The fluent online shopping experience

Consumers increasingly use various Internet-enabled devices for online shopping; thus, a critical topic for both research and practice is the visual characteristics of the information presented in this medium. This study builds on fluency theory within an environmental psychology framework. Specifically, this research examines how consumers' perceived fluency of the verbal online information affects their perceived cognitive effort and positive affect within a choice context. The experimental results show that (1) perceptual fluency affects both cognitive effort and positive affect experienced during online shopping and (2) cognitive effort and positive affect influence judgments about the perceived decision quality of the choice made. This research is notable in its simultaneous (as opposed to consecutive) examination of the relationship among the three dimensions of processing fluency (perceptual fluency, positive affect, and cognitive effort) and their impact on consumers' choice satisfaction with an online shopping task.     

A contextual perspective on consumers' perceived usefulness: The case of mobile online shopping

This research aims to study the origins of consumers' usefulness perceptions through the example of mobile online shopping adoption in Europe. The results of an empirical study, which is grounded in technology acceptance theory, reveal the pivotal role of consumers' beliefs about the quality of mobile online stores in the formation of usefulness perceptions prior to adoption. While this study identifies that consumers form their usefulness evaluations depending on the respective shopping tasks, the results of a moderation analysis yield usefulness predictors that differ in relevance across product categories and shopping touchpoints. This contextual perspective has implications for both adoption and (online) channel research. It also helps managers to identify starting points on how to promote (mobile) online shopping adoption.     

The role of product brand image and online store image on perceived risks and online purchase intentions for apparel

Purchase intentions for apparel products often require physical examination prior to purchase. Hence, greater risk is associated with shopping online for apparel products, making it important to examine factors that reduce various risks influencing online purchase intentions. This study examines and compares the impact of two of the most important risk reducers for online apparel shopping – product brand image and online store image – on specific types of perceived risks and online purchase intentions for apparel. The results show that product brand image influences consumers' online purchase intentions both directly and indirectly by reducing various risk perceptions. Online store image impacts purchase intentions indirectly by decreasing risk perceptions. The results of this study provide fresh insight into understanding the impact of product brand image and online store image on each type of perceived risk associated with online shopping.     

Understanding the intention to use mobile shopping applications and its influence on price sensitivity

This study employs an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of diffusion of innovations (DOI) to understand the intention to use mobile commerce applications for shopping purposes. The variables—perceived enjoyment, perceived risk and personal innovativeness—were added to the original model. The price sensitivity criterion was predicted using the variables—perceived risk, personal innovativeness, satisfaction and the intention to use. An online questionnaire was circulated nationwide through email to verified e-commerce users and a sample of 675 respondents was taken for analysis through structural equation modeling approach. Gender, experience and frequency of using mobile shopping applications were used as moderators for all relationships. Findings of this study reveal that personal innovativeness and perceived risk play a major role in deciding the intention to use mobile shopping applications. Users who are highly innovative and with a higher intention to use mobile shopping applications are less sensitive to price. Various managerial implications including applications to differential pricing, improving adoption pace and segmenting consumers to design marketing strategies are discussed.     

Effects of perceived interactivity of augmented reality on consumer responses: A mental imagery perspective

As the use of technological features is becoming more common in digital retailing, retailers have adopted augmented reality (AR) solutions to help consumers browse their products. This study examines dimensions of perceived interactivity after experiencing shopping with AR and investigates the relationships between perceived interactivity and mental imagery and between mental imagery and other consumer responses in a mobile shopping context. A total of 302 female online consumers in South Korea participated in a survey. After shopping cosmetic products with the AR function in a mobile app, participants completed the questionnaire. The findings reveal that the controllability and playfulness dimensions of perceived interactivity influence mental imagery, which, in turn, affects consumers' attitudes toward a product and their behavioral intentions. The relationship between perceived interactivity and mental imagery differs based on an individual's involvement level. These results provide practical insights for digital retailers in creating effective mobile shopping environments.     

The effect of shopping goals and in-store mobile device use on purchase outcomes in brick-and-mortar stores

The present study examines the effect of using a mobile device on search and evaluation by a shopper in a brick-and-mortar store. A conceptual model that proposes inter-relationships between shopping goals, the amount and type of in-store mobile device use, and purchase outcomes is developed. Data from a national quota sample of 1034 mobile shoppers is used to test hypotheses derived from the proposed model. The findings provide several new insights into the impact of in-store mobile device use on the consumer decision journey in a brick-and-mortar store. Depending upon the shopping goals of the consumer, the use of a mobile device by shoppers in a brick-and-mortar store can either decrease or increase search, lead to more deferred purchases or in-store-now purchases, and more online or physical store purchases. The study is among the first to model the pathway to purchase for mobile device assisted shoppers in brick-and-mortar stores.     

The Role of Logo Recoloring on Perceptual Fluency in Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns

Abstract

This article investigates the influence of brand esthetics on consumer response to cause-related marketing campaigns. Drawing on brand visual identity and advertising research, a processing fluency perspective is explored in the relationship between stimulus characteristics and consumer judgment. Processing fluency suggests color enhances the ease with which consumers recognize and process brand elements, and more broadly, cause-related marketing campaigns. Brand logos were recolored to enhance the perceptual fluency of the two entities. Its joint effect with conceptual congruence (e.g., fit) indicate that both low and high fit brands benefit from enhanced processing fluency, with a more robust outcome for high fit brands. These effects were mediated by logo evaluation, leading to a new path of fit perceptions in CRM initiatives.     

Perceptions of assortment variety: The effects of congruency between consumers’ internal and retailers’ external organization

This research shows that consumers’ perceptions of variety and satisfaction are dependent upon how the assortment is organized, both internally by the consumer and externally by the retailer. The results of three laboratory studies indicate that for familiar categories, congruency between a consumer's internal categorization structure and the external store layout leads to higher perceptions of variety and higher satisfaction with product choices, while for unfamiliar product categories, congruency between shopping goals and external structure leads to lower perceptions of variety but increased satisfaction with the store's assortment. However, if retailers institute external category filters congruent with consumers’ internal shopping goals that allow them to bypass products, consumers have both lower variety perceptions and satisfaction with the assortment offering.     

An experimental study to investigate the impact of image interactivity on the perception of luxury in an online shopping context

The current study investigates whether image interactivity can positively influence luxury perceptions in a virtual shopping environment, by offering shoppers a feeling of telepresence. 185 respondents were referred to either an image interactive or non-interactive virtual luxury store and completed an online questionnaire afterwards to measure their luxury perception. The results of this study show that image interactivity leads to higher perceptions of exclusivity, quality, hedonism and extended self due to a higher perceived telepresence. This study offers some guidelines for luxury brands to retain their luxury perception high in a virtual shopping environment.     

The Influence of Consumers’ Cognitive and Psychographic Traits on Perceived Deception: A Comparison Between Online and Offline Retailing Contexts

In this article, we examine the role of several consumers’ cognitive and psychographic traits in their perceptions of retailers’ deceptive practices (perceived deception) and the different effects on perceived deception associated with online vis-à-vis in-store shopping. Building on theoretical models of persuasion in consumer behavior, we hypothesize that the antecedents of perceived deception in traditional settings are the same as those on the Internet, while the intensity of the impact of these antecedents differs between the online and the offline environment. Results suggest that the effects of individual’s cognitive traits (Internet-based information search and perceived Internet usefulness) and risk aversion on perceived deception are more relevant when consumers shop online than when they purchase from traditional stores. Conversely, psychographic traits (shopping enjoyment and materialism) play a more important role in explaining perceived deception in the traditional shopping context as compared to the online channel. Several theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these findings.     

Search,purchase, and satisfaction in a multiple-channel environment: How have mobile devices changed consumer behaviors?

The rapid adoption of smartphones and increasing reliance on the mobile Internet is influencing consumers’ shopping behavior with traditional Internet devices (e.g., desktop and laptop computers) and in stores. This research examines the effects of consumer perceptions of channels (i.e., mobile devices, computers, and offline stores) on their choices of search channels, purchase channel, and satisfaction level with the purchase channel. Using survey data from a sample of U.S. consumers, we find supplemental effects of mobile devices on computers do not alter the traditional substitution relationship between computers and stores during the search. The cross-channel effects indicate that perceived purchase benefits and costs of stores affect the purchase channel selection of mobile devices and computers, respectively. Satisfaction levels were highest when purchases were made on mobile devices. The insights from this study can help managers increase the effectiveness of advertising in different media and target distinct segments of consumers who rely on multiple channels for search and purchase.     

Perceived Product Sizes in Visually Complex Environments

Although prior scholarship has demonstrated important effects of visual complexity on product perceptions, the relationship between the visual complexity of a product’s environment and that product’s perceived size remains unexplored. Because size is such an important product characteristic in many consumer contexts, the lack of exploration of this relationship leaves a significant gap in the literature on size perceptions, especially in relation to the retailing domain. The present investigation seeks to document the relationship between environmental visual complexity and the perceived size of a product. Namely, five studies show that high visual complexity decreases consumer size perceptions of a focal product through a serial mediation process in which high complexity pulls consumer attention away from the focal product. This shifted attention decreases processing fluency and leads consumers to perceptually minimize size to avoid information overload in the processing of a display. Even after ruling out potential influences of referent information (study 5) and alternative explanations of affective processing and perceived depth (study 4), these effects hold. The findings have implications for both theory and practice, shedding light on the relationship between size perceptions of a focal object and its environment.     

Why Do Consumers Go Internet Shopping Again? Understanding the Antecedents of Repurchase Intention

Consumer intention of reusing online websites for shopping is a major consequence for an electronic commerce company's profitability. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence online customers' repurchase intentions is of great importance to the EC companies. Drawing on specific dimensions of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), Information Systems continuance model, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and empirical findings from prior studies as antecedents, the related factors were adapted and integrated within the context of Internet shopping repurchase intentions and were tested in a field study. Empirical data for hypotheses testing were collected from the online virtual store of 7-ELEVEN in Taiwan, yielding 444 valid samples. The results show that online consumer repurchase intention is determined by satisfaction, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and Internet shopping self-efficacy. Satisfaction is influenced by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, confirmation, and positive Internet shopping experience. Perceived usefulness, in turn, is influenced by behavior modeling, positive Internet shopping experience, Internet shopping self-efficacy, and confirmation. Confirmation is affected by positive Internet shopping experience and behavior modeling. In addition, confirmation has significant effects on perceived ease of use. Finally, positive Internet shopping experience appeared to have a significant impact on Internet shopping self-efficacy. From the empirical data, meaningful findings and conclusions are derived, and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Mobile shopping intensity: Consumer demographics and motivations

PurposeTo investigate how consumer demographics and motivations may influence their mobile shopping intensity.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was developed to collect data using SurveyMonkey's online shopper panel. The final sample consisted of 937 mobile shoppers. Linear regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses.FindingsConsumers' education and income levels significantly increase their number of mobile purchases, their frequency of purchases, and the amount of money spent on mobile purchases. Males have been found to spend more on mobile shopping than females, while younger people made more mobile purchases than older people. This study also identifies six types of motivations that drive consumers’ mobile shopping intensity, including convenience seeking, bargain hunting, enjoyment seeking, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and innovativeness.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research may examine additional motivational measures and situational factors and conduct cross-cultural studies.Practical implicationsFindings from this study can help businesses develop their mobile shopping strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study to investigate how consumer demographics and motivations may influence their mobile shopping intensity.     

感知风险理论在网上购物中的应用

感知风险理论几十年的发展证明其在解释消费者行为方面的适用性。国外相关研究显示:消费者对风险的感知是阻碍其网上购物的一个重要因素。本文分析了消费者对网上购物的风险感知情况,包括网上购物感知风险的概念,感知的风险类型、风险表现及风险来源,并提出了降低风险的建议。     

The impact of “e-atmospherics” on physical stores

Marketing literature abounds with discussions of the importance of environmental and atmospheric variables for determining the consumer shopping experience. Through a field a study conducted in a toy brand flagship store, this research studies the effects of using two technologies in a physical toy store (magic mirror with augmented reality, interactive game terminals) on holistic perceptions of store atmospherics, affective reactions, and perceived shopping values, which should have consequences for satisfaction and patronage intentions. These results offer an initial exploration of the effect of new technologies on shopping experiences in physical stores; they confirm that digital in-store technologies and generalized multichannel consumer behaviors reduce boundaries between classical in-store atmospherics and e-atmospherics.     

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivators for usage continuance of hedonic mobile apps

This study explores intrinsic (i.e., perceived enjoyment, perceived involvement) and extrinsic motivator (i.e., perceived usefulness, convenience, perceived ease of use) for usage continuance of hedonic mobile applications (apps). Satisfaction serves as an important link between motivators and continued willingness to use, therefore its effect was analysed through mediation. Data was collected through an online survey and a total of 720 valid responses were received. Results showed that intrinsic motivators had a significant effect on continued willingness to use (CWU) and extrinsic motivators on satisfaction for hedonic mobile apps. Extrinsic motivators strongly mediate the relationship between intrinsic motivators and satisfaction. Factors related to viewing patterns (i.e., viewing frequency, viewing time) and demographic factors (i.e., age, education) moderated relationships in the model. This study provides significant theoretical and practical implications for researchers in the domain of mobile applications. The study introduces convenience as a determinant of satisfaction and validates the existence of duality for dimensions of motivators.     

Supermarket consumers and gender differences relating to their perceived importance levels of store characteristics

Family grocery shopping is the accepted domain of women; however, modern social and demographic movements challenge traditional gender roles within the family structure. Men now engage in grocery shopping more freely and frequently, yet the essence of male shopping behaviour and beliefs present an opportunity for examination. This research identifies specific store characteristics, investigates the perceived importance of those characteristics and explores gender, age and income differences that may exist. A random sample collection methodology involving 280 male and female grocery shoppers was selected. Results indicated significant statistical differences between genders based on perceptions of importance of most store characteristics. Overall, male grocery shoppers considered supermarket store characteristics less important than female shoppers. Income did not affect shoppers' level of associated importance; however respondents' age, education and occupation influenced perceptions of price, promotions and cleanliness.     

Eye-tracking customers' visual attention in the wild: Dynamic gaze behavior moderates the effect of store familiarity on navigational fluency

A retail store is a multi-sensory environment filled with messages to tempt customers into making unplanned purchases. The purpose of this field study was to examine the interplay between three factors claimed to precede and influence unplanned purchases: store familiarity, visual attention, and navigational fluency (the subjective ease of navigating). Eye-tracking recordings and post-study questionnaires from 100 grocery store shoppers showed that store familiarity was positively associated with navigational fluency. However, customers' levels of dynamic gaze behavior (a frequent, widely distributed viewing pattern) moderated this effect. Dynamic gaze behavior significantly predicted navigational fluency among customers with low and moderate store familiarity, but not among customers familiar with the store. These findings challenge the formerly held assumption that store familiarity automatically implies navigational ease, and store unfamiliarity implies navigational difficulty. The results have implications for navigational aspects in stores.     

On linking the perceived values of mobile shopping apps,customer well-being,and customer citizenship behavior: Moderating role of customer intimacy

Marketing studies that seek to determine the drivers of Customer Citizenship Behavior (CCB) are still relatively rare, especially for its multi-faceted relationship with perceived values in the context of online transactions. This study seeks to bridge this research gap by exploring the relationship between the perceived values of mobile shopping applications (MSApps) and CCB through perceived well-being based upon the social exchange theory. This study also makes another original contribution by investigating the moderating role of customer intimacy. A quantitative approach was adopted by collecting data through a web survey and then applying structural equation modelling, as well as cluster and multigroup analyses to test the proposed hypotheses. Perceived values were found to influence consumer well-being, thus predicting CCB, with consumer intimacy playing a significant moderating role in this relationship. This study is one of a few seeking to verify the drivers of CCB for MSApps, and it is the first of its kind to investigate consumer intimacy as a moderating factor. The findings will prove useful to providers of MSApps and retailers.