Idea: Independent Digital Asia Autoethnography

BELOW IS THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE AUDIO :)

Intro:
The Internet has been rapidly evolving in the past couple of years, especially in developed countries. The rise of personal computer ownership and the improved internet access has led to a wide spread use of internet such as online shopping (Shefton, 2000).

Online shopping behaviour is the process of purchasing products or services via the internet. The process is just like the traditional shopping behaviour, consists of 5 steps (Liang and Lai, 2000 citied in Moshrefjavadi et al., 2012). Trust and ease of use are the major factors affecting the online shopping behaviour (Chen, 2009).

My own experience:
I love shopping, Shopping is one of my hobby and I do that regularly, maybe once every 2 weeks, or at least once a month. Even when I was child, I would use my pocket money to go and shop in-stores because at that time I had no platform/device/knowledge about online shopping. The obvious benefit of the instore shopping process was buying process (Simple and easy).

Now as I have grown up and I am not under my parent’s guidance about my spending’s. I have been earning on my own since I was 18 years old, and moreover I got laptop and phone later on. For my own use. Internet access is the key to online shopping without it it’s not possible, I am overall satisfied with my online shopping experiences. The things that I love about online shopping is that it’s easy to checkout, there are variety of brands and products offered, there are number of shopping options offered, and there are number of payment options available, some sites also have free shipping or discounted shipping, and there is ease of making returns and exchanges (it’s tht fabulous, no worries if you got a wrong size), moreover we have the ability to purchase through tablet/smartphone application, and I love how we have the ability to contact a live customer service representation (they can give us detailed answers and clear our worries).

1st latest experience

Let’s take an example of 2 of my latest online shopping, 1^st was from www.fashionnova.com . You must be thinking what triggered me into visiting their website? Well I have been seeing celebrities and YouTubers wearing Fashionnova clothes and posting pics on Instagram, which looks so modern and so feminism. Moreover, I went over to YouTube and watched many many many haul and try on videos of YouTubers trying on fashion nova clothes. I couldn’t resist myself from going to the website because of the videos/comments/pictures from the celebrities. Isn’t it so easy to go from one site to another site nowadays just because of the devices we have in hand such as out smartphones/ Pc and tablets.

OK… As fashionnova has an app, I uploaded it onto my phone and it made it even easier to search and add whatever I want on the go. I would alternate between my laptop and phone whenever I do online shopping. It’s just extra convenient. I added few things into my wish list which of course if I had good shopping experience with fashionnova I would order more clothes next order. Anyways, I added 2 fashionnova jeans into my shopping cart (Why did I 100% wanted to buy those jeans? It was because fashionnova is known for its fitting jeans, it’s so hyped up, and I wanted them in my collection). When I clicked checkout, I saw it said if I wanted free shipping I would need to buy something which is over 150 USD.

After applying 20% discount promotional code, the total was 41.99 Usd. As it was my first time shopping on fashionnova I couldn’t take the risk to spend so much money just for having a free shipping, so Instead I paid 10 usd for the shipping and my overall cost turned to 51.99 usd. Which was still a good price for 2 jeans. So I placed an order. When the parcel arrived to my home within 2 weeks, I was excited to open up, as it felt like a gift from me to me. I tried on the jeans, and It was true to what it said, I loved it, and now I am even willing to buy above 150 usd worth of product from fashionnova site, because the customer service was very good, they replied to my message within 24 hours, and the product arrived on time, plus the jeans were exactly the same as what it was described, sizing was true to the size chart they provided.

2nd latest experience
My 2^nd latest online shopping was from www.iherb.com. How did I got to know about this site? Well I was searching for health supplements and the google search engine suggest this site. I started to explore more into the site, and found everything which is related to health, such as face wash, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, face creams, mists, capsules, protein shakes, and more.

Same like fashionnova, iherb also has its app which can be downloaded on smartphones, its super convenient to scroll through on the go.

My first order from iherb was not qualified for free shipping and I didn’t add in more products into the cart, same like what I did for fashionnova order. I paid HKD $28.12 for the shipping instead. Because my first order went so well with them, tracking of the order was on point, and the order arrived on time. Therefore, I placed the 2^nd order after 2 weeks from the same site and this time I took my time to read reviews and add in things to my cart and eventually I was qualified for the free shipping. It felt so therapeutic, I swear. Recently I have placed 3^rd order, 3 products which are 100% Aloe Vera gel, organic turmeric root powder, and organic pure Tamanu oil. The first thing that comes in my mind when I think of natural and heath is this website/app, and I have become a regular customer to them.

Conclusion

Shopping experiences online and offline are completely different. Online shopping for example can be done in front of the TV in pyjamas where in-store shopping requires getting dressed (for the most part), and making the physical effort to visit a shop. Whilst the in-store shopping experience is influenced by staff and other shoppers in a tangible and immediate environment, the online shopping experience is largely influenced by digital events. As such, a different approach to measurement and development is required.

For me I haven’t had bad experience with my privacy, maybe it’s because the sites that I choose to shop are popular and well known sites. Before making a purchase I am always get triggered by social media such as Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest, either because of the key opinion leaders, or because of the promotion from a brand. I usually tend to go for quality > cheapness of product (in terms of costs).

But if you have heard of Wish app/site, they are known for cheap products. Most of the things r poor quality however some of them are good, really good. The way to know which thing is good or bad is to just read the comments, because they are written by legit customers. I have had good experience with Wish, I have had 6 orders from them till now. But my friend had bad experience for her first order because she didn’t go into depth, only if she had read the comments, or found information about the seller/store it would have been good for her as well.

Reference:

Chen, L. (2009). Online consumer behavior: An empirical study based on theory of planned behavior. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Moshrefjavadi, M. H., Dolatabadi, H. R., Nourbakhsh, M., Poursaeedi, A., & Asadollahi, A. (2012). An analysis of factors affecting on online shopping behavior of consumers. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(5), 81.

Sefton, D. (2000). The big online picture: daily web surfing now the norm. USA Today, 3.