Strategies that Build and Maintain Trust in Consumers towards Online Shopping
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 2
There are few online clients who are just ready to connect with any online store through its sites and if
customers determine an online store as untrustworthy and undependable, then economic impact of this
factor on the overall business will be considerable. This is the reason why effective strategies should be
made by the organisations in order build and keep up trust in consumers towards internet shopping. The
purpose of this assignment is to analyse strategies in which trust is built and maintained by the
organisations for the customers towards online shopping and how competitive advantage is obtained by
the organisations by using e-commerce as a e marketing tool.�
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Assignment Task (25%) �
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You are required to determine and evaluate strategies that build and maintain trust in consumers towards
online shopping so that they are attracted to purchase products and perform repeat purchase. �
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Your report should include the following:�
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- Assessing in which way organisations obtain competitive advantage by utilizing e-commerce�
� - Analyse in which way organisations attract customers through social media to buy their products online
and to promote sales.�
� - Critically analyse the strategies that organisations use to build and maintain trust in consumers towards
internet shopping.�
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The Task is an individual report and must be presented in a report format (1,500 words). It is important
that your report is properly structured.�
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Below is an indicative structure for your report:�
ABSTRACT
Use of E-commerce is gaining popularity in the globalized world market. Most business
organizations in the retail sector have factored in e-commerce in their business models and are
gaining a lot of profits. E-commerce is gaining popularity because e-commerce model offers a
wide variety of products, and the platform reaches more new markets and niche markets (Lee,
2012). E-commerce also utilizes the notion of an endless supply of goods enhancing business
operations. This paper conceptualizes the notion that online stores are gaining popularity and
that untrustworthiness and undependability can ruin the reputation of such organizations. The
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 3
paper provides insights through analysis of strategies in which trust is built and maintained in
the dynamic online market. On the same note, the paper provides ways in which organizations
can gain a competitive advantage by adopting e-commerce in their marketing model.
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction………………………………………………….…………..…….4
- Ways in which organizations obtain competitive advantage by using e-
commerce………………………………………………………………………………….…4 - Social media as a marketing tool……………………………………………..….5
- Strategies that organizations use to build and maintain trust in consumers towards
internet shopping……………………………………………………………….………………6 - Recommendation……………………………………………..……………………8
- Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………8
- References……..……………………………………………………………………10
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 5
Introduction
E-commerce as a marketing tool is gaining an advantage with as technology advances.
Research shows that the online shopping tendency is increasing. And organizations adopting e-
commerce to market their goods are enjoying increased sales due to; widespread of the internet
across the globe, the convenience of online stores (Turban et al., 2015). And on the same note,
increasing importance attached to online shopping by leading supermarkets such as Wal-Mart
and LeShop. Most organizations no longer engage in price wars to win customers. Instead, they
invest in knowledge, corporate social responsibilities, and a good customer relation defines
well-positioned and profitable companies. For e-commerce to function directly and increase
sales, it must be tied to customer relationship management (CRM). E-commerce provides a
platform where the trading relationship is forged and maintained. Organization must develop
shopping sites with unique selling propositions as a basis of differentiation from other
organizations to gain competitive advantage. E-commerce refers to the transaction of business
by a personal computer, mobile phones or other devices connected to a communication
network. It is the realization of the whole value chain of a business process in an electronic
environment, achieving the goal of buying and selling of products, services or information.
Ways in which organizations obtain competitive advantage by utilizing e-commerce
E-commerce enables organizations to expand its market base across the globe. Powerful
e-commerce tools enable business organizations to reach buyers anywhere in the globe without
the need to add staff and overhead costs in satellite business premises. However, to gain a
competitive advantage business should understand cultural values for different people and
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 6
market their products in a friendly manner without raising ethnic or racial differences (Huang &
Benyoucef, 2013).
The depth and effectiveness of online product catalog also provide a competitive
advantage to business organizations. Modern e-commerce tools enable organizations to
merchandise goods tailored to customer needs. Customers can search online stores based on
customer profile, histories and search terms to assess products. This personalization of goods
enables enterprises to showcase on superior product knowledge and thus earn customer loyalty.
Therefore, an organization should develop good and effective product catalogs that can feature
products that online shoppers are interested.
Small business also obtain a competitive advantage by using e-commerce is that it
allows such organization to offer differentiated experiences by specializing in specific market
niches or segments. The use of information technology and e-commerce enables organizations
to observe trends and develop strategies based on the behavior of customers and potential
customers. This can be achieved using customer relationship management (CRM) and Business
Intelligence (BI) (Kwahk et al., 2012).
Social Media as a Marketing Tool
Social media is a powerful tool that a business organization uses to market their
products to attract customers to make online purchases and promote sales. Social media such as
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram can be used to generate website traffic. By sharing SEO blog
posts, pictures and videos and other content from the company site makes social media click
through and surf on your site. Once they are in your site marketers can inspire these visitors to
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 7
make purchases, consult or even sign up for a mailing list hence increase the customer base and
sales.
Social media is used to build brand and organization reputation. Organizations use social
media as a brand building tool. A company can build organization reputation and brand by
consistently creating great content revolving around the company’s advantages, values and
benefits (Lee, 2014). Because online shopping is built upon trust, reliability and credibility,
reputation, and brand recognition is vital to winning customers purchase products from a
company website. By engaging customers in a creative way, organizations can build their brand
based on core values. On the same note, the companies will be able to understand customer
needs through informative conversation and hence help in attaining business sustainability.
Social media provides repeat exposure to company products and profile. Social media
provides a company an opportunity to remind the customer over and over again about the
products they offer this can increase sales made through online shopping dramatically. With
effective social media marketing strategies, an organization can post informing photos, product
reviews and videos about what they offer repeatedly to target customers (Close, 2012).
Therefore, increasing chances of making sales and shorten the sales cycle dramatically.
Organizations can build authority using social media. Be as it may, social media helps
new businesses establish authority and credibility in your field. Service based business use
social media as a way to create presence and awareness for their services. Other ways that can
be associated with social media as a means of creating competitive advantages and increase
online shopping include: social media can enable an organization to land in huge contracts.
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 8
Social media provides an opportunity for an organization to understand customer taste and
preferences and also understand customer views to help in developing better products.
Strategies that organizations use to build and maintain trust with consumers towards
internet shopping
According to Jonathan Lee (2014), trust is a strategic asset for a business organization
that engages in e-commerce and online shopping. Business enterprises spent ages in building
trust and therefore it is paramount that organizations grasp the consumer’s perceptions towards
privacy and credibility. Organizations also need to develop native digital brands to build and
maintain trust by connecting with customers in unique ways.
Building trust through transparency: transparency is critical for a company to establish
its presence and win customer trust to purchase their products online. Companies should
embrace transparency and use this during online conversations.
Accountability: Companies should engage with their customers openly through social
media to ensure there is accountability. Companies should always prove themselves
accountable for providing quality services, great products, and good customer service. The
company can always use fun and simple engagement but ensuring that ethics and a good code
of contact are always maintained.
Ensuring customer privacy: Organizations can build trust in consumers towards internet
shopping by ensuring data privacy. Organizations should invest in customer confidence. Most
customers are complacent in behavior when it comes to their privacy and breaching this trust
can harm customer relationship.
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 9
Delivering what is promised: organizations should market exactly what they have
instead of duping customers with catchy product review and promising quality while their
products are substandard (Lee, 2014). Enterprises should ensure that they deliver to the
customer what they promise during the advertisement campaign so as to win customers trust
towards internet shopping. A discrepancy between what is promised in digital platforms and the
product can hurt a band reputation.
Corporate Social Responsibility: engaging in CSR can help an organization to build trust
with their customers. A Socially responsible company gains more sales because their clients
know that they are not interested in profit only, but also giving back to the society (Lee, 2014).
Recommendations
The secret to online shopping is creating a credible brand and winning customer trust.
Therefore, business organizations should invest in building strategies that can help in building a
reputation and build customer trust. Organization should develop depth product catalog and
innovative product reviews that provide detailed information about the products and services
the company offers.
Business enterprises should also engage in spending a considerable amount of time and
resources to invest in understanding customer needs. This can be achieved by marketing and
communicating with prospective clients using social media. Developing marketing strategies
and utilizing e-commerce tools amid using social media to build trust and accountability can
increase online presence. Therefore, increasing online shopping hence increasing sales volume,
sales cycle and help an organization achieve organizational goals and business sustainability.
Conclusion
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 10
E-commerce is one of the powerful marketing tools that can help the organization
achieve success. Organization can use social media effectively to drive a potential customer
towards the company site to make online purchases. However, caution should always be
adopted to ensure that organization reputation is build to help in winning customer loyalty.
Organization should ensure that they provide genuine products as promised through
advertisements in social media to ensure that they win customer loyalty (Lee, 2014). On the
same note, business organizations should ensure transparency and accountability in online
business strategy to so as to win customers to make online purchases. Privacy with customers
should also be maintained because customers prefer to keep confidentiality when making online
purchases. And as such, business enterprises can enjoy thriving sales through online shopping.
STRATEGIES TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN TRUST IN ONLINE CUSTOMERS 11
References
Lee, I. (2012). Electronic commerce management for business activities and global enterprises:
Competitive advantages. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference.
Lee, J. (2014, August 27). How Brands Build Trust in a Digital World. R
managerial and social networks perspective. Springer.
Huang, Z., & Benyoucef, M. (2013). From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at
design features. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 12(4), 246-259.
Kwahk, K. Y., & Ge, X. (2012, January). The effects of social media on E-commerce: A
perspective of social impact theory. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii
International Conference on (pp. 1814-1823). IEEE.
Close, A. G. (Ed.). (2012). Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media,
Advertising and E-tail. Routledge.
