ABSTRACT
The rise of the internet and specifically the world wide web (www) as a medium for communication has dramatically changed the purchasing behaviour of consumers in recent decades. This chapter discusses on what determines whether someone is shopping online, next examines why many people switch from online to offline or vice versa during the buying process and finally discusses the five different shopping segments. It then discusses the relationship between brand-related activities and brand attitude. The chapter also explains how the field of market research is changing. It examines the complexity of this new and growing data stream and steps taken by a marketer to convert (big) data into value. The purpose of descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analytics are also mentioned. Artificial Intelligence and conversational systems are important in all marketing-related digital business processes: market sensing, product realisation, customer acquisition, order processing and customer relationship management.
