CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Advances in technology especially
information technology and globalization have changed the way in which the
world conducts business and are increasingly providing consumers with greater
conveniences. The industrial revolution of the 18th century led to a
new economy, which was defined in terms of mass production of standardized
products, mass distribution of these products to consumers and mass media
vehicles to carry standardized advertising messages” Godin, (2003).
During this era,
selling underwent a major transformation from personal one-to-one persuasion to
mass advertising campaigns designed for the consumers Solove, (2004). The same
message was communicated to the consumers regardless of the difference in
nature and characteristics of each consumer. Mass marketing yielded only short
term sales and not loyal customers as these forced marketing firms to
understand that consumers cannot be treated as a homogeneous group Doinita, (2012). Marketers had to develop targeted
marketing communications in order to build and maintain relationships with
customers. Targeted marketing became truly successful when it was associated
with direct marketing, “a database-driven interactive process of directly
communicating with targeted customers or prospects using any medium to obtain a
measurable response or transaction” Spiller and Baier, (2010).
The advent of internet
facilitated targeted marketing which made it possible to send messages to an
individual’s email. This facilitated the emergence of email marketing. The
advent of the internet provided marketers the opportunity to initiate and build
relationships with their customers via the use of computer networks. However,
marketers’ desire real time interaction with their customers and this increased
the need for a mobile environment which provides the most dynamic, effective
and personal medium for marketing communication Yaniv, (2008).
The emergence of the
mobile phone device as a means of instant communication has changed the way
organizations interact with potential and existing customers (Grant and Donohoe
2007; Siau, Sheng and Nah 2005). In
recent years, the rapid adoption of mobile phone and other mobile communication
devices have created opportunities in the marketing and advertising by allowing companies to announce their products and services,
develop customer relationships through direct personalized and interactive message
response from customers Sultan and Rohm, (2005). Different reasons constitute the rise in the
use of mobile devices. According to Grant and Donohoe (2007), the combination
of video and audio contexts in one mobile device absolutely increased the usage
of mobile devices.
Also, flexibility in
communication and information sharing have become possible with improvements in
mobile technology and integration of internet and computing into a mobile
medium (Siau, Sheng and Nah 2005) and the possibility of reaching information
anytime and anywhere triggered the improvements of mobile devices (Deans, 2005).
The potential of
interaction with consumers, target marketing and managing consumer relationship
made mobile devices an important channel for marketers Grant and Donohoe, (2007).
Mobile marketing have become powerful tool for marketing communication and
information dissemination (Nysveen, Pdersen, Thorbjornsen and Berthon, 2005).
This has made it easier for consumers to compare marketing information, product
offerings, and prices before significant purchase decisions are made by the
consumers. With this level of information at consumers disposal, consumer
behaviour has become increasingly difficult to predict by marketers Urban, (2004),
as consumers expect transparency and real-time interactions with the organization.
The mobile phones are
no longer used for communication alone, according to Michael and Salter (2006),
who stated that the world has entered a new era called, “the all mobile era”.
According to them, the
mobile phones or rather said, smartphones, do it all, from browsing the
internet for information to ordering of online products, mobile banking and
paying of bills. “The mobile phone is set to become the Third Screens after TV
and computer,” according to Asif (2011). As with other traditional marketing
programmes, consumer attitude play an important role in determining the success
of using the mobile device by marketers as a platform for communicating,
creating sales and building relationships with their consumers. The acceptance
of mobile device by consumers is influenced by, amongst others, the perceived utility
of the content and the perceived risk associated with data security and
consumer privacy (Bauer, Barnes, Reichardt and Neumann, 2005).
The mobile phone is
seen as a personal device (Barwise and Strong, 2002; Tsang, Ho and Liang, 2004)
and as such, marketing messages are expected to meet the individual need and
possibly take the form of permission marketing (a message either in form of SMS
and MMS that has been requested by the consumer as part of an opt-in scheme
requiring the consumer to indicate their consent to receive commercial messages
and information of interest to them) in order to stimulate a positive response
from the consumer Barwise and Strong, (2002).
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