ONLINE BRAND TRUST: WHAT ARE THE CONTRIBUTORS?

Thanks to the flexibility, ease of interactivity and personalization, the usage of internet has been increasing since it was first introduced back in the early 1980s. The internet has opened a new window and business opportunity that have never been imagined before, thus changing the way consumers shop. Differs from the traditional way of shopping, online shopping has allowed consumers to decide what kind of product they want, when and where they want to purchase the items within their budget by a click of a mouse or mobile phones. Instead of waiting for a premise to be opened and spending so much time looking for a parking space, online shopping provides a convenient way to shop as digital marketplaces are open all day, every day, throughout the year. However, trust has remained one of the most popular issues that leads to the ineffective use of digital marketplaces.

Because consumers play the main role for any business transactions, their trust contributes to the reduction of uncertainty and complexity of any transactions and relationships involving digital marketplaces. When customers show their trust to the brand and the company, they will show willingness in any transactions, eventually creating a smooth business transaction. Likewise, trust develops not only positive attitude towards suppliers but brings in customer loyalties (Schurr and Ozanne, 1985). Furthermore, a world of abundance for consumers is just another world of rivals for brands. When a particular brand is viewed as trustworthy, it has the added advantage to succeed as opposed to its competitors (Reast, 2005). 

Despite the increasing number of Internet users who spend their time with online shopping, companies should stay committed to Internet branding by considering the consumer’s perception of brand trust online. Ha (2004) defines brand trust as the trust possessed among the customers in a particular brand. In this era of e-commerce, online brand trust is considered as one essential component that spurs online purchases and more consumers are becoming aware of its importance (Quelch and Klein, 1996). When consumers put their trust in a particular brand, they will not be reluctant to spend a premium price not only for the brand itself but its brand extension while carrying on being loyal. Furthermore, when customers view a brand as trustworthy, they would not mind spending their time, sharing feedbacks regarding their behavior, tastes and preferences which would allow the brand to develop.

For businesses to remain strong in the game in the long run, there are several aspects that influence online brand trust which comprise of website factors and consumer factors. Sultan et al. (2002) identifies website factors such as navigation, advice, no error, fulfillment, community, privacy and security, trust seals and brand presentation are responsible in developing consumer’s trust. On the other hand, the study shows that trust is contributed by consumer factors such as self-confidence, past behavior, online shopping experience as well as entertainment experience. Lee and Turban (2001) also agree that the declining of online shopping activity is the result of the lacking of consumer trust. 

Salo and Karjaluoto (2007) suggest that internal factors namely consumer characteristics, previous experience with digital marketplaces, reputation, website quality and non-government association are likely related to online trust. As for external factors, they conclude that the product or service characteristics, the distinctive markets, cultures and countries act as the driving factors to the level of trust among consumers. Also, Srivinasan (2004) concludes that brand trust is greatly affected by word of mouth, positive online shopping experience and quality of information. In Malaysia, a recent study involving studying online brand trust in online ticketing determines word of mouth, online experience, quality information and brand reputation as the factors (Alam and Yasin, 2010). 

To make digital marketplaces fairer, it is not an easy task and Rome was not built in a day. As a developing country, it is important for online businesses to be prepared with the new challenges in building consumer online brand trust. They should execute effective plans and consider numerous factors such as demographic variables based on the previous studies. These online businesses must acquire an in-depth knowledge of factors contributing to online brand trust. 

THE INCREASING PREVALENCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND HOW IT AFFECTS BUSINESS FIRMS

It is no surprise that these days, companies are commonly utilizing their home pages, emails and social media as their current use of digital channels in their daily business. Furthermore, Leeflang et al. (2013) observes that mobile applications are viewed as the biggest growth areas for companies over the years, hence companies are expected to increasingly adopt these channels in their marketing operations to reach out their existing and potential customers. Those in marketing are expected to change from tactical mobile efforts to more transformative mobile marketing strategies in the next couple of years. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence from a scientific publication that proves the effects of mobile marketing on metrics. 

The study carried out by Leeflang et al. (2013) proves that the rapid existence of digital media and tools in marketing have dramatically affected business companies. For example, interacting and serving customers via new channels has the most dominant change especially in companies that provide financial services. Moreover, the latest utilities allow the companies a significant amount of access to data and insights, as well as the ability to reach new customer segments. The companies in this study also suggested that these changes are a lot greater than other changes be it the entry of new competitors and the change in balance of power with established value chains. This in turn signifies that the marketing strategies of firms from all sectors experience a significant impact from the digitalization of media.

Due to the digitalization, marketing executives are now facing various challenges that can be out of their control such as the complex and ever-changing markets. Thus, business companies are always finding feasible solutions in order to keep up with the problems arising (Day, 2011). Although the majority of the companies claimed that they would be tackling the challenges with effective plans, there may be huge opportunities for lagging companies too. Such firms considered digital revolution as a moderate challenge as well as the management of the automated interactions with customers via digital self-service which includes online banking and online check-in. Apart from that, the price transparency issue is a serious issue as many companies from many different sectors are highly affected by plethora of free digital price comparison services which may cause price and margins erosion during economic recessions.

WATCH OUT FOR COUNTERFEIT ITEMS!

Imagine you are purchasing an item over the internet which cost you a fortune, only to realize that it was counterfeit. How would you feel about that? Wouldn’t you feel disappointed? Wouldn’t you lose your trust in online shopping? You see, this has been one of the ongoing issues which has been causing consumers to be in the state of trauma.

Some customers who initially planned to purchase genuine designer products reported that they received counterfeit products once receiving their packages and their efforts to contact the sellers remain pointless since the sellers have changed their contact numbers (The Star Online, 2016). Thus, before hitting the “buy” option, consumers are encouraged to carry out their own due diligence to avoid this kind of pitfall. If one encounters with a branded item but the price is too cheap, the chances that the seller may be listing fake products are rather high. Carousell, which is one of the popular digital marketplaces also advises their users to meet the seller at a particular for product inspection when purchasing such items. In order to safeguard and ensure the product meets the expectation of a customer, cash-on-delivery is said to be the best alternative (The Star Online, 2016). 

Basically, unauthorized seller would photograph the fake branded items in a set up premise, not only to make the stocks to appear attractive, but also deceiving potential buyers into thinking the items sold are authentic. On top of that, these sellers have the audacity to forge the certificates of authenticity. It is worth to mention that the certificate of authenticity does not have intrinsic commercial value and is never sold separately from the product. To prevent any suspicion among the buyers, they create the impression that the items are genuine by simply attaching the certificate together. In the case of customers who were fallen victims to this dispute, they are welcome to recognize sellers who advertise fake products on the internet by reaching KPDNKK toll-free line 1800-88-6800 in order to prevent other online shoppers from being the next target. 

It is not always the case of product originality, but there are other important issues namely the ability to differentiate genuine products from the fake ones. This issue may result in continuity in quality, risk reduction and protection of brand and intellectual property. Because of the almost identical packaging to the original ones, consumers are easily tricked into buying counterfeit products. This is extremely dangerous when it comes to products related to health product where consumers’ wellbeing may be jeopardized and they may be exposed to illnesses. Despite the usage of chemically hazardous ingredients in the products for advanced results, the sellers could not careless about the customers and would not take the blame as they are constantly making their way to generate even more profits from the business. 

Apart from seizing the counterfeit products, businesses who owned the brand of the products should immediately take legal action towards the sellers so that consumers can steer away from illegal businesses piracy can be put to an end. Furthermore, the authority should regularly conduct investigations at manufacturing premises as well as questioning the suppliers involved. The act of producing and selling counterfeit items is considered as a serious offense. In order to maintain the integrity of digital marketplaces, the goods are supposed to be destroyed under the order of the court, according to the Supply Control Act 1961, the Copyright Act 1987, the Consumer Protection Act 1999, the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 and the Trade Descriptions Act 2011. 

SEAMLESS ONLINE EXPERIENCE IN 2018 AND HOW IT IS DONE

In 2017, the online shopping sphere has been expanded all due to the rapid growth of the e-commerce market in Malaysia. Many businesses based in Malaysia are grabbing this opportunity by going digital. Furthermore, a penetration rate amounting to 2.5% is witnessed in the Malaysian e-commerce industry (Kim, 2017). However, 2018 is the year where the e-commerce penetration rate in Malaysia is expected to double, anywhere between 4% to 5% (Kim, 2017). Hence, it is time for digital marketers to step up their game by continuously innovating their services and offerings, supporting the development of the industry and surpassing the expectations of consumers. 

These days, other than taking the advantages of digital marketplaces to help them organizing their day-to-day expenses, consumers are looking forward to more options for payment. The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study (2016) reported 7 out of 10 Malaysians are willing to utilize mobile wallets while 68% of Malaysians prefer the use of contactless payments instead of cash. Plus, online shoppers will not have to deal with the long queue at the ATM and businesses can operate with the minimal amount of investment, cost and risk. For instance, SMEs and micro-businesses are going cashless while enjoying a low merchant discount rate of 0.8% through the utilization of mobile payment applications such as vcash offered by Digi. After much consideration, many digital marketers are striving to provide a wider assortment of convenient and popular payment options for online shoppers. 

Would you believe that 80% of users are reportedly leaving the cart during the checkout process? According to Forbes (2014), consumers are more likely to the tab, without having to complete the transactions all because of the laborious and tedious process. In addition, digital marketplaces are suffering losses due to cart abandonment. Thus, digital marketplaces are ought to design a sophisticated, friendly and easy checkout system. Besides that, due to the massive information leaks from the internet becomes one of the factors of abandonment, digital marketplaces are introducing security feature onto their websites. 

Other than wishing for a fast delivery, consumers nowadays are anxious and curious about the whereabouts of their purchases. They would like to know the current location of the items and when they would be arriving at their doorstep. Hence, digital marketplaces are providing a greater transparency on product delivery by informing their customers the tracking numbers through a comprehensive tracking system. For example, Photobook Malaysia comes up with its own intelligent application where the progress of the ordered items is updated from time to time and should customers face any difficulties, their friendly customer care service is always ready to assist. 

With these strategies, the Malaysian e-commerce prospect in 2018 will be on the right track to succeed as well as making the digital marketplaces for both businesses and consumers.

FRAUD TRANSACTION AND DELIVERY: SHOPPERS ARE WORRIED

A number of online shoppers have voiced out their fear of buying goods online due to online fraud. There are numerous reports regarding fraud occurring in our country. Online shoppers reported that they did not hear any updates from the sellers by the time they have made the payment. Other than the sellers terminating their contact numbers or websites, they would deliver items which failed to meet the requirements as advertised on the digital marketplaces, leading the customers to ultimate disappointment. 

Moreover, there is a case where a scammer manages to access a depositor’s bank account to conduct his criminal activity. The scammer who disguised himself as a loan agent, had persuaded 200 people to deposit their money into the complainant’s bank account for RM1000 scooters he advertised on FaceBook. The complainant who realized his account had been so active with money going in and out was left with charges as those depositors had pressed charges against him. Unfortunately, the person committing the crime vanished with the loan processing fee and due to the small amounts involved, the reluctance of the victims to lodge police reports had prompt these scammers to pursue their illicit trade without being traced (Mukhtar et al, 2016).

Hence, before successfully enrolling these businesses or individuals on digital marketplaces, they need to be authorized first. The details of the company or individual, company registration number, identity card, company address and bank account statement should be acquired beforehand. These documents can beneficial when it comes to performing a verification check. Even though these online scammers would provide a false information, this measure would impede them from continuing their activities due to the high level of security.