Introduction
Talking about consumption is not just about spending, if not looking at it from the marketing point of view, it is the style of how a product or service is acquired, allowing the client to request and / or buy it. This type of condition has led Colombia to be classified as a consumerist country, both in goods and services, seeking in the same way to change behaviors and modes; Likewise, how technology in this first decade generated a transformation of consumption in Colombian society.
For this reason, I consider that digital consumption will be the mechanism that all of society will use to access and buy. To this, Colombia will not be alien, since it will allow the displacement from face-to-face to virtual, generating companies to seek this option towards achieving of new customers, who will see new product acquisitions and digital marketing strategy.
Meanwhile this type of approach today has generated changes in consumer behavior, allowing the entry of new technologies; in the last 10 years, it has become the purchase alternative as Vertice says, (2010)
Information and communication technologies play the main role in the development of new forms of sales, since they allow the development of interactive communication activities between companies and customers. Currently, the provision of interactive communication systems in homes, whose particular technology is telematics, marks the beginning of a new form of commercialization.
As for the definition of consumer, José Daniel Rodríguez illustrates it as follows:
The word client comes from the ancient Greek and refers to the "person who depends on." In other words, my clients are those people who have a certain need for a product or service that my company can satisfy. (2007)
In the case of our country, the different styles used by the Colombian population are not something that is new, but they must be taken into account, to identify consumer preferences and the fundamental blow in the merchant society, in this sense, Tallimow affirmed for Dinero Magazine: " Internet consumer tools are becoming more important where the number of internet users between 2011 and 2016 will see an increase of 41% at the same time to reach 27.5 million people " (2012)
For this reason, this essay will focus on the analysis of three aspects: First, the historical background, characteristics and profiles of the consumer of our country, to likewise highlight aspects in terms of definition and socio-cultural environments, with the objective of analyzing these systems within the previous context and behaviors of the Colombian consumer society; secondly, we will see the processes that lead to the creation of online marketing and the most used forms for the access of buyers; and thirdly, the step from face-to-face to virtual, in the latter the steps to be taken into account will be shown, for the design of a web portal among other aspects.
We have just seen the chapter of the introduction, allowing you to make known the objectives, theses and parts that this essay will contain; yielding next, the first part of this investigation, to refer to some historical antecedents and aspects of consumption both in Colombia and in the world.
Consumption in the world and Colombia
The history of consumption for some historians appears from before Jesus Christ, where people began to market different products, especially instruments; With the passage of time, and a little more modern humanity, mechanisms such as face-to-face and home sales in especially European countries begin to be created, in this sense Redinbaugh states: “It is perhaps one of the oldest retail methods, where the buyer and seller are at the buyer's house ”. (1976, p. 17) Likewise, there was the recognition of the needs and tastes of customers, and the promotion of items that forged their satisfaction, allowing a greater range of sale - user.
For Colombia, mass consumption dates from the time of the conquest, when the Spanish arrived in the Colombian Pacific, where they discovered that the aborigines consumed and the use of handwashing prior to consuming the food. Similarly, needs such as: Study, housing and health were not very important, for the conquerors and indigenous people; since for the first, it was to take what they found by force and the second, to waste without measure (Mora, 2010, p. 17).
Towards the colonial era, the waste of the Spanish brought as a consequence to generate taxes, which is why the creoles to pay for it promoted the craft trade, as a faithful reproduction brought from Europe, allowing to bring up two phenomena: The copy and the supposed concept of what is from the outside is very elegant and of quality (Mora, 2010).
As for the independence period, consumption does not bring as much boom for Colombia, because for this stage it was only dedicated to producing the land in which products such as: Tobacco, cinchona and indigo; They were the markets with the greatest agricultural ties, allowing them to become the greatest wealth in production, and only from the 1920s onwards, the airplane and the car were the new adaptability alternatives to this inhospitable country, as a study by the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (2003): “It cannot be said that Colombia had an integrated national market before the 1920s. The integration of the Colombian market became a reality only with the introduction of the automobile and the airplane, New Technologies, better adapted to the difficulties imposed by the fragmented terrain of the country.
Throughout the 20th century, a new style arrives for our country regarding the way of thinking, customs and a growing economy; This is due to the independence era that marked the beginning of these characteristics. In this way, in the first 40 years of this period, the beginning of the brands, especially Antioquia, arises through the Pilsen registry; Likewise, the issuance of all kinds of money appears for all regions and with the arrival of the Kremer Mission in the mid-1920s, the state bank and paper money were created.
In this way, the boom in registrations each time was increasing; in fact at the moment, they are still in force; appearing written media such as Time, alcoholic and refreshing drinks such as Coca Cola, warehouses for personal consumption, generating the maximum consumption, in the Colombian population. However, external and internal problems were not obstacles to continue this expansion process; But, the industrial heyday began to decline in the second half of the previous century, with small markets appearing within the spaces of the cities.
Over time, the paradigm of Colombian buyers changed over time, and as indicated above, see the arrival of the car, the birth of a home purchase payment system, entertainment appliances such as VHS, the black and white table TV and the most essential a shopping center, allowed in this way, the society of the cities to access and see a great variety. Subsequently, the economic opening of the 90s led to the entry into this country of great technological and economic advances. (Daccach, 2012)
Similarly, Colombia's economic recession in 1999 led to the collapse of a great boom that in previous years was built; generating in this way, that large companies will go from being national to foreign shareholders. Today we are in the second decade of the long-awaited 21st century, a fact that led to the transformation of humanity, in terms of the acquisition of consumption that gave way to the virtual; especially for the new generations who have used web consumption.
These previous events, originated the generation of new channels for commercial decision-making, in this regard the Prospecta Partner-Consultant and CEO Council Eduardo Peña, for an interview with Dinero Magazine expressed that every time in Colombia, innovations and styles appear of product acquisition, because the purchase is own and significant, elements that were not considered in previous times, of utmost importance or essential for the buyer. (2009). Just to this approach of Peña (2009), it should be added that Colombia has been considered as a consumer country of goods and services, bringing with it the great variety of products.
In the same way, a study carried out three years ago by global AT and confirmed for Dinero Magazine, that the use of the internet in Colombians has become the strength of the circuit for companies towards the user, because our country it is beginning to consolidate itself in the seductive square for the sale Retail on line. In this way, allowing commercial technology to be a sophistication that leads the national consumer to use the technique to obtain the purchase through cyberspace. (2009)
On the other hand, during the consumption boom in Colombia in the 20th century, it led to the creation of supermarkets; leading Zimmerman to define type of stores, such as: "A supermarket is a place divided by sections and departments" (1976).
However, a letter made by Kay Tamillow a week ago and for Dinero magazine, stated that face-to-face purchases have increased since last year, due to the fact that large supermarkets such as Éxito and the Mexican company OXXO, have created self-services in different strategic points of Bogotá, likewise, neighborhood stores each time, become shopping sites due to the retail they offer the consumer. (2012)
I conclude that this type of controversy allows us to analyze how virtual and face-to-face consumption will be the tools that allow impacting on the society of this nation due to the great blow that consumer companies are carrying out, so as not to lose the style characterized by the Colombian people, but if you start to generate a war between the retailers, who will be the most affected by this type of strategies exposed in the previous paragraph, and I only leave this concern, for those who want to broaden this matter.
Continuing with the development of this first chapter, I would like to refer to the next point, to identify the characteristics of the consumer; revealing particularities of the subjects of our country, however, in addition to knowing its meaning, in order to have an understanding of this topic.
Consumer behavior is a style that every human being has, allowing the Marketing professional to identify and analyze said behaviors that, according to the approach of Professor Roger D. Blackwell and his group of advisers, define as: “The activities that people effect by obtaining, consuming and disposing of products and services. ” (2002); These types of forms have allowed us to know the different needs in which the client achieves the good and service requested.
Below I will show the characteristics that the purchase process influences, both for the Colombian user and for the rest of the world.
A little geography of Colombia, it doesn't hurt to get to know. This country located on the South American continent, the only country in the region with two Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is a multicultural country, that is, it has all kinds of races, customs and great gastronomic variety, because five regions are broken down within it: North, Center, South, Andean and Orinoquia; These identifications have led for scholars of marketing, advertising, entrepreneurs and producers to determine that it is impossible to know the characteristics of consumption since it is very complex (Mora, 2010).
Another important aspect that determines the behavior of the Colombian consumer are social classes, an element by which it is possible to identify the traits not only of stratification, where for this it is not foreign, since, it shows the degree of consumption, but the ways in that each of them consumes. There is a study that identified that 55% of stratum three are the largest consumer, followed by those of low category and finally the high one with 25% and 20% respectively (Mora, 2010, pp. 46 -47)
Thus, if social classes establish the conditions for quality of life, identity is the factor that determines styles, habits, fashions, among other elements, whether for a nation or its community in general. In relation to this, the political scientist Ronald Inglehard, affirmed that these groups change through economic freedoms, which are established in each country (2006). In the case of us Colombians, we are conservative, although there are cases that manifest materialistic and post-materialist styles, where youth prefer the latter condition since it presents good economic conditions. (Mora, 2010)
For all the aforementioned, it is worth asking : What does the Colombian buy?In response to this concern, I would like to affirm that by having something, you can supply it or take it to appear; admitting that these responses were the facts that in previous times led the consumer to acquire, but with the change in economic and social factors, including technological ones, they changed the way for the Colombian buyer to determine the purchase through three levels: Need, opportunity and capacity. The first is constituted by aspiration, that is, from the first moment, at this level three product scales are classified: Low, when we do not buy with desire; medium, when we buy what is not of much importance but are valuable for our daily life and the high is when we buy it often.
The second level is when companies give us the ability to replace a desire with a quick need, and consumer services stand out at retail or whoever is in the corner. And the last is the form of income and the means of payment in which it is determined; in the same way, capacity determines how much I can get, where for the low-income countryman, a car is an unattainable product, while for the high and even half-wage, this can be purchased, but, for the latter, it is a mechanism to analyze it. (Mora, 2010)
At first, our Colombian society was not one of those buyers who had the attitude of looking for a brand-name product, but from the mid-1940s, Colombia began to see this importance, in the identity of consumption, went into the background and exclusivity began to take precedence in society, bringing this system to take hold between the late 1950s and early 1960s, with hippie fashion in North America and Europe; generating in the later periods the Colombian copied, of this style regardless of the way of entering this event, generated the arrival of illegal products, both at the port of San Andrés, and the rest of the docks in which Bogotá was the epicenter and generator from warehouses called Sanandresitos (Mora, 2010).
Today, these concepts have changed since the technological era managed to revolutionize in a dizzying way the context that neither traditional advertising has been the fundamental thing of the consumer, if not how through the senses they can be impacted and their acquisition strategies Spence stated, "The more senses involved, the more memorable the experience will be." (2011) Thus creating a controversy for those companies who somehow catch their clients with this method.
In summary of this first part, I can say that the Colombian consumer during its history has gone through different processes, ranging from the generation of various products, to the ways in which they were acquired, and then deal with events that occurred in other parts of the world.; taking Colombia to start consuming; this allowed, in this way, to change socio-cultural aspects or as sociologists call it "identity". To identify these paradigms from the last decade of the 20th century and the beginning of the XXI, the economic and technological aspects led our country to generate other styles of shopping. The following section will highlight a brief introduction by some experts who speak about virtual marketing; likewise, the methods and ways to design a company will be disclosed,generate sales and acquire clients online.
Online Marketing (Digital Marketing)
The companies for many years, always looked for their clients through different ways, to which the buyer accessed in person and acquired what he liked the most; In these moments, the rules have changed because now, the opposite happens. According to Andrade, Director of McKinsey & Co (2010) stated for Dinero magazine:
The potential of digital marketing is enormous because it allows communications between the company and the consumer to be two-way. The consumer has the possibility of interacting with the company through the entire purchase decision cycle. For example, through the internet, a consumer can obtain reports on the product they are considering buying, compare prices and search for opinions on their preferred social network. All of these interactions are opportunities for the company's digital marketing department to influence the consumer's decision.
Similarly, analysts of electronic consumption have identified three stages that have led the customer to no longer purchase traditionally but through various electronic channels. These phases are cataloged firstly, by the availability of the product; secondly, by the valuation to determine the purchase; to finally make or reject the request made (Blackwell, 2002).
However, the economic recession in the United States and part of Latin America, led to rethink a trend that many merchants believed they knew and managed regarding the implementation of the digital market; This brought great dividends and even, the users would accept this technique; For this reason Andrade (2010) expressed in an article for Dinero.com magazine:
The "technology bubble" burst ten years ago. At that time it was believed that business models based on internet marketing would generate enormous profits, taking advantage of the wide acceptance that this medium was having among consumers. Unfortunately, for those who bet on this trend, most of these models did not generate enough income to be economically viable. Now, ten years later, we could be on the verge of materializing many of the potential that were glimpsed at that time, due to the increase in Internet penetration and the fall in telecommunications costs.
On the other hand, for Colombia, this tool gradually begins to position itself, although in the last three years this system increases every day, allowing the Colombian consumer to find product sites and an option to satisfy the required needs, as stated in An interview carried out by Jorge Andrés Quiroga, Executive Director of Google Colombia (2012):
Five out of every 10 Colombians search the internet and buy it in the store, in the same way, more than half of the population of Colombia connected virtually; generating in this way that a third part of the community is connected for more than four hours and 88% from a search engine make inquiries and purchase products such as: cellular telephony, books, recreation, among others.
In another order of the situation today, many companies in their desire to retain their customers and seek even more, to be in accordance with the requirements of quality and knowledge of services, have defined as a strategy to create a virtual company; in this way they guarantee greater credibility. To continue with the analysis, the next subchapter of this second part will show how a company is created in the electronic medium, and some strategies to consider to be an attractive website, the skills of the marketing professional to execute this type of organization. and tactics for selling products and services.
Similarly, the previous investigation established that the conduct of Colombians at the time of purchasing is no longer carried out through messages or telephone directories, but through the digital medium, according to the study by the consulting firm D'Alessio Irol.: “The study also reveals that the behavior pattern of Colombians when buying is changing dramatically. The first information for a purchase, which was previously obtained most of the time through telephone directories, catalogs and newspapers, is now obtained through the internet ”. (2011)
Finally, an investigation carried out by the Nielsen company, stated that the majority of the respondents through e-mail and web pages were the first thing they observed, later in the media such as television, then through voice-to-voice, and finally, the grocer's recommendation when the requested product is not found. (2010)
From the physical place to the virtual site
At the moment, social, technological, economic changes, and even quality of service and greater expansion coverage, have led companies to make major transformations in terms of their links on social networks, website design and other technical processes. Allowing the new millennium to come loaded with great revolutions not only to the big ones but also to the small and medium-sized companies, as stated by Muñiz Gonzáles:
The beginning of the 21st century is marked by a highly competitive economic environment that will compel companies to make a special effort to fully satisfy the needs of their customers. But achieving this is only possible if they know how to apply rigorously and in depth the different strategic tools available to marketing, which, far from being the exclusive heritage of large companies, provide SMEs with a dynamic and current vision, allowing them to provide practical answers to the permanent challenges of the market. (2010)
Then, I would like to give way to the chapter on how to build a website, with the aim that companies can make themselves known, have greater profitability and, most importantly, potential and incoming customers, access without any restriction. Some entrepreneurs do not dare to link companies on the web, due to the belief that this is another diffuser style for just displaying products; However, these types of philosophies are changing every time where companies, by generating strong segmentation, a monthly maintenance allowance and constant advertising, the results are favorable that not only benefit corporations but also potential buyers. (González, 2010)
However, to design an internet page you should not only think about being the only one or because of the sophistication of quick access, but also put yourself in the customer's shoes; this will allow both parties to have the satisfaction of acquiring and obtaining, for example, if the company offers grooming products, it must link the entire range and not omit any, because if it does, the buyer withdraws, does not consult again and generates bad image. (Janal, 2000) Likewise, bear in mind that the wording, spelling and even an effective solution to concerns lead the user to take the company into account again.
The goals and objectives of virtual design generate priorities establishing Daniel Janal (2000) describe five strategies to consider: “1. Useful, practical and complete search; 2. Ease of entering and menus together; 3. The time must be short; 4. Of greater clear understanding in the reading and language used; 5. Figures, graphics and other images are immediate to load ”. The previous steps lead Gonzáles: "It is much more likely that our clients will be more satisfied and stay with us much longer, and even recommend us to other clients with characteristics similar to theirs." (2010)
Other trends, which must be woven for the design of web sites with greater key credibility are: The content, leads to what it has, the interface is what allows communication between the consumer and the businessman, the icons, they are the striking perception of the product, where the quality of the image, colors and others stand out, the menus and search engines, an essential part of the page because for the first, it acquires that the user finds the requested information and the second, an option of search by not seeing it in the menu and finally, ease of use test, it becomes the second in importance, because from there you must check in advance if the previous processes work and even, it is striking for the consultant can be accessed without difficulty. (Janal, 2000)
On the other hand, previously to know if a face-to-face site was strategic for customers to arrive, observe and buy, these tactics were essential, making the entrepreneur think about users now; Well, times have changed and these roles have been turned, allowing the latter to identify where to go due to the great variety of services, companies, among other providers found in the search engine. Therefore, the entrepreneur and group of collaborators must take a guided tour of various virtual places and identify the most convenient, attractive and innovative. (Janal, 2000) This will allow you to create the focus feature that your company will be able to generate within the network.
To summarize, these previous sets of tactics, processes and commercializations that can be carried out in the company are called E-marketing or Netmarketing; makes it possible to take advantage of all the capabilities that lead to the effective achievement of objectives, allowing business websites, online businesses; Be the novelty of conquest where González states: "The success of e-marketing begins with a continuous process of converting potential customers into loyal, loyal and satisfied customers who use the Internet as a communication, sales and / or distribution channel" (2010).
Conclusions
As established in the thesis of this essay that Colombia, it will not be strange to move from the present to the virtual age, where companies will see this last alternative as the option to get new customers and keep the ones they already have, It is a foundation that is still in process because, there are some uncertainties that are generated around the fact that technology is a system that leads to total failure and mistrust of buyers when using this tool.
Likewise, it can be seen that the socio - cultural aspects of this country are deeply rooted since the traditions of purchasing persist, in face-to-face places, allowing confidence in finding the quality of the products. Regarding search mechanisms, this instrument gradually recognizes the implementation of the company, with the aim that customers go to it to buy; This can be done as long as they offer quality of the implemented technological system.
Finally, the 21st century has come with a transformation of facts and events that allow humanity to do the same. This evolution has also led to companies who, due to their desire to become more sophisticated every day, adhere to the virtual market; in the same way, allowing the client to also enter, this being a tactic developed by the consumer organization, as stated by Paul Blackwell (2002): “Consumer trends, global consumer markets, of models to predict patterns of consumption and purchase, and communication methods to reach the target markets more effectively ”.
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