The relationship between retailers' targeting and e-commerce strategies: an empirical analysis

Abstract

The phenomenal growth of the Internet, witnessed in recent years, has had a significant impact on the way in which organisations interact and do business with their customers. Whilst, to date, there has been a strong focus in the literature upon the factors that affect the adoption of e-commerce, and the demographics of Internet users, there have been few attempts to link these two increasingly important bodies of knowledge. This empirical study seeks to bridge this gap by investigating the extent to which the adoption of e-commerce amongst retailers is influenced by the socio-demographic characteristics of their target customers, in terms of their age, gender and socio-economic profile. The questionnaire was mailed to senior marketing executives in the UK's largest retail organisations, and ultimately resulted in the receipt of 164 useable replies, giving an overall response rate of 18%. The results of a set of analyses demonstrate that organisations are most likely to adopt the Internet for information provision, marketing and direct sales purposes if their typical customer is male, young and a member of the professional / managerial classes. These results are not altogether surprising, as young, professional males are typically enthusiastic and competent users of information technologies.