A STUDY ON USAGE OF MOBILE APPS AS A IMPACTFUL TOOL OF MARKETING

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1 A STUDY ON USAGE OF MOBILE APPS AS A IMPACTFUL TOOL OF MARKETING Dr. Deepali Bhatnagar Assistant Professor, Amity University, Rajasthan ABSTRACT: Mobile marketing perform two ways or multiple way communication regarding promotion of latest arrivals and offers between the retailer and the customer via mobile device. Mobile marketing simply refers to a marketing method where mobile device is used as the medium of communication. Incomes levels are increasing so as the customer s potential too. This makes Smartphone a regular companion of every third person in India. This make mobile device extremely powerful tool for online retailers to target and reach their customers simultaneously. For being a personal device of its owner and being extremely compact in nature it has huge potential to change the face of online retailing. It not only allow customer to shop from anywhere and anytime but also enable online retailers to enter into the environment of its desired customers. This research paper explores the perception of consumer towards usage of mobile apps and identifies the impact of mobile apps on consumer s purchase intention. During this research data was collected primarily via questionnaire and was analyzed properly. The sample size for this research is 60 and all the respondents are students. This research says that retailers should develop the techniques that can motivate and can appeal o the customer s purchase decisions. For new players in the market it is more important to raise awareness for their brands and to g win customer s trust. Key words: QR codes or bar codes, mobile marketing, m-commerce, customer relationship management. INTRODUCTION With the passage of time the concept of marketing become wider. Now a days marketing is not just about delivering and satisfying the needs of customers. It is more about providing the customers with thousands of choices and making shopping a complete fun experience for them. In today s era consumer is the king and become more selective in its choices. Hence to make feel him delighted and to build a good relationship with him becomes the main motive of marketers. In order to attract the customers and to sustain in highly competitive scenario, marketers need to differentiate themselves and the concept of mobile marketing gives them the potential to differentiate themselves. Mobile marketing, as the name indicates, refers to marketing of products and services via mobile devices or smart phones. Mobile marketing consists of ads that appear on mobile Smartphone, tablets, or other mobile devices. Smartphone with advance technology proof a very powerful tool in today s era for consumers as well for marketers. If we talk about current scenario then there are above 771 million mobile phone users in India out of which 21% are having smart phones with internet connection. The numbers of 47

2 smart phones with internet connections are increasing day by day which is grabbing the attention of many big and small brands to make mobile marketing as their marketing tool to perform in Indian market. According to a survey conducted by a state of the urban youth, India every third person in India is a youth and in coming 2020 India is set to become youngest country. This rapid increase in the age group of in India, ensure increase in number of smart phones in coming years. This shows the chances for India to become more mobile marketing prone country in future years. This makes it a point of attraction for marketers to use mobile as a tool of interacting with their target customers. Now a day s mobile marketing is not just a medium of making offerings before consumers but it is also an excellent tool for creating awareness and informs them about the upcoming new products and services. If we talk about the plus point of mobile marketing above others then its biggest plus point is that in comparison of other marketing tools it gives more targeted approach to the customers at very low cost and less time. In context of India many big and small brands are working on this concept of mobile marketing in order to approach their targeted customers in a more effective way and to make shopping a fun for them. Since India is the fastest growing economy in the world which is resulting into increase in number of potential buyers. For this many prestigious foreign retail brands are planning to invest on FDI in India. With the increase in income levels of people the number of smart phone holders also increase which ultimate result into increase in numbers of mobile marketing adopters. A huge growth in number of mobile marketing adopters in future is estimated. Hence it can be said that in coming years India will become a mobile marketing hub. In such an environment mobile marketing will really proof a boon for the retailers. Many of FMCG and retail stores are working on their projects, totally based on mobile marketing apps, in India. In years back we use to visit retail stores, browse through the products and make final purchase. But with the arrival of mobile marketing a customer can browse through thousands of products and services and can buy online anywhere. Now products are just a touch away from consumer. Mobile being a constant companion of its owner and being portable erase all time and distance boundaries. Now with its help a product can be purchase from anywhere and anytime. Moreover, for being a personal assert of owner it proof beneficial for marketers in order to target its consumers more effectively. In short, mobile create a channel between a marketer and consumer where both the ends make reach to one another whenever and wherever they want. LITERATURE REVIEW India with billion citizens is the second largest populated country and is the fastest growing economy in the world. With the passage of time the domestic market of India is converting into an open market for global players. This makes India a point of attraction for many domestic and foreign retail giants to generate great revenues for a long period of time. India is experiencing an enormous economic boom which results into increased spending capacity of Indian customers. At the same time, fast paced life has increased the importance of time for people. Now a day s, Indian customer is looking forward for a simplest way which will not only save his time but will also proof comfortable too. Online shopping is the only solution for all these things. Today, with the help of online shopping customer is saving his time and efforts too. The introduction of fast internet technology in India makes online shopping more popular 48

3 among Indians. If we go through the data, then it is estimated that, by the end of the year total amount spend by Indian customers on online shopping will increase by 67%. According to Assocham-PwC study currently Indian spends average of 6000 annually on online shopping. Currently, e-commerce industry is of $17 billion value in India and is growing with the rate of 35%. It is estimated that it will cross the value of $100 billion in coming five years. In this competitive scenario mobile is playing major role for retailers in order to customers more efficiently and to differentiate themselves. The Smartphone and tablet shoppers will be strong growth drivers. Mobile phones already account for 11 percent of ecommerce sales, and their share will jump to 25 percent by 2017, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said. On the basis of above statement this can be easily concluded that mobile marketing is playing a vital role for online shopping in India and is becoming the choice of online shoppers. It is facilitating the online shoppers with the choice of comfortable, easy and trustful mode to shop. Due to its compact size and being a regular companion to its owner mobile is becoming the choice of customers as the most preferred shopping device. It removes time barriers between shopper and marketer. It is helping marketers to target customers more efficiently. In old days, there was a common saying about Indian retail customers "can't touch, won't buy" mentality. But with the passage of time increased trend of online shopping has changed this. India s e-commerce has increased more than 76% in last year and is continued to increase in coming six-seven years. Hence at present it is very important for retailers to concentrate on mobile marketing tools and should enhance the power of it via latest app and technologies. Many retailers are taking benefit out of this tool and are generating great revenues. For example, the leading online fashion retailer of India myntra.com said that 90 % of its traffic is being generated through mobile devices. It said close to 85 per cent of this traffic is driven by android, ios and Windows platforms, and interestingly, over 50 per cent of the mobile traffic is coming from Tier II & III cities. Referring to a recent study which ranked India second in consumers accessing the Internet for online shopping through mobile devices, just after China, Myntra in a release said with over 150 million Smartphone users as of 2014, and penetration of mobile phones expected to reach 45 per cent with whopping 520 million users by 2020, mobile is radically transforming consumer's shopping behavior. Myntra said it launched its mobile app in May 2014 and within a short span of nine months, it has become one of the fastest growing shopping apps with over six million installs. It is ranked No 1 among fashion shopping apps in India with a positive rating of 4.0 on the android app store, the company added. Hence it was the success storey of myntra.com. How this Indian retail giant use mobile marketing in a very smart manner to reach its customers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and create a great shopping experience for them. We can see many examples like this. Mobile being the constant companion to its owner ensures better way for marketers to target prospects. In this term mobile apps are playing great roles. Almost all the fashion retailers in India have their android app which are helping them to grab their customer in a successful way. According to Nielsen Company, a leading global information and measurement company, research on the online shopping trends of Indian customers and they conclude with the following data- 49

4 Age composition- Age group Percentage % % % % >50 7% With this data Nielsen comes with the conclusion that with 48% youth form the largest segment of customers who shop online and youth are adopting the concept of online shopping much faster in comparison of other age groups. Hence, we can say that there is a broad platform for fashion retailers to perform in Indian market and to target Indian youth via mobile. Mobile can proof a powerful tool in hands of fashion retailers. Today in order to sustain in highly competitive scenario it become essence of online retail giant to differentiate themselves and to create great shopping experience to their customers. Apart from all this what they are providing in addition also matters a lot. For these all things mobile is the only option that can better serve the customers. So fashion retailers should concentrate on enhancing their android applications and should try to serve expected standards from the customers side. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Analysis will be conducted to answer the arise questions. There are many ways to conduct and analyze the research but the output for which we are looking can be obtained only via one method. To know the best possible method for our research first we have to define the problem then according to the problem we will find out which method fits best and why? We will also discuss about the other possible ways of conducting the research and why we choose a specific method? In short research method will discuss about the path obtained for analysis and equipments used in order to conduct it. The main objective of the research is to 1. Exploring the perception of consumer towards usage of mobile apps. 2. To identify the impact of mobile apps on consumer s purchase intention. This research also explore if consumer really found mobile apps easier and comfortable to shop online in comparison of websites. It gives reason if mobile marketing really creating a fun experience for online shoppers and if consumers are willing to use mobile apps over and again. This research also finds reason that if customers are really happy to give feedback to retailers and if they really want their information to be saved by retailers. It will ultimate tell that how mobile marketing is helping out retailers to target customers and maintain customer relationship. In short this study aims at providing reasons to retailers that why they should focus on developing mobile marketing for Indian youth. In this dissertation primary method of research has been adopted. Questionnaire is used for data collection. Survey is conducted over a sample size of 60 people. Questioner is easy and have 14 interesting question related with day today shopping habit of customer that reduce the probability of respondent frustration and increase the 50

5 probability of accurate outputs. For simplifying the survey traditional postal questioners are made and distributed among 60 students. 4. DATA ANALYSIS This research target students i.e. youth group (15-25) age group. All the questionnaires are filled by students. The whole study is carried out to give retailers reasons for developing mobile marketing for Indian youths. The data was collected and analyzed accurately as per the concern of researcher. After analysis of data following findings takes place. When we analyzed data then we find that 55% youths prefer to shop via mobile. When we asked why then they said that for its portability it becomes much easier to Carrie it all the time with them and we can shop via it anytime and anywhere they want. For them mobile make it much easier to shop online. It breaks all the time and approach related boundaries for both the retailer and customer. This makes it quite attractive for customers. use smarphone to shop online no 45% yes 55% It was also find that 33% people like to shop via online apps because it is easy to use and fast enough to make online shopping done in few minutes. It save their time and make online shopping more convenient to them. Moreover they also said that while they shop online via android app they get certain amount of discount on shopping and get several benefits. For example Jabong gives 30% discount to the customers who shop via its mobile app. These are the little things which make customer feel delighted. And add value to the overall image of the retailers. When we find about the frequency of online shopping via mobile then we find that 20% students shop frequently via mobile. Although that s not a huge percentage but still it shows that how mobile shopping is becoming the trend of youth. And it is found that only 15% students purchase in bulk via online. They only purchase selective items via mobile. All these things shows that however mobile marketing is not that much famous among students but youths are welcoming it with open heart. The increasing economic growths of India somewhere indicates that next generation will be of mobile marketing. Only few students use mobile marketing since it is a very new concept in terms of India and building trust on it is not an easy task for an Indian customer. For some security related issues people are hesitating to adopt it as soon as possible in their life style but still they are thinking upon it and are accepting it too. 1. Motivation to purchase via mobile Students in India shop via mobile because they find it quite convenient and easy. It facilitates them to access to a verity of products just a click away. 51

6 preferance for online shopping website mobile app don't shop online 12% 33% 55% According to the analysis 33% youths use mobile apps to shop online. Although the percentage is not that much higher but youths are adopting this latest mode of transactions and are looking forward to get more trust worthy services from the online retailers which can make their shopping experience more happy and convenient. Moreover 60% youths ok with detail storage by retailers depends on brand 18% yes 52% I don't feel secure 30% are happy about giving feedback about the mobile services and 52% youths are ready to share their information with online retailers depending on brands. This show that somewhere the compatibility of the mobile device attracts the customer the most and motivates them to shop via mobile. If we talk about the goodwill of the brand in the market, then it also affects the purchase behavior of the customer the most. More trusted brand more will we online purchase via mobile. The reason is people can rely on the retailer for their privacy and security of personal information. In case of India brand name plays the most important role and influence the customer s behavior. It motivates them to shop via online and trust retailers. 2. Demotivating factors to adopt mobile marketing Mobile marketing is not that much famous among students. As we have seen in analysis that only 45% students use mobile marketing for shopping and 45% use mobile occasionally to hop online not frequently. More over it was clear that 85% youths use mobile marketing to purchase selective items only and that s only in certain situations. When we try to find out reasons then we find that most of the people don t use mobile marketing because they can t trust m- commerce in terms of security and privacy. 52

7 Out of the analysis of some questions it was clear that 30% students don t shop online because they are much concerned about their privacy and security of personal details while 25% students would like to touch the product before making final purchase. 17% Students get demotivated from slow working apps and in case of slow working app 30% students delete the app, 48% students would like to go through online website while rest of 22% students leave shopping. Out of all these things the demotivating factors governing the use of mobile app for shopping was slow working app and security of personal details. Then I think that retailers should concentrate on making their apps more user friendly and fast. Moreover they should concentrate on making transactions safe for the customers so that customer can rely them about security of their useful personal information 4. Industry getting benefited the most by M-Commerce Youth generally use mobile marketing most for purchasing fashion accessories and tickets. According to the analysis 43% students buy fashion accessories via mobile while 22% use it for buying tickets. 20% use it for entertainment and 15% use it for other things. This show that fashion industry is getting benefited. This raises a hope among the fashion retailers that they should raise the standard of their m-apps and make them more convenient to use. There is huge hope of success for fashion retailers in future. On second number online ticket industry is getting benefited by the m- commerce and on third position entertainment industry is getting benefited. These are the three main industries which are getting benefited by the m- commerce. 5. Willingness to use mobile marketing in future Although m- commerce users are very less but we find a warm attitude of youths towards the acceptance of mobile marketing. According to the analysis, it was estimated that, 52% youths are ok with storage of their personal information according to goodwill of brands. This shows that if the brand is good then student can rely on them and can use their mobile services to shop online. This show that student are interested and are willing to shop online if the brand can insure security of their personal details. Moreover 42% youths have used devices that can read QR codes or bar codes. Rest of the population has never used devices like this but they are interested in knowing about them. Those who have used devices like this want more innovations in mobile apps in future this clearly shows that youths are willing to use m- commerce in future. 5. CONCLUSION Mobile marketing is a very important tool for marketing and is playing very important role in today s scenario. It not only help customer to shop through a verity of product within few seconds, from anywhere and anytime but also help the retailers to target their desired customer with extreme ease. Mobile marketing is the latest trend in the market and is extremely powerful too. Through mobile marketing retailers can reach a bulk of desired customer anytime without making much effort. However mobile marketing is not that much famous among Indian youths but still youths are adopting this latest concept and are looking forward for its exploration. It is really a big deal to sell products online in Indian market where customer is in the habit of touching and analyzing the product before making purchase decision. And introducing mobile for online shopping is entirely a different thing. To permote it among students really needs continuous efforts and advancement in technology that can make the shopping experience more easy and interesting for the customer. Today youths are looking forward for the technology that can not only save their time but also can proof trust worthy. According to the mobile apps of the online retailers should be 53

8 easy going and should insure security of their personal information too. In this dissertation during the analysis of the questions we found that for 30% youths demotivating factor for mobile marketing was security of their personal information. This show that however students are adopting mobile marketing for shopping but still they have less trust on the online retailers regarding security of their personal information. In order to generate great revenues retailers should focus on winning the trust of their customers by building strongly safe and secure mobile services so that youths can rely on the and can make purchase without any fear. Moreover for 25% students demotivation factor was that in case of online shopping they are not able to touch the product and can ensure the quality of the product. In order to overcome this retailers should come with best quality of products so that customer can become carefree about the good quality of product. Any default in quality of product can negatively affect the goodwill of retailers in the market. It was also clear during the analysis that 63% youths pay attention towards the mobile updates done by the retailers this show that students are interested in knowing more about the latest products, services and offers. This means they are willing to use mobile marketing for themselves in future too. This shows a positive sign to the retailers that still they can grab the attention of their customers the way they want. In order to do so they should come with special offers and new arrived products that can appeal to the taste of the customers. The mentality of Indian customer is that they want more in less with good quality too. So the retailers should come with products that can better fit with their pockets and can grab their attention. As already discussed the Indian economy is increasing enormously and with the increasing economy demand of Indian consumers increasing too. Indian youths are adopting mobile marketing gradually and are their expectation level is increasing too. In coming years mobile marketing will become the trend of shopping online. Now it becomes need of the hour to raise the standard of mobile services and to meet the expectation level of the consumers and to earn customer loyalty. It is the high time for the fashion retailers to invent new and innovative ways to grab the attention of youths and to generate desired revenues. References D S Rawat said. (2014). Secretary General. Average spend by online shoppers in India to rise 67 percent in 2015: Study, 2. D.S. Rawat. (2013). secretary general Assocham. Online shopping rises 85 percent in 2013: Survey, 3. General D S Rawat. (2014). Average spend by online shoppers in India to rise 67 percent in 2015: Study. PTI, 2. Malhotra, A. (2010). Nielsen report on top online shopping trends in India, 1. myntra. (2015). online retailer. 90% of traffic generated through mobile services: Myntra, 1. Sachin Bansal. (2014). co-founder and chief executive officer. India's e-commerce industry may reach $70 billion by 2020, 3. Subodh Kolhe. (2014). Online shopping to double by 2016 in India: Boston Consulting Group Report, 1. 54

9 The whole study is done to estimate present and future scope of mobile marketing among Indian students and to estimate how mobile marketing could help fashion retailers in future. All the necessary literature in support of this paper has already been mentioned in literature review. Now it is necessary to collect analytical evidence for making final conclusions. A brief 55