The influence of digital products on company performance: the case of Manica Post

Abstract

The aim of the research was to evaluate the influence of digital products on company performance with reference to the case of Manica Post. The purpose of the research was to examine the effects of online news on cannibalization of print media at Manica post, establishing customer perceptions on digitalization of Manica Post news posted online, determining whether Facebook page marketing influences customer preferences as well as examining the effects of websites on increase in web traffic of Manica Post electronic news. Digitalization is the integration of digital technologies into everyday life by the digitization of everything that can be digitized. Many scholars agree that online news are supposed to be a complementary to print newspapers hence online news has not phased out print media. Major characteristics of websites are content, appearance, functionality and usability. Facebook is a social portal with companies and firms that create profiles to disseminate information about products. Exploratory research was used in this study and the target population was customers and employees. Non probability sampling technique was used and under this the convenience sampling method was used. A sample of 100 was used for customers and 16 for employees. The major findings drawn from the research are online news will not phase out print media sales any time soon but rather sales will drop steadily as most of the younger generation prefers to read news online and will not buy newspapers. Customers perceive companies that have gone digital as being innovative. Facebook page marketing affects customer preference of news. Websites have a positive effect on web traffic provided the content and coverage of the news satisfies customers. Majority of the respondents agree that content draws traffic to the website. Results show that it is mostly the content that customer want when they visit a company’s website hence companies should offer that. Conclusions were drawn from the research and they show that the younger ages prefer to read news online with the older age preferring print news to online news, online news is only there to compliment newspapers and will not result in phasing out of newspapers but rather sales will decline steadily over the next years. Majority of the customer perceive digitalized businesses as being innovative. Facebook page marketing motivates customers to buy newspapers and website content is an important factor in drawing web traffic. Recommendations given include Manica post finding ways in which it can benefit financially from news posted on online sources such as websites, adverts, price reduction, improve coverage and reduce biasness.