Companyproduct

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

The American Marketing Association (2011) defines marketing as “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (Boone & Kurtz, 2011, p.353). There are six elements in the process which can be used, it is called the “six Ps”: price, product, promotion, place, people and process (American Marketing Association, 2011; Kotler et al., 2008), which known as “marketing mix” (Homburg, Kuester, &Krohmer, 2009; Kotler et al., 2008).

Malaysia has stepped into the beginning age of the internet as of the year 1995 (Paynter and Lim, 2001). Following the first survey conducted between October to November 1995 with regard to the internet in Malaysia by MIMOS and Beta Interactive Services, there was merely one of every thousand Malaysia who were using the internet service (Beta Interactive Services, 1996). However the internet have experienced increasing popularity among Malaysian due to its function in information and idea sharing, which allows development of new communities, channels, and platform for substantial business activities.

Despite being a late starter for online shopping with relation to the existence of the internet, the e-commerce activities in Malaysia has encountered rapid increases over the past years, which entailed its widespread today. As of October 2011, the Samwer brothers (founder of Alando and Jamba!) have launched its online ventures business into its operation in Malaysia, which include wellknown names like Lazada, Zalora, Home24, and Foodpanda (Lim, 2012). Followed by the increasing business prospects in the domestic and the international market, the internet is now the world’s largest shopping mall that allows anyone to start up their business with a minimum capital, while able to reach customers worldwide. Specifically, there were...