The concept of “consumption”
The concept of “consumption” might have emerged in China at around 1600 (during the Ming). According to Trentmann and Oxford (2012), numerous paintings show urban scenes where a lot of merchants showcasing their products for sale outside the doors of the imperial city. People in the Chinese Ming would exchange their products for satisfying their varying needs. Trentmann and Oxford (2012) show that consumption mirrors the economic environment of a country. The current Chinese population desires to enhance self-fulfillment and get material enjoyment. Trentmann and Oxford (2012) assert that consumption is a reflection of human conditions. Consumption mirrors society’s purchasing methods and consumer behavior. According to Trentmann and Oxford (2012), modern consumerism has been influenced by cultural and social changes that affect consumption based on desires rather than needs. The improvement of China’s technology and economy have increased Chinese consumption desires and changed the consumption methods. Vax (2020) shows that a company needs to consider consumer preferences and needs to succeed in the Chinese market. The satisfaction of consumer needs and preferences necessitates shifting the concentration from the product research and development to analysis and research on consumer’s consumption behavior and trends in consumer tastes and fashion.
Most companies concentrated on developing e-commerce platforms in the twenty-first century. The increase in the internet’s popularity changed a considerable part of people’s lives. Besides searching for information online, people also opt to shop on the internet. Consequently, there has been a notable expansion of e-commerce. Phan (2003) shows that e-commerce plays a crucial role in the current world’s economy. The increase in online platforms’ preference has offered a prime opportunity for businesses to showcase their products online. However, Trentmann and Oxford, (2012: 2) indicate that the opportunities shown above have attracted more competitors in the global market, pausing to challenge existing businesses. Aida and Sasaki (2014) emphasized the increased opportunities from e-commerce, highlighting that the annual growth rate of e-commerce platforms was 17% by 2018, which surpassed the expected annual growth rate of 6% for the store-based retail market. China’s population base and the customer’s preference for the business-to-customer model offers a massive opportunity for Chinese companies to exploit online markets. Passport (2010) shows that “the total amount of money spent online in 2009 in China was RMB250 billion.” Online shopping has become a universal shopping method in china. Taobao is an online shopping platform with more than 299 million Chinese active daily users (Smith, 2020).
Emulation has significantly influenced China’s consumer culture. Trentmann and Oxford (2012:10) show that most people develop their sense of fashion by emulating the lifestyles and outfits of internet celebrities.
According to Cloudflare (2020), the Live stream is a method of the way of data transmission that involves watching a video online and sending the special characters in the video in real-time over the internet.
Muijs (2010) shows that mixed-method is a flexible research approach. The research design of the mixed-approach is determined by problem requirements rather than predetermined procedures. The research designs act as the blueprint for conducting market research. According to Saunders et al. (2016), integrating qualitative and quantitative research methods enables interpretation of results to provide a more comprehensive and productive response to the research problem.
McCarthy (2018) reported that more than eight hundred and two million Chinese are active users of the internet, accounting for 57.7% of china’s population.
The research will use an approximate sample size of 60 to maintain the power of statistical analysis. Due to the chances of incomplete surveys, the study will send 146 questionnaires.
The data will be collected amidst the COVID 19 pandemic. Due to its contagious nature (BBC News, 2020) show that COVID 19 changed how people work and live.
This study will use descriptive analysis to describe the social demographic variations and the consumer’s shopping methods. According to Saunders et al., (2016), the qualitative data conveys very little information before it is processed and analyzed. This research will use linear and logistic regression models to assess every social-demographic factor’s effect on customers’ shopping methods. The social demographic characteristics that will be analyzed include gender, location, and age, among other factors. The study will utilize SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solutions) statistics to interpret the data, describe customer’s shopping methods, and make forecasts.
According to Willig (2013), the case study focuses on a specific unit of analysis (the case), rather than collecting and analyzing the data. The case study will involve empirical research of internet influencers phenomena in a real-life context. Case studies enable researchers to find more data to draw results and …………
The study will use interviews to collect the data. According to Silverman (2016), interviews are a reliable method of data collection as they help get respondents’ opinions, clarification, facts, and understand the meaning of the data. The interviews will enable the researcher to understand the reasons behind consumers choosing various shopping methods and understand the reasons behind influencer’s influence. Besides, interviews aids in understanding the meaning of ideas, thereby adding evidence and hence the richness of the data. The research will utilize in-depth research that will help the researcher inquire about why and how the internet influencers affect consumer behavior.
Sampling and data collection
The study will use a judgmental sampling approach to select the subgroup of the quantitative sample. The qualitative analysis will provide a detailed explanation of the quantitative results. The interviewees will be picked randomly from an online survey.
Longhurst (2003) shows that talking with people is the best way of fetching information. Therefore, researchers conducting interviews can obtain more information that can improve the reliability of the results.
Data analysis enables the researchers to analyze the thesis exhaustively (Saunders et al., 2016). The data analysis will involve collecting and organizing interview responses to assess trends and situations of online influence and the impacts of these influences on consumer behavior. Saunders et al. (2016) show that interviews use thematic analysis since they are flexible and not connected to any philosophical position when assessing human actions and attitudes.
This information is humane and relevant since it is based on personal experience. Grbich (2012) show that data fetched from human experience can enhance deep understanding of the research problem and the process of change, and flexibly respond to situations and new information, or adjust or change methods flexibly.
Saunders et al. (2016: 239) show that a book that defines ethics explores the standards of conduct and navigates researchers’ behavior to protect the subjects’ rights and other people affected by the research. In the social science context…..