Internet kao novi kanal komunikacije, prodaje i distribucije za segment mladih potrošača
Internet as a new communication, retail and distribution channel for young consumers

Summary/Abstract: Marketing aspects of the Internet can be examined through a great number of researches on marketing practices conducted via the Internet. A number of authors consider the Internet as new marketplace (marketspace), where the exchange of both traditional and new values (i.e. digital products and services) takes place. The Internet supports almost all aspects of a company’s business activities and can be applied with respect to all the elements of marketing mix.The subject of this paper is the role of adoption and use of the Internet as a new communication, retail and distribution channel for young consumers. The research was conducted in January 2006 and included 869 students from nine faculties at the University of Zagreb. Students represent an important marketing segment for Internet marketing activities since they are considered to be advanced users of the Internet. The relevance of students’ Internet adoption and use is determined by the following reasons: students are consumers; senior students will soon become young employed professionals with their own income (their spending will increase rapidly); in the near future, senior students will, to some extent, be decision makers on the implementation of business activities via the Internet. Research results show that students actively use the Internet, primarily as a communication channel. The student use of the Internet for purchasing tangible products is rare but their use of services via the Internet is considerable. Students find using the Internet to be a non-complex activity. There is no significant difference in the perception of complexity of the Internet usage among respondents with different computer and English language skills or with respect to their majoring fields (Arts, Biomedicine, Biotechnology, Engineering, Humanities, Natural and Social Sciences). A perception of the complexity of product purchase and service usage via the Internet is influenced by the experience that respondents have with those activities. It seems that the potential of the Internet as a new channel for selling tangible products is low. On the other hand, students consider the Internet to be important as a new channel for selling and distributing services.

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