
adults(31-40) , late adulthood(41-50) and old age(51 and above).

2.4 Hypothesis

Ha1: The consumer satisfaction of the four age groups would have a significant difference

Ha2: The website features of the four age groups would have a significant difference.

Ha3: The online buying experience of the four age groups would have a significant difference
 3. Methodology

3.1 Aim: To compare the consumer satisfaction, website features, and online buying
experience between the four age groups: young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late
adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).

3.2 Objective:
 To study the difference in consumer satisfaction between the four age groups:
young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).
 To study the difference in website features between the four age groups: young
adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).
 To study the difference in online buying experience between the four age groups:
young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).

3.3 Hypothesis

Ha1: The consumer satisfaction of the four age groups would have a significant difference

Ha2: The online buying experience of the four age groups would have a significant difference

Ha3: The website features of the four age groups would have a significant difference

3.4 Design

The study was conducted using a survey research design. The sample was selected through
stratified random sampling for the purpose of this study from different age groups.

3.5 Variables
3.5.1 Dependent variable: The dependent variable in this study is consumer satisfaction,
website features and online buying experience
3.5.2 Independent variable: The independent variable in this study is the different age groups
young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).

3.6 Sample and its selection

A sample size of 100 respondents was divided into four sub groups: young adults(21-30),
adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above) and then 25 respondents from each
sub groups were randomly selected. The respondents were selected from different age groups to
asses if the consumer behavior and online buying experience of consumers are affected by the
difference in age groups.

Participants were asked to voluntarily participate and were assured of the confidentiality of their
results. They were debriefed about the test and were given the proper instructions required to fill
the questionnaire.

3.7 Tools
The standardized tools used in this survey includes the questionnaire on e- marketing
“Effectiveness of E – marketing – A study of consumer goods” It consists of 68 items
out of which 15 items consist of demographic details, 22 items ask about the website
features, 26 items asses the consumer satisfaction and 5 items are about the online buying
experience.

The Cronbach Alpha reliability test for this questionnaire

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's N of
Alpha Items
.887 22

Case Processing Summary

N %
Cases
Valid 52 100
Excluded 0 .0
Total 52 100
 3.8 Procedure

1. A topic of interest was selected and was studied.

4. 2. Various reviews of literature were studied to understand the requirement and need for
the research.
5. 3. Tools were selected.
6. 4. A sample size was selected and respondents were randomly selected
7. 5. Respondents were asked to voluntarily participate and were debriefed about the
purpose of the test. They were given proper instructions on how to fill the questionnaire
and were assured of the confidentiality of their results.
8. 6. Data was collected and recorded. Scoring was done for all the respondents.
9. 7. Data analysis was carried out on the scores and result was found out.

3.9 Statistical Analysis

Random stratified sampling was done to collect the data, 4 strata of different age group were
made and 25 random samples from each group were collected. The data analysis was carried out
using the statistical package for the social sciences 20 software in order to test our hypothesis
and assess the relationship between consumer satisfaction, website features, online buying
experience and different age groups. Correlations between the variables was found out by using
One way Anova test.
 4. Result
The data was collected from 100 respondents, it was scored and analyzed and interpretation of
the data was done. The results were put in a tabular form after the analysis of the data was
carried out. The relationship between consumer satisfaction and age, web site features and age,
online buying experience and age was then studied

Table 1: Descriptive statistics of the difference between consumer satisfaction and

different age groups.

ANOVA
Consumer satisfaction

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 788.688 3 262.896 2.095 .130

Within Groups 2761.350 22 125.516
Total 3550.038 25

Table 1 shows insignificant difference between the groups i.e. Consumer satisfaction and the
four age groups as the significant level of difference is 0.01 and here the p value is .130.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics of the difference between website features and different age
groups

ANOVA
Website Features

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 658.119 3 219.373 1.082 .382

Within Groups 3648.472 18 202.693
Total 4306.591 21
Table 2 shows the difference between the groups i.e. Website features and the four age groups.
Here the difference of .382 is insignificant as the significant level of difference is 0.01.

Table 3: Descriptive statistics of the difference between online buying experience and
different age groups

ANOVA
Online buying experience

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 114.800 3 38.267 1.196 .572

Within Groups 32.000 1 32.000
Total 146.800 4

Table 3 shows the difference between two groups’ i.e. online buying experience and the four
different age groups. The significant level of difference here is 0.01 thus the difference of 0.572
would be considered insignificant
 5. Discussion

The core aim of this study was to assess the relationship between consumer behavior and
different age groups in digital market. To asses this, the study was conducted on four different
age groups i.e. young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).
Digital marketing made a huge breakthrough in the marketing of products. With the coming of
digital marketing the communication between the sellers and buyers, the advertising of products,
the customization of products everything went through a significant change. The study focuses
on consumer satisfaction, website features and online buying experience. The consumer
satisfaction mainly refers to the level of satisfaction that is achieved through online shopping by
a consumer. The websites features constitutes how efficiently the website features serves to the
purpose of the consumer, such as customized selection on the basis of past purchases etc. The
online buying experience comprises of how smoothly the whole buying process went for the
consumer and if he/she would be willing to visit the online stores ever again

The objectives of the present study were as follows:

 To study the difference in consumer satisfaction between the four age groups:
young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).
 To study the difference in website features between the four age groups: young
adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).
 To study the difference in online buying experience between the four age groups:
young adults(21-30), adults(31-40), late adults(41-50) and old age(51 and above).

The previous review of literatures and hypothesis was made for the purpose of this research. A
questionnaire was selected to carry out the research. After the selection of the design, proper
tools were selected to analyze the results of the survey. The tools were selected so as to study if
there is a significant difference between consumer satisfaction, web features and online buying
experience among the four age groups.

The questionnaire was distributed among 100 respondents, 25 from each strata(age group). The
data was then collected and analysed to test the hypothesis.

The raw scoring of all the three dimensions : consumer satisfaction, website features and online
buying experience was done. On doing further analysis of the data the significant difference
between consumer satisfaction and age, website feature and age, online buying experience and
age was calculated.
The difference between the consumer satisfaction among the four age groups is found to be
insignificant, as here the p value is .130 which is above 0.01 level of significance. Thus it is seen
that there is no real difference between the consumer satisfaction of the four age groups and
hence our first hypothesis is rejected.

The difference between the website features among the four age groups is calculated through one
way Anova. The p value of this variable is equal to 0.32 which is more than 0.01 level of
significance. Thus, it is seen that the website features are the same among all the four age groups
and there’s no real difference among them. Henceforth, our second hypothesis is rejected.

The difference between the online buying experience of the four age groups is calculated through
the one way Anova test. The p value of this particular value comes out to be 0.572 which is
insignificant as it is more than 0.01 level of significance. The result shows that there’s no real
difference among the age groups in online buying experiences. Thus, our third hypothesis is
rejected.

As there is no significant difference between the factors and the four age groups. All our
hypothesis are rejected
 6. Summary and Conclusion

6.1 Conclusion

The aim of this research was to study how the consumer satisfaction, website features and online
buying experience is influenced by the age factor. Our hypothesis that there will be a significant
difference in these factors among the four age groups has been rejected. One way Anova was
calculated to see the significant differences among the groups. The rejected hypothesis shows
that consumer behavior in the digital market is not affected by different age groups. People of all
the four age group have almost same level of satisfaction and online buying experience in the e-
markets.

With a p value of 1.30 at a 5% level of significance through one way Anova test, we don’t have
enough statistical evidence to approve the first hypothesis. The satisfaction of the consumer has
no real difference among young adults, adults, late adults and old people. Thus our first
hypothesis is rejected

In the same manner the second hypothesis when calculated comes with a p value of 3.2 at a 5%
level of significance, thus we have don’t have enough statistical evidence to approve our second
hypothesis. In conclusion we find that there is no significant difference in usage of the website
features among the young adults, adults, late adults and old people. Thus our second hypothesis
is rejected

Similarly our third variable of online buying experience is calculated through one way Anova
and the p value is calculated as 5.72 at a 5% level of significance, thus we have don’t have
enough statistical evidence to approve our third hypothesis. In conclusion we find that there is no
significant difference in online buying experience among the young adults, adults, late adults and
old people. Thus our third hypothesis is rejected.

6.2 Limitations

 The data might not have covered the whole population since sample size was 100.
 Biased answers are possible since the total questions in questionnaire were 72.
 The sample had more females, so it might have not represented the population accurately.
  The varied population from various regions, of different types of families and socio
economic status also proves to be a hindrance to the researchers as these possible factors
affect the results.

6.3 Implications

Comprehending what shoppers like or aversion through online networking and different channels
enables organizations to recognize real influencers in a specific gathering of people. To make the
most out of this data, computerized advertisers will do well to construct specialist and set up
associations with these influencers. Thusly, organizations could build the scope of their
computerized showcasing endeavors, utilizing influencers to retweet, survey an item or
administration, or essentially notice an organization's image. This exploration likewise utilizes
instruments that assistance organizations assemble data about their gathering of people..
Research and computerized promoting is going connected at the hip to drive forward the most
ideal approaches to screen, gather, dissect and decipher information to support business'
comprehension of their objective markets and tailor their techniques viably. These information
from the review would now be able to be changed 'continuously' as aftereffects of their adequacy
are nourished through quickly – making efforts more adaptable and receptive than any other time
in recent times.