OX

UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

MARK 7013

UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

CHANGES DUE TO COVID-19 ON ED-TECH
SECTOR IN INDIA

STUDENT NO: 19180211

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WORD COUNT:3167
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Impact of covid-19 in EdTech India
3. Evaluation
3.1 Challenges faced by EdTech sector in India
4. Application of theoretical framework
4.1 Technology acceptance model for EdTech
4.2 Perceived usefulness
4.3 Perceived ease of use
4.4 Attitude
4.5 Behavioral attention
4.6 Actual system
4.7 Facilitation
4.8 Education compatibility
5. The future of EdTech in India
6. Conclusion & Recommendations to marketing
References

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INTRODUCTION
EdTech stands for “Education technology”. It includes hardware and software
designed IT tools that enhances individualised student learning results by
implementing teacher-led learning in classrooms and mostly through e-learning in
online platforms. EdTech, as its name implies, exists at the crossroads of education
and technology. EdTech may take many various forms within and outside the
classroom, depending on the function it serves, including educational applications
and games, podcasts, learning management systems (LMS), video conferencing
software like Zoom, and online discussion forums, to mention a few. The best
example for EdTech platforms is the Moodle site and app we use. Even social media
sites, which are sometimes derided as time wasters, such as course-specific
Facebook groups, may be used for instructional reasons. (India and Study, 2021)
The EdTech industry has grown at a breakneck pace in recent years, and it has only
accelerated since Covid-19. A succession of breakthroughs in new-age pedagogies
have revolutionised India's educational scene. One of the key milestones in this path
is the use of technology in education. As a result, a variety of EdTech (education and
technology) enterprises have sprung around the country. The Covid-19 epidemic has
expedited the use of technology in India's normally slow-moving education sector.
Investors began pouring money into a sector that they had previously avoided, with
India seeing $0.5 billion in EdTech funding in 2019, and $4 billion in 2020 and 2021
(Raina, 2021).
Covid has created new opportunities for educational start-ups to grow their
companies and reach. The Indian EdTech sector dominated headlines through 2020,
receiving over $2.2 billion in financing. From assisting schools for K-12 education to
after-school learning, from the large test preparation business to, today, the adult
lifelong learning segment, the EdTech ecosystem has seen various firms serving
across different verticals. The major key players of Indian EdTech industry are
Byju’s, Unacademy, Upgrad, Toppr, Vedantu, Whitehat Jr, Quizizz , Great learning ,
Meritnation , Cuemath and so on (Tata Elxsi - Impact of the pandemic on the Edtech
sector: An India Perspective, 2021).

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IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN EDTECH SECTOR OF INDIA

One of the most significant digital waves has arrived as a result of the infection and
huge closure of schools. Everything is migrating online, whether it's entertainment,
commerce, or social connection. As the globe heals from Covid, this is one of the
things that has increased dramatically and is expected to continue. Furthermore, the
push for educational transformation has frequently had to come from outside the
school system.
As a result of the pandemic, there is a greater demand for seamless integration of
classroom learning and distant education with education that is more easily available
through digital media. This transition will be facilitated by applications such as
Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Classrooms. Given the new-normal that the
previous 12 months have heralded into the global economy, the Indian Online
Learning Market Round-Up examines the impact of COVID-19 on education in India,
particularly the Indian online learning industry. With schools and colleges shifting
away from business as usual in the face of a growing 'online' consumer base, India's
online learning sector is ideally positioned to gain from changing customer
preferences while also aiding the country's digital transformation.
The industry saw a massive surge in consumer reach and engagement levels as
leading EdTech providers rushed to meet the demand for online learning with a mix
of free trial access, significant discounts, and a continuously growing content and
offers portfolio. As a result, the industry has drawn a lot of investor interest, both in
terms of financial and strategic investments. This aided India's big online learning
platforms in accelerating their expansion and diversifying their services (Tata Elxsi -
Impact of the pandemic on the EdTech sector: An India Perspective, 2021).

EVALUATION
CHALLENGES FACED BY EDTECH SECTOR IN INDIA

 Apart from Urban cities in India, the rural areas still lack speed internet access
for more than 70% of the population in the country, because it’s an essential
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configuration to study technology based learning. This is a terrible reality.

Because one of the game-changing benefits of online learning is that it
democratizes education by removing geographical constraints. Tier-1 city
residents already have direct access to excellent educational resources.
Virtually, online learning was meant to accomplish the same thing for the rest
of the country.
 Similarly, there are self-paced (no live engagement with faculty) and live-
online (live online interaction with faculty) programs, as well as hybrid
programs that combine the two. Many programs are vague regarding the
learning approach, so students may come in expecting one thing and leave
with something quite different. This tarnishes the entire Ed-tech industry's
reputation.
 Getting ready for online training - Most online teachers have little or no
professional training in how to conduct successful online training. For the
most part, it's a case of trial and error, with some Coursera advice thrown in
for good measure. In comparison to in-person training, online training is a
completely other ballgame. It necessitates a unique set of abilities, as well as
some formal training for the trainers. We need to create a comprehensive
training program for new-age instructors.
 Investors' and entrepreneurs' mindsets - In the education industry, word of
mouth, reputation, and an emphasis on student results are all important
factors. It's not a place where gimmicky marketing will get you very far. It
takes decades to develop a strong educational brand. Many entrepreneurs
and investors that enter the Ed-tech industry are dissatisfied with their inability
to drive development merely by pouring money at it. To accelerate their
expansion, several of the lavishly financed firms in the market have used
gimmicks like throw-away pricing and big ad campaigns. If any growth occurs
as a result, it will not be sustainable and will not yield a favorable return on
investment. The only thing that has been accomplished is to harm the Ed-tech
sector.
 Foreign competitors - India is the second largest market for online learning
after the United States. It is a significant market for the Ed-tech industry's
major companies. Lynda, Pluralsight, Coursera, and Udacity, for example,

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have a considerable focus on the Indian market. These firms have access to
far more capital than most of India's major enterprises.
 Disruptive technology companies have transformed the landscape of
numerous industries across the world. They've not only taken a slice of the
conventional company pie, but they've also boosted the sector's overall
market size. Ed-tech businesses also require government and investor
assistance in order to develop an environment for online learning that
complements rather than competes with the existing educational system (The
Rise of EdTech in India – A Bumpy Road Ahead? 2021)

APPLICATION OF THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

While evaluating the EdTech sector, we are discussing the technology acceptance
model which is a consumer behavior theoretical framework by Fred Davis (Est 1986)
The Technology Adoption Model (TAM) is the most important model for predicting
human behavior toward technology acceptance or rejection. The Technology
Acceptance Model which states that three key elements influence an individual's
desire to utilize new technology: perceived ease of use, perceived utility and attitude
towards using the system (GRANIC, 2019).

This proposed model below is designed according to the faculties of EdTech sector

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TECHNOLOGICAL ACCEPTANCE MODELFOR EDTECH INDIA

PERCIEVED
USEFULLNESS

ATTITUDE
TO USE ACTUAL
USE OF
SYSTEM

PERCIEVED EASE
OF USE

BEHAVIORAL
ATTENTION

SOCIAL
FACTORS
FACILITATION

EDUCATION COMPATIBILITY

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Figure 1. Technological Acceptance model for EdTech (GRANIC, 2019)

PERCEIVED USEFULNESS
The external variables like computer, laptop, tablets or gadgets that enables to use
the technology involves the customers perceive an educational technology if only it is
useful for their needs in daily lives like accessing a document, loading a file,
recording meetings, attending a lecture, getting information and so on, therefore they
use the technology if they want to use. Moreover, it is important to understand if the
technology is solving their educational problems. Then the usefulness of the
technology is perceived by the customers. E-learning can be considered as a
perceived useful factor for students who could enhance their education virtually.

PERCEIVED EASE OF USE

Here if the technology is useful then customers evaluate if the technology is easy to
use, convenient to get their work done, based on how easily they can use a
technology, customers attitude and behavior can be determined. People tend to get
trained on a technology which is easy to implement and the perceive the ease of
usage of the technology. In terms of EdTech learning, it was made easy for learners
to study the practical and theoretical concepts easily through online platforms like
apps, websites and learning management system (LMS).

SOCIAL FACTORS
Social norms and beliefs are important factors towards the attitude of use of
technology, social factors define if the technology is socially accepted or not, as in if
the peers are using it, students, professionals etc. are having strong social influence
towards the mechanisms. EdTech sector has boomed since it has solved the issues
of educational system and its strongly influenced amongst the people.

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ATTITUDE TO USE
After perceiving the technology, the customers can have positive and negative
attitude towards the use of technology and that leads to the behavioral attention to it,
fortunately in EdTech sector it’s been a heads up due to the positive attitude of the
learners towards the field. They have an attitude of using the technology for
productive work and educational purposes.

BEHAVIORAL ATTENTION
When the attitude to use a technology is positive, then the intent of the consumer
behaviors turns out to be positively favorable to accept the actual use of the
technology. Behaviors can be negative as well depending upon the type of tools that
are helping consumers. Discussing about EdTech the behavioral intensions of
learners have been so constantly on achieving something out the technology which
leads to increase in the education technologies.

FACILITATION
Facilitation needs are the ones that supports the use of technologies, for EdTech
sectors that could be training sessions, virtual meeting, operating systems,
documents related to the course, sources for reading etc. this supports the
educational activities in the system and gives the credibility to the end users. Hence
facilitation lifts the usage of the technology.

EDUCATION COMPATIBILITY
The technologies used for educational purpose in these platforms should be
compatible towards learning for the consumer. If we look at virtual reality
implementation, if students prefer visual learning, then this feature should be
compatible in the forum they use as technology. It also has various features like jam
boards or discussion boards where the tutor and the learners are supposed to be
conversating via apps or sites.

ACTUAL USE OF THE SYSTEM

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The actual use of the system by the consumer defines that the technology has been
completely accepted by the consumers through their perseverance, positive attitude
and attention towards the technology. Considering every aspect of the usage of a
technology, this model illustrates how EdTech sector has been globally accepted
and embarked.
THE FUTURE
Due to the worldwide pandemic, schools and colleges all over the world have
turned to digital learning methods for complete their education. This can hamper K-
12 students. As educational institutions, teachers, parents, and governments
become more eager to accept technology, the popularity of tech-enabled learning
solutions in the Indian education system will only grow. In the future, the industry is
projected to witness more of innovation, new programs and sponsorship for
education.
India's New Education Policy for 2020: Changes in education policy have been
made in response to different conditions, with a focus on the significance of
exploiting technology benefits. Pilot studies for online education, content production,
digital repository and distribution, building up digital laboratories, offering training
incentives for instructors, and the requirement for standards on content, technology,
and pedagogy for online/digital teaching and learning are all included in the policy
(The future of EdTech: How 2021 will bring faster tech adoption in the education
sector, 2021)
Post The impact of Covid-19 on the EdTech market: Because consumers have
already deposited in digital gadgets like mobiles or computers to learn technology
based courses online, the number of users may not decrease when the sector's
development slows. "COVID-19 gives the EdTech business a chance to service
clients who had never utilized such platforms previously," Arjun Mohan, CEO of
upGrad, India, remarked in a Forbes India article in 2020. They'll stay if their
experience was positive." By 2025, it is expected that more instructors will use
mobile devices to provide and assess learning. Learning via gadgets and
applications may be as interesting and exciting, as the year 2020 demonstrated.
These apps may be used to administer examinations, assign tasks, and submit
assignments, as well as assess delivery and comprehension (Raghunathan, 2021)

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The classroom atmosphere will be radically altered by the digital adoption methods.
These institutions will change in the next years to accommodate technology.
Students working on robotics, for example, will have sophisticated but appropriate
equipment at their stations. Classrooms will become more interactive as a result of
this configuration, and students will have more opportunity to engage with the
domains of their choosing.
Covid-19's economic consequences have yet to be thoroughly examined throughout
the world. However, the repercussions are more pronounced in terms of
unemployment rates, which have risen. As a result, there has been a rapid
movement toward online platforms for career-oriented learning, up-skilling, and
reskilling.
AR and VR will eventually gain traction in the masses. Virtual reality (VR) and
augmented reality (AR) are already widespread and in use. Interactive learning
platforms that use augmented reality (AR) give access both students and teachers to
experience e-learning. Educationalists may use this technology to broaden the
environment of a classroom by include films and visuals, making it more engaging
and interactive for pupils. (Jaiswal, 2021)
As previously said, there is a wide uncharted territory in the area of technology-
assisted learning. As a result, more businesses will look for methods to innovate,
develop, and deploy in the e-learning space. As the ed-tech business grows, so does
the ease with which students may adopt technology Like Artificial intelligence and
machine learning. Soon in the future, hybrid learning will be the key to education.
(Future Of EdTech India: Factors Driving the Growth Of EdTech Industry In India,
2021).

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Image source: (The development of EdTech start-ups and interesting fund raise in
India, 2021)

CONCLUSION
As viral pandemic across world has flushed the concerns of studying online without
having an option, EdTech sector has been in a win-win situation throughout. Hence it
has led to several EdTech startups in India specifically because it has been the
capital of this industry. In such case, marketing becomes a major part to grow the
business.
Here are my few recommendations to the marketing strategies of this sector
1. Influencer marketing can create huge impact on the consumers, it has been
already done by Byju’s involving celebrities, rather than that influencing can
be done by someone who is expertise in educational area or the respective
industry which can build trust in customers and increase the authenticity of the
brand.
2. Since social media marketing is essential, most of the EdTech companies
obtain social media presence, even though they should be able to create their
existence in every platform which is emerging for example: metaverse, virtual
medias etc. to stay updated among the younger generation because they
create the market.
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3. Ads and commercials should be also focusing on educating the parents as

well rather than just focusing on individuals, it can be the triggering point for
them to have a purchase behavior towards their children reinforcing
education.
4. To create leads, sales and promotions, they can create free workshops from
the expertise and mobile apps in these EdTech platforms to customers, so the
positioning of the brand is done.
5. They can release teasers, videos and ads integrated in the form of
Augmented and Virtual reality which can build curiosity among the people,
anyways these technologies are going to be implemented in the learning with
digital adoption methods.
To conclude with this research and findings of the paper, EdTech will be the next
“gurukul” in India with different merging of technologies. The market will not be the
same as pre-covid after it has boomed, it will have drastically immense growth.

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