Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Abstract available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2006 July 21.

Diss. Helsinki School of Economics. / Text in English with abstract in English and Finnish. Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-219).

Thesis (M.A. in Mass Communication)--University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91).

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-109).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, August, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

A website with a good e-commerce design will positively influence a customer’s attitude, strengthen the trust of the customers towards the organisation, increase the satisfaction of the customer, draw consumers, and bring forth purchases/repeat purchases from them. The purpose of this study was to determine viable e-commerce opportunities for the Ficksburg Cherry Festival website. The study endeavoured to ascertain how the Ficksburg Cherry Festival could improve its website by identifying e-commerce opportunities for the Ficksburg Cherry Festival website. In this study a non-random self-administered survey approach was used where attendees were intercepted at the venue of the Ficksburg Cherry Festival and the exhibitors in their stalls. The existing Ficksburg Cherry Festival website was analysed for e-commerce features that are present and opportunities for further implementation of e-commerce features were identified with help from the attendees and exhibitors. The findings of this study presented a demographic profile and attendance characteristics of both the attendees and exhibitors, which the management team of the Ficksburg Cherry Festival can use to better market the festival using traditional and online communication for both attendees and exhibitors. The recommendations will assist the management of the festival to improve the website and to progress from a straightforward information-only website to a fully-developed e-commerce site, with positive effects for all the stakeholders. Similar South African festivals could find the research findings and recommendations of value for their own website development as well. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

À l’heure de l’internet haut débit, et à l’aube de la réalité virtuelle, les questions sur l’apport et l’efficacité des différents canaux de distribution mis à disposition du consommateur se posent avec encore plus d’acuité. Depuis l’article séminal de Kotler sur les « atmospherics » les chercheurs en marketing et en psychologie se sont attachés à mesurer les influences des différentes composantes de l’ambiance des points de vente, au départ uniquement sous forme de magasins physiques, puis, au fur et à mesure du développement d’internet, de magasins virtuels. L’explosion des performances matérielles et logicielles de ces dix dernières années a permis à ces magasins virtuels de proposer de nouvelles interfaces en offrant aux visiteurs une troisième dimension dans la visualisation de l’offre. La question de l’efficacité de ces nouveaux outils se pose pleinement, d’autant qu’internet est de plus en plus utilisé par les consommateurs dans leur processus d’achat. La problématique de cette thèse est donc de mesurer l’influence potentielle des facteurs d’ambiance d’un magasin virtuel en trois dimensions (3D) en ligne, facteurs que nous appellerons « 3Dspérics », sur le comportement des visiteurs. Nos travaux sont composés de trois revues littératures (marketing, informatique et psychophysiologie), d’une étude empirique et d’une étude expérimentale finale. Dans cette dernière, afin de pouvoir tester nos hypothèses, nous avons élaboré et réalisé un démonstrateur de magasin 3D reproduisant un magasin réel. En utilisant cette simulation nous avons observé les parcours de 44 personnes en leur assignant une tâche de magasinage de différents produits manipulables en 3D. Notre protocole expérimental est basé sur le recueil de données issues de questionnaires auquel nous avons ajouté des mesures de données objectives (parcours) et physiologiques (principalement oculaires) obtenues durant le magasinage de nos testeurs. Les résultats obtenus montrent que les composantes atmosphériques d’un site web marchand en 3D ont une influence directe sur l’immersion du visiteur et, de ce fait, contribuent positivement à la construction des comportements d’achat, d’intention de revisite et de bouche à oreille. / In the era of high-speed Internet, and at the dawn of virtual reality, questions about the contribution and efficiency of the different distribution channels available to the consumer are even more acute. Since Kotler's seminal article on "atmospherics", researchers in marketing and psychology have focused on measuring the influences of the different components of the retail outlet environment, initially only in the form of physical stores, fur and as the development of internet, virtual stores. The explosion of hardware and software performance over the last ten years has allowed these virtual stores to offer new interfaces by offering visitors a third dimension in the visualization of the offer. The question of the effectiveness of these new tools is fully posed, especially since the Internet is increasingly used by consumers in their purchasing process. The problem of this thesis is thus to measure the potential influence of the factors of atmosphere of an online virtual store in three dimensions (3D), factors that we will call "3Dsperics", on the behavior of the visitors. Our work consists of three literature reviews (marketing, computer science and psychophysiology), an empirical study and a final experimental study. In the latter, in order to test our hypotheses, we have developed and realized a 3D store demonstrator reproducing a real store. Using this simulation we observed the routes of 44 people by assigning them a task of shopping of different manipulatable 3D products. Our experimental protocol is based on the collection of data from questionnaires to which we added measures of objective data (pathways) and physiological (mainly ocular) data obtained during the shopping of our testers. The results show that the atmospheric components of a 3D merchant web site have a direct influence on the immersion of the visitor and thus contribute positively to the construction of buying behavior, revisit intention and word of mouth.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Design in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2013 / As healthcare is such a widespread issue in South Africa, this research focuses on non-profit organisations in the health sector. Non-profit organisations take on much of the work that the government cannot deliver with respect to the overall wellbeing of patients at hospitals, in specialised care, in basic healthcare, and most significantly, in areas where private healthcare is unaffordable. This study investigates online marketing, fundraising activities and strategies of non-profit organisations in Cape Town’s health sector. It illustrates the growing popularity of these channels, and argues that many non-profit organisations are not using online marketing tools effectively to raise the funds and support they need. Two longstanding non-profit organisations based at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, are the subject of the study, as this hospital is a prime example of how a government-run institution relies on the support of effective non-profit organisations. The conceptual framework required extensive reviews of the existing literature on the South African non-profit sector, the health sector and the role of non-profit organisations in these sectors. Furthermore, it reviewed successful marketing practices for non-profit organisations, including appropriate online marketing and fundraising strategies. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was employed, using semi-structured interviews and an online survey of twenty-seven health sector non-profit organisations. Key people in the non-profit health sector, the non-profit communication design sector and the corporate online marketing sector were interviewed. The online survey was conducted to gain a clear insight into the current online marketing practices and activities of Cape Town based health sector non-profit organisations. Grounded theory was used as an analytical tool in this research where themes emerge and theory is constructed based on insights and knowledge gained during the research. The results reveal that many non-profit organisations in the Cape Town health sector do not seem aware of the benefits of implementing an online marketing and fundraising strategy. This study concludes that online marketing and fundraising is vital for a non-profit organisation’s success. It is recommended that all members of non-profit organisations learn as much as they can about the importance of online marketing, as well as the importance of having a solid strategy. A unique framework for branding, strategy, online marketing and fundraising is proposed as a solution to the research problem, and further recommendations include the design of a textbook or eBook and an online platform connecting non-profit organisations in the health sector in South Africa.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Technology: Marketing in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008 / This thesis identifies and examines evidence of e-commerce in three large businesses (Woolworths, Momentum and Santam) focusing on their Internet branding strategies, the impact of management actions and how those actions contribute to e-commerce success. Case study was used to assemble evidence from the three companies. The data received from respondents were transcribed, codified into thirteen key words. These were analysed using Cohen Kappa method of content analysis. The findings show different impact of management actions and prioritisation of management functions are evident at different stages of the adoption process. In addition, the application of management function differs at different stages suggesting expected changes in management competency as the adoption process matures. This thesis argues that as we move to a more interactive mode of working with customers and competitors using Internet technology, the role of marketing is critical; within marketing, brand management is seen as a particularly important activity. The work reported is based on the evidence that brand management is indeed important, and a maturity model is presented to guide brand management activities at different stages of e-commerce adoption. Internet-related partnering opportunities with large firms remain a concern for smaller firms. It reveals that although much Internet research has taken a technical viewpoint, some experts have begun to make connections between Internet success and brand management. This thesis shows that there are opportunities for businesses doing e-commerce but, sufficient attention should be given to the implementation of branding and brand management strategies that recognise the changes and challenges of e-commerce adoption. It also shows that the patterns of management activities and actions that will ensure success are much clearer, as well as the partnering opportunities with small businesses.

DISSERTATION Submitted in partial (50%) fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE in BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS in the FACULTY OF BUSINESS INFORMATICS at the CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2005 / The growth of the World Wide Web has spawned a wide collection of new information sources, which has also left users with the daunting task of determining which sources are valid. Most users rely on the web because of the low cost of information retrieval. Other advantages of the web include the convenience in terms of time and access as well as the ability to easily record results. It is also claimed that the web has evolved into a powerful business tool. Examples include highly popular business services such as Amazon.com and Kalahari.net. It is estimated that around 80% of users utilise search engines to locate information on the Internet. This of course places emphasis on the underlying importance of webpages being listed on search engines indices. It is in the interest of any company to pursue a strategy for ensuring a high search engine ranking for their e-Commerce website. This will result in more visits from users and possibly more sales. One of the strategies for ensuring a high search engine ranking is the placement of keywords in the body text section of a webpage. Empirical evidence that the placement of keywords in certain areas of the body text will have an influence on the websites’ visibility to search engines could not be found. The author set out to prove or disprove that keywords in the body text of a webpage will have a measurable effect on the visibility of a website to search engine crawlers. From the findings of this research it will be possible to create a guide for e- Commerce website authors on the usage, placing and density of keywords within their websites. This guide, although it will only focus on one aspect of search engine visibility, could help e-Commerce websites to attract more visitors and to become more profitable.