Online shopping is a growing phenomenon all over the world, and it has thus had an influence on the shopping process for many consumers (Brengman et al., 2005:79; Brown et al., 2003:1667; Kau et al., 2003:139). Consumers are now choosing to shop online due to changes in their lifestyles and demographic diversity (Kau et al., 2003:139). The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which demographic diversity influenced online shopping orientation and propensity to buy online. The researcher first conducted an in-depth theoretical study of previous research into demographic diversity, online shopping orientation and propensity to buy online. Next, the researcher conducted an empirical survey questionnaire, in order to assess the opinions of students at the three selected Eastern Cape universities. Phinney's (1992:156) multi-group ethnic identity measure was administered in order to identify how respondents feel about their ethnicity and/or how they react to their own ethnic group. Kau et al.,'s (2003) online shopping orientation measure was used to help identify six relevant online shopping factors. The six online shopping factors where then used to describe six online shopping orientation types. The main findings of this research conducted at three Universities in the Eastern Cape can be summarised as follows: Ethnic Identity Profile: - Within this research it was found that respondents at all three universities in general had a strong ethnic identity to their specified ethnic group, according to the two ethnic identity factors namely; commitment and exploration. Online Shopping Orientation Profile: - Within this research it was found that the respondents at all three universities in general could be categorised in one of six online shopping orientation types according to six online shopping factors. The extent to which demographic diversity influences types of online shopping orientation: - From the research hypotheses it was concluded that a relationship exists between demographic diversity and types of online shopping orientations, whereby the gender, race and ethnicity of respondent is likely to influence the way consumers shop online, namely the consumers‟ online shopping orientation. The extent to which demographic diversity influences propensity to buy online: - From the research hypotheses it was concluded that a relationship exists between demographic diversity and propensity to buy online, whereby the gender of respondents is likely to influence whether consumers buy online in the future. - From the research hypotheses it was concluded that no relationship exists between demographic diversity and propensity to buy online, whereby the race and ethnicity of respondents is not likely to influence whether consumers buy online in the future. The extent to which types of online shopping orientation influence propensity to buy online: - The findings suggest that different online shopping orientations have different propensities to buy online in the future. Hence, marketers should be aware of the online shopping orientations more likely to buy online in the future and focus their marketing programs on them. They should also try new ways to attract the online shopping orientations that may not buy online, in the hopes of changing their opinions and perceptions of the Internet and online shopping. South Africa, in particular, consists of multi-racial and diverse ethnic origins, which has resulted in a demographically diverse South African nation. Therefore, marketers need to develop a better understanding of consumers‟ online shopping orientation (Donthu and Garcia, 1999:57; Jayawardhena and Foley, 2000:19; Kau et al., 2003:140). Understanding consumers' online shopping orientation will assist marketers in being able to market to specific consumers and meet the needs of consumers effectively (Kau et al., 2003:140). Since demographic diversity influences the online shopping orientations of consumers, major opportunities for marketers will be provided by accommodating for a demographically diverse South African nation.

Since the development of the Internet, the amount of individuals and organisations making use of the World Wide Web (or Web) has grown significantly, and it is likely to continue increasing as the world continues to become intertwined. With the Internet, users are able to conduct various activities online, one being online shopping which has changed the retailing sector. Online shoppers are able to purchase goods and services over the Web in the comfort of their own homes without having to set foot into a physical store. Due to the fact that greater numbers of South African consumers are becoming accustomed to online shopping and the number of online retailers is growing, there is a need to determine which quality factors of websites influence these consumers when shopping online, which is the primary purpose of this study. A broad and in-depth literature review was provided on online shopping as well as the website quality factors influencing online shopping. An empirical study was conducted, where the data were collected from South Africans who met the requirements by means of an Internet-based self-administered questionnaire. The study followed a quantitative approach in order to satisfy the research objectives of the study. Based on the research results, it was found that all system, information and service quality factors influence respondents when shopping online and therefore need to be taken into consideration by online retailers when developing shopping sites. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Information technology (IT) has become an integral part of the success and globalisation of business over the last two decades. It is hard to imagine how the efficiencies expected in today’s fast paced business world could possibly be achieved without the advancements in IT. The most significant of these advancements is arguably the advent of the Internet which has empowered businesses of all sizes by giving them the means to promote their products and services at a relatively low cost in markets that would previously have been inaccessible. The aim of this study was to assess whether e-commerce represents an alternative channel for a brick and mortar company wishing to follow a market penetration strategy. The study was based around a company, Canoa Eastern Cape, which trades in the office automation industry in the Eastern and Southern Cape of South Africa. The study investigated the history of Canoa Eastern Cape, focusing predominantly on the growth strategies followed by the business in the past. With a view to the future, growth strategies which could potentially be followed by Canoa Eastern Cape were also investigated. The result of these investigations was a recommendation that Canoa Eastern Cape should follow a market penetration strategy, which will see the business marketing its existing products within its current market by making use of a new distribution channel, more specifically e-commerce. In order to assess the suitability of e-commerce as a tool within a market penetration strategy a literature study was conducted to get a better understanding of ecommerce and its viability as business tool. The literature study focused on eight core concepts felt to be critical in the evaluation of e-commerce, namely: • the development of e-commerce over the past years; • the future of e-commerce; • whether e-commerce is a financial success or not; • requirements for e-commerce to be successful; iv • products that customers are prepared to buy online; • industries most affected by e-commerce; and • demographics of e-commerce users; and • e-commerce in the office automation industry. Using the information gained in the literature study as a basis from which to start, an empirical study was conducted. The objective of the empirical study was to obtain data which would be used to assess the level to which e-commerce has been adopted by consumers in the specific geographic area and whether these consumers are willing and able to make use of e-commerce as an alternative to conventional purchasing for the procurement of office automation consumables and office automation equipment. A quantitative research paradigm was adopted, making use of a structured questionnaire to gather information from the sample of Canoa Eastern Cape’s customers. The data collected from the empirical study were analysed using univariate and bivariate analysis. The findings of the empirical study suggested that: • demographics are a poor indicator of adoption of e-commerce; • there is a significant adoption rate within the sample: o 79.85 percent of the respondents reported to have used e-commerce before for personal use; and o 59.13 percentreported to have used e-commerce before for business use; • there is a high rate of willingness to use e-commerce again: o 91.09 percent of the respondents indicating that they would use e-commerce again for personal use; and o 80.18 percent indicating that they would use e-commerce again for business use; • there is a high likelihood that consumers will buy office automation consumables through an e-commerce channel, with 65.82 percentof the respondents indicating that they would be likely or very likely to buy consumables through an e-commerce channel; • there is no significant difference in the adoption rates between the three main areas within the targeted sample, that is, East London, Port Elizabeth and George and Knysna. Given the findings of the empirical study it is felt that an e-commerce solution does present a viable alternative channel for a brick and mortar company trading in the Office Automation Industry in the Eastern and Southern Cape wishing to follow a market penetration strategy.

The introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for rural development in rural marginalized societies is vastly growing. However, the success of developing and deploying ICT related services is still in question as influential factors such as adaptability, scalability, sustainability, and usability have great effect on the rate of growth of ICTs in rural environments. The problem is that these ICT services should be maintained and sustained by the targeted communities. The main cause for rural marginalization is the fact that some communities situated in rural settings are educationally challenged and computer illiterate or semiliterate in comparison with urban communities. An ICT for development (ICT4D) intervention in the form of an e-Commerce platform that targets the social and economic growth of rural marginalized communities has been developed and field tested at Dwesa, a rural community located on the Wild Coast of the former homeland of Transkei in the Eastern Cape Province. The e-Commerce platform is known as “buy at Dwesa” and can be visited at this URL, http://www.dwesa.com. The aim of the e-Commerce platform is to motivate small entrepreneurs in rural areas to market their products and themselves to the global market as they lack the skills and resources for marketing their art and crafts. Virtual stores are created for a small group of entrepreneurs who will maintain and sustain the stores on their own. These entrepreneurs are often elderly women with limited education and little to no computer literacy - meaning that sustaining the stores may prove difficult for them. In this research we discuss the re-design and re-development of the virtual shop-owner interfaces of the e-Commerce platform to make them more culturally and linguistically localized. The virtual shops allow shop-owners to upload their artifacts to advertise and sell on the customer’s end of the e-Commerce platform. For multilingual and multicultural communities, adoption of the software interfaces to the user’s cultural and linguistic needs and modes of expression is important as failure to do so may reduce the level of benefits of e-Commerce initiatives.

Profiling the customers of the e-commerce company Kalahari.net. The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Online grocery retailing holds potentially fruitful outcomes for retailers in South Africa. However, South African retailers and consumers have been slow to adopt and participate in this form of grocery retailing. This study explores the barriers and motivators to online grocery shopping in South Africa from a supply chain perspective. Therefore, the study was done from both the customer and the retailer’s perspective. Three qualitative data collection methods were employed to collect the data. Firstly, a website analysis of four e-grocers was conducted and compared. Secondly, two focus group discussions were conducted – among consumers who use online grocery shopping, and those who do not. Thirdly, an in-depth interview was conducted with one of the online operations managers of an e-grocer in South Africa. The results revealed four different ‘sets’ of motivators or barriers to online grocery shopping in South Africa: consumer-specific, retailer-specific, website-specific and supply chain-specific. Results from this study could be used to shed some light on how to overcome the hurdles of becoming a multi-channel grocery retailer in South Africa. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / The study was undertaken to establish to what extent the use of e-marketing has impacted on the Midlands Meander Association (MMA) members relationship with their customers and influenced their business performance (during the period August 2013 to January 2014). As stated in the literature review, the utilisation of technology and e-marketing are important areas of future research. The literature review incorporates various studies such as Mathfield (2000), Lourens (2007) and McLaren (2011) which focus on the MMA members and their customers. Moreover, the literature review includes a discussion of several definitions of e-marketing, while the importance of a number of e-marketing techniques was examined. The study was an empirical, descriptive investigation which applied a mixed methods approach. The study utilised three types of data collection methods: online survey, telephone interviews and the analysis of public domain documentation. The research found an extensive difference between how the various MMA members implemented e-marketing within their businesses. The research showed that e-marketing was not utilised or exploited by the majority of the MMA members to its full potential. Also, the study revealed the need for the MMA members to increase their utilisation of social media, search engine optimiser and complementary links to other websites in order to realise the advantages which may be gained. The study found that over half of the MMA members held a moderately positive perception of e-marketing and that the members’ ages might impact on their perceptions of e-marketing. The research suggested that the majority of the respondents recognised that their business performance had increased due to the use of e-marketing. Furthermore, the research found that two thirds of the MMA members acknowledged the importance of e-marketing to connect and build relationships with their customers. Finally, the research highlighted the need for future research to be undertaken to incorporate other tourism routes within South Africa in order to examine the use of e-marketing and its effect on both customer relationships and business performance.

Profiling the customers of the e-commerce company Kalahari.net. The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / The purpose of the study was to profile the customers of the e-commerce company, Kalahari.net which sells books, music CDs, DVDs, videos, computer software and hardware amongst others. The literature study includes a discussion of marketing management and e-commerce in South Africa. Customer profiling is discussed to indicate the need and importance of knowing the customer. The quantitative research was done amongst the customers of Kalahari.net by means of an online questionnaire in 2003. The findings concluded that the customers browse the Internet between one and five hours per week. The customers are aged between 21 and 25, mostly female, predominantly English-speaking, married, two to three people per household, have a monthly household income of more than R18 000, are well-educated and are residing predominantly in Gauteng. The study was concluded with the limitations experienced by the researcher and a short discussion of the general usability of the study. / Business Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Online grocery retailing holds potentially fruitful outcomes for retailers in South Africa. However, South African retailers and consumers have been slow to adopt and participate in this form of grocery retailing. This study explores the barriers and motivators to online grocery shopping in South Africa from a supply chain perspective. Therefore, the study was done from both the customer and the retailer’s perspective. Three qualitative data collection methods were employed to collect the data. Firstly, a website analysis of four e-grocers was conducted and compared. Secondly, two focus group discussions were conducted – among consumers who use online grocery shopping, and those who do not. Thirdly, an in-depth interview was conducted with one of the online operations managers of an e-grocer in South Africa. The results revealed four different ‘sets’ of motivators or barriers to online grocery shopping in South Africa: consumer-specific, retailer-specific, website-specific and supply chain-specific. Results from this study could be used to shed some light on how to overcome the hurdles of becoming a multi-channel grocery retailer in South Africa. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Wireless technologies, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), are making it easier to provide the much needed telecommunications infrastructure in marginalized areas worldwide. These technologies enable the rapid deployment of network services as well as their redistribution throughout these marginalized areas. The ability to bring Internet connectivity to previously underserviced and marginalized areas has the potential to leap-frog socio-economic development and improve participation in the global knowledge economy. This study investigated how wireless access technologies, such as WiMAX and WiFi, can be integrated and used to deliver ubiquitous distributed Internet connectivity with increased capillarity in rural areas. The research was undertaken within an ICT for Development (ICT4D) intervention called Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) which is based in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The research further eliminated the accessibility constraints associated with long distances and remoteness from the Digital Access Nodes (DANs) and provided increased penetration in the network in contrast to the traditional Telecentre model which has been used extensively in ICT4D interventions. This was achieved by deploying WiFi hotspots around the DANs and extending the existing SLL WiMAX backbone to increase the network footprint to neighboring communities. The technical result of the research has been the provision of increased capillarity on the network and service redistribution throughout the entire Dwesa community. Consequently, this has given local community members an opportunity to access network services easily and ubiquitously. Finally, the research investigated and presented the benefits of such wireless network deployment configurations on ICT4D activities in marginalized areas.