Is Digital Nudging an Ethical Marketing Strategy?: A Case Study from the Consumers' Perspectives

Introduction

Rapid advancements in technologies today have significantly altered the delivery processes that businesses employ. Consumers can get quick and accurate information, filter options, and complete transactions through a wide variety of mobile applications. It is now common for people to order groceries via the internet for delivery, paying for their food through yet other applications on their smartphones. Similar to other marketing materials, internet marketers promote their clients' products to potential customers through carefully crafted online means, including through social media, client websites, and advertisements. Marketers have been applying different “nudges” in digital platforms, such as the automatic opt-in for the sharing of personal data when completing the registration of an online membership. Consumers may feel overwhelmed, however, with promotional messages such as “last minute deals,” “best offers of the day,” “70% off today only,” and other similar messages. Since the world is still in the early stages for this phenomenon, there is a lack of literature regarding consumers' perceptions on the ethics of nudging strategy applied through digital venues. Besides, recent research has been focusing on the potential benefits from these ploys and consumers' technology acceptance but may be neglecting the importance of exploring consumers' post purchase experiences of consuming through these platforms.