Digital Transformation In Consumer Behaviour

"Digital transformation is more about humans than digital" -Brian Solis

Consumer buying behaviour refers to the study of customers and how they behave while deciding to buy a product that satisfies their needs. It is a study of the actions of the consumers that drive them to buy and use certain products.

Due to the changing fashion, technology, trends, living style, disposable income, and similar other factors, consumer behaviour also changes. A marketer has to understand the factors that are changing so that the marketing efforts can be aligned accordingly.

With the advent of the digital era, consumer behaviour has changed drastically. The changes brought by digitalisation can be felt in our present times where everything worth anything is present virtually. Surveys done by leading MNCs have reached the conclusion that with the uncertainty that exists due to Covid-19 there is significant variance as people are adapting to the new normal. Digital Transformation has made consumers unreliable with no specific brand loyalty and has given rise to a dynamic marketplace that has customers that are exceptionally good researchers and competitors who are trying to provide better goods for the same amount of money.

According to research from IDC, two-thirds of the CEO’s of Global 2,000 companies will shift their focus from traditional, offline strategies to more modern digital strategies to improve the customer experience before the end of the year - with 34% of companies believing they’ll fully adopt digital transformation within 12 months or less which explains the increase in digital spending. The net global spending on digital transformation in 2018 was approximately $1 trillion. This number is expected to increase to more than $2 trillion by 2022.

As consumer behaviour becomes more and more incomprehensible the use of A. I seems to be the only option for companies to provide targeted ads for individuals and to understand the reason behind the consumers' decision. Artificial intelligence is definitely going to have a huge impact on consumer behaviour since brands that make use of artificial intelligence are able to present their products and services more efficiently than those that don’t.

Considering the effects of A.I and the resources spent on targeted ads we observe that companies are evolving their way of reaching their customers and are shaping their choices at a macro level. These targeted ads on different platforms are viewed as a breach of privacy where any virtual prints of common people are stored and assessed to shape their subconscious into preferring one brand over the other.

For eg- if you search for shoes of a particular brand on google you will receive advertisements of shoes of the same company on your social media profiles.

As consumers we should be aware of the ill effects of targeted advertisements and that these ads can be manipulative. To counter its effect we as consumers should try to research the products by comparing them and not to be lured by these advertisements which make us partial towards the advertiser’s product.

Stay Smart & Stay Satark !

                 By - Achint Arora & Deepti Tiwari