Investigating effective factors in increasing the sales of Iranian internet sites in the field of selling educational products

Dissertation for Master's degree (M.A)

Trend: "Marketing"

Abstract

Today, with the advancement of technology, all concepts related to the market and consumer have undergone fundamental changes. The prevalence of computer use as one of the most effective technologies of this century, as well as the spread of the Internet and its combination with the supply and sale of goods and services, has made electronic markets and selling goods through the website one of the most profitable and necessary ways of selling goods. The extremely low costs of online sales compared to face-to-face sales, as well as the lack of restrictions on the supply of goods and services, have caused this part of the sales industry to experience significant growth in recent years and take a significant share.

The main goal of this research is to identify the factors that influence the behavior of online buyers of educational products and to evaluate their impact through their rating. The purpose of identifying the factors affecting buyers' behavior is to obtain a basis for influencing buyers in these markets.

This research is practical in terms of its purpose and is considered a descriptive-survey method.

Library sources such as materials in books, articles, publications, and theses were used to collect the theoretical foundations of the research. A questionnaire was used. that this questionnaire was created by the researcher and adjusted in consultation with the professors.

In the statistical section, the t-student test was used to measure the influencing variables and the Friedman test was used to rank them, and all the calculations were done by spss software. The sample number was 384, which was distributed among the students of Tehran Azad University, Center of Humanities, who had at least one experience of online shopping, which included the following results:

The variable rank of the ease of using the site and the ease of the online shopping process is higher than other variables. It is necessary for online sellers to make all their efforts to simplify the site processes and especially the online shopping process. Therefore, sellers diversify receiving methods such as post, courier, etc. Be creative.

The variable of site rank in search engines has been assigned the second rank in terms of influencing the behavior of buyers. It is suggested to consult with reputable companies in the field of how to raise the rank of the site and the science of optimizing the site, and take the necessary measures for optimization.

Internet advertising for products, contrary to initial impressions, has not been assigned a high rank and has been the least important according to the respondents. Considering this issue, it is suggested that the advertisements of the companies active in this sector should be removed from the direct mode and take more of the product introduction mode. Considering the above factors to increase online sales will definitely help site managers.

Introduction

Internet shopping is considered one of the most advanced and widely used shopping methods along with classic methods. In this type of store, which came into existence after the Internet, the seller puts the list and specifications of his goods on the site, and the buyer, after visiting this site and studying the specifications and features of the goods, takes steps to register a purchase order from the store. These orders are sent to the customer's address by motor courier, post or freight after the final review and approval by the site officials, according to the type of product and its size and weight, and the product is paid for in different ways. Most of the payments in these online stores are made by means of electronic payment tools. Electronic payment cards, both virtual (only usable on the Internet) and physically, can often be used in such environments. Of course, local online stores usually have the ability to deliver money when receiving the goods, but this is usually not possible in global online shopping.

Online shopping in the world has become more economical and convenient than in the past and allows consumers to compare the price/quality and services of goods. In this way, customer satisfaction has increased and they often prefer to do their shopping on the Internet.Successful online stores usually first have to win the trust of the customer in order to achieve success. In virtual space, customers easily compare any store with others and do not buy until they are sure.

Nevertheless, only price and quality do not affect people's purchases. Like other markets, buyers in this market are influenced by various factors and it is necessary to identify the factors affecting the purchase of this group of people. This has been the subject that this research sought to do. In this chapter, the statement of the research problem along with the need to address it in the current society has been examined in detail, and in addition to pointing out the scope, questions and hypotheses of the research, the theoretical and operational definitions of the research variables have also been discussed. The prevalence of computer use as one of the most effective technologies of this century, as well as the spread of the Internet and its combination with the supply and sale of goods and services, has made electronic markets and selling goods through the website one of the most profitable and necessary ways of selling goods. The extremely low costs of online sales compared to face-to-face sales, as well as the lack of restrictions on the supply of goods and services, have caused this sector of the sales industry to experience significant growth in recent years and take a significant share. These changes in the markets have been such that in today's markets, the definition of a customer is equal to a real customer plus a virtual customer. (Qazizadeh and Abbaszadeh, 1387)

Internet shopping has found its place in the Iranian market and part of the financial transactions takes place in this market. Especially after the widespread use of electronic cards and the possibility of payment through the Internet, this market has faced a significant growth. Some products, especially those that can be downloaded, are currently being bought and sold on websites. Currently, most of the goods that are sold in the online markets are computer-related products, and the purchase of products such as clothes and household appliances has not found its place in this market.

The lack of variety of goods, as well as the lack of purchase from the website by a large percentage of people in the society, means that this market has not yet reached maturity and many measures must be taken to promote it. What are the motivations of internet buyers to go online shopping and how do they choose a website among hundreds of similar websites and finally what factors make them buy from it after visiting the website. This is not possible unless these drivers and reasons are investigated scientifically and using existing theories. Many factors affect the decision of buyers in the markets, and the discussions and theories related to it under the title of consumer behavior have a long history. The models presented to examine consumer behavior are largely designed with regard to physical goods and services, and to examine the factors influencing the decision of website buyers, it is necessary to make changes in them.

In most of the consumer behavior models of normal markets, the emphasis is on the marketing mix, which includes sales promotions, goods, pricing and distribution. This combination loses its importance when buying and selling online. In online markets, goods do not exist in real form and only have a virtual presence. Also, product distribution and sales promotions are undergoing major changes in these markets. For this reason, it is necessary to use other variables that are influential among them.

One of the well-known models for investigating the behavior of Internet buyers is the model presented by Carter in 2003 under the title "Influencing Forces on Internet Buyers". In this model, unlike traditional models, it is pointed out that the experience of using internet sites affects the buyer's decision making process. In this research, an attempt has been made to use this model to investigate the factors affecting online shopping from websites that provide educational products.