EDITOR'S COMMENTS

ABSTRACT

The key to improving pricing methods lies in establishing a clear relationship between the price paid by customers and the value received. A company's understanding of how a decision in its pricing policy will affect the perceptions its potential consumers will have of these prices, is fundamental if it wishes to make sure that its offer is properly perceived. Thus, if companies identify the rules used by purchasers to price their products, they will be successful in getting the objective signal they send via their communication strategies to be perceived in the desired manner. This analysis shows that both monetary and non-monetary costs are considered by consumers when determining the final cost perception associated with the acquisition of a good, and that the understanding of the internal reference price is essential for determining the nominal price effect on the monetary component of total sacrifice.     

Characteristics of Internet Users and Their Privacy Concerns

Abstract

Concern about the privacy of online consumers is a global issue. Given the global nature of the Internet, companies planning and implementing e-commerce must understand the differences in privacy concerns of consumers in different cultures with different social/economic contexts to become effective in business. Motivated by this need, this study analyzes and compares the privacy concerns of online consumers in China and the United States, identifies major factors related to these concerns, and discusses the cultural/social/economic backgrounds of the related phenomena found in the study.     

E-Commerce Consumer Perceptions Regarding On-line Shopping

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey exploring the perceptions of e-commerce consumers regarding the benefits and concerns of shopping on-line. Implications for the industry, site development, operational issues and customer service are presented.     

How Online Product Reviews Affect Retail Sales: A Meta-analysis

A growing body of research has emerged on online product reviews and their ability to elicit performance outcomes desired by retailers; yet, a common understanding of the performance implications of online product reviews has eluded us. Scholars continue to navigate an array of studies assessing different design elements of online product reviews, and various research settings and data sources. We undertake a meta-analysis of 26 empirical studies yielding 443 sales elasticities to examine how these variables relate to retail sales. Building on well-established meta-analytical methods, we address the following questions: How does review valence influence the elasticity of retailer sales? What about review volume? For which product types and usage situations do online product reviews have a greater impact on retailer sales elasticity? Which types of online reviewers and websites exert the greatest influence on retailer sales elasticity? Our study answers these important questions and provides a much needed quantitative synthesis of this burgeoning stream of research.     

Exploring Consumers' Perceptions of Online Credit Card Theft

Abstract

Retailers offer consumers assurances and attempt to allay their fears over using their credit card for online transactions. Consumers, however, may not be reacting to these assurances. This exploratory study examines how consumers assess the risks associated with using their credit card online. Results of this study support the notion that consumers assess risk in a multi-dimensional manner. Consumers may be concerned with the possibility of losing many forms of resources (such as financial and time).     

Choice in Computer-Mediated Environments

In the last several years, the increased diffusion of computer andtelecommunications technologies in businesses and homes has produced newways for organizations to connect with their customers. These computermediated environments (CMEs) such as the World Wide Web raise new researchquestions. In this paper, we examine the potential research issuesassociated with CMEs in five areas: (1) decision processes, (2) advertisingand communications, (3) brand choice, (4) brand communities, and (5)pricing.     

The Effect of Internet Expertise on Offline Expectations

ABSTRACT

Because the Internet enhances consumer control over online marketing transactions, more expert web users are hypothesized to generalize this web expertise to their expectations of offline service encounters. This hypothesis is supported for consumers with moderate web expertise as compared to those with little web expertise. However, web users with high levels of expertise have lower expectations of offline encounters than those with moderate expertise. The lower expectations of the most expert web users are likely to be due to a lower level of involvement with offline service encounter, a greater awareness and use of online information by the most expert, and possibly a greater propensity to distinguish between online and offline encounters.     

Consumer Perceptions of a Potential Fresh Ground Beef and Poultry Product

Abstract

Consumer concerns with the consumption of fat and cholesterol have encouraged many to seek alternatives to regular ground beef. A sample of Louisiana households was surveyed by mail to examine the willingness of consumers to purchase a blended fresh ground beef and poultry product relative to alternative ground products. Multinomial logit analysis was used to analyze the data. The important variables in the Yes versus No purchase decision for the blended product were: beef is one of the household's two most popular fresh meats, the household had consumed hamburger during the last month, the respondent had mixed the two products in the home, age, single adult head, and Caucasian. Gender, children in the household, education, presence of a homemaker, and family income were less important variables.     

A model of adolescents' online consumer self-efficacy (OCSE)

This paper investigates adolescent online shopping and self-efficacy development in the virtual setting. The authors present and test a model of antecedents and mediators to two dimensions of online consumer self-efficacy. Additionally, a discriminant analysis finds that more involved adolescent online shoppers can be differentiated from less involved online shoppers on key variables of interest-shopping motivations, self-efficacies, shopping behaviors, and relative influence in household decision-making.     

大数据时代网络口碑如何影响消费者行为

本文从评判、真伪、发起者、表达形式、点评数量与评分五个维度全面分析网络口碑对消费者行为的影响.研究发现,正面的、真实的、表达形式多样的消费者式口碑及口碑数量多和评分高的网络口碑都能有效地促进消费者的购买,而负面的、虚假的、形式单一的、商家式口碑及口碑数量少和评分低的网络口碑都易转移消费者的购买.进一步,本文针对分析的结...     

Hedonic and utilitarian shopping goals: The online experience

Marketers offering Web-based shopping typically try to provide a convenient, safe, and pleasant online environment, appropriate to addressing shoppers' functional goals. They might also try to create an experience that encourages more escapist elements of “flow”, a sense of deep involvement that is intrinsically enjoyable, because they assume that this enhanced experience leads to more online buying. The present research suggests that utilitarian flow elements that facilitate shopping may indeed increase purchasing. However, hedonic elements of flow are found to be unrelated to online buying, although they are positively related to outcomes associated with pathological Internet use.     

Expanding opportunities for online shoppers with disabilities

The Internet promises many opportunities for consumers who shop online. While prior studies identify problems with online access for persons with disabilities, research has not examined whether consumers with disabilities shop online similarly to persons who are not disabled. The study attempts to fill this gap in two unique ways. First, this paper specifically considers the frequency of online shopping, the amount spent, and reasons for shopping online among both disabled and non-disabled persons. In addition, the study groups persons with disabilities into six major categories according to disability type rather than aggregating into one general category. Telephone surveys of 1053 persons reveal both differences and similarities that suggest opportunities for improving online access and developing a richer understanding of the online shopping motivations and needs of persons with disabilities.     

Comparing the impacts of Internet technology and national culture on online usage and purchase from a four-country perspective

The Internet has successfully generated an ever-expanding cohort of users for all its major concomitant activities, including information gathering, communications and transactions. So far no attempt has been made to validate whether such a success is so deep as to transcend national cultures. Nor any work has been conducted to compare the internationalisation¹ performances between online usage activities. The current study addresses these two research gaps from the perspective of four countries, i.e. Britain, Germany, Japan and Taiwan. Results show that although the technological forces have been quite successful in internationalising overall online usage activities, they succumb to the cultural forces as far as only the transactions activity, or more colloquially online purchase, is concerned. This indicates the relative difficulty in internationalising online purchase vis-à-vis other online usage activities. Further research on locating a series of step functions or kick-off time points regarding the development of online purchase is suggested.     

Identifying the determinants of online retail patronage: A perceived-risk perspective

The literature has examined the determinants of retail patronage from various perspectives, however, its online counterpart has received less attention. This study adapts a perceived-risk perspective to identify the antecedents of online retailers’ service quality and subsequent online patronage behavior. In addition, the contextual role of security concerns is also examined. Data were collected from online shoppers, and PLS-SEM was used for analysis. The results indicate that product quality, price transparency, and website convenience are positively associated with service quality. In addition, security concerns negatively moderate the relationship between service quality and online retail patronage. Implications for research and managers are discussed.     

Consumer transactions with SMEs: implications for consumer scholars

Historically, the consumer movement has defined business as big business. This paper proposes that we shift the focus to consumer transactions with small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). After SMEs are defined, facts about the realities of SMEs are used as stepping stones to develop the idea that consumer interactions with SMEs are different than those with large firms and merit the attention of consumer scholars. Thirteen recommendations are tendered for future research including rethinking our traditional approach to consumer behaviour theory, consumer policy, and consumer movement theory.