Consumers’ perception of online marketing: a case of University of KwaZulu-Natal Westville Campus students.

Abstract

Over the last decade, the Internet has assumed the role of being the most influencial platform for organisations to conduct their business. Likewise, the innovation of technological platform such as the web and social media platforms, has transformed the way in which markets communicate and interact. The increase in the use of the Internet among the youth, has also resulted in the increased reputation of online as a marketing platform. The youth, especially students, have embraced the Internet to a point that they have and use it as part of their daily activities and hence live actively through it. This has made them become market influencers and have also created new opportunities for organisations to market their products and services. The growing use of the Internet presents a rich interactive stage for marketers to capitalize on, in order to become relevant, become industry leaders, and influence consumers’ buying decisions. The understanding of consumers’ perception of online marketing is thus believed to enable marketers to make use of the Internet as a means for persuading the marketing behaviour of consumers. This study therefore aimed at understanding consumers’ perception of online marketing. A quantitative methodology was used to collect and analyse data in order to achieve the objectives of the study. Questionnaires were distributed to a total of 150 students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus) and analysis was carried out on the collected data using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).The result obtained in this study revealed that consumer find it easy to interact with organisations through online marketing. Furthermore, the result of this study also revealed that consumers are slowly shying away from traditional marketing and that online marketing is in recent times becoming the largest form of marketing.