Consumer Choice Behavior and Electronic Shopping Systems – A Theoretical Note

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of alternative approaches in modeling consumer choice behavior with respect to making purchases either in the traditional manner or using an electronic shopping system. We concentrate on the effects of two specific features: the amount of time spent on shopping and the shopping experience. We consider a simple two-good situation in which one good is a composite good that consists of all goods purchased electronically, and the other is the composite of all goods purchased in a traditional manner. The models suggest that both time saved and an increase in shopping experience related to Web-based shopping will lead to increased purchasing at a Web shop.     

A Model of Household Grocery Shopping Behavior

The shopping trip to the grocery store is one of the most basic elements of consumer behavior. The authors seek to provide an understanding of the factors that account for variations in shopping behavior across households. They present a model of shopping behavior that assumes that households seek to minimize the travel cost associated with shopping and the cost of holding goods in inventory. As in the classic EOQ model, observed shopping behavior reflects the manner in which households balance these costs while meeting their consumption needs. A number of propositions derived from the model are tested using data on shopping trips made by households over a one-year period. The results support the model and indicate that the relationship between household characteristics and shopping behavior can be fairly complex: for some households shopping may have a recreational aspect while for others it may compete directly with wage-earning activity.     

The Internet as a Shopping/Purchasing Tool: An Empirical Investigation

ABSTRACT

Despite prolific growth in the number of Internet web sites, significant increases in the advertising and other promotional expenditures for Internet advertising, and the fact that millions of consumers are shopping for and spending billions of dollars purchasing products via the Internet, marketers have a limited understanding of Internet-related consumer behaviors. This study presents the results of an empirical study designed to investigate the degree to which one segment of that market–college/university students–has access to the Internet, shops for and purchases products via the Internet, and perceives the Internet as an alternative to more traditional shopping methods. More general uses of the Internet by this market segment are also explored, as are the impacts of consumer knowledge and experience with the Internet on on-line shopping and purchasing.     

Consumer Attitudes and Preferences Concerning Shopping On-Line

Abstract

The emergence of e-commerce is having a substantial impact on consumer purchasing behavior. Yet, the rate of consumers' acceptance of e-commerce has been slower than many predicted. Using the view of consumption as an institution, this study examines consumers' preferences for shopping on-line. Analysis of data collected from focus groups and surveys suggests consumers perceive relative advantages and disadvantages of shopping on-line vs. shopping in traditional stores. In addition, the results suggest consumers have substantive reservations about shopping on-line which may be adversely affecting the acceptance rate of this new channel. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are also presented.     

电子商务环境对消费者传统购物行为的影响

网上购物的出现对传统购物产生了各种各样的影响,本文通过对大学生网上购物行为的问卷调查,采用统计分析的方法,研究了电子商业条件下网上购物对传统购物的影响因素。研究发现网上购物的时间效率、商品信息与商品价格、商品种类、物流配送和支付情况,对消费者购物行为产生了较大影响。     

Structural or Cultural: An Exploration into Influences on Consumers' Shopping Behavior of Country Specific Factors versus Retailing Formats

Abstract

This paper examines shoppers' behavior at regional shopping malls and neighborhood centers in two countries. Although some universal behavior patterns exist, shoppers' motivation, selection criteria and purchase behaviors were found to vary across cultures, and/or the type of shopping facilities. More importantly, the impact of the type of shopping facility on purchase and on shopping selection criteria, such as convenience, were found to be moderated by country factor, thus showing significant interactions of culture with types of shopping places.     

Gender Differences in Information Search and Comparison Shopping

Abstract

In entering the market of Central and Eastern Europe, it is important for marketers to understand how certain aspects of consumer behavior differs across consumer segments so that they can appropriately segment, target and position their products. A study was conducted to evaluate differences between males and females across the countries of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania in terms of their information search and comparison-shopping behavior. The study also advanced a conceptual model that explains the effect of nationality and gender differences on information search and comparison shopping.     

Shopping on the Internet–Online Purchase Behavior of New Zealand Consumers

ABSTRACT

The Internet provides an evolving channel for both business people and consumers to achieve their mutual aims. The rapid growth of Internet users in New Zealand provides a developing prospect for E-marketers. New Zealand has literate, educated, technology savvy “netizens” who are willing to spend time and money over the Internet. If E-marketers know the demographics of online New Zealand purchasers and the relationships between these demographics and online buyers' behavior, then they can further develop their marketing strategies to convert potential customers into active ones, while retaining the existent online customers. This paper provides an insight into the demographic profile of New Zealand's online purchasers. Some implications are also provided in this research.     

Building Shopping Arousal through Direct Marketing in Retail Environment

This article attempts to analyze behavioral drivers which influence consumers’ leisure shopping behavior and measure customer value through empirical investigation in Mexico. The study reveals that outsourced salespeople significantly stimulate customer interest toward buying products and trigger shopping arousal. Product attractiveness and pre-purchase arousal generated by the sales promoters influences consumer buying decisions. The study reveals that pre-purchase arousal is felt by the consumers through product advertisements, inter-personal communications, and product simulations provided by the sales promoters. Consumers experience post-purchase arousal as an extended benefit associated with purchase of the product.     

One Vs. Many: who wins? An empirical investigation of online product display

ABSTRACT

This study questions the unharmonious ways of product displays in online grocery retailing and aims to find if visual complexity of the product display has any impact on behavioral outcomes of online grocery shoppers. Our main finding was that visually complex images, i.e. images with a high number of elements have a negative effect on affective and cognitive states resulting in decreased behavioral intentions. However, when the number of elements in the product display was decreased, i.e. the visual complexity of the product display was reduced, shoppers’ cognitive and affective responses and intentions were similar to when they were exposed to noncomplex images. We also found that arousal and pleasure (parallel mediators) absorption, telepresence, utilitarian and hedonic values and perceived ease of use (serial mediators) mediate the effect that the product display has on behavioral intentions.     

Internet and distance channel use and European consumer complaint behavior

This exploratory study analyzes the effect of distance-shopping channel choice (i.e. the format first used by consumers in a retail transaction) on consumer complaint behavior, with a special focus on the Internet channel. It analyzes 2011 Eurobarometer data using a logistic regression model controlling for sociodemographic and country-specific variables to measure the impact of using the Internet, post/catalog, and telephone channels on complaint behavior. The results indicate that consumers using the Internet channel exhibit the greatest likelihood of complaint behavior when compared to consumers using traditional distance-shopping channels. Implications and suggestions for retailers are discussed, as are the contributions to the consumer complaint behavior literature.     

Students' Online Shopping Behavior: A Dual-Country Perspective

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the online purchase behavior of a key segment of the population, the “Net Generation” undergraduate college-aged student, from two of the countries with the greatest potential for e-marketing opportunity, the United States and Ireland. In addition to identifying college students' Internet activities, this research provides useful comparative information concerning how frequently students from each country interactively shop online, how much they spend, what they buy, as well as answer the question whether students from the two countries under study approach the Buyer Decision Process differently in their use of the Internet. The results provide useful guidance to electronic marketers.     

Price Knowledge During Grocery Shopping: What We Learn and What We Forget

Past research on consumer price knowledge has varied considerably partly due to differences in how and when price knowledge is measured. This paper applies a multi-point, multi-measure approach to reconcile differences in past price knowledge research by examining systematic relationships between time of measurement and type of measures applied. Examination of consumer price knowledge before, during, and after store visit sheds light on what is measured at the individual points in time: episodic price knowledge and/or reference prices? With a between-subjects design interviewing 1,204 respondents, the authors investigate three price knowledge measures (price recall, price recognition, and deal spotting) demonstrating that these are hierarchically related. Results suggest that reference prices dominate before store visit, but also that episodic price knowledge, surprisingly, is still accessible at the store exit. These findings enable the authors to reconcile diverging results from past research, showing how consumer price knowledge evolves and suggesting that the vast majority of consumers learn about prices, whether consciously or unconsciously, during grocery shopping. Thus, when applying a multi-point, multi-measure approach, consumers appear to know more about prices than suggested by past research. Determinants of price knowledge are also examined and the results indicate that price knowledge builds up not only because of active search but also due to accidental exposure to prices and with low degrees of conscious processing. Implications for managers are discussed.     

A Preliminary Test of an Index for International Consumer Behavior

ABSTRACT

Marketers need to understand both the similarities and differences among groups of consumers to ascertain which aspects of the marketing mix to globalize and which to localize. The purpose of this research is to begin to bridge the knowledge gap by testing a tool to measure cultural environment, the International Consumer Behavior Scale (ICBS). The ICBS is applied in Russia and the United States in an effort to ascertain potential similarities and differences in consumption based on culture. In this research, the authors assess the usability of the ICBS cultural scale developed by Samli (1995), offer a preliminary understanding of two diverse cultures, and discuss managerial implications of this knowledge.     

Multichannel Shopping Through Nontraditional Retail Formats: Variety-Seeking Behavior With Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations

Understanding motivations of multichannel shoppers is critical for retailers, especially in terms of how retailers can best attract shoppers to and orient shoppers across different channel options. Our study thus seeks to understand multichannel shopping through nontraditional retail formats by studying the effects of shoppers' hedonic and utilitarian motives. We used the theory of variety-seeking behavior for conceptualization, and analyzed data from a large-scale U.S. consumer survey. Our findings suggest that both hedonic and utilitarian factors are important predictors of multichannel shopping. Hedonic motivations have more explanatory power for high-level multichannel shopping than for moderate-level multichannel shopping, as compared to non-multichannel shopping.     

An Examination of Sales Promotion Programs in Hong Kong: What the Retailers Offer and What the Consumers Prefer

This study gives an insight into the retailer's capability of managing sales promotion by examining the sales promotion programs offered by Hong Kong cosmetic and toiletry retailers and the consumers’ preferences. The results indicate that instant-reward programs are popular among retailers and preferred by consumers. The results also show that the preferences for sales promotion programs are dependent upon consumers’ demographic and sociocultural characteristics. Implications for advertisers designing and communicating sales promotions are offered.     

Exploring Perceived Channel Price,Quality, and Value as Antecedents of Channel Choice and Usage in Multichannel Shopping

This study investigates consumer perceptions of price-quality-value based on shopping channel attributes as antecedents of channel choice and usage in multichannel shopping environments. Findings indicate that channel usage intention is directly influenced by consumer perceptions of channel value and indirectly by consumer perceptions of channel quality and channel price. Consumer perceptions of channel attributes most important to channel usage intention include utilitarian and hedonic value, service and merchandise quality, and monetary and non-monetary price. Managerial implications for retailers suggest a need for strategic management and differentiation of channel attributes to enhance channel value perceptions and increase channel usage intention.     

An Empirical Study on the Factors Affecting Online Shopping Behavior of Millennial Consumers

The online market in India is growing at an exponential rate, predominantly driven by the massive and extensive promotional activities. This strategy may not be appreciable in the long run, hence a real value addition is essential, which is explored through this study. The main objective of this research is to study about the determinants that are affecting the online purchasing behavior of millennial consumers. Conceptual framework, which consists of four factors that may induce online purchase behavior among millennial consumers: consumer innovativeness, perceived benefits, perceived risks, attitude and intention. The population of the study is from the millennial customer’s segment of Chennai metro, Tamil Nadu, India, and the study used systematic random sampling. The statistical tools applied are chi-square, ANOVA, correlation, multiple regression, and factor analysis. From the outcomes of this study, factors influencing online purchase are analyzed, and suggestive strategies for online companies are recommended.     

New Product Introduction and Seasonality Effect in Food Products Retailing

ABSTRACT

This study aims to measure the effects of market demand and seasonality on new product introduction. Major factors contributing the variability of market demand and seasonality of new products have been discussed in reference to timing of introducing new products, variability of consumer preferences, retail sales, and product promotion. The study is based on 243 new products in selected self-service stores in Mexico, which belong to major food products sectors for the reference period 2002–2006. Results of the study reveal that market demand and seasonality factors are most important for the timing of new product introductions, as such conditions determine success of the new products in a given market.     

Reasoned Action and Food Choice in a Transitional Economy

ABSTRACT

This study examines predictive factors of consumer behaviour in food, employing a study of 485 Romanian respondents using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Drawing on a structural equation models approach, causal paths for six products were estimated. Habit emerged as the most significant predictor of behavioral intention. The results of this empirical study support the notion that attitudes and habits influence behavioral intentions toward food consumption. A modification of the TRA, within the context of income constraints, is proposed in the form of willingness to consume. Competing structural models are discussed, and the implications of the study for both marketers and consumers are highlighted.