Description

TITLE:                                       PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSUMERS IN                     

                                                     THE DIGITAL AGE

CODE:                                        UGB 365

TUTOR:                                     SEEMA BHATE

Moderated by                            

WEIGHTING:                           100%

Overall word limit:                    4000 words

Submission Date:                        Friday 13th December 2019        

CHEATING WILL BE DEALT WITH IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE UNIVERSITY’S DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES

Background.

The world is increasingly becoming digital and is impinging on almost all aspects of our lives. On the one hand, some argue that as a consequence, society and consumption patterns have been dramatically transformed thereby deviating from known consumption prototypes. However, on the other hand, there are others who view this as a simple extension of known existing behaviour.

Considering the above you are to conduct a discussion using the retail industry as an exemplar model. The retail industry is huge and can be divided into subsectors e.g. food, fashion, beauty. But for the purpose of this assignment, consider the retail sector as one whole single unit. You can, however, use specific examples from subsectors to support your discussion.  The scope of the assignment is wide therefore allowing the provision of adequate evidence and material. Accordingly, your discussion should include all digital/social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

The discussion must include:

Relevant theories from various journal articles

Examples from the media

Examples from practitioners’ reports.

Task: All tasks are equally weighted and the word limit is not to be confused with the mark allocation.

1.     Considering the last 25 years, evaluate the diffusion of the retail industry and discuss the digitalization of the consumption process. The discussion should incorporate all digital tools currently used by the industry to engage consumers in the so-called ‘experience economy’. You should include relevant theories to elaborate your discussion.  (2000 words).

2.     Discuss the impact of a) psychological and b) demographic variables that have facilitated this diffusion process. In this context, you are required to discuss how the above variables are being used to segment the digital market.  You should include relevant theories to elaborate your discussion.

(1000 words).

3.     Choose a new product innovation in the market-place and indicate which social media platforms are currently being used to market the product. Evaluate the various platforms and discuss how effective they are. Draw upon limitations of the current mode of advertising and try to show decision makers clearly why your chosen mode of advertising is more far-reaching and appropriate for their target audience. (1000 words)