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- All Subjects: E-Commerce
- All Subjects: online marketing
- Status: Published
Description
E-commerce has rapidly become a mainstay in today's economy, and many websites have built themselves around providing a platform for independent sellers. Sites such as Etsy, Storenvy, Redbubble, and Society6 are increasingly popular options for anyone looking to open their own online store. With this project, I attempted to examine the effects of four different marketing techniques on sales in an online store. I opened a shop on Etsy and tracked sales in connection with promotion through social media, selling products in-person at a convention, holding a holiday tie-in sale, and using price anchoring. Social media accounts were opened on Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram to promote the shop over the course of the project period, and Etsy's web analytics were used to track which sites directed the most traffic to the shop. I attended a convention in mid-January 2016 where I sold my products and distributed business cards with a discount code to track sales resulting from being at the convention. A holiday sale was held in conjunction with Valentine's Day to look at whether holidays influenced purchases. Lastly, a significantly more expensive product was temporarily put in the shop to see whether it produced a price anchoring effect \u2014 that is, encouraged sales of the less expensive products by making them seem affordable in comparison. While the volume of sales data was too small to draw statistically significant conclusions, the project was a highly instructive experience in the process of opening a small online store. The decision-making steps outlined may be helpful to other students looking to open their own online shop.
ContributorsChen, Candice Elizabeth (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Sanford, Adriana (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
States place a heavy reliance on sales tax revenues to finance government activities. The rise in e-commerce, coupled with constitutional restrictions on imposing sales tax nexus, has resulted in a decline in sales tax revenues in many states. States have responded by enacting legislation and reinterpreting existing statutes to curb these declining revenues. This study provides evidence that sales tax revenues are larger after states enforce some, but not all, sales tax measures aimed at imposing nexus on Internet retailers. Further evidence suggests a shift in consumer preferences to local consumption in states enforcing broadened nexus, as evidenced by greater state-level retail gross domestic product (GDP) after states enforce broadened sales tax nexus. Additionally, the number of physical establishments of Internet retailers is lower after states expand sales tax nexus, suggesting these retailers remove their physical presence in states to avoid collecting sales taxes. Finally, the increase in retail GDP has a spillover effect on corporate income taxes, with states enforcing broader sales tax nexus on Internet sales realizing larger corporate income tax revenues.
ContributorsWenzel, Brian S (Author) / Brown, Jennifer L. (Thesis advisor) / Hugon, Jean A (Committee member) / Huston, George R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017