IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ON CONSUMER PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

ABSTRACTBusiness process is under the IT revolution which is transforming the way we do the business. Basic business operations like decision making, customer service, marketing strategies, human resource management are being reformed with the use of IT. It also plays a vital role in the lives of people. Every field of human activity, may it be his daily life, official life, everything is now influenced under the cover of IT. It is used for storing, protecting, processing, securing, transmitting, receiving, and retrieving information. Keeping in mind the various benefits of IT, in the present paper an attempt has been made to study the impact of IT on consumer purchase behavior. The findings highlight that IT has a great influence on consumer purchase behavior. It is argued that the outcome of the study will certainly be helpful for the marketers to define their marketing strategies accordingly.Keywords: Information technology, IT impact, consumer purchase behaviour, multi utility of IT, online shopping.INTRODUCTIONThe concept of internet marketing and e- consumer behavior has been deeply examined over the years. User- friendly technology like the Internet has altered the mode people communicate, work and execute commercial activities. Internet technology, mainly the World Wide Web (www) as an electronic medium of exchange provides new opportunities to industries to take up the Internet as their substitute marketing tools. As a result of change in the environment, a 'new' consumer and a 'new' marketplace is upcoming (Assael, 2004). Companies are dealing with a consumer that has variously been described as 'knowledgeable' (Lawson, 2000), 'active' (Hawkins et al., 2004), and 'post-modern' (Assael, 2004). This new consumer would seem to occupy an interactive marketplace characterized by high levels of heterogeneity, and be IT-enabled (Baker, 2003). New technologies are continuously rising, changing the relationship an organization establishes with its customers (Lindroos and Pinkhasov, 2003).Information technology is quickly altering the way people do business all over the world. In the business-to- consumer segment, sales through the web have been increasing radically over the last few years. Customers, not only from developed countries but also from developing countries are adopting new shopping channel. IT has significant roles to play not only in businesses but also in daily activities of individuals. Internet based services keeps on growing in 'business-to-consumer' and 'business-to-business' environment. Every year the number of organizations that use internet for marketing purposes increases. In the same way, number of consumers who use the internet not only for gathering information but also for purchasing goods is also increasing. Consumer looks for information in a website or may search for products to buy. According to Andrews et al. (2007) for organizations Internet is contributing to disseminating information, improving consumer value, enhancing consumer satisfaction, reliability and retention as well as consumer perception which in turn leads towards better profitability and increased market share. As of the consumers' viewpoint, Internet-based services can considerably decrease the costs for searching, extend the selection of vendors, deliver lower priced products/services, and increase easiness, allowing more control over products/services offered. This reduction in cost has inspired organizations to enlarge electronic information services and new competitors to enter existing market.In the era of IT, consumer behavior is the way of interacting with an online market, communicating with the business and approaching towards decisions, which are influenced by the presentation of the marketers. In the words of Dennis et al. (2004) and Harris & Dennis (2008) the study of e-consumer behavior is getting importance because of abundance of online shopping. The convenience of the Internet and lesser costs of making transactions have given rise in customers bargaining power and intense global competition. …