Esguerra, Chix A.

Tolentino, Paula Mae T.

Concept Paper Topic: Emergence of E-Commerce Platforms: Exploring the Disruption of

Introduction
Electronic Commerce has seen a major increase in users throughout the past decade,
revolutionizing the way consumers choose and purchase products or services as well as how
traditional retail stores embrace digital marketplaces. However, the continuous growth of e-
commerce has disrupted conventional retail models, forcing traditional retail stores to seek an
innovative approach to the demand for convenience. In this digital era, social media platforms
have greatly influenced a consumer’s purchasing decisions as a direct result of access to
extensive knowledge and information, proving a strong correlation between Social Media and
the use of E-commerce (Jimenez et al., 2019). Companies are expected to modify their
perspective when incorporating new technologies such as e-commerce as this is deemed essential
in order for the business to sustain its presence in the market while enhancing its overall
performance by leveraging human resources (Suherlan & Ausat, 2021). The surge of e-
commerce has provided retailers with unprecedented opportunities to engage with customers
through innovative platforms, increasing the risk of diminishment of the significance of
traditional retail stores (Liu et al., 2022). Contributing Aspects such as Perceived benefits and
Psychological Factors are seen to have the most significant influence on Consumer Behavior as
these drive motivation in customers when purchasing online (Rungsrisawat, 2019). Consumers
expect a personalized shopping experience as it provides engagement with the seller at each
phase of the purchase process (ESW, 2022).
In today's world, which has introduced the new normal way of living, e-commerce has
undeniably revolutionized how we shop and conduct business. With the emergence of the Covid-
19 pandemic, it has undoubtedly impacted the lives of many, particularly in relation to our
lifestyle. According to Chaudhary (2020), people preferred purchasing goods online during the
pandemic as they feared leaving their homes due to the prevailing cases of Covid-19. This has
shown that the pandemic has been a step for electronic commerce to become more dominant in
the commercial market. With the rise of technology, gone are the days when we had to visit a
store to buy a product or service physically. According to Mansur et al. (2019), technology like
smartphones is used by many in an entire population, with the tremendous number of users of
mobile phones causing the trends of the use of mobile shopping apps. E-commerce boomed with
the ease, accessibility, and convenience factor that it offers. Online shopping companies are
expected to expand their viewpoint in order to attract more shoppers. According to Necula
(2023), one of the critical factors of consumer purchasing in online shopping platforms is the
product information displayed on the platform's website. Another important benefit of e-
commerce is its global reach. With social media connecting people worldwide, businesses can
now reach customers in different parts of the globe. Social media engagement has opened up
new markets and created opportunities for businesses to expand their reach and grow their
customer base. Social media engagement has elevated the relationship between businesses and
consumers (Frutos et al., 2014). On this note, social media platforms like Tiktok have started a
live streaming channel as a part of online shopping that boosted the competitiveness of e-
commerce over traditional markets (Hua et al., 2022). Although there have been many studies
that show why consumers prefer buying on online shopping platforms as much as there are
studies about the concerns and challenges of e-commerce, there seems to be a gap as it tells why
people still get caught in phishing scams online. There may be a lack of research about online
shopping platforms and how people will avoid getting scammed on these platforms.
Furthermore, previous studies suggest that varied online shopping platforms are still expanding
their perspectives on ensuring the security and authenticity of each transaction made on their
websites. This study seeks to understand the impacts of the emergence of e-commerce platforms
on consumer behavior by examining the development of consumer purchasing patterns and
market trends. It will provide insights on the experiences of traditional retailers in implementing
strategies that allow these stores to continue competing in the retail industry despite the
emergence of online shopping and the rise of new online payment methods.
Research Objectives and Questions
This study aims to explore and understand the influence of the emergence of e-commerce
platforms on customer purchasing behavior through analyzing the evolution of consumer
purchasing patterns and market trends by following these particular objectives:

1. To examine the contribution of affordability, convenience, and accessibility in altering

Furthermore, the research questions to discourse in this study are the following:
1. In what way has the emergence of e-commerce influenced the purchasing habits of
consumers, including customer preferences?
2. What are the positive and negative impacts of traditional businesses developing into
online commerce?

Methodology

Research Design
By employing a mixed method approach, the researchers can effectively combine and analyze
both numerical and non-numerical data, allowing an extensive and comprehensive understanding
of the study. The researchers will conduct a sequential explanatory design to profoundly
investigate the research problem. This research design consists of two stages, the qualitative
stage will thoroughly analyze and explore the research problem while the second stage, the
quantitative research, will validate the researchers’ understanding on a larger scale.

Data Collection
In the sequential explanatory design, data collection will involve two stages. For the quantitative
stage, the researchers will design and distribute an online survey questionnaire to a random and
larger sample of participants who have engaged in any form of online purchasing and are
primary customers of traditional retail stores. For the qualitative stage, the researchers will
recruit 10 participants for a semi-structured interview, all of whom are traditional retail business
owners in the Philippines who have been operating before the emergence of e-commerce
platforms. These interviews will allow an extensive understanding of the disruption of e-
commerce in traditional retail stores as well as an analysis of consumer purchasing patterns from
a conventional store owner’s perspective. Furthermore, the interview responses will determine
the validity of the data collected from the survey questionnaires. Through the respondents’
interviews and survey responses, they can provide sufficient information for the researchers to
gain insights into how e-commerce has greatly influenced the purchasing habits of consumers
and how traditional retail store owners are adapting to these changes.

Data Analysis
To comprehensively explore and understand the influence of e-commerce on consumer
purchasing patterns and how it has transformed the conventional retail landscape, the study will
implement a sequential explanatory design, combining the strong points of both qualitative and
quantitative research. In the quantitative phase of the data analysis, the researchers will
administer and distribute a structured questionnaire, obtaining essential information about the
frequency of consumer online purchasing, the underlying strategies of e-commerce platforms,
and the factors affecting consumer purchase-making decisions. Descriptive and Inferential
statistics will be employed to determine and summarize varied trends and create predictions and
draw conclusions. The descriptive statistics will provide a general overview of the key
characteristics of the study such as its central tendency and variability while the inferential
statistics will create inferences through hypothesis testing and correlation analysis. To effectively
measure the perceptions and opinions of a wide range of participants, the researchers will make
use of the Likert scale, allowing a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of the data
collected. Researchers will execute hypothesis testing between the two variables of the study
which are the consumers’ preference for in-store or online shopping and their frequency of using
e-commerce platforms. In the next stage of the data analysis, the researchers will employ a
thematic analysis as the form of qualitative data collection method was through interviews. By
thematic analysis, the researchers can identify patterns and trends as well as efficiently interpret
the data. By the integration of both qualitative and quantitative findings, the researchers can
develop an extensive interpretation and understanding of how e-commerce has transformed the
traditional retail landscape, offering insightful information about the changes in consumer
purchasing patterns.

Timeframe
A fourteen-week timeframe will be allocated for this study which will be from July to
October 2023. The duration for each step is as follows:
1. Constructing interview questions and survey questionnaires - 1 week
2. Administering the survey - 2 weeks
3. Administering the interview - 2 weeks
4. Encapsulating the survey results and analyzing the quantitative data - 2 weeks
5. Transcribing the interviews - 1 week
6. Coding the quantitative data - 2 weeks
7. Writing up results and discussions - 4 weeks

The proposed budget for this project is fifteen thousand pesos. This budget will be
allotted to the following expenses:

1. Internet Expense - 6, 000

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