Introduction
Consumer attitude
towards Web sites
and Internet
advertising
Atif Abbas
The author r Each module of marketing mix can be affected
Atif Abbas is a research scholar; has experience in
research, print media and embedded systems.
Graduate of COMSATS Institute of Information
Technology (CIIT) in Computer Engineering.
[E-mail: atieph@yahoo.com]
Keywords s themselves on Internet the medium has got a
Internet, Marketing, Advertising
Abstract t from fast moving goods (e.g. Nestle and
The study measures attitude of consumers towards
Web sites and Internet advertising to comprehend
aspects of brand building advertising. The research
work is based on a study previously carried out in
United States by Ronald E. Goldsmith and Barbara
A. Lafferty.
The study was conducted among students of
Commonwealth Executive Master of Business
Administration/Master of Public Administration
(CEMBA/CEMPA) at Allama Iqbal Open University,
Islamabad and its regional centers in Rawalpindi and
Lahore (Pakistan); sample size 170.
Responses of students tell that advertisements
influence more when broadcast on TV than Internet.
Among different mediums, they spend most of their
time on Internet and TV; use Internet for research
purposes. Most of them do not prefer Online
shopping to visiting the market and have
communicated with other users of a product/service
on cyber space. Design of a companys web site has
a relationship with Online purchase - students view
of the brand improved after visiting websites of the
brands and most care to read banners advertising a
brand. Advertisements of brands influence people to
a level that cannot be ignored. Response of
consumers towards Web sites influences their
subsequent brand attitudes and their attitude
towards Internet advertising itself.
When advertisers make marketing
communication mix strategies, the information
about effectiveness of online advertising and
brand building is imperative to them; the
apprehension of consumers beliefs towards
online advertising is of significance for the
brand builder to achieve a place in todays
saturated market.
by the capability Internet has. As simple and
low-cost communication between people on
different ends of the planet becomes
commonplace, place becomes less important
(Gordon and De Lima-Turner, 1997).
Numerous companies have introduced
lot of coverage in media (Luckett and
Ainscough, 1996). Lacroix and Riley (2003)
point out, organizations whose products range
Proctor and Gamble) to luxury goods (e.g.
Chanel and Dior) consider Internet a vital part
of branding and communication while making
strategies.
In comparison to traditional media, sales and
support technique through the Web,
marketers can establish and manage association
with customers at very low cost (Korgaonkar
and Wolin, 2002). The Web site was regarded
as being most distinctive from television,
telemarketing and radio (Calisir 2003).
The study by (Bruner and Kumar, 2000)
reveals that attitude toward the Ad, the brand,
and purchase intentions were positively
associated with attitudes toward the Web site.
The study was conducted among students of
Commonwealth Executive Master of Business
Administration / Master of Public
Administration (CEMBA/CEMPA) at Allama
Iqbal Open University (AIOU) (Islamabad) and
regional centers in Rawalpindi and Lahore
(Pakistan) to understand consumer behavior
towards Web sites and advertisements on
Internet in order to deduce what works and
what does not, in brand building advertising.
The study is about Web sites, advertisements
on Internet and how they influence people -
understanding response of those who avail
services through Web-technology. There are
The author would like to thank Dr. Majed Rashid,
Mahmood Karim Qureshi and Gulfam Khan Khalid for
their support.
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising
those who want to sell their idea, product
and/or service so they make brands, launch
their product and advertise. On the other hand,
there are people who see the advertisements
and often decide to buy product of a brand
called consumers. In order to gauge reaction of
consumers towards Web sites, and how it
influences their idea of a brand and Internet
advertisements, this research was conducted.
The problem statement is composed of two
parts:
First, does consumer response to Web sites
affect their subsequent brand attitudes?
Second, does consumer response to Web sites
affect their attitudes towards Internet
advertising itself?
Advertisements also have been affecting brand
attitudes; especially under certain conditions
peripheral cues like advertising influence
consumer attitude (e.g. Mitchell, 1986; Petty
and Priester, 1994).
It is not surprising that to advertise their
services or products, numerous companies are
setting about their work on the Web. With Web
advertising, consumers choose when and for
how long they want to watch commercials or if
they desire to watch at all this tells that they
have more authority over advertising exposure
(Korgaonkar and Wolin, 2002).
To inform and persuade people, firms spend
huge amount of money on Internet advertising
because of the role Web sites play in context of
online advertisements. This research study
covers that role in marketing, its influence on
people and how different it is to advertise on
Web sites than on other mediums keeping in
view time people spend on different mediums,
influence of Web sites design, influence of
advertisements of brands on peoples opinion,
and the trend of online shopping. Research has
been going-on in this area but in Pakistan not
much work has been done, therefore, the idea
was to bring forward opinion of students of
CEMBA department of Open University.
Constantinides (2004) makes the point that by
establishing and providing proper online
experience online marketers can affect
decision-making process of customers in cyber
space by employing traditional (physical)
marketing tools.
Various businesses have embraced Internet to
execute effectively and economically their
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Atif Abbas
marketing communications functions as
Internet audience is rapidly growing. A large
number of companies that provide goods and
services have spent money in making of Web
site of their company. The reason of making
Web site is to introduce a company to inform
what it has to offer. A company without its
profile in World Wide Web gives the
impression that the company is outdated.
Whereas when online advertising comes, brand
building advertising is a serious issue.
An organization apprehends that in advertising
and supporting corporations, their services and
products, Internet is a major tool of
communication and a passage for shaping
brand awareness (Melewar and Smith, 2003).
The affect of Web sites on consumers in
context of brands and advertisements
An emerging medium of advertising is Web
(e.g. Brackett and Carr 2001; Berthon, Pitt, and
Watson 1996; Yoon and Kim 2001) and is
being included as part of promotional mixes
and advertising by the organizations (Nour and
Fadlalla, 2000). In coming ten to fifteen years
it appears that Web advertising will influence
advertising industry the most (Ducoffe, R. H.,
1996); about its effectiveness advertisers are
uncertain. In a variety of media, the capacity of
WWW has been documented widely as a
market and commercial medium. Due to its
capacity to provide channel for marketing,
advertising, distribution of goods and ability to
ease sharing of information and resources
globally it is presently popular as a commercial
medium (Donna L. Hoffman et al, 1995).
On the Internet, a lot of consumers spending
more money, how well the Web site assists
shaping and maintaining positive attitudes
towards the site and ultimately towards
product/service or the company may determine
profitability and long-term survival of
conventional retailers and manufactures
(Byung-Kwan Lee et al, 2004).
Constantinides writing in (2004), for
practitioners competing in rapidly expanding
cyber market, the priority issue is apprehending
behavior of online purchasers and
apprehending mechanisms of online shopping.
Simeon (2001) says that the Web site is
representation of battleground for a noteworthy
presence in electronic commerce - not only a
center point to new methods to business
communications.
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising
Reliance of consumer on searching a brand or
product is determined with prior purchase and
the degree of satisfaction associated (Kiel and
Layton, 1981). When people recalled brand of a
product, they got greater satisfaction associated
with the purchase of that product and on an
internal search more reliance is caused by it.
About online shopping Yoh (1999) found,
belief and overall attitude of the consumer
about online shopping is positively influenced
by prior online shopping experience.
A consumer able to recall a brand advertised
shows effectiveness of advertising; the
awareness created helps guarantee that brand
easily recalled will have competitive
advantage over those brands, which are not
recalled easily (Dubow, J.S., 1994).
The literature proposes that Web
advertisements have the capacity to be as
influential as advertisements in conventional
media (Gallagher et al., 2001), about the
advertising on Web, the perception of Web
users are usually positive (Korgaonkar and
Wolin, 2002).
The attitude of consumers towards Web site
depicts their response (to Web site); based on
the thought that Internet users bother to take
notice of information displayed by marketers
and do they care to read advertisements on the
Web it is hypothesized that:
H1. Consumers who have a positive
response to Web sites will be more
likely to recall brands advertised on
the Web than those who do not
respond positively.
All around the world, consumers can be
reached by a retailer through Internet presence.
It was heralded by Quelch and Klein (1996)
about the Internet that how for consumers from
emerging markets and/or geographically distant
it has made information, services and products
accessible. Start of a world where customers
are no longer hostages to geography was
declared by Hamel and Sampler (1998).
Schlosser et al. (1999) found that in
comparison to an advertisement in general,
commercial content of an advertisement on
Internet is generally trusted more by the people.
Respondents level of comfort was more in
purchasing by dialing a number mentioned on
advertisement on Internet to facilitate sales
than in purchasing by dialing a number
mentioned in a conventional advertisement
suggesting the capability of advertisement on
Internet. The satisfaction level of an
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experienced shopper is moderate and that
satisfaction seems to be connected strongly
with the consent to purchase in the future. On
the whole, findings propose that there is a
firmly established resistance to purchasing this
particular item online although consumers
realize a number of advantages (Ailsa Kolsaker
et al, 2004).
In global online marketplace, participation of
massive consumers and firms is led by
remarkable growth of Internet specifically
World Wide Web. In computer-mediated
environments, firms are made to devise
innovative marketing ways because Internet has
been rapidly adopted as a commercial medium.
Expansion of advancements in Internet
technology are beyond its utilization as a
medium of communication to another
significant view as a new market (Ricciuti,
1995).
From a marketing viewpoint, some scholars
have examined in an interdisciplinary
perspective (e.g., Keaveney and Parthasarathy,
2001) that deals Web site patronage in context
of continuance of relationships between
business-and-consumer and continuous usage
of information systems the interest has been
growing (e.g., Parthasarathy and Bhattacherjee,
1998; Bhattacherjee, 2001; Gefen, Karahanna,
and Straub, 2003).
The basic activities become sharing
information, listening and replying present and
expected customers and gathering feedback,
being the two-way communication (Duncan
and Moriarty, 1998). Through Web site, these
activities can be executed. Web advertisers
must make decisions about the effectiveness of
their Web site as a communications medium or
of a Web-based ad campaign researchers
suggested (Bhat, Bevans and Sengupta 2002).
Between non-users and users of Internet,
consumption of traditional media (TV,
newspapers and magazines) also differs.
Internet users spend more time (in hours) in
reading books than non-users and spend less
time (in hours) watching TV and reading
newspaper than non-users (Kyung Yong Rhee
and Wang-Bae Kim, 2004).
The growth of Internet shopping is driven by
consumer experience with Online shopping,
says Elliot and Fowell (2000). Consumers with
(more) positive attitudes and beliefs about
Online apparel shopping were those who had
(more) prior experience, Yoh (1999) found. The
intention to purchase apparel online was
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising
positively influenced by those beliefs in
comparison to those with less prior Online
shopping experience. Consumer choice of brand
can be predicted by attitude towards the Web
site (Byung-Kwan Lee et al, 2004).
To sell and purchase items, online auctions
have been presented to motivate consumers.
Although a comment is common about Online
auctions that the chance of finding discontinued
and limited edition goods is greater than in
retail stores, it is observed that the basic
motivation is the capacity to purchase goods at
lower rate than retail stores, plus unobtainable
goods of the past can be accessed. But
conventional retailers will never be completely
replaced by online auctions because before
purchasing one cannot try out and inspect
items, plus most of the items are bought
through retail store, which are sold in auctions
(Dylan D. Cameron and Alison Galloway,
2005).
It is Web site, an easy to access platform where
Internet joins together entire process of
purchasing from exposure of product to its
purchase. The technology of Internet provided
different dimensions to different things like
mode of communication, source of
entertainment and place to advertise; its feature
of interactivity opened a new world, which is
not provided by any other medium of
information.
In comparison to traditional media, sales and
support technique through the Web,
marketers can establish and manage association
with customers at very low cost (Korgaonkar
and Wolin, 2002). The Web site was regarded
as being most distinctive from television,
telemarketing and radio (Calisir 2003).
Therefore, it is hypothesized that:
H2 Consumers who have a positive
response to a Web site will see more
advantages to advertising on the
Internet than those who do not
respond positively.
On the contrary, if more advantages are
observed, it gives the impression that
disadvantages would not matter. Hence, it is
hypothesized that:
H3. Consumers who have a positive
response to a Web site will see fewer
disadvantages to advertising on the
Internet than those who do not
respond positively.
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The income gap between those who have no
access to technologies and those who have
created a digital divide in the society. The
concept of digital divide is not new; the divide
in accessibility to technology increases with
advancements in information technology.
One of the observations is that on Internet, users
have shown resistance to direct advertising
(direct e-mail), which may have no possibility
to reach near level of conventional direct mail
(that is $ 35 billion) (DMA, 1997). It is reported
that direct electronic mail is strongly disliked by
most of Internet users (Reuters, 1996).
Advertisers can know more about persons who
are exposed to an advertisement on Internet than
in print or on electronic media. In the latter
scenarios, the demographics of average reader
or viewer are known by the advertiser; in the
former case, to know who is precisely exposed
to an advertisement can be found technically
(Williamson, 1996). Because of this precision,
companies may invest more for advertisements
per consumer exposure on Web than through
conventional media (Rebello et al., 1996;
Zinkhan and Watson, 1996).
According to a study by Kim and Lennon
(2000), the purchase intention is related
positively with the amount of information
about service or product apprehended by a
person while watching shopping programs on
television. In virtual marketplace, keeping in
view mechanics of online shopping, for
competitors the priority issue is apprehension
of behavior of online consumer. Publications
on relevant topic of more than 120 academic
papers in 2001 alone are an indication of the
fact that the topic has made researchers to take
notice (Cheung et al., 2003).
Still many online companies do not completely
apprehend the behavior and requirements of
online consumer - an indication of anecdotal
and empirical evidence and the meltdown of
Internet in late 90s (Lee, 2002) whereas
numerous are continuously struggling to sell
their products by marketing online (Joines et
al., 2003).
As in the past, in case of conventional
marketing, the concentration of debate and
research is on recognition and examination of
the agents that can affect or mould behavior of
online consumers; the research efforts are
focused on how an online process of buying
and decision-making can be modeled (Miles et
al., 2000; Liu and Arnett, 2000; Cockburn and
McKenzie, 2001; Liao and Cheung, 2001;
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising Atif Abbas

McKnight et al., 2002; Joines et al., 2003; Sampling Unit:

OCass and Fenech, 2003). A Student

Many researchers havent seen any major Sampling Design:

difference in buying behavior on conventional Two-stage disproportionate stratified
and online processes: a measure taken towards random probability sampling
building confidence or trust (Lee, 2002;
Liebermann and Stashevsky, 2002; McKnight Sample Size:
et al., 2002; Suh and Han, 2002; Liang and Lai, 170
2002). Risks and benefits, both are detected by
consumers connected with online world and Observation Tool:
before the initial buying encounter, there is a Questionnaire
compromise between local circumstances and
individual risk aversion. Shopping is Stratification Plan
considered as a social activity, which is
enjoyable; Web is simultaneously recognized Primary Sampling Units (PSUs):
as an environment enriched with information, Semesters of CEMBA
makes buying easy and saves time; as a result
areas are indicated where added value Secondary Sampling Units (SSUs):
propositions might get response from Students within each sample PSU to be
consumers (Ailsa Kolsaker et al, 2004). selected using simple random sampling
method.
Margin of response towards an entity can vary
according to the medium chosen to present / Research Instrument:
promote it. The response can be liking or Design based on categorization and ranking;
disliking of advertisements on Internet (one beside demographic information, the research
medium) in comparison to ads on traditional variables of the study are:
media (other mediums). Thus, it is i. Internet vs. Traditional Media
hypothesized that: ii. Overall Attitudes
H4. There will be no difference in the iii. Recall of Web Ads
valence of response to ads from the iv. Advertising Advantages and
Internet compared to ads from Disadvantages
traditional media.
Data Collection
Technique used is Quantitative:
Survey
Research Design
Collection Procedure:
Universe of the Survey: Questionnaire method
Commonwealth Executive Master of
Business Administration (CEMBA) Data Processing
Department at AIOU (Islamabad) and Study Editing (Primary) Data:
Centers in Rawalpindi and Lahore Central Editing
Quality control measures were taken where
Unit of Analysis: possible through Field Editing.
Student of CEMBA
Classification of Data:
Characteristics of Interest: Arranged data in groups on the basis of
Opinion of students on Web sites and certain characteristics for data entry
Internet advertisements
Sample Size and Response Rate
Mode of Observation: Total 170 questionnaires were floated, 164
Survey collected and 157 were considered for data
entry; response rate was 96%.
Population Size:
Students of CEMBA program in Data Analysis
Islamabad (Open University), Rawalpindi and Statistical Method
Lahore Study Centers Descriptive Statistics

5
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising
Demographics:
Among the respondents, which were students
of CEMBA/CEMPA most were male; out of
157 respondents - 128 (82 per cent) were male
and 29 (18 per cent) female. Ages were
categorized in six groups - most of the
respondents were between ages 24~30 years. In
case of qualification, half of respondents were
Bachelors whereas there were also Doctors of
Philosophy (Ph.D.) who participated in the
survey. Among the participants of the survey,
most of the students of CEMBA/CEMPA were
employed. Survey was conducted among
students of CEMBA/CEMPA department
students of semester - 4 participated more than
other three semesters.
Results and Analysis
Respondents were asked, for how long you
have been using Internet, most of them (42 per
cent) have been using it for quite a long time;
those who can be considered new to cyber
space were 4 per cent.
For what respondents use Internet: a)
Information gathering b) Research c) Shopping
d) Leisure e) Other; their response showed that
people use Internet mostly to gather
information (35 per cent), for research and
academic related activities (29 per cent).
Internet is least used for shopping (7 per cent)
and other activities (9 per cent) (like sharing
ones research work and office related work).
Most of the respondents (45 per cent) care to
read banners advertising a brand.
It was inquired, How often does it happen
that advertisements on web made you buy a
product of that brand, 39 (25 per cent) said
it often happened and 48 (30 per cent) said it
never happened.
It was inquired, thinking back to Internet
retailers, have you ever: a) Provided feedback
b) Completed a survey c) Communicated with
other users; found that people are interested
more in communicating (31 per cent) with
other users of a product or service via e-mail or
chat rooms than sharing opinion with Internet
retailers by providing feedback (25 per cent)
and completing their survey (24 per cent).
It was asked, In general, for Web sites of
brands of product that you have visited, did
contact with these sites overall: 1) improved
your view of the brand, 2) detract from it and
3) have no effect, among 157 respondents,
111 (71 per cent) said their view of the brand
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Atif Abbas
improved and 30 (19 per cent) said that it had
no effect; only 16 (10 per cent) said that it
had detracted from their opinion. Thus,
opinion of consumers tells that Web sites
have a positive impact.
On asking consumers about their
agreement/disagreement on The design of a
companys web site has a major impact on
Online purchase, 72 (47 per cent) agree to
the statement and 46 (29 per cent) strongly
agree.
Respondents were asked to Give your
opinion by recalling Web Ads for the
following brands: 1) Nestle 2) Nokia and 3)
Nike; a) Improved your view of the brand b)
Detract from it and c) Had no effect.
In case of Nestle, 119 (75 per cent) said their
view of the brand improved; for Nokia, 116
(74 per cent) detracted and for Nike, 133 (85
per cent) said it had no effect on their
opinion.
Most of the consumers view of the brand
improved by visiting web site(s), they agree
that design of web site has an impact and
they gave opinion by recalling web ads of
certain brands, hence, H1 was supported.
Advertising advantages and disadvantages were
analyzed through rating strength of agreement
on Likert scale (from 1 to 5) on certain
parameters and by using statistical methods like
mean and standard deviation (S.D.) to study
consumer response.
The respondents were asked: What
advantages do you see for you personally
when you come across advertising on the
Internet? nine options were provided (see
Table 1); response of consumers to seven
options was agreed. H2 was supported.
Respondents were inquired: What
disadvantages you see for you personally when
you come across advertising on the Internet
compared to other media? five options were
provided (see Table 2); response of consumers
to all was slightly agreed. H3 was supported.
When asked, You prefer to shop Online as
compared to visiting the shop? 64 (41 per
cent) never preferred and 26 (17 per cent) often
preferred to shop Online.
About, Which medium is more influential to
advertise? a) Internet/web site b) TV c)
Newspaper d) Magazines e) Radio
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising Atif Abbas

The results show that TV is the most influential Table 3 Responses of consumers towards different
medium to advertise; after TV, Internet is the mediums
second most influential medium. The impact of
Medium Response
Internet and TV on consumers can be
calculated by the average difference, which is Average Ranking
0.65. If Internet is compared with other
mediums, the average difference is 1. To a. Internet / web site 2.43 2
advertise, TV is more influential than any other
medium. H4 was not supported. b. TV 1.78 1

c. Newspaper 2.55 3

Table 1 Advertising Advantages on certain parameters d. Magazines 3.82 4

FACTOR(S) e. Radio 3.99 5

What advantages do you see for you

personally when you come across
advertising on the Internet? Response
Findings - Discussion
Mean S.D.
The study was carried out to gauge consumer
a) Can act on interest immediately 2.31 1.12 behavior while exploring different dimensions
of web and Internet advertising influencing the
b) Generally offers more information compared consumer to comprehend various aspects of
to other media 2.24 1.01 brand building, which create brand
consciousness, liking and selection.
c) Can look at what you want privately 2.27 1.01
Survey was conducted among students of
d) More interesting to look at 2.25 1.06
CEMBA/CEMPA to infer whether their
e) Permits easy clicking to get more response to Web sites affect their attitudes
information 2.14 1.15 towards Internet advertising and subsequent
brand attitudes.
f) Finding things / navigating around 2.26 1.16
Most of them with bachelors and masters level
g) Equal access for all 2.28 1.18 qualification lying in the age group 24-30
h) Paying for Online services or information 2.79 1.33
years; majority (of respondents) were males.

i) Awareness of the Ad can be increased by Most of the respondents consider TV as the

pop-ups
Table 2 Advertising Disadvantages on certain parameters
What disadvantages you see for you
personally when you come across
advertising on the Internet compared to
other media?
a) Usually cluttered and hard to read
b) Concerned about acting because of privacy
c) I have to come across it; it doesnt reach me
(like TV or radio)
d) Internet crimes (e.g. hate-crime, stalking)
e) Irritation is caused by the frequent intrusion
of Ads on web sites
2.87 1.43 most influential medium to advertise than
Internet. On weekdays, respondents spend
slightly more time on Internet than on watching
TV but on weekend days spend more time on
watching TV than on any other medium
(newspaper, magazine, radio and Internet).
Most of the respondents have been using
Response
Internet for seven or more years and use it
mostly for information gathering and research.
Mean S.D.
Majority agrees that design of a companys
web site has a major impact on Online purchase
2.35 1.23 and often care to read banners advertising a
brand.
2.25 0.97
Some of the respondents remarked, it often
happened and most said, it never happened that
2.46 1.13
advertisements on web made them buy a
2.36 1.15
product of that brand. Majority of respondents
prefer to visit the shop than to shop Online
small percentage often considers online
2.43 1.26 shopping. On visiting web sites of brands of
products, respondents response was that their
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Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising
view of the brand improved, few had no effect
and some were detracted. On recalling Web
Ads of Nestle, Nokia and Nike respondents
opinionated that their view of Nestls brand
improved, detracted from Nokias brand
whereas Nikes brand had no effect on them.
More individuals have communicated with
other users via e-mail or chat rooms than
provided feedback to the products/services
and completed a survey for Internet retailer.
Respondents agreed to most of the advantages
enlisted and slightly agreed to disadvantages.
Recommendations related to the study are:
design of a companys web site impact
peoples attitude towards the companys
brand - their view of the brand improved,
therefore, e-marketers can improve
perceptions of their brands by understanding
the limitations and defects of their
advertisements, hence make them better tools
of sales.
For brand building, marketing strategists can
use banners in conveying the message
because people care to read banners. In e-
communications, innovative advertising can
play role in informing consumers and to an
extent in persuading because its the
interactivity conventional media doesnt
provide but Internet does.
Respondents of the study spend significant
amount of time on Internet; on cyber space
MBA department can create awareness of its
programs, CEMBA and CEMPA. The
department can improve its web page by
making it attractive and detailed in an eye-
catching manner to support its brand.
Although low percentage provide feedback
and complete survey (online) even then
opinion of students about CEMBA/CEMPA
can be taken to analyze strengths and
weaknesses of the program.
Research tells, the extent to which consumers
like to watch advertisements is directly
related to responses toward advertising and
the degree of persuasiveness of
advertisements that is, how much information
they provide, how amusing they are and their
image regarding how true is what they
portray in ad or how much they can
manipulate (James and Kover, 1992; Mehta,
2000).
Recommendations for future research studies
are: studies with broader scope involving
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Atif Abbas
multiple measures with representative sample
from other educational institutions can be
conducted; more variables should be gauged.
Causal relationship could be uncovered by
experimentally addressing the issues through
longitudinal studies. In-detail study in major
cities can be carried out with larger sample
size. Studies on same topic with different
methodology (in-depth interview, focus
groups etc.) can be carried out.
Comparing similar studies can portray
changing nature of web-technology and its
influence on consumers. Interrelationship
between Ads of same brand broadcast in
different media can be studied and the impact
of their contribution in whole campaign.
Research can be done on why advertisements
on Internet are not that appealing to
consumers when compared with
advertisements on other mediums especially
TV.
The study has limitations; the study was
restricted to students of Commonwealth
Executive Master of Business Administration
and Public Administration (CEMBA/MPA). If
same study is conducted in any other
university or city, results may differ.
This is a cross sectional study spread over a
period of three months; data represents only
one point in time, therefore, cannot infer
cause and effect.
There could be response biasness because of
possibility that respondents might have
understated or overstated their opinion.
Specific questions limit findings of the study,
therefore, some issues could not be
addressed.
Mode of observation was survey and
observation tool used was questionnaire; to
increase sample size or to analyze results
through other survey techniques, other tools
could have been used.
In spite of that, the study represents opinion
of students of executive program who as
Internet consumers shared information about
their attitude towards web-technology and
Internet advertising.
Keeping in view opinion of students, certain
points are extracted; they spend good enough
amount of time on Internet - in case of
advertisements on various mediums, they are
more influenced by TV. Internet seems to be
insipid among TV, newspaper, magazine and
radio. Therefore, while crafting Internet
Consumer attitude towards Web sites and Internet advertising
advertisements innovation and care are
required to induce qualities in Ads, which
can attract peoples attention.
The trend of online shopping is less but can
develop if the usage of Internet technology
seeps in daily life - this will happen if
products/services are offered on cyberspace.
In Pakistan, males usually visit market for
shopping and this aspect can be taken into
consideration for providing Online services
especially for women just like distance
learning program in education sector.
On visiting web sites of brands of products,
respondents view of the brand improved,
most of them agree that design of a
companys web site has a major impact on
online purchase and they care to read banners
advertising a brand. This concludes that by
reassessing functions of Internet advertising,
marketers can change viewpoints about their
brands in positive context through web
site(s).
Web sites can be effective in enhancing a
brand; marketers have to focus on consumers
who frequently shop online to draw out facts
to identify problems with the web sites. For
systematic improvements in web sites to
make them more effective, they have to
devise ways to solve those problems.
Consumer response to Web sites influences
their subsequent brand attitudes and their
attitude towards Internet advertising itself.
In conclusion, this research work makes an
attempt to study how web-technology is
influencing its users in context of Internet
advertising. Further studies in this sphere will
make researchers better apprehend consumer
behavior and help e-marketers in making
strategies to attract more audience in an
effective manner.
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