Local Literature

Online shopping started on 1979 by English Entrepreneur named Michael Aldrich. His

system connected a modified domestic TV to a real time transaction processing computer via a

domestic telephone line. Today the online shopping becomes the hot trend of today’s generation

because of the different benefits that it gives through the buyers and the sellers. In the presence

of vast technological advances there has been online communication people have bought the

products for their needs and wants.

In September, 2017 by Svonavec, he said that online shopping has proved to have many

positive advantages for consumers. Online stores are open 24 hours a day, so the issue of a store

closing before the consumer can make it on time exceptionally efficient during the holidays.

Shoppers do not have to bother with the long, exasperating lines. Due to lack of operating

costs, online retailers can sell goods at lower prices so that this makes the experience of online

shopping not only faster and convenient, but it is also for cheaper than going to the physical

store. Although online shopping has advantages, there are many downsides to doing online

business. Back-order goods can be proved to be exceeding trying for shoppers, especially during

the holidays shoppers also lose the person– to – person communication that online retailer cannot

provide. Customers cannot see the product on actual image, they cannot touch and try the

product if it’s really operated, no damage and satisfied product. Online shopping marketplace

have different kind of sellers on how encourage to get buyers trust and loyalty on their products

that available on their store. The new generation is the most buyers are interested on online

shopping right now because they are the one who are focused on the development of

technologies that are existing in the countries.

themselves before making a purchase, while others factored in the cost of shipping and the length

of delivery time. Research Tech Lab (RTL) noted that Filipinos more assured when they

examine the products before checkout, while being able to take the item immediately after

payment gives them peace of mind. It also recorded the enticements of online shopping from

July to September, which coincided with the sale promo of leading e-commerce sites Lazada and

Shopee. Here, the company found that 68. 61% of Filipinos Still favor traditional shopping. The

market has rapidly grown since then. Eshopworld.com said there are at least37.7 million e-

commerce users in the country in 2018 from the 30. 2 million estimated in 2016. The number is

expected to rise to 53.8 million by 2020. A report published in May 2018 found that despite its

growing popularity, the Philippines lags in terms of e-commerce sales in the South East Asia

region (Eshopworld. com).

Willy Kruh said that today’s consumer no longer goes shopping, but shopping all the

time and everywhere. In a truly global online marketplace, competition is no longer limited to

local shops during regular business hours. Consumers can easily buy from retailer and

manufactures located anywhere in the world or from those with no physical retail locations at all.

In additional online shopping became more prevalent during the pandemic with the help

of technology that today continues to be used by the community to be more profitable for the

needs and wants of the people. Online shopping help buyers to save their time and effort

especially for those customers who have a full-time schedule that without enough time to shop

on a physical store for their needs and wants. Customers has no time option to purchase the

product as long as they want to buy and they can easily buy it because they will not go out and it

will be difficult to travel just to buy. More sellers are existing to belong in online marketplace by
competing with other online retailer store giving the discounts or promos to encourage more

consumer to purchase the product. Customers love to shop during a promo day and most of the

customers are investing their time to shop either its only one seller or different sellers. Lazada

and Shopee give big sales or discounts for the buyers in every month that’s why all consumers

are interested to buy more of the products that are available on their store.

The Philippines e-commerce industry has about 10 million customers every day. E-

commerce makes Filipinos more efficient, so they cannot lose time to traffic, they can work

more and generate more income for the country (Balci, 2017). He cited that heavy traffic is one

of the causes as to why people turn to online shopping. Even though not a large number of

Filipinos are active cardholders, it does not hinder the growth of the e-commerce industry in the

country. Most people prefer to shop with their gadgets mostly of which are smartphone and

others to be desktop and laptops. Due to this preference, it was predicted that soon a rise of the

m-commerce (mobile commerce) will be observed.

Factors that affecting peoples live during pandemic is the one of the reasons why

everyone want to shop on online market even the sellers are purchasing the product through the

use of expansion of technology. Sellers are adjusting themselves to the new normal that stated by

the government, they are worrying of how they’re going interaction to get people interest to

purchase the product. Competition in the business world become more difficult, sellers have

come up with different ways of how they can gain the trust and loyalty of the people.

MasterCard produces Online Shopping Survey annually. During the 2012 study, it was

found that local deals and promo websites took over the country’s e-commerce caused by

cautiousness. Security topped the list of concerns from respondents. It was then followed by

speed of transaction.
 In the 2014 study, more individuals rely on mobile phones in purchasing products online

as it enables them to do it on the go. Ease (73.3 percent) and convenience (71.9 percent) are cited

the most out of the reasons why Filipinos are satisfied to shop online.

Marketing consumers provides a means for developing one-on-one relationships with

consumers and establishing consumer databases for conducting online research. Online business-

to-consumer marketing requires marketers to understand consumers and deliver the products and

services consumer want, need, just as traditional marketing does (Peter, J.Paul; Olson, Jerry C.,

2009).

The Philippines is a thriving market for investors as the country's economic situation is

growing: the majority of the population was young workers, fervent internet users. Inspired by

this vibrant market the Filipino e-commerce scene is bubbling as more young entrepreneurs are

launching their businesses. Most of these companies are specialized in financial technology, new

technologies, health care, social development, real estate, tourism, education, services, or on

device services.

Philippine firms have yet to fully tap the potentials of e-commerce that will help them to

compete in domestic and global markets. In the process of preparing themselves to conduct e-

commerce, these firms will be changing the way they do business. These changes are expected to

have an impact on the welfare of Philippine workers. Most efforts to measure the economic

effects of e-commerce-including those on workers’ Welfare-have focused on the U.S. and

Europe, who are considered to be the leaders in e-commerce. (Roberto, 2002). In general, it

discusses the changes in the nature of work from the front to back office is likely within the

sectors performing services employment demand for this industry, they may be focused away

from agents and blue collared workers, toward higher management and executive staff.
 As Filipinos entered the 21st century, local e-commerce transaction reached Php 1

billion. It shows that there’s at least one billion transaction sales growth annually. If this trend

continues, figures can reach up to Php 20 billion as more businesses conduct online transactions.

If significant economic growth takes place in the next 10 years, these estimates may even double

or triple (Toral, 2004).

One indisputable benefit of e-commerce is its ability to reduce transaction costs. For

consumers or buyers, this is most likely to take the form of lower search costs and better

information on products and prices. There could be drastic savings in production and delivery

costs of electronic or digital goods as well. (Lee, 2006).

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become and will continue to be

an integral part of the day-to-day life of every Filipino across all levels of our society. The

occurrence of communication technology around the world necessitates that government get on a

cohesive and coordinated strategy on how to prepare its citizens to survive, live and thrive in a

digital world. (The Philippine Digital Strategy Transformation 2.0: Digital Empowered Nation

2011). In stores and on the sales floor, high tech tools help balance inventory assortments,

manage ordering and track pricing. Customer tracking tools increase customer satisfaction and

promote loyalty by enhancing shoppers' in-store experience.

A content’s quality or attractiveness is one of the marketing stimuli variables or factors

that defines a consumer’s perception of the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and relevance of

brand-related information that is posted or published across social media platforms (Carlson et

al., 2018). An innovative, creative, and quality content captures online consumers’ attention,

which results in a higher level of online presence and online consumer engagement (Dabbous &

Barakat, 2020). Moreover, it is also considered as the consumers’ basis of emotions, motivations,

behavioral reactions, and information processing that influences their purchasing decision (Xiang

et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2016, Chen et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2021) as a brand’s content quality,

which can be based or seen on a brand or store’s published content or website’s online

environment cues like website and published posts’ overall design or theme and the quality of

provided textual information, leads to a high consumer engagement, brand awareness, and brand

recall, as informativeness plays a key role when it comes to online shopping (Dehghani et al.,

2016). These lead to brands focusing on highlighting the importance of content quality by

preparing advertising messages and content designed to inform and persuade the consumers or

potential customers to purchase a product/s. In this study, it can be applied to the effect of online

shopping on the sales performance; wherein there are numerous posts published or posted online

by the brand itself and also by the social media influencers. Contrary to the above findings, there

are previous studies that have found that advertisements that are visually obtrusive and content-

relevant at the same time decrease the effectiveness of an ad (Goldfarb and Tucker, 2011;

Cramer, 2015). An advertisement that is “too content relevant” could also have negative effects

on a brand’s content or site perceived quality and credibility. In addition, an online advertisement
that is too visually appealing or attractive counter-intuitively reduces its effectiveness (Benway,

1998; Kong et al., 2018).

Price is a key factor that consumers consider when deciding whether to purchase a

product or service (Liu et al., 2016). Online consumers tend to spend their time researching and

waiting for an online shopping platform’s discount offerings and other sales promotions like

coupons, freebies, free delivery vouchers, and other vouchers that the consumers can claim and

use during the check-out process. Consumers are most affected by flash sale discounts or flash

sale events that bring time pressure to potential buyers as it pushes them to make a haste decision

in a short time, whether to buy or not (Liu et al., 2016). Sales promotion can vary from an

anticipated event or a quick and surprise event. A study states that impulse decisions are created

due to the rushed nature of sales promotion, regardless of the length of the event (Guan et al.,

2019). Based on the study of Liu et al. (2021), the closer it is to the end of a sale, the less rational

consumers will be when searching for a product to purchase as they have to meet the deadline set

by the brand or a seller to take advantage of the discount or sales promotional offered (Wu et al.,

2021). Shopee Philippines is an online shopping platform that offers flash sales every single day

during the span of their online sales event, making users wait and switch their notifications on

for updates and reminders about it. Consumers tend to purchase the product or products he or she

wants during sales events or when it is offered with discounts, even if the product is available to

purchase for a long time (Wu et al., 2021). Shopee Philippines offers different sales promotions

and vouchers. Customers can also earn Shopee Coins and win vouchers by playing games

(“Shopee Prizes”). There are also free vouchers to choose from. Also, the online shopping

platform has also implemented the Shopee Loyalty Program, where they reward loyal customers

with extra discounts and vouchers based on their loyalty tier, namely Classic, Silver, Gold, and
Platinum. There are findings from previous studies that have predicted that the attractiveness of

discounts or sales promotion would play a moderating role, where the study divided it into two

groups with different behavior - high and low perception of attractiveness, wherein it may or

may not influence a consumer’s purchase intention (Santini et al., 2015).