There\u27s an app for that: the ways young adults access digital information

Despite the popular use of smartphones and mobile applications (apps) and their potential impacts in the near future, only scant academic attention has been paid to mobile apps, especially in respect to the gratifications sought from accessing digital information via apps. This exploratory study investigated the relationship between young adults and their use of mobile apps in accessing digital information, particularly in comparison to the current go-to digital information access device, Internet browsers. In addition, this study examined how levels of perceived privacy concern influence digital information use and how the use of digital information access modalities and the level of privacy concern interact in seeking digital information. To examine these relationships, this study conducted an online survey with 201 young adults, and the data were analyzed using a two-way mixed repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA). The independent variables in this analysis were digital access modality (Internet browsers and mobile apps) and perceived personal privacy (high and low). The dependent variable in this study was digital information use, measured in five frequent purposes of accessing digital information: information, communication, convenience, entertainment, and commercial/purchase. This study found significant main effects of digital access modality in using digital information. The results indicate that young adults are likely to use Internet browsers more than mobile apps for gratifying their purposes, except for a convenience purpose for which mobile apps were more likely used. However, the degree of perceived personal privacy was not found to be directly associated with the use of online information. Similarly, the interaction between digital information access modality and perceived privacy toward online information use was not significant across five purposes. In summary, the use of mobile apps was surprisingly large, and the gap between the two digital accessing modalities was not remotely distant. Based on this finding, it can be projected that mobile apps will become a primary device for young adults to access digital information in the near future. Regarding perceived privacy, before concluding the given results, more research should follow to gain a better understanding of the role of perceived privacy in digital information use

The Revolution of Mobile Phone-Enabled Services for Agricultural Development (m-Agri Services) in Africa: The Challenges for Sustainability

The provision of information through mobile phone-enabled agricultural information services (m-Agri services) has the potential to revolutionise agriculture and significantly improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in Africa. Globally, the benefits of m-Agri services include facilitating farmers’ access to financial services and sourcing agricultural information about input use, practices, and market prices. There are very few published literature sources that focus on the potential benefits of m-Agri services in Africa and none of which explore their sustainability. This study, therefore, explores the evolution, provision, and sustainability of these m-Agri services in Africa. An overview of the current landscape of m-Agri services in Africa is provided and this illustrates how varied these services are in design, content, and quality. Key findings from the exploratory literature review reveal that services are highly likely to fail to achieve their intended purpose or be abandoned when implementers ignore the literacy, skills, culture, and demands of the target users. This study recommends that, to enhance the sustainability of m-Agri services, the implementers need to design the services with the users involved, carefully analyse, and understand the target environment, and design for scale and a long-term purpose. While privacy and security of users need to be ensured, the reuse or improvement of existing initiatives should be explored, and projects need to be data-driven and maintained as open source. Thus, the study concludes that policymakers can support the long-term benefit of m-Agri services by ensuring favourable policies for both users and implementers

Technological Advancements in E-Commerce and Customer Relationship Management

In the recent past, for any business to be successful it is essential to acquire, serve and retain customers. The number of users of commercial purposes has led to increased demand for E-Commerce in the global market. There has been a remarkable progress in E-Commerce due to globalization and technological advancements which led to sustainable quantum of business at affordable price. Technologies used in E-Commerce includes: Augmented Reality: The Future of E-Commerce Stores, Artificial Intelligence: Improving E-Commerce services and Optimizing Customer Experience, Voice Search, Chatbot, Blockchain Technology: A Faster, Safer and More Transparent used as E-Commerce Payment System, Security and Supply chain management. This paper focuses on the evolution of E-Commerce, development of CRM initiatives, leading E-Commerce companies, technological advancement in E-Commerce: E-Commerce platforms and service providers; software and tools used in E-Commerce and recent trends in E-Commerce and CRM in streamlining the CRM process thereby minimizing the cost of CRM

The emerging geography of e-commerce in British retailing

This paper explores the growth of e-commerce in British grocery retailing and examines the spatial variations in e-commerce usage. The main data source is a large commercial consumer survey (Acxiom’s Research Opinion Data) rarely used by academics to date. Using these data in combination with census data, the paper addresses a number of key questions. After outlining key trends in the dataset on e-commerce usage (by product and over time) the first research question is: How do e-commerce purchases vary by geodemographic group? To answer this question, we explore e-commerce usage by age, sex and social class. The second key question is: Does e-commerce usage vary by type of geographical region? Thus, we explore variations in usage for urban and rural areas. The dynamics of urban–rural diffusion are also addressed here – by examining, in addition, the spread of broadband use across Britain. The last question is: To what degree do e-commerce sales vary by access to physical stores? This is addressed by examining consumers’ home locations in relation to geographical accessibility. The results show that age and income are crucial demographic discriminators of e-commerce usage, as is rural location versus urban, and distance from physical stores

Online community portals for small businesses

M.A.The first part of the study is a literature review which indicate that small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) represent an important vehicle to address the challenges of job creation, economic growth and equity. Modern economy is driven by innovations and knowledge. Transforming information resources into knowledge and maximise the value of knowledge is the new challenge in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Information resources are needed by small businesses as much as their larger counter parts but small businesses are usually in a disadvantaged position in terms of finance and expertise. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer small businesses new opportunities in the information economy. Exciting ICT applications such as Web portals provide platforms for business communities to share information and communicate more efficiently than ever. Such information resources enable small businesses to react faster and adapt better to the changing global market. The stimulation of SMMEs must be seen as part of an integrated strategy to develop the society to a higher level. The research findings of this study provide all stakeholders in small business development in South Africa including government, industries and academics a better understanding and practical guideline for delivering information resources to small business owners and managers and the design of information portals that can address the information needs of small businesses in South Africa. The empirical components that follow the literature review comprised a questionnaire survey. The survey focused on non-franchised small businesses in the retail industry in the greater Johannesburg metropolitan. A total of 150 questionnaires completed by small business owners and managers were used for statistic analysis in this research. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: business biographic information, business information and agencies, information and communication technologies usage, and community and portal activities. The survey results revealed valuable insights and trends in the use of ICTs and attitudes towards information sharing amongst small business owners and managers. Textile, clothing, footwear and leather goods were the most popular trade for the small businesses use in the survey. Nearly all respondents prefer English for business communication and the businesses are typically owner manager with a small number of employees. Infrastructure for ICTs is in place for small businesses, but the usage level is still basic. Short message service (SMS) and e-mail are the most commonly used ICT tools. Traditional media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines remain the most important source of information for these small business owners and managers. Younger businesses adapt better to ICTs than the older businesses. Despite a mixed attitude towards sharing business information, small business owners and managers showed a high level of interest in networking with other businesses, in particular with potential customers and suppliers. Most respondents do not belong to any professional or industrial organisation primarily because they were not aware of these organisations. Based on the literature review and the empirical research, the final conclusion that was made from this research is that Web community information portals can, to a great extent, promote the use of information resources for small businesses in South Africa. The results from this research give a better understanding and are useful guidelines to stakeholders in small business development in South Africa

Assisted e-commerce as a tool to gap digital divides : possibilities of adapting the Indian model to Finnish environment

Digitalization of services is a current trend and services and products are being increasingly digitalized. Still, there are large amounts of people with either no means, skills or will to use information systems. Such digital divide between digital “haves” and have-nots” is a global problem and is causing inequalities. Although Finland is one of the most digitally connected countries in the world, the problem of digital divide is present here as well. Especially it is the problem for elderly population in sparsely inhabited areas, as the services are being digitalized and physical outlets are centralized to larger centres. In India the digital gap is vast and number of people with insufficient skills, hardware or infrastructure is large. To bridge this gap, a business model of assisted e-commerce has emerged. It combines virtual services with assistant and works on the side of a physical business, providing the skills, hardware and trust for its user. This research aims to clarify the concept of assisted e-commerce for transferability to another environment and researches the attitudes of elderly population in Finland for such a business model to gap the digital divide for them. The empirical part of this research is based on thematical interviews in India and Finland. As the concept of assisted e-commerce is relatively new, two interviews have been conducted with Indian developers of assisted e-commerce concept to clarify the model and get an understanding, how the model can be modified for transferability to another environment, for example, Finnish. The core finding was, that the assisted e-commerce is a light service which can be integrated on the side of another physical store without excessive inputs required from the agent. In Finland goal of the inter-views was to find out the attitudes and current use of digital services among people of age 65+ years. The interview topic was considered very uncomfortable and the people were either reluctant to talk about digital related topics or had very strong negative opinions towards them. The assisted e-commerce model is very versatile and can contain almost any services that can be digitalized. The assistant can be either physical person, or virtual with video or chat support. The largest hindrance for adapting the service model in Finland is the attitudes of potential user group, who often select in their day to day lives a more expensive, time-consuming and ineffective method of dealing when there is a digital option provided. The elderly tend to be reluctant to use the digital devices, have little or none interest for learning to use new digital services or have no courage for operating with online services. Family and other close social networks influence is important in encouraging for digital service use, but the priority still seems to be operating with a “real” person

Türkiye’de perakende gayrimenkulleri ve doğrudan yabancı yatırımlar: stratejik bir keşfedici analiz

As a key element of the commercial real estate world, retail real estate (i.e. shopping centers, retail parks and other retail, leisure and entertainment facilities) has commanded large investment volumes globally. Shopping centers have especially become an integral part of Turkey’s recent urban development. There was also a period of foreign interest in the Turkish market. Since these investments create large-scale, long-term and value-add ecosystems through professional business practices, attracting more foreign direct investment in this field would be advantageous. Yet, amid decreasing global appetite in the asset class and Turkey’s macro, industry-specific and urbanization-related challenges, a strategic approach is necessary to realize the country’s potential. In this respect, this study puts forward; (1) a new four-level pathway proposal (international, national, investment approach and project levels), (2) the related infrastructure (re-modeling the public-private cooperation, offering an online investor interface and creating a GIS-supported list of region-based investment opportunities) and (3) an overview of Turkish provinces. A new umbrella business association and an efficient use of technology are also foreseen within this context. The Literature review is used in this exploratory analysis.Ticari gayrimenkul dünyasının önemli bileşenlerinden olan perakende gayrimenkulleri (alışveriş merkezleri, perakende parkları ve diğer perakende, dinlence ve eğlence yapıları), küresel çapta büyük yatırımlara sahne olagelmiştir. Özellikle de alışveriş merkezlerinin Türkiye’nin yakın dönem kentleşmesi üzerinde hissedilir etkileri olmuştur. Türkiye piyasasına yabancı yatırımcı ilgisinin olduğu bir dönem de yaşanmıştır. Bu yatırımlar profesyonel uygulamalarla büyük ölçekli, uzun vadeli ve katma değerli ekosistemler yarattıkları için, bu alanda daha fazla doğrudan yabancı yatırım çekebilmek faydalı olacaktır. Ancak, perakende gayrimenkullerine ilginin dünya genelinde azaldığı ve Türkiye’nin makro, sektör-spesifik ve kentleşme ile ilgili sorunlarının devam ettiği günümüzde, ülkenin potansiyelini realize edebilmek için stratejik bir yaklaşıma ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. İşbu çalışma bu doğrultuda, (1) dört basamaklı yeni bir yol haritası önerisini (uluslararası, ulusal, yatırım yaklaşımı ve proje basamakları), (2) bunun için gerekli olan altyapıyı (kamu-özel sektör iş birliğini yeniden kurgulamak, çevrimiçi bir yatırımcı ara yüzü sunmak ve CBS destekli bir bölgesel yatırım fırsatları listesi oluşturmak) ve (3) Türkiye’deki illere genel bir bakışı ortaya koymaktadır. Bu kapsamda, yeni bir şemsiye iş örgütünün kurulması ve teknolojinin verimli kullanımı da öngörülmüştür. Bu keşfedici analizde literatür taraması kullanılmıştır.Publisher's Versio

Internet retailing: the past, the present and the future

The primary aim of this paper is to critically review the literature that explicitly addresses the adoption, application and impact of internet technologies, by retailers, for the promotion and sale of merchanidise. In particular, this paper seeks to present a holistic and critical review of the early predictions, with regard to the uptake and impact of internet retailing; critically reappraise these claims in light of current trends in internet retailing; and explore where e-tailing may be heading in the coming years. The study adopts an extensive and critical review of the literature, with regard to the adoption, uptake and impact of Internet retailing, as published in the academic literature over the past twenty years. In hindsight it can be seen that many of the original predictions, made at the dawn of the Internet era, have not become a reality: retailers aren’t cannibalising their own custom, virtual merchants aren’t dominating the market-place, and the high-street hasn’t, as yet, been put out of business. By contrast other predications have come to pass: electronic intermediaries are playing an increasingly important role, ‘one-to-one’ marketing has become a reality, prices are more competitive, and perhaps most importantly the consumer has become more powerful. Providing a brief review of the past, present and future of online retailing is an extremely ambitious undertaking, especially given the vast amount of literature that has been published in this area. In attempting to provide an overall impression of the broad themes, and most important findings, to emerge from this important body of literature, it is inevitable that we will have either missed or underplayed many important pieces of work. Consequently, there is a need for follow-up studies that aim to provide deeper and richer reviews of more narrowly defined elements of this vast landscape. This study presents one of the first and most thorough reappraisals of the initial literature with regard to the likely development, implications and impact of Internet retailing. Moreover the paper seeks to break new ground by attempting to use the current literature to help predict future directions and trends for on-line shopping