Introduction

Blogging is the new advertising. With almost all high end brands depending on
blogs to increase their reach, they have become the best way to reach the masses.
In today’s world of internet, social media plays an important role in helping
consumers find what they are looking for. It is vitally important that companies
have a strong presence on the digital platforms; otherwise the target audience can
easily change suppliers. Among the biggest influences on peoples buying habits
are digital platforms.

During the last five years, the spread of digital media and blogs have further
changed buying and selling techniques of goods and services. With platforms like
Instagram and Tumblr, consumers are able to comment on their experiences with
products, services and companies and share them with their friends. This has led to
the growing need for companies to generate positive customer experiences in order
to minimize negative word-of-mouth messages, which would easily be spread
within the digital media platforms to other, potential customers.

blogs have grown to be one of the most effective ways of sharing experiences and
recommendations over the internet and they are an effective way of marketing
products or services straight to the target customer with low cost. It is not only a
place where people go to find specific products or services to buy, but also a place
to roam around and accidentally find something desirable. It can increase the
amount of internet store or service buying, since it can link the user directly to the
place of purchase.

This phenomenon of writing down reports about past buying experiences has had a
radical impact on the consumer buying behavior. It encourages buyers to do more
active research on products or services and to comment on their experiences so that

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anyone can read them. The impacts these changes have had on post-purchasing
actions have been tremendous. Negative feedback is no longer an issue that is dealt
with solely between the company and the client, but now consumers are writing
about their experiences online, where anyone can find them.

The existence of digital media and the changes in options and buying venues has
also had a dramatic effect on the buying behavior model that describes the
traditional way of purchasing products or services.

This report will focus more in depth with how blogs affect consumers when they
are buying items or services from online stores.

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Objective of the Study

Broad Objective

The objective of the study is to understand the consumer’s perspective about blogs
as well as how digital media platforms affect the consumers buying behavior.

Specific Objectives

 To learn what attracts customers towards particular blogs

 To know the type of content that attracts customers on social media
 To study the effect of blogs on consumer decision making
 To study if consumers prefer online or offline stores

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Scope of the Study
Globalization of the Digital Media has led to a manifold increase in online Blogs.
New markets have been opened; new instruments have been developed; and new
services have been launched. Besides, a number of opportunities and challenges
have also been thrown open. Online Blogging and Marketing is a relatively new
market in India. Blogs influence consumers to buy goods and services then and
there from the website. Blogs and e-markets are shown together on one website, to
make it easier to buy goods and services.

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Literature Review
BLOGS
A blog is an online journal or informational website displaying information in the
reverse chronological order, with the latest posts appearing first. It is a platform
where a writer or even a group of writers share their views on an individual
subject.

Blogging for business, projects has a very straightforward purpose – to rank your
website higher in Google SERPs, a.k.a. increase your visibility. As a business, the
company relies on consumers to keep buying their products and services. As a new
business, companies rely on blogging to help them get to these consumers and grab
their attention. Without blogging, the website would remain invisible, whereas
running a blog makes them searchable and competitive. The main purpose of a
blog is to connect a company to the relevant audience. Another one is to boost their
traffic and send quality leads to their website.

The more frequent and better the blog posts are, the higher the chances for the
company’s website to get discovered and visited by their target audience. This
means, a blog is an effective lead generation tool. Add a great call to action (CTA),
and it will convert the website traffic into high-quality leads. But a blog also allows
a company to showcase their authority and build a brand.

When they use their niche knowledge for creating informative and engaging posts,
it builds trust with their audience. Great blogging makes their business looks more
credible, which is especially important if their brand is still young and fairly
unknown. It ensures presence and authority at the same time.

When a blog is made publicly accessible, anyone can typically find the blog
through links available on the blog owner’s individual or business website, their
social media profiles, emails and e-newsletters and online keyword search engines.
Many blog owners also set up blogs on websites devoted to the creation, storage
and sharing of blogs, such as Blogger, LiveJournal, Tumblr and WordPress.

Blog content can appear as posts on one continuous streaming page or posts on
individual pages reachable through one or more pages set up in a list-style format
as post title links, excerpts and related tags. All posts or links to posts are typically

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displayed to readers in reverse chronological order with the most recent content
appearing first.

Beyond improving website traffic by updating content regularly, individuals and

businesses make money off of their blogs by building trust with members of their
target market. They offer content that their target audience finds interesting and
useful and that also establishes them as knowledgeable experts. Consumers often
buy new products and services from individuals and businesses who they trust.

Definition of blogging

Blogging is the set of many skills that one needs to run and control a blog.
Equipping web pages with tools to make the process of writing, posting, linking,
and sharing content easier on the internet is the essence of blogging

Consumer Behavior
According to the definition provided by Michael Solomon, consumer behavior is
an area of study that covers a lot of ground and involves the study of individual or
groups in a process where they select, purchase, use or dispose of products or
services to satisfy needs and desires. Consumers can be defined as any individual
of any age who takes part in any of the buying stages mentioned above..

Marketers expect that by understanding what causes the consumers to buy

particular goods and services, they will be able to determine—which products are
needed in the marketplace, which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods
to the consumers.

Consumer behavior is the study of how individual customers, groups or

organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy
their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace
and the underlying motives for those actions

The study of consumer behavior assumes that the consumers are actors in the
marketplace. The perspective of role theory assumes that consumers play various
roles in the marketplace. Starting from the information provider, from the user to
the payer and to the disposer, consumers play these roles in the decision process.

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The roles also vary in different consumption situations; for example, a mother
plays the role of an influencer in a child’s purchase process, whereas she plays the
role of a disposer for the products consumed by the family.

According to Engel, Blackwell, and Mansard, ‘consumer behavior is the actions

and decision processes of people who purchase goods and services for personal
consumption’.

Models of Consumer Buying Behavior

Consumer buying behavior is a study of buying behavior that occurs each time a
consumer decides to purchase a product. It is an internal thought process (a process
often referred to as the buying process) and it begins with the consumer
recognizing a need or desire to purchase something.

Consumer buying behavior is more complicated than merely the transaction where
consumer buys the product. It also involves the study of factors preceding the
buying situation. It considers the thought process which pre-empts the buying,
where the consumer recognizes the need and conducts research into different
options before making an informed decision.

It also includes post-buying actions where the consumer considers the experience
before determining whether to use that retailer again in the future

Most notable theory on buying behavior was developed by Kotler. It remains to be

one of the building blocks of the area of study and later theories have often been
largely built on his ideas.

According to this theory, buyer behavior is a fairly linear procedure with a clear
start and an ending point, as pictured below.

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In contrast, more modern theories on the topic argue that buying behavior is more
of a circular process as opposed to a linear transaction as Kotler assumed. These
theories are often called Buying Cycle theories. Below is a consumer buying cycle
developed by Solomon which understands the behavior as an on-going process.

In the beginning stage, the consumer has no plans of buying any specific product
until they perceive a certain stimulus, for example recognizing a need or seeing an
attractive advertisement online. In the following stages the buyer considers the
necessity of the purchase, before moving on to doing research to find the most
suitable product in terms of factors such as price, place (internet versus physical
store options) and reviews by other users. After choosing the most fitting option,
the consumer buys the product and experiences the post-buying stages where they

8
weigh in the products attributes with possible inconveniences of the purchasing
transaction and the overall experience of buying from that specific retailer.

How Blogs affect Consumer Buying Behavior

Ever since the major technological advancements during the last decade, the world
of buying and selling has seen a huge shift from where the seller was the dominant
party and would “push” the products to the consumer with the help of marketing,
to a more consumer-friendly “pull” marketing style, where most power lies with
the buyer. Because of the internet, consumers have the option to do major research
and comparing different companies in hopes of finding the more suitable option.

They have a vast amount of options and no more are they limited to the physical
stores nearby. This also means that the way consumers and suppliers interact with
each other has changed. The existence of Digital Media and Blogging platforms
such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube has can also have a huge effect
on pre-purchase activities. Not only can consumers find valuable and reliable
reviews on products by previous users, they can also find bargains for products by
accessing their accounts.

Due to the heavy increase of users, companies have come to notice the power of
Blogging platforms as a marketing tool and now spend a significant amount of
money on them.

In today’s world of marketing, internet and social media, Blogs play an imperative
role in aiding shoppers find the stuffs they are eyeing for. It is indispensably vital
that companies have a buoyant existence in the Digital media podia; otherwise the
target audience can effortlessly change sellers. Such is the impact of blogs on
consumer and their purchase decisions, that the effect is often dubbed as “Blogging
Effect”.

“Blogging Effect” is defined as the methodology by which the consumers can

easily and regularly publish experiences on web pages, which are best described as
online journals, diaries or news events listings.

The traditional Consumer Buying Behavior (CBB) model proposed by Kotler is a

set of linear transactions of the various stages of consumers before buying the

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product. The model is no longer effective for current trends of marketing, wherein,
the companies go about their business and interact with individuals. A tremendous
amount of data is created by usage of Blogging sites, smartphones, and other
consumer devices have allowed billions of individuals around the world to share
the information with others. Sergio Zyman, clarifies that technology has given
people many more options than they had in the past and has created a consumer
democracy in which people around the world constantly use Blogging and digital
media platforms to seek and share information from discussing consumer products
to organizing political movements.

Enduring to the study, Solomon, M. & Rabolt, N proposed the circular transaction
model of CBB, termed as Consumer Buying Cycles (CBC) which is relevant in
today’s blogging world.

Talk Attention

Opinion Blogs Interest

Use Desire

Buying

The CBC Model clearly indicates that the influence of blogs is larger in the
beginning stages of the buying process. The users of blogs have the opportunity to
read about other consumer experiences. This can lead to getting users attention,
raising interest for the mentioned product or an actual desire to go and purchase the
item.

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Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behavior
In order to find out what types of factors in blogs affect the behavior of consumers
in buying situations, it is important to consider both internal influencers and
external influencers. The consumers are unconsciously affected by both every time
they make buying decisions, and it is therefore vital that both are considered when
studying the topic.

Internal Influencers/Factors

 Family
 Friends
 Social Class
 Culture
 Age Group
 Economy

External Influencers/Factors

 Blogs Marketing efforts

 Reviews on Items and Services
 Discount Promotion
 Banners
 Checkout and Navigation ease

Therefore, we take into account not only the internal factors that affect consumer
buying, but also how external factors can influence the buying decision making.
Since the Factors modified to fit the research question of how blogs influence
consumer behavior, it considers the marketing efforts put forth by bloggers.

Since these blogs are essentially formed to act as a tool for the blogger to be able to
post reviews and recommendations for their followers and online consumers, it
also acts as a form of marketing that can encourage the consumer to try out
products they’ve never used before. Another advantage the blogs have in terms of

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being a marketing tool is that they can express the bloggers opinions, promote
discounts and give readers direct links to the internet store and still maintain a
neutral point of view. Readers don’t see blog posts 23 as an aggressive marketing
method and therefore don’t react negatively to what is promoted.

If a company were to promote its product as bluntly, consumer might ignore the
message altogether as is typical in today’s world of internet advertising. Therefore
blogs are a huge advantage to online retail stores in terms of providing
inexpensive, attractive marketing for the consumers

Consumer Satisfaction Process

The paramount goal of marketing is to understand the customer and to influence
buying behaviour.
The process can be depicted as follows:-
1. Need recognition- realization of the difference between the desired and the
current situation that serves as a trigger for entire process.
2. Search for information.
3. Pre purchase alternative evaluation.
4. Consumption(utilization of the procured option)
5. Post purchase alternative re-evaluation.
6. Divestment(disposal of the unconsumed product and it’s remnants)

Internet Stores and blogging

Due to the ever-increasing number of retailer going online, competition for
customers is incredibly hard and brand loyalty is nearly extinct. This gives the
power to the consumers as they have the option of choosing where to purchase
their product from and leaves the companies scrambling for customers. Companies
especially dependent on the success of their online shopping sites, such as Asos,
Bubbleroom, LittleJewels and Nelly.com need well thought-out marketing plans
which would help them reach their target customers.

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These companies are completely internet based and have no physical outlets, and
therefore have limited possibilities to encounter their customers.

Blogs are an easy way of reaching customers from new areas, and it is a way of
doing marketing which is very cost efficient. Therefore it is helpful for both parties
to create cooperation which can be beneficial not only for the blogger and the
company, but also for the reader.

This is why it is important that these companies understand the amount of

influence that bloggers have on their readers. Some companies are already
realizing the potential marketing help that bloggers can provide.

Consumer Buying Decision influenced by blogs

The consumer buying decision differs from the traditional purchasing model when
it is influenced by a blog. The consumer may use several blogs as a tool to find
information about the product and or online company of their interest. If the buyer
is not following a specific blog but is motivated to find one with hopes of finding
purchasing suggestions, they first need to search for the most suitable one that
corresponds with their interest in terms of style, price point and other similar
qualities.

After finding the favored blog, the reader will read the blog with hopes of finding
inspiration and specific products to buy, after which they follow the links often
provided by the blogger to the product, or if no such links exist, do research of
their own to find a similar product from an online store.

After this step, most consumers will do comparative research during which they
find alternatives that might be more cost efficient, especially if the product is
expensive.

On the other hand, if the reader accidentally finds something they might be
interested in buying, the process will begin at a different stage. Here the reader will
be reading a blog and then proceed to the stage of being inspired to find out more
about that specific purchase. If their enthusiasm over the product remains, they’ll
move on to researching the alternatives and evaluating their actual need of the

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product, helping the buyer decide whether they intend to buy the product or
disregard it.

After this, the process moves on to the actual buying stage, followed by the post
buying transactions. Here a consumer might decide not to engage in any post-
buying communication or to start the whole cycle again by going back to the blogs
to peruse other pages.

When considering a more traditional approach to post-buying communication, it is

notable that it usually occurs between the main players, as in the customer and the
seller. With the influence of blogs, a noticeable shift in communication flow can be
predicted, as more information flows to other receivers.

Due to the spread of discussions and commentary in blogs, it is clear that

customers can trade experiences about products and companies more easily, which
has a huge effect on the discussion flow. This can lead to loss of potential
customers and since this is what all companies want to avoid, they should be aware
of the potential power that blogs hold and act accordingly

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Research Methodology

Types of Data

For the study purpose both primary and secondary data are used. The primary data
collected from companies, customers and dealers dealing in the services of the
company. The secondary data collected from records of the company.

The primary and secondary data have been collected to cover every aspect of the
study. The primary data are related to behavior and response of customers. These
data used in combination as per need of the study. These data having different
merits and demerits and have serves our purpose of the research study. These are
explained below:

Primary Data
Primary data are information collected by a researcher specifically for a research
assignment. In other words, primary data are information that a company must
gather because no one has compiled and published the information in a forum
accessible to the public. Companies generally take the time and allocate the
resources required to gather 8 primary data only when a question, issue or problem
presents itself that is sufficiently important or unique that it warrants the
expenditure necessary to gather the primary data. Primary data are original in
nature and directly related to the issue or problem and current data. Primary data
are the data which the researcher collects through various methods like interviews,
surveys, questionnaires etc.

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Secondary Data
Secondary data are the data collected by a party not related to the research study
but collected these data for some other purpose and at different time in the past. If
the researcher uses these data then these become secondary data for the current
users. These may be available in written, typed or in electronic forms. A variety of
secondary information sources is available to the researcher gathering data on an
industry, potential product applications and the market place. Secondary data is
also used to gain initial insight into the research problem.

Secondary data is classified in terms of its source – either internal or external.

Internal, or in-house data, is secondary information acquired within the
organization where research is being carried out. External secondary data is
obtained from outside sources.

Keeping in view the advantages and disadvantages of sources of data requirement

of the research study and time factor, both sources of data i.e. primary and
secondary data have been selected. These are used in combination to give proper
coverage to the topic.

Type of Research Used

Descriptive Research
Descriptive research is used to describe characteristics of a population or
phenomenon being studied. It does not answer questions about how/when/why the
characteristics occurred. Rather it addresses the "what" question. The
characteristics used to describe the situation or populations are usually some kind
of categorical scheme also known as descriptive categories.

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It is designed to describe the demographic characteristics of consumers who use
the products. It deals with determining frequency with something occurs or how
two variables vary together.

Descriptive research is a study designed to depict the participants in an accurate

way. More simply put, descriptive research is all about describing people who take
part in the study.
There are three ways a researcher can go about doing a descriptive research
project, and they are:

 Observational, defined as a method of viewing and recording the participants

 Case study, defined as an in-depth study of an individual or group of
individuals
 Survey, defined as a brief interview or discussion with an individual about a
specific topic

In this Report, we have used Survey method, with the help of questionnaires.

Instruments for Data Collection

For collection of data the following instruments have been used:

Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a set of questions has been prepared to ask a number of questions

and collect answers from respondents relating to the research topic. A number of
questions usually in printed or electronic form are to be answered by the
individuals. The forms often have blank spaces in which the answers can be
written. Sets of such forms are distributed to groups and the answers are collected
relating to research topic.

A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically

useful information about a given topic. When properly constructed and responsibly
administered, questionnaires become a vital instrument by which statements can be

17
made about specific groups or people or entire populations. Inappropriate
questions, incorrect ordering of questions, incorrect scaling, or bad questionnaire
format can make the survey valueless, as it may not accurately reflect the views
and opinions of the participants.

A useful method for checking a questionnaire and making sure it is accurately

capturing the intended information is to pretest among a smaller subset of target
respondents. In a research or survey questions asked to respondents, and designed
to extract specific information.

It serves four basic purposes:

(1) To collect the appropriate data,

(2) make data comparable and amenable to analysis,

(3) To minimize bias in formulating and asking question, and

(4) To make questions engaging and varied. For our study purpose a set of
questions has been prepared to collect information relating to the topic of the
study.

In this study a structured questionnaire has been used with different types of
questions such as closed ended and open ended. Special case has been taken to
select the scales for the questions for collection of responses very effectively.

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Research Methods
For collection of primary data for this research work survey and observation
methods have been used. Experimental method is not found suitable for this study
because the topic is a theoretical topic and there is no need to have experiments.

These two methods are explained below:

Survey Method
Survey is used to collect quantitative information about items in a population.
Surveys are used in different areas for collecting the data even in public and
private sectors. A survey may be conducted in the field by the researcher. The
respondents are contacted by the research person personally, telephonically or
through mail.

This method takes a lot of time, efforts and money but the data collected are of
high accuracy, current and relevant to the topic. When the questions are
administered by a researcher, the survey is called a structured interview or a
researcher-administered survey. When the questions are administered by the
respondent, the survey is referred to as a questionnaire or a self-administered
survey.

It is an efficient way of collecting information from a large number of respondents.

Very large samples are possible. Statistical techniques can be used to determine
validity, reliability, and statistical significance. Surveys are flexible in the sense
that a wide range of information can be collected.

They can be used to study attitudes, values, beliefs, and past behaviors. Because
they are standardized, they are relatively free from several types of errors. There is
an economy in data collection due to the focus provided by standardized questions.

19
Only questions of interest to the researcher are asked, recorded, codified, and
analyzed.

Observation Method
Observation is a complex research method because it often requires the researcher
to play a number of roles and to use a number of techniques; including her/his five
senses, to collect data. The observer puts himself in the actual situation and watch
carefully. On the basis of 14 his knowledge, skills and experience he collects the
data without contacting the respondents.

The results of observation entirely depend on the talents of the researcher. This
method can be used only by expert persons in the research. Observation methods
have been developed with the objective of 'observing people in their natural setting
- as they go about their everyday lives. Observation methods can overcome some
of the criticisms of quantitative research methods (Validity, bias etc.) and can be
useful when its subject can't provide information, or can only provide inaccurate
information. Out of available methods for collecting primary data, survey and
observation methods have been found suitable for the topic study. These have
fulfilled the requirements for data collection properly.

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Sampling

The research is a systematic study to examine or investigate the issue or problem

and find out the relevant information for solution. For study, data are to be
collected from the respondents. It is not possible to collect data from every one of
the population. Population is a very large number of persons or objects or items
which is not feasible to manage. A population is a group of individuals, persons,
objects, or items from which samples are taken for measurement. For research
purpose a part of the population is to be selected. Sampling is the process in which
a representative part of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or
characteristics of the whole population is selected. This is called a sample. It is
easier to contact a smaller part of the population for data collection. It can be done
within a limited time, efforts and with minimum cost. For selection of a sample
special care should be taken that the sample is proper representative of the whole
population. Every segment of the population should be included but the number
should not be very large which may become difficult to manage within time and
cost limits.

Sample Size
For this research study purpose out of different sampling methods the stratified
random sampling has been selected. This includes the consumers that are present
in the Delhi NCR Region. Customers have been selected from urban and rural
areas of these cities. They have been selected randomly. So stratified random
sampling has been used for the study. Keeping in view the proper representation of
every segment of population and manageable size of the sample, the sample size
selected is 100.

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Time Duration
The permitted time by the university for completion of research study is two
months. Continuous efforts have been put to work on this research. It has been
completed and submitted within the permitted time period.

Statistical Tools for Data Analysis

For data analysis measures of central tendency, standard deviation, variance will be
used. For testing of hypothesis F Test and T test will be used.

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Limitations of the Study

 The sample size of the survey is too small to come to a concrete

conclusion
 Some of the information provided by the company is confidential and can
not be shared in this project.
 The attitude of some of the survey participants might be casual.

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Analysis and Interpretation of Data
Factors deciding the effect of blogs on consumers

1. Online reviews
2. Product and Information Quality
3. Free Shipping
4. New Product
5. Easy Checkout
6. Easy Refund
7. Easy Navigation

Online Reviews
About 90% of people read online reviews before buying a product. The online
reviews, whether positive or negative, are the most source of finding out about the
products of the company.

Product and Information Quality

One of the most important factors that influence the consumer’s buying behavior is
product quality and product information. Promoting and selling good quality
products at the right time and the right platform are vital to a business’s success.

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Free Shipping
With a contribution of 49%, free shipping is the second most significant factor that
influences the consumer decision making process. Free shipping usually attracts
customers who purchase very often from online stores and websites. Free shipping
helps to keep the customers hooked for a longer period of time.

New Product
Customers are often on the lookout for new products and services. Try to add new
launches to the product or service catalog. Consumers always look for something
that is new and innovative. Moreover, new products attract more traffic too.

Easy Checkout
The process of checkout must be really simple. If the checkout process is
complicated, there are chances that the customer might lose interest in purchasing
the product.

Easy Refund
Undeniably, a lack of personal touch is something which an ecommerce business
suffers from. But, it can overcome this challenge by putting an easy return
policy in place. Defined and easy return policies are really very helpful if they are
in favor of consumers. In a business where size or color of the product can
mismatch, easy return policy helps you get the consumer’s trust.

Easy Navigation
A Great Navigation in the ecommerce website helps in getting positive user
experience. It will help the consumers in getting the idea where they are and where
to move on. Good navigation includes everything from well-defined categories to
site maps. It gives a simple sneak-peek into the list of products that the company
offers.

31
Table 1: Analysis of age
Age Number of respondent
18-30 44
31-40 28
41-50 16
More than 50 12
Total 100

Analysis of Age

12%

18-30
16% 31-40
44% 40-50
More than 50

28%

Interpretation

32
It was observed that more people between the age groups 18 to 30 were
aware and attracted towards Digital Media and Blogs. People above the age
of 40 were not very informed about online shopping through blogs and were
therefore, not much interested.

Table 2: Analysis of Gender

Gender Number of respondents
Male 37
Female 63
Total 100

Analysis of Gender

37%
Male
Female

63%

Interpretation
It was observed that there were more female users than male users who
browsed blogs and were interested in online shopping through blogs.

33
Table 3: Analysis of Occupation
Occupation Number of Respondents
Self Employed 22
Private Employee 21
Government Employee 18
Student 39
Total 100

Analysis of Occupation

22

Self Employed
39 Private Employee
Government Employee
Student

21

18

Interpretation
It was observed that more students were interested in blogs and online
purchases as compared to other occupations. Government employees were
the least ones to be interested in filling the questionnaire.

34
Table 4: Analysis of Influence
Factors Number of Respondents
Social Media 42
Recommended by someone 11
Keyword 27
Advertisements 20
Total 100

Analysis of Influence

20

Social Media
42 Recommended by someone
Keyword
Advertisements

27

11

Interpretation
It can be observed that people end up on new blogs mostly through Social
Media. Social media is therefore an important factor in increasing the blogs
reach. Closely following Social Media, Keywords are the next major factor
that helps in increasing reach. Advertisements and Recommendations,
though important, aren’t that big of a factor in increasing a blogs reach

Table 5: Analysis of likeliness to shop from blogs

Factors Number of Respondents

35
 Most Likely 47
Likely 33
Not Likely 20
Total 100

Likeliness to shop from blogs

20%

Most Likely
Likely
47% Not Likely

33%

Interpretation
It can be observed that people 47% people were most likely to shop from an
online blog and only 20% people were not likely to shop online. This
implies that more people depend on blogs to search for trending stuff and
services to buy online

Table 6: Analysis of effect of Blogs Appearance

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 59
Does Not Matter 21
Neutral 20
Total 100

36
 Blogs Appearance

20

Matters
Does Not Matter
Neutral

59
21

Interpretation
It can be observed that the blogs appearance plays a very important role in
affecting the consumers buying decision. Since majority of the respondents
felt that a visually appealing blog is more effective in grabbing their
attention.

Table 7: Analysis of Effect of Online Reviews

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 54
Does not matter 32
Neutral 14
Total 100

37
 Online Reviews
14

Matters
Does not matter
Neutral
54
32

Interpretation
It can be observed that Online Reviews play a very important role in
influencing people to buy a product or a service. Online Reviews mattered for
54 respondents and 14 were neutral, whereas, 32 respondents did not take into
consideration the online reviews that were posted.

Table 8: Analysis of Effect of Product Information

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 77
Does not matter 10
Neutral 13
Total 100

38
 Product Information
13

10
Matters
Does not matter
Neutral

77

Interpretation
It can be observed that the availability of the Product information of the
product that is to be bought plays a very significant role, since 77
respondents responded with “Matters” and Product information availability
did not matter for only 10 respondents.

Table 9: Analysis of Effect of Free Shipping

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 34

39
Does not matter 42
Neutral 24
Total 100

Free Shipping

24

34
Matters
Does not matter
Neutral

42

Interpretation
It can be observed that the availability of the Free Shipping of the product
was not that definite of a factor in purchase of a product, since 24
respondents were neutral and 34 respondents were not affected by
availability of free shipping. This implies that people will buy a product they
want, despite shipping fees.

Table 10: Analysis of effect of New Product Information

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 17
Does not matter 38
Neutral 45

40
 Total 100

New Product Information

17

Matters
45 Does not matter
Neutral

38

Interpretation
It can be observed that the availability of the new Product information did
not play a significant role in affecting the buying behavior of consumers,
since only 17 people were affected by its availability.

Table 11: Analysis of effect of Easy Checkout

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 73
Does not matter 15
Neutral 12
Total 100

41
 Easy Checkout
12

15 Matters
Does not matter
Neutral

73

Interpretation
It can be observed that Easy Checkout is an important factor that influences
buying behavior of the consumers, since 73 respondents were affected by the
availability of this feature in the blogging websites.

Table 12: Analysis of effect of Easy Refund

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 68
Does not matter 27
Neutral 5
Total 100

42
 Easy Refund
5

27
Matters
Does not matter
Neutral

68

Interpretation
It can be observed that Easy Refund of purchased product played an
important part in influencing consumers to buy products. This shows that
post-Purchase Activities play a significant role in affecting consumer
Behavior.

Table 13: Analysis of effect of Easy Navigation

Criteria Number of Respondents
Matters 43
Does not matter 24
Neutral 33
Total 100

43
 Easy Navigation

33
Matters
43 Does not matter
Neutral

24

Interpretation
It can be observed that easy navigation through the blog and the website is
considered important by consumers, since 43 respondents agreed that it
affected their buying decision.

Table 14: Analysis of Awareness of Internet Code co.

Criteria Number of Respondents
Aware 22
Not Aware 78
Total 100

44
 Awareness of Internet Code co.

22%

Aware
Not Aware

78%

Interpretation
It can be observed that 78% respondents are not aware about the company,
so, it is important for Internet Code to increase its reach.

Table 15: Analysis of Effect of Blogs on Impulse Buying

Criteria Number of Respondents
yes 68
No 32
Total 100

45
 Impulse Buying

32

yes
No

68

Interpretation
It can be observed that 68% respondents impulse buy through blogs. This
implies that blogs activate impulse buying in consumers.

FINDINGS
 44% of the respondents belong to the age of (18-30)
 63% of the respondents are females and remaining 37 % are male
 49% of the Respondents are likely to find a blog through Social Media
 29% respondents are likely to find a blog through keywords.
 47% respondents are most likely to shop from a blog they find on the
internet
 54% respondents are affected by Online Reviews of products mentioned on
the blogs

46
  77% respondents are affected by the availability of the product information
 42% respondents did not care about free shipping and are not affected by its
availability
 49% respondents were affected by the blogs appearance
 45% respondents were neutral towards the availability of new product
Information.
 73% respondents were affected by the availability of Easy Checkout facility.
 68% respondents were affected by the availability of Easy Refund facility.
 78% respondents are not aware about the company
 68% respondents impulse buy on blogs.

SUGGESTIONS

 From the study it was found that the level of awareness is low and to get
more Awareness, the company can do more advertisement through internet
brochures, Social Media Awarness, etc.
 Since the appearance of blogs is important, the company can work on its
graphic designing team to increase the quality.
 The company should be more concentrated to the age group of 18-30
 The company can provide more market tips through SMS
 It was found that the exiting customers were not aware of the new services
launched So the company should deliver the message about the new services
launched

47
  Increase the level of employees (Graphic Designers, content writers) to
achieve more targets
 Various sales promotion techniques can be introduced in order to increase
the reach.

CONCLUSION

From the study conducted above, it can be concluded that Blogs are very important
for increasing the reach of companies, especially new companies and businesses.

In the online industry of today it is critical that companies acknowledge the

phenomena and the power of consumer generated blogs while understanding the
ways in which they can benefit from them in order to increase their customer base.

48
The main aim of this research was to find out whether blogs have influence over
buying-stages such as the consumers’ buying process and the communication that
occurs after the buying experience.

The results of the research indicate that reading blogs can have a significant effect
on the behavior of consumers when purchasing services and products from online
web stores. When looking back at the results that were gained from the study, it is
important to consider whether they help give answers to the original research
questions.

In terms of the first research question which posed the question of How the buying
behavior of consumers is affected by blogs in the online environment, the results
clearly indicate that consumers are very likely to enjoy communicating with other
blog readers about the products, which they might be less likely to do if they did
not have the blog as a communication platform.

Results clearly indicate that blogs do have an effect on the behavior of consumers
when they are purchasing products from online stores. For some consumers, blogs
act as encouragement to do more research on the products they are thinking of
buying, while for others they act as a tool with which to find products they feel
they want to buy, thereby creating a need that didn’t exist prior to the visit to the
blog.

With social media playing a larger role in customer engagement and relationship
building, simple advertisements on social platforms have become vague and
Predictable. Companies must excite customers with fresh marketing techniques to
Cause cravings and needs, that's where blogs come in. Blogs allow product placing
in a fresh contemporary manner.

49
 Blogs have a steady reader base, which for company can be a valuable source of
potential customers; no need for investment into additional customer base search is
required. Simply, a blog must be chosen that is in line with the company's
products, values and brand image. With the number of bloggers increasing, a vast
amount of blogs can be chosen from.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Name : _____________________
2. Age
i. 18 to 30
ii. 31 to 40
iii. 41 to 50
iv. 50 and above
3. Gender

50
 i. Male
ii. Female
4. Occupation
i. Self employed
ii. Private employee
iii. Government employee
iv. Student
5. What influences you to see a blog?
i. Social Media
ii. Keywords
iii. Recommended by someone
iv. Advertisments
6. How likely are you to shop from blogs?
i. Most Likely
ii. Likely
iii. Not Likely
7. Does a blogs appearance to matter in affecting your buying decision?
i. Matters
ii. Does not Matter
iii. Neutral
8. Do Online Reviews matter when you decide to buy a product
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter
iii. Neutral

9. Does the availability of Product Information (for product you are buying)
matter when you decide to buy a product?
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter
iii. Neutral

10.Does the availability of Free Shipping (for product you are buying) matter
when you decide to buy a product?
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter

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 iii. Neutral
11.Does the availability of New Product Information matter when you decide to
buy a product?
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter
iii. Neutral
12.Does the availability of Easy Checkout matter when you decide to buy a
product?
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter
iii. Neutral
13.Does the availability of Easy Refund matter when you decide to buy a
product?
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter
iii. Neutral

14.Does the availability of Easy Navigation matter when you decide to buy a
product?
i. Matters
ii. Does Not Matter
iii. Neutral

15.Are you aware about the company Internet Code

i. Yes
ii. No

16.Do you Impulse Buy Products and Services because after browsing blogs?
i. Yes
ii. no

17.Suggestions for further development

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

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______________________________________________________
_______________________________________

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