Antecedents of Online shopping behavior: Internet is the rapidest growing media during the past decade.

Especially, online shopping is a rapidly growing ecommerce area. Forrester Research forecasts that online retail trade will be about $217.8 billion by 2007 and account for 8% of total retail. ComScore Networks reported that for the year 2001, domestic online sales totaled more than $53 billion. This figure shows a growth rate of about 20% compared to the year 2000. According to Arbitron/Edison Media Research (2002), the number of consumers who purchase online is growing sharply. 40% of all Americans have ever purchased goods or services on the Web. Average amount spent online in last one year was about $658 and 56% of Internet users have made a purchase online. According to annual Internet survey of WHICHonline, 15% of British Internet users visit online shopping sites most frequently and 14% regularly use Internet for online shopping. This survey suggests that book is the most popular item on the Internet and Flights/Holidays is the second popular item. (Figure 1)

FIGURE 1 Online shopping basically provides the way consumers go shopping and purchase services and goods with reasonable price on the Internet. For some consumers, shopping and purchasing online have become part of their daily lives, while others may not even care about it. At this point, I wonder what factors influence online purchasing behavior and explain the difference in online buying behavior among Internet users. This web site intends to investigate which factors affect online purchasing behavior. Based on the previous researches, several factors were sellected as factors which affect online purchasing behavior.

Demographics:
Berkowiz, Walton, and Walker (1979) suggested that in-home shoppers are younger and have higher than average education and occupational levels. Li, Kuo, and Russell (1999) found that men used more frequent online shopping than women and well-educated consumers were the frequent Web buyer. They also found that consumers with high incomes used more frequently Internet for shopping. Therefore, they suggested that the typical online shopper has been male, well-educated, wealthier than most people, and technologically savvy. However, trend is beginning to change. CNN.com reported that Internet users from households with incomes greater than $75,000 grew just 13

percent, while the lower-income Internet users grew more than 49 percent to 7.5 million users. In addition, according to Global Online Retailing Report, the online shopper is becoming more like the typical middle-class retail consumer. The average annual household income of online shoppers in the U.S. has dropped from $59,000 in 1999 to $52,300 last year. In case of education, more than fifty percent of online shoppers dont have a college degree. Women online shopper is increasing. Women account for about sixty percent of total online shoppers in the U.S. Considering this trends, the followings ere expected for this study

Internet

users who are better educated are more likely to use online shopping less than those who are not. Female Internet users use online shopping more frequently than male. Internet users whose income is higher use online shopping less than those whose income is lower Older consumers are more likely to make online purchasing than younger consumers.

Consumer Orientations:

According to Wolfinbarger and Gilly (1999), consumers make online shopping for both goal-oriented and experiential reasons, but goal-oriented motives are more common among online shoppers than are experiential motives. Greenfield Online suggested that online shoppers like to use Internet shopping because of its convenience and timesaving. This report found that convenience-oriented consumers prefer to buy on the Internet and experience-oriented consumers dont. Li et al. (1999) proposed that frequent Web buyers are higher in the convenience orientation but lower in the experiential orientations than occasional Web buyers and no differences were assumed in the recreational orientation and the economy orientation. Bellenger and Korgaonkar (1980) suggest that consumers can be categorized into two types: recreational and convenience shoppers. They proposed that the social aspect of shopping motivates the recreational shopper. Some research proposed that online shopping is not attractive to consumers who prefer to social interaction or experience. Swaminathan, Lepkowska-White, and Rao (1999) found that consumers who are oriented to convenience is more likely to use the Internet to buy goods and consumers who value social interaction is less likely to use the Internet for shopping. Through these findings, it is assumed that consumers who want convenience are more likely to purchase on the Internet than consumers who like experiencing product.

Consumers who are convenience-oriented are more likely to purchase online than those who are not. Consumers who are experience-oriented are less likely to purchase online than those who are not.

Price: It is not strange that consumers purchase goods with cheaper price on the Internet than in real stores or malls.
Before purchasing, some consumers use price comparison site to know which online seller has price competitiveness. Zellweger (1997) suggested that Internet provides the service that consumer can compare prices among seller to consumers. Hoffman and Novak (1997) suggested that Internet users control the search process to get a variety of information on the Web and price comparison. According to Ducoffe, the Web provides updated, relevant, and completed information. Croft (1998) found that home-shoppers consider price and product assortment as the most important factors for home shopping. Therefore, it is expected that price is one of factors influencing consumer purchasing behavior.

Consumers who are more price conscious are more likely to make online purchase than consumers who are less price conscious.
Reputation of Retailers:
Online shopping retailer is defined as any seller that offers consumers with the opportunity to purchase something on the Internet. Consumers usually evaluate these retailers before they go online shopping and retailers try to avoid getting a bad reputation. Therefore, the reputation of retailers plays an important role in online shopping to both consumers and retailers. Several researches have frequently referred to reputation as factor that influences consumer trust for sellers (Anderson & Weitz, 1989; Doney & Cannon, 1997; Ganesan, 1994). Chiles and McMackin suggested that reputation is a valued asset. Reputation is related to reliability or trust. Moorman et al. (1993) defined trust as a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence. According to the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985), beliefs influence the persons attitudes and attitudes in turn affect behavioral intention, which is a good forecaster of actual behavior. Therefore, it is expected that retailers reputation is one of factors influencing consumer purchasing behavior.

The reputation of retailers is positively related to consumer purchasing behavior.

Perceived Risk:
Dowling and Staelin (1994) defined risk as a consumers perceptions of the uncertainty and adverse consequences of engaging in an activity. Consumer behavior is motivated to reduce risk. (Bauer, 1960; Taylor, 1974). When consumers intend to buy a product or a service, they often hesitate to make the final decision because they cant be sure that all of their buying goals will be accomplished with the purchase (Roselius, 1971). Donthu and Garcia (1999) found that Internet shoppers are more less risk averse than Internet nonshoppers. According to SRI International (1995), about seventy percent of Internet users have the risk-taker personality type. Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001) proposed that the rate of purchasing products online is negatively related to the perceived risk of conducting online purchase. They also suggested that higher level of Internet experience may lead to lower risk perceptions regarding online shopping and fewer specific concerns regarding system security and online retailer fraud yet more concerns regarding online privacy, therefore perceived risk at least partially mediates the impact of Internet experience on online purchase behavior. In this research, the perceived risk is defined as the overall perceived security of transactions in an online environment and it is not related to a single seller. Based on the previous studies, this study posits that perceived risk for security of transactions is one of factors influencing online purchasing behavior.

Consumers who perceive fewer risks toward online shopping are more likely to make online purchase than more risk-laden consumers.
Type of Access:
According to Arbitron/Edison Media Research (2002), 27 million Americans has accessed to the Internet with broadband. The penetration of at-home broadband reaches about 21% of total access to the Internet at home. Arbitron/Edison Media Research found that people with broadband access have ever purchased online more than people with dial-up access. According to this data, 47% of people with broadband access have purchased last month and 17% of them have purchased online last week, while 32% of people with dial-up access have made a purchase online and 10% of them have made a purchase online last week. In case of average number of Web sites purchased and average amount spent online in last 12 months, broadband users data is higher than dial-up users.

Through this trend, the following hypothesis is expected:

People with Broadband Access are more likely to make a purchase online than people with Dialup Access.

All of the measures used here are adapted from previous relevant studies and have been commonly employed in the domain of this topic. - Online Shopping Behavior - Demographics - Perceived Risk - The Reputation of Retailers - Consumer Orientations - Price - Type of Access Online Shopping Behavior In this study, online shopping behavior are defined as how many consumers made purchases on the Internet in the past 6 months. 1. Less than 3 Occasional Web times buyer 2. 4-6 times 3. 7-10 times Frequent Web 4. 11-20 buyer times 5. More that 20 times This index was used to previous study (Li et al. 1999). The previous study categorized the response as: Never, 1-3 times. 4-6 times, 7-10 times, 11-20 times, and More that 20 times. These categories were coded into three levels as non-Web user, occasional Web user, and frequent Web user. But this study will use same five categories and classify two levels: Occasional and Frequent.

Demographics 1) Age Under 21 21 - 29 30 - 39 40 -49 50 - 65 Over 65 2) Education High school graduate Some college College

Table 7. Coefficients of Multiple Regressions Summary and Discussion

In this paper we attempt to identify the factors that predict a consumers online buying behavior, using primary data from an online survey of national Internet users. The data are compared with other similar national surveys such as Greenfield Online (1999). Both surveys have similar percentages of the past-three-month online buyers (73 percent for the present survey and 74 percent for Greenfield Onlines 1999 survey). Greenfield Online found that about 54 percent of online buyers bought at least three times; the present survey, conducted six months earlier, yielded 47 percent. These consistencies confirm to some degree the external validity of both surveys. It is worth noting that online surveys usually show consistent higher percentages of online buyers and usage of the Internet than telephone surveys, largely because online survey participants are more likely to be active Internet users. Research is needed to compare online surveys and conventional telephone or mail surveys to find systematic similarities and differences.

This study proposes ten hypotheses, seven of which are diagramed in the conceptual model in Figure 1. Three hypotheses posit no difference in recreation orientation, price orientation, and age between non-online buyers, occasional online buyers, and frequent online buyers. They are not depicted in Figure 1. Eight hypotheses were fully supported and two hypotheses were partially supported in individual tests. Specifically, for Hypothesis 3, an assumed difference in convenience orientation is not significant between occasional Web buyers and non-Web buyers although its direction is in line with the hypothesis. For Hypothesis 8, the gender difference is not substantial between non-Web buyers and Web buyers in general although men are more frequent Web buyers than women. A parsimonious treatment is conducted altogether on the ten hypotheses with stepwised multiple regression analyses (see Table 7). The result indicates that six variables (education, convenience orientation, experiential orientation, channel

knowledge, perceived distribution utility, and perceived accessibility) are robust predictors of the online buying status of a U.S. consumer (non, occasional, and frequent). Findings of the influence of shopping orientations on online buying behavior have several implications. Frequent and occasional Web buyers are indeed not more pricesensitive than non-Web buyers. This finding seems consistent with the conclusion of a recent McKinsey & Co. study . Although the idea of using shopping robots for price comparison across Web sites is intriguing, no really efficient robots presently are available. Online price comparison is still somewhat time-consuming and may not be worth much given the small differences in price between different vendors. On the other hand, smart online retailers will attempt to differentiate their products or services, making direct price-comparisons less meaningful. A more prominent issue is the experiential aspect of online shopping and buying. As these findings suggest, there is a negative relationship between the experiential orientation and the frequency of online purchases. It is clear that current "searchoriented" online stores have a number of limitations compared to the conventional store. First, the way product information is presented by online stores is likely to reduce the impact of brand equity. As Burke noted, the computer typically displays a list of brand names and model numbers with information on features, flavors, sizes, and prices. Consumers do not see the familiar product packages, so the traditional brand equity communicated by the package shapes, colors and logos is lost. Second, most online shopping interfaces allow consumers to go directly to specific product categories and make their selections, "avoiding the marketing distractions of the conventional store."(p.354) In this environment, shoppers may make fewer impulse purchases and trial purchases of new brands. Third, online shoppers are not able to gain the experience they usually get in the conventional store, e.g., feeling the stores atmosphere, interacting with a salesperson, and seeking sensory stimulation. Given this reality, Burke (1997) asserted that the Internet will have the greatest impact on marketing communication, a moderate effect on the sales transaction, and a minimal impact on logistics with the exception of information goods. This situation may hinder the future penetration of electronic commerce because many transactions do require some kind of pre-purchase inspection. As more consumers turn to electronic commerce, online retailers are striving for a perfect shopping environment. Takahashi reviewed the recent advances in this direction, including use of surround video, 3-D images, and VR technology in online stores. These applications were among the most visited features of some online stores, reflecting the shoppers strong interest. These "experience-oriented" features are likely to be the main characteristics of the second generation of online stores, giving consumers a shopping experience while taking full advantage of rich information, easy access and convenience of the Internet. Online stores with features that simulate the consumer's familiar shopping experience are likely to represent the future of online consumer marketing.

Channel knowledge is the strongest predictor in our model of online buying behavior. Knowledgeable consumers tend to have more positive perceptions of the online channel's utilities. As the Internet grows, the consumers knowledge of the online channel will steadily increase. It is not clear, however, just what kind of an innovation diffusion curve will be followed by Internet shopping (Rogers, 1995). This issue demands further research. Like any research, the present study has certain weaknesses. First, some multi-item scales seem to be less reliable than was expected. Although the study adopts several items measuring shopping orientation from previous studies on the same subject, the reliability coefficients are not as high as those of the previous studies. The question arises as to whether a new set of shopping orientations should be developed for the online consumer. The set of measures for perceived channel utilities developed for this study is built upon existing theory about marketing channels. The channel utility scales may need to be re-phrased for measuring features such as information customization and degree of interactivity, which are not typical for catalogs and retail stores but are for the Web. Lastly, the model presented here accounts for only onethird of the total variance of online buying behavior. More variables need to be identified and specified in future research for a better understanding of this increasingly important behavior of consumers in electronic commerce. References
Alba, J., Lynch, J., Weitz, B., Janiszewski, C., Lutz, R., Saywer, A., & Wood, S. (1997). Interactive home shopping: Consumer, retailer, and manufacturer incentives to participate in electronic marketplace. Journal of Marketing, 61(July), 38-53.

Berghel, H. (1997). Cyberspace 2000: Dealing with information overload. Communications of the ACM, 40(2), 19-24. Bettman, J. R. (1979). Memory factors in consumer choice: A review. Journal of Marketing , 43(Spring), 37-53. Burke, R. R. (1997). Do you see what I see? The future of virtual shopping. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(4), 352-360. Deighton, J. (1996). The future of interactive marketing. Harvard Business Review, 76(2), 151-160. Furse, D. H., Punj, G. N., & Stewart, D. W. (Eds.). (1982). Individual search strategies in new automobile purchases. Ann Arbor: Association for Consumer Research. Gehrt, K. C., & Carter, K. (1992). An exploratory assessment of catalog shopping orientations. Journal of Direct Marketing, 6(1), 29-39. Greenfield Online. (1999). Shopping 2000: A digital consumer study (April 1999), [WWW]. Available:http://www.greenfieldcentral.com/research_findings/Shopping %202000/shopping_2000.htm [1999, May 28].

Hoffman, D. L., Kalsbeek, W. D., & Novak, T. P. (1996). Internet and Web Use in the U.S. Communications of the ACM, 39(12), 36-46. Jacso, P. (1998). Shopbots: Shopping robots for electronic commerce. Online, 22(4), 14-20. Klein, L. R. (1998). Evaluating the potential of interactive media through a different lens: Search versus experience goods. Journal of Business Research, 41, 195-203. Korgaonkar, P. K. (1981). Shopping orientations, importance of store attributes, demographics and store patronage: A multivariate investigation. Akron Business and Economic Review, 12(4), 34-38. Kotler, P. (1997). Marketing management: Analysis, planning, implementation, and control. (9th Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lumpkin, J. R. (1985). Marketplace needs of the elderly: Determinant attitudes and store choice. Journal of Retailing, 61(2), 75-106. Lumpkin, J. R., Hawes, J. M., & Darden, W. R. (1986). Shopping patterns of the rural consumer: Exploring the relationship between shopping orientations and outshopping.Journal of Business Research, 14(1), 63-81. Mediamark Research Inc. (1999, May). 64.2 million American adults regularly use the Internet [Online]. Available: http://www.mediamark.com/mri/docs/prcs_s99.htm. Newhagen, J. E., & Rafaeli, S. (1996). Why communication researchers should study the Internet: A dialogue. Journal of Communication, 46(1), 4-13. Also available as Newhagen, J. E., & Rafaeli, S. (1996). Why communication researchers should study the Internet: A dialogue. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 46 [Online], 1, 4. Available: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue4/rafaeli.html Peterson, R. A., Balasubramanian, S., & Bronnenberg, B. J. (1997). Exploring the implications of the Internet for consumer marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(4), 329-346. Rafaeli, S. (1988). Interactivity: From new media to communication. In R. Hawkins, J. M. Wieman, & S. Pingree (Eds.), Advancing communication science: Merging mass and interpersonal (pp. 110-134). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Rimal, R. N., & Flora, J. A. (1997). Interactive technology attributes in health promotion: Practical and theoretical issues. In R. L. Street, W. R. Gold, & T. R. Manning (Eds.),Health promotion and interactive technology: Theoretical applications and future directions (pp. 19-38). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers. Stewart, D. W., Frazier, G. L., & Martin, I. (1996). Integrated channel management: Merging the communication and distribution functions of the firm. In E. Thorson & J. More (Eds.), Integrated communication: Synergy of persuasive voices (pp. 185-215). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Stone, G. P. (1954). City and urban Identification: Observations on the social psychology of social life, 60 (July), 36-45. Takahashi, D. (1998, December 7, 1998). Closer to reality. The Wall Street Journal, p. R8. Tauber, E. M. (1972). Why do people shop? Journal of Marketing, 36(Oct.), 46-59. Tedeschi, B. (1999). Using discounts to build a client base (May 31), [WWW]. The New York Times on the Web. Available:http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/cyber/commerce/31commerce. html [1999, May 31]. About the Authors
Dr. Hairong Li is an assistant professor of advertising and a research associate of the MIND (Media, Interface, and Network Design) Lab at Michigan State University. He specializes in interactive advertising and has conducted research on online shopping behavior, effectiveness of web banner ads, targeting in interactive advertising, methodological issues of Internet research, measuring Internet access, and impact of sponsorship on perceived credibility of health websites. His recent research projects include perceived intrusiveness of online advertising and shopping experience in virtual marketspace. His research has appeared in journals and conference proceedings, and he has been interviewed and quoted on Internet advertising by local and national news media including The Washington Post. Address:Michigan State University, Department of Advertising, East Lansing, MI 48824

Dr. Cheng Kuo is currently a professor in the Department of Advertising at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She has been receiving grants to support her research in the area of Internet advertising and on-line marketing. Her other research interests include consumer socialization, consumer culture, and organizational behaviors of advertising practitioners. She received her Master's degree in Mass Communication at Boston University and her Ph.D. degree in Communication Studies from The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has taught in universities both in the U.S. and in Taiwan since 1986 Address:National Chengchi University, Department of Advertising, Taipei, Taiwan Martha G. Russell is Founder and President, ClickinResearch, and Assistant Dean for Technology at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. She has researched, developed and marketed consumer products and services; she leads the Clickin team at ClickinResearch, formerly Connect Consultants International, Inc., in researching the Internet mediaspace and marketplace. Dr. Russell has led industry-university research consortia in engineering research and product development endeavors in the fields of microelectronics, information sciences, agriculture, and manufacturing. She has also developed post secondary and professional curriculum for the online environment, and has authored many professional articles, which have been translated in several languages. Address:College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

78712

Fear of data misuse:

Although many people have been online-shopping for years the fear of the misuse of personal data remains. A recent study of the German company Fittkau and Maa shows, that concerns about data security still are an important issue when people use the internet for their shopping. According to the study there is almost no difference between the experienced users and the internet newcomers. Find out more about consumer behaviour in online-shops. Here are some facts: More than half (56%) of the internet users are afraid of the misuse of their personal data when they shop online. The result of the user analysis WB3 that was based on a poll asked 121233 German speaking respondants questions about their online-shopping behaviour. Number one of the worst fears of onlinecustomers is the fear of transfer of data and receiving unwanted newsletters from third parties. The second place was taken by bad customer ratings (45%) and third place by unsecure payment methods (43%). Clear communication of the methods of data protection One of the interesting results of the study was that the experienced online-users (59%) had more concerns of their personal data being misused than the newcomers. 79% of the respondents said that they consider an online-shops safe when the adequacy of Data protection clearly communicated in the shop. It is a fact that hardly anyone believes in the security of personal data in the internet. Only one in ten persons believes that the online-shop follows the Data protection laws but two thirds think that companies misuse their data for advertising. Looking at these facts it is no surprise that people prefer to use pseudonyms instead of their real name. 27 % percent of the respondents admitted having used false names in the internet. Even when registering online people dont like to give away their details. The reason given by most people was the fear of data misuse. One out of five users admitted having used false names when registering on websites. 66% percent said that they had used false names in order to prevent receiving unwanted e-mails. 62% percent said they were afraid of their data being sold to third parties. Conclusion Data protection is an important issue for many consumers. In order to increase the trust that people have in a website e-tailers should have clear communication on their website about how personal data is handled in their online-shop. There are different sources of trust that people consider when shopping online. It can be a strong brand name of a well known bricks and mortar business that is also selling online or a recommendation of friends, collegues or family member that works as source of trust. A trustmark like the Trusted Shops seal of approval can increase the trust people have in a website because it works as an inmdependant source of trust. The Trusted Shops accreditation protocol contains more than 100 criteria a shop has to fulfil in order to display the Trusted Shops trustmark on its website. About 20 % per cent of the criteria are about data protection and data security. In this context it is important to note that the Trusted Shops criteria set a higher standard of Data Protection than provided by law in the Data Protection Act and the e-Privacy Regulations. Communicating this together with the display of Trusted Shops trustmark in your online-shop can help to build trust and confidence in your shop and eventuallywill help to turn visitors of your online-shop into customers. If you want to find out more about the Legally compliant sample texts, the Trusted Shops test specifications with more than 100 criteria and the Accreditation procedure click here.

The impact of geographic context on e-shopping behavior Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info

Fang Ren Mei-Po Kwan

Abstract

Recent studies have examined what factors affect the adoption of eshopping (electronic shopping), why people adopt e-shopping, and what changes in activity travel patterns will occur as a response to e-shopping. Very few studies to date, however, have investigated the impact of geographic context on peoples e-shopping behavior. This study reexamines the explanatory factors that are related to peoples e-shopping patterns through a study of the Columbus Metropolitan Area, OH. It focuses on the effect of accessibility to local shops and the residential context on the adoption of eshopping and the frequency of buying online. Using an activity Internet diary dataset, the results suggest that people with lower levels of accessibility to local shopping opportunities are more likely to engage in e-shopping, since the Internet enhances the efficiency of shopping by providing more product information and by eliminating the need of travel in the physical world. Further, people who live in areas with a white majority are more likely to adopt eshopping. The magnitude of the impact of these context factors on e-shopping, however, is quite small.
Download Info

To download: If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the FileFormat links below. In case of further problems readthe IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Top of Form

File URL: http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=b34014t File Format: text/html File Function: abstract Download Restriction: Fulltext access restricted to subscribers, see http://www.envplan.co.uk/B.html for details File URL: http://www.envplan.com/epb/fulltext/b36/b34014t.pdf File Format: application/pdf File Function: main text Download Restriction: Fulltext access restricted to subscribers, see http://www.envplan.co.uk/B.html for details
dow nload the selected file

Bottom of Form

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info

Article provided by Pion Ltd, London in its journal Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design. Volume (Year): 36 (2009) Issue (Month): 2 (March) Pages: 262-278
http://upm.academia.edu/NargesDelafrooz/Papers/187598/Students_Online_Shoppin g_Behavior_An_Empirical_Study
The ever-increasing use of the internet in Malaysia provides a developing prospect for E-marketers. Such marketers' awareness of the factors affecting Malaysian buyers attitude can further develop their marketing strategies in converting potential customers into active ones, while maintaining their existent online customers. This paper sets out to examine the factors influencing students attitudes towards online shopping in Malaysia through a five-level Likert scale self-administered questionnaire, which was developed based on prior literature. A total of 370 students were randomly selected. The multiple regression analysis demonstrated the most significant determinants of consumers attitudes towards online shopping. The results indicated that utilitarian orientation, convenience, price, and a wider selection influenced consumers attitudes towards online shopping. Therefore, e-retailers should emphasize a more user-friendly function in order to provide utilitarian customers a way to find what they need efficiently

http://www.tut.fi/units/tuta/tita/eBRC/eBRC_RR7.pdf

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org %2Fiel5%2F4801868%2F4809346%2F04809533.pdf%3Farnumber %3D4809533&authDecision=-203

This paper appears in: Advanced Communication Technology, 2009. ICACT 2009. 11th International Conference on Issue Date: 15-18 Feb. 2009 Volume: 03 On page(s): 2276 - 2282 Location: Phoenix Park ISSN: 1738-9445 Print ISBN: 978-89-5519-138-7 INSPEC Accession Number: 10587317 Date of Current Version: 03 April 2009

ABSTRACT In this study, we conducted extensive reviews of online shopping literatures and proposed a hierarchy model of online shopping behavior. We collected 47 studies and classified them by variables used. Some critical points were found that research framework, methodology, and lack of cross-cultural comparison, etc So we developed a cross-cultural model of online shopping including shopping value, attitudes to online retailer's attributes and online purchasing based on the integrated V-A-B model.

http://mediatatva.com/2010/10/12/importance-of-various-factors-affecting-online-shoppingbehavior/

Importance of various factors affecting online shopping behavior

Posted by mediatatva on Oct 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment

1digg
Share

Digg Digg

The popularity of e-commerce websites has grown by leaps and bounds due to due to convenient and enhanced shopping experience. Online purchasing of goods, both expensive and cheap, is prevalent to a much larger extent in recent years. This survey aims at gauging the level of importance of various factors affecting online shopping behavior. The age group was divided between age 21 to 40 years and 70% respondents were male . Around 40% of respondents told that they buy stuff online once in 3 months while 23% of respondents told that theybuy once in a month.

Online shopping and its users

Posted by mediatatva on Jan 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment

1digg
Share

Digg Digg

1.

2. 3. 4.

In his book Andrew Chak has described web users in four types Browsers Evaluators Transactors Customers He said
The focus is the task that users wish to accomplish at a given point in time. When users are just starting out as browsers, designers will want to make it easy for users to gather information. Later, when those users are transactors and ready to buy, designers will want to provide quick access to completing a transaction. By focusing on these four stages of decisionmaking, designers can create sites that move users forward through the transaction process.

Every Online shopping site sould designed and developed not only to satisfy these four customers but also to help them reach next level. For Browsers Product categorization Ease of navigation Improved search result Filters for search results Sitemap Featured Brands Improved Site Aesthetics (Colors, Fonts, Whitespaces, Button Sizes) Easy registration (Facebook Connect) For Evaluators In depth product description/product Specification for comparison Persuasive Imagery (Product images from various angles) Product Demo Video Display of Free Gifts/Offers Display of Social Proof (Customer reviews, recommendations, rating, Likes) Live Chat Support For Transactors Information about buying options Showing shipping charges Easy checkout process Displaying Related/Cross-selling products Displaying recommended products w.r.t. other customers purchases For Customers Loyalty Program Discount Coupons Customized but Automated Product Recommendations (Mails) depending on purchase habits Special Product Pricing

Price Drop Alerts Increasing customer participation for reviews and testimonials

Age, gender and income: do they really moderate online shopping behaviour?
Document Information: Title: Age, gender and income: do they really moderate online shopping behaviour? Blanca Hernndez, (Department of Marketing and Business Studies, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain), Julio Jimnez, (Department of Marketing and Business Studies, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain), M. Jos Martn, (Department of Marketing and Business Studies, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain) Blanca Hernndez, Julio Jimnez, M. Jos Martn, (2011) "Age, gender and income: do they really moderate online shopping behaviour?", Online Information Review, Vol. 35 Iss: 1, pp.113 - 133 Age groups, Electronic commerce, Gender, Income, Internet shopping,Spain Research paper 10.1108/14684521111113614 (Permanent URL) Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Author(s):

Citation:

Keywords:

Article type: DOI: Publisher:

Acknowledgem The authors wish to express their gratitude for the ents: financial support received from the Spanish Government CICYT (ECO 2008-04704), the Aragn Regional Government (Geners S-09; DGA 138/08) and Catedra Telefonica of the University of Zaragoza (267-184). Abstract:

Purpose The objective of this paper is to analyse whether individuals' socioeconomic characteristics age, gender and income influence their online shopping behaviour. The individuals analysed are experienced e-shoppers i.e. individuals who often make purchases on the internet.

Design/methodology/approach The technology acceptance model was broadened to include previous use of the internet and perceived self-efficacy. The perceptions and behaviour of eshoppers are based on their own experiences. The information obtained has been tested using causal and multi-sample analyses. Findings The results show that socioeconomic variables moderate neither the influence of previous use of the internet nor the perceptions of e-commerce; in short, they do not condition the behaviour of the experienced e-shopper. Practical implications The results obtained help to determine that once individuals attain the status of experienced e-shoppers their behaviour is similar, independently of their socioeconomic characteristics. The internet has become a marketplace suitable for all ages and incomes and both genders, and thus the prejudices linked to the advisability of selling certain products should be revised. Originality/value Previous research related to the socioeconomic variables affecting e-commerce has been aimed at forecasting who is likely to make an initial online purchase. In contrast to the majority of existing studies, it is considered that the current development of the online environment should lead to analysis of a new kind of e-shopper (experienced purchaser), whose behaviour differs from that studied at the outset of this research field. The experience acquired with online shopping nullifies the importance of socioeconomic characteristics.

College students online CB:

college students have a strong interest in online trading, with theDevelopment of Information Technology and computers more widespread, the campusDevelopment of Electronic Commerce a much larger space. This paper analyzes the online shopping behavior of college students, college students shopping for building site foreground, and college students how to build shopping site suggested. 1 Introduction E-commerce with the Internet, open, global, low-cost, high efficiency characteristics, has been widely used all sectors. At present the proportion of college students in more than 50% of the Internet, they are fashion, electronics, digital, images, cultural products, a powerful consumer group is also China's present and future of major consumer groups, online shopping. However, the face of such a huge consumer market, at present does not focus on the area of the campus e-commerce company, there is no one specifically for college students of colleges and universities online shopping sites, this paper analyzes the characteristics of college students online shopping behavior, and the building of college students made shopping siteAdvice . Second, college students online consumer behavior analysis Through online Research shows that college students for the current major consumer of China's Internet shopping groups, groups of consumer behavior of college students generally have the following characteristics: 1. The pursuit of individuality, self-expression of consumer psychology College students are imaginative, like the innovation, there is a strong curiosity, they have chosen is no longer just the practical value of commodities, but also to be different, fully embody the individual's own value, which has become their consumption the primary criterion. The online shopping is a positive intention for personal consumption from the action, online virtual store a unique shopping environment so that students can businesses according to their own wishes to challenge, in the consumer fully express themselves.

2. The pursuit of convenient, fast consumer psychology Treat time as payment for the modern young people, in the shopping in the immediate, convenient, readily become even more important. Traditional commodity selection process for a short while a few minutes or as long as several hours, plus round-trip journey time, consuming a lot of time consumers, energy, and Internet shopping made up for this drawback. 3. The pursuit of affordable consumer psychology Online store than traditional stores, it enables students to a more direct understanding of commodities, can be carefully selected and shop around. Whenever students have entered the site, you can easily access all product Information and prices, and thus through the links for quick access to consumers that Web site to complete the shopping, this online shopping to meet college students to pursue affordable psychology. 4. The pursuit of fashion goods consumer psychology New things are emerging in modern society, college students in this trend is driven by consumer sentiment, stability, lower conversion speed on the psychological and social synchronization, reflected in the consumer behavior and purchasing need to keep abreast to the latest products, and thus choose to shop online. Third, the building of the prospect of college students shopping site At present, China is carrying out online colleges and universities plan to achieve the campus network model, with the era of digital campus, ecommerce has become theInformation age students to facilitate a pArt of life, online shopping environments in the future will be more mature and complete, the campus e-business Development space become more extensive. In addition, the campus is relatively closed, consumer groups, is relatively concentrated, targeted, Marketing more effective than other markets, good effect, while the market is also relatively low operating costs. As the market-oriented segmentation, the students grasp of consumer fashion, the pursuit of cost-effective and easy-induced psychological, demonstration effects, etc. Features of consumption for the campus e-commerce development. Campus Market has become a merchant location to enter the market early will be irreplaceable competitive advantages.

4, shopping sites building strategies of college students

1. For college students, market segmentation College students participating in online trading value of the different factors that can make use of various factors on the breakdown of student groups, such as by academic qualifications can be divided into: post-graduate, undergraduate, vocational students; according to the professional can be divided into: Engineering profession, in sciences, arts or professional. 2. To establish a platform for personalized Now college students, advocating individuality, therefore, the product trading platform in the purchase, store and display settings should be personalized enough, it is necessary and convenient, but also by setting aside a certain space, so that consumers and on-line shop to dress themselves to solve the problem. Reposted elsewhere in the paper for free download 3. Pay attention to logistics and distribution, play to the network edge The network has the advantage of time and price, college students are no exception, should attach great importance to the efficiency of order processing, logistics and distribution, and to continue to communicate with students to fit the students to solve such problems. 4. Note that payment of the safe, convenient University students should be actively searching for a practical method of payment, many students were willing to use online banking, and most of them in favor of cash on delivery, so the corresponding Internet payment platform for the development should be seriously considering the development of efficient and secure online payment methods a good. 5. In a targeted manner to step up publicity to increase the impact Often stArt from the knowledge of consumer behavior, therefore, should focus on targeted groups of college students to carry out propaganda, you can often read newspapers and magazines and listen to radio programs on the promotion, you can also put up posters on campus to hold Association, etc. activities more directly to the face of organized group activities of college students will have good results. 6. Strengthening after-sales service Through the establishment of a set of effective monitoring and feedback processes, and an efficient after-sales service team, in the platform to create a dedicated space for traders to make evaluation to enable students to exchange, can achieve the purpose of promotional products, but also Sometimes, to solve some of the problems.

7. To establish a good corporate Culture To establish a good, easy to accept the corporate Culture is to promote consumer acceptance and repeat purchase of the most powerful weapon, college students in youth flying, advocating individuality, therefore, easier to motivate people to establish some positive forging ahead in the culture, we can have full access to student recognition. 5 Conclusion As the network Technology and communication technology, it is believed that in the near future, as long as the enterprises can apply effective online Marketing Strategy for the development of the campus e-commerce, the campus online shopping shop this way, it will be an increasing number of college students accepted by the campus market, there are even broader space for development. References: [1] Zhang Weidong: Network Marketing [M]. Beijing: Electronic Industry Press, 2007. (2) [2] Zhang Xiaoqin Lu Yonghe: Based on the shopping site competitive intelligence analysis [J]. Beijing: Electronic Commerce, 2007. (10) [3] Peng Hui Fang Chi-yun, the network Marketing business website building Strategy[J]. Beijing: the Computer age, 2006. (8) [4] Shao Bing at home: E-Commerce Introduction to [M]. Beijing: Higher EducationPress, 2006. (10) reposted elsewhere in the paper for free download The French Emperor Napoleon I famously called the British a nation of shopkeepers. The reason for this quote: LAngleterre est une nation de boutiquiers was because Napoleon thought Britain was unfit to fight against the military might of France and was cocking a snook. Napoleon was wrong, of course, and his arrogant underestimation of the British ultimately proved his downfall. But if Old Boney were alive now, and looking at the data from this chart, hed be right in stating that: Britain is a nation of online shoppers. And hed have to admit that France is not far behind. The recent comScore data derived from European Internet behaviour shows that in the month of January this year an average UK online shopper spent 84.1 minutes visiting retail websites. French online shoppers were just behind at 83.2 minutes. Its interesting to see that the British and French online shoppers spent considerably more time than the average Europeans 52.4 minutes. The Belgians came last, spending just under half an hour 29.7 minutes visiting retail websites. What is remarkable, however, as the pie chart demonstrates, is that across Europe people spend the greatest amount of time online shopping for clothing. The clothing sector, (often called apparel in the United States), has been a surprising e-commerce success. In the early days of e-commerce online purchases were limited to low cost, and easily despatched, items like books, CDs and DVDs. Clothing, and particularly fashion clothing, was considered to be an impossible product category to sell online primarily because of the perceived need to try-on garments or shoes before purchase. How wrong this turned out to be. In the UK in 2010, for example, eBays fashion revenues were 10% higher than any other area of its e-commerce sales. As the data in the pie chart confirms, shoppers want to buy clothes online, particularly in Europe. The e-commerce giant, Amazon, built its success on low cost staple products like books and CDs. In fact, it started trading solely as a bookstore in 1995 and it wasnt until 11 years later, in 2006, that it finally responded to the rapid growth of the online fashion sector by purchasing Shopbop.com. In

the last month (April 2011) the Shopbop website has undergone a major redesign, but unfortunately it still only offers free returns to customers in the United States and not to Europeans. This is surprising as Amazons usually on the ball. It must know that its been the free returns policy that has been the key driver behind the exponential increase of online fashion purchases as it overcomes the inconvenience of not being able to try on a garment before buying it. In fact free returns have been a major contributor to the rapid growth of popular online fashion retailers like asos.com. It also clearly helps the online clothes sales of established high street stores like Monsoon. Perhaps its only the supermarket clothing brands like George at ASDA (Wal*Mart), or stores like Marks & Spencer, which have less need to offer free delivery for returning unsatisfactory garments: With a multiplicity of stores there is always somewhere within a comparatively short distance where the garment can be returned for a swap or a refund. Typically, clothing return rates can run at 10%-30% of sales, so providing free returns is a major cost for online retailers but they clearly make enough profit to cover it. So until Amazons Shopbop starts offering free returns on clothes, I dont expect it to be a great success in Europe.