Internet Marketing and Consumers Online: Identification of Website Attributes Catering to Specific Consumer Intents in a Digital Paradigm

The internet plays two important roles in marketing-influencing consumer behavior and harnessing consumer intelligence. While its vital for organizations to evaluate consumer intentions and provide consumers the necessary information they are looking for, equally important is the need for collecting consumer data by studying the consumer behavioral patterns on the internet and subsequently nurturing long term relationships with consumers. This study aims at identifying the dimensions of website attributes that represent intentions of consumers for visiting product and brand websites and examines the relationship between various website attributes, with respect to the function performed by the attribute. The methods on how the results were obtained and used will be explored further in this article. This research will be further used for analyzing website attributes with respect to Web Traffic, Website Reputation, Alexa Reach & Readability. DOI: 10.4018/ijom.2012070105 International Journal of Online Marketing, 2(3), 70-82, July-September 2012 71 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. new and previously unknown possibilities and empowerment through forums of dialogue and confrontation of procedures and vendors with their social, ethical and commercial responsibilities (Constantinides et al., 2008), there seems to be rapid adoption of the internet by consumers for various purposes, including information search and online shopping (Ranganathan & Ganapathy, 2002). Marketers are using internet to make their offerings more personalized and convenient. Papa John’s recently announced that it hit the $1 billion mark through online and text message options, which represents 20 percent of its overall sales (Hawkins et al., 2010). The internet offers many advantages to businesses, such as the ability to reach new segments since products can be sold globally rather than locally or regionally, and there is substantial potential to reduce cost through streamlining of the supply chain (Teo & Yeong, 2003). If nowadays, experts want to identify the most profound influences on consumer behavior in recent times, the answer would be the internet. Consumers also recognize the substantial impact the Internet has had on their shopping behavior. One reason the internet is dramatically changing consumer behavior is that it helps us search much more easily and efficiently than ever before (Blackwell et al., 2006). This research study explores consumer intents for venturing online and then attempts to study the ability of the online media to retain them by engaging them suitably.