Food shopping behavior in the Arabian Gulf region: a comparative study

In the context of an online apparel setting, this study examined the effects of amount of information and music on consumers’ affective states (i.e. pleasure and arousal) and cognitive states (i.e. perceived risk and attitude toward the site), which in turn may affect consumer shopping response (purchase intent). The moderating role of situational involvement with online shopping on the relationship between music/amount of information and affective/cognitive stateswas further examined. Results revealed significant effects for amount of information and music in relation to consumer situational involvement with online shopping. In addition, results revealed a significant effect for pleasure on perceived risk and attitude toward the site which in turn affected purchase intent. The findings of this study provide valuable managerial insights to online retailers by indicating the importance of the amount of information available on an apparel website. Additionally, this study is a springboard in determining the significant effect of music on affect and shopping responses on online shopping websites.     

The impact of customer experience on consumer purchase intention in cross-border E-commerce——Taking network structural embeddedness as mediator variable

This study investigates the mediator effect of network structural embeddedness between customer experience and consumer purchase intention in the context of cross-border e-commerce. 321 copies of online questionnaires unfold cross-border online shopping experience. The structural equation model is built to analyze the mediator effect of network structural embeddedness. Network density, Network centrality separately plays a mediating role between website ease of use, website relationship service and consumer purchase intention. In contrast, both of them play a mediating role between customer cost and consumer purchase intention. The research suggests developing the relationship between consumers and e-commerce websites for cross-border e-commerce platforms from a network standpoint, but not only marketing.     

基于TAM的消费者网络团购态度影响的实证研究

伴随着团购网站Groupon在美国的巨大成功,从2010年3月开始,国内掀起了空前的团购热潮,在不到一年的时间里,已由"百团大战"上升到"千团大战"。团购网站如何在这场声势浩大的角逐之中吸引消费者,取得长足发展成为了当前最应该关注的问题。而消费者对网络团购的态度直接决定了其是否会进行网络团购以及选择哪家团购网站。因此有必要对网络团购态度的影响因素进行研究,识别出影响消费者网络团购态度的主要因素。本研究以参加过网络团购或未参加过但对网络团购有了解的人群为调研对象,结合SPSS13.0和AMOS17.0对数据进行了分析和模型检验,以此探讨影响消费者网络团购态度的因素。实证结果表明:感知网络团购有用、感知网络团购易用及感知网络团购风险是影响消费者网络团购态度的关键因素;除娱乐导向外,其他购物导向均会显著影响感知有用或感知风险变量;而人口统计特征对网络团购态度无显著影响。     

Why is Price Dispersion Higher Online than Offline? The Impact of Retailer Type and Shopping Risk on Price Dispersion

When physically similar products, of similar quality, are offered by retailers both online and offline, we often observe that the dispersion in prices of these products online is greater than the price dispersion offline. This observation runs counter to early theories that suggested price dispersion online would be smaller than that offline due to the ease of search and information availability online. This paper investigates and provides an explanation for this puzzling phenomenon by examining the impact of two important drivers of price dispersion: retailer type and consumers’ shopping risk. Retailer type refers to whether a retailer is a pure offline, pure online, or dual channel retailer. Shopping risk is defined as the product of consumers’ perceived risk of shopping and the transaction uncertainty related to shopping at different types of retailers.A game-theoretic approach is adopted to model consumers’ price search and product purchase, as well as price competition within and across retailer types in online and offline markets. Equilibrium pricing strategies are derived for different retailer types competing for different consumer segments with different levels of perceived shopping risk. The impact of retailer type and shopping risk on online versus offline price dispersion are quantified, and conditions when price dispersion is greater online than offline are identified.Results indicate that price dispersion is greater online when the number of pure online retailers is sufficiently large and is increasing in the number of pure online retailers. In addition, a reduction in online shopping risk may actually increase online price dispersion. Results further suggest that even without any online sales, dual channel retailers should maintain their online presence for the purpose of information dissemination, which justifies the importance for pure offline retailer to incorporate webrooming strategies, where consumers can search for prices online but purchase offline.     

Drivers of E-store Patronage Intentions: Choice Overload,Internet Shopping Anxiety,and Impulse Purchase Tendency

The dotcom era has infused a rapid increase in the usage of e-commerce in India, making online shopping the new way of retailing. This study investigates online consumers’ e-store patronage intentions, specifically modeling the ties from broad dispositional traits including choice overload, Internet shopping anxiety, and impulse purchase tendency among online shoppers. Based on the responses of 243 online shoppers, the findings suggest that consumers’ e-store patronage has a positive relationship with choice overload such that availability of larger assortments online results in a higher possibility of consumers’ patronage toward such e-tailers. Choice overload in the online context was also found to positively influence consumers’ impulse purchase tendency and showed a positive effect on Internet shopping anxiety. Furthermore, results indicate that the impulse purchase tendency of online shoppers had a significant positive effect on e-store patronage intentions, while Internet shopping anxiety was found to negatively affect the patronage intentions of shoppers.     

Antecedents of Online Reviews' Usage and Purchase Influence: An Empirical Comparison of U.S. and Korean Consumers

We propose a model linking consumer characteristics (consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence and Internet shopping experience), attitude toward online reviews (perceived usefulness), and the outcome of online reviews (usage frequency and purchase influence). We advance hypotheses on the interrelationships among these factors and on the moderating effects of national culture on some of the relationships. We test the hypotheses on survey data collected from U.S. and Korean consumers. The results show that national culture has important moderating effects on the relationships among online reviews and its antecedents. The results suggest that an attitude-oriented marketing communication strategy is more effective for Korean consumers while a behavior-oriented strategy is more effective for U.S. consumers.     

Hedonic and utilitarian use of user-generated content on online shopping websites

The Internet has made it possible for consumers to share reviews, opinions, and thoughts about products and services on online shopping websites. This user-generated content (UGC), which can be considered to be part of social commerce, is likely to influence other consumers’ attitudes toward a product and subsequent purchase intentions. The purpose of this study was to investigate two major uses of UGC: hedonic and utilitarian, and how they impact purchase intentions, along with users’ trust for different types of comments and reviews. Also investigated are associations between hedonic use, utilitarian use, and trust, with purchase behavior at online shopping websites. Results of this study will add to the domain knowledge related to marketing and how it impacts consumer psychology and behavior. From a practitioner perspective, marketers need to understand the impact of UGC so they can monitor this method of marketing communication as it can impact trust and purchase intentions.     

Leveraging the co-evolution of offline and online video games: an empirical study

Considerable research has been carried out on online shopping and the implications of this purchasing format for consumers and retailers. Most of these studies have focused on consumer attitudes towards online shopping, and how these can be useful predictors of online shopping adoption. Notwithstanding these insights from adoption theory, existing research has yet to distil the most effective means of understanding consumers’ attitudes towards online video game purchases. Based on a qualitative study, our study contributes to literature on adoption theory by presenting some explanations involving online video games purchases by identifying salient perceptions of online and offline motivations and advances ideas on the facilitating role of incentives in making purchase decisions.     

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.     

网上购物意图影响因素实证研究

理解消费者网上购物行为是发展网上购物的前提。本文在对前人研究成果进行回顾和总结的基础上,扩展了相关理论,提出了网上购物意图影响因素理论模型。运用自中国网上消费者的调研数据,使用结构方程模型验证了感知使用方便、感知效用、信任和感知风险等前因变量都显著地影响网上购物态度,购买态度决定购买意图,感知风险的中介效应获得数据支持,并证实了网上消费者的双重使用和购买特征,初步厘清了变量之间复杂的因果关系。     

Mediating Role of Company Information in the Relationships among Perceived Risks and Purchase Intentions in an Online Retailing Context

The exponential growth of the online retail sector has attracted the attention of researchers across the globe. Understanding the consumer decision-making process in an online retail context is of vital importance to all online retailers. The objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect impacts of perceived risks on consumers’ purchase intentions in an online shopping context. This study applied structural equation modeling to test the study model with data from 234 samples. We found a significant negative full mediating impact of performance risk, financial risk, physical risk, and psychological risk on consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, we found a partial mediating impact of social risk on purchase intentions. However, we did not find a mediating impact of time risk on purchase intentions. These empirical results may help online retailers to better understand their consumers, their intentions to purchase, and their level of risk perceptions. Accordingly, online marketers can frame contemporary strategies to attract retail customers, leading to greater profitability of the organization.     

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.     

A comparison of online and offline gender and goal directed shopping online

The aim of this paper is to model the effect of the consumers’ perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour on online utilitarian shopping motivation and purchase intentions. We hypothesise that when consumers shop online, their behaviour is mediated by two gendered behaviours, namely offline and online. To test this hypothesis, 515 usable responses were collected in face-to-face interviews. The conceptual model was tested with confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) across five product categories. Our findings show that the effect of a consumer's perception of their gendered behaviour offline vs. online on online utilitarian shopping motivation and purchase intentions is significantly different. In particular we found that utilitarian shopping motivation online has a significant effect on purchase intentions online mediated by gender (online) overall: strongly for females but not for males. Conversely, utilitarian shopping motivation online has a significant effect on purchase intentions online mediated by gender (offline) for males but not overall and for females.     

Antecedents of participation in online brand communities and their purchasing behavior consequences

This study intends to fill some gaps in knowledge about online communities and their influence on consumers’ purchase decisions. A review of the extant literature on online brand communities reveals that most prior studies have focused on identifying the factors associated with joining and participating in online communities. However, limited studies examine the implications of participation in online brand communities in terms of consumer behaviors, such as brand liking and intention to purchase the brand. In addition, these few studies have either focused on the influence of operational elements of the online community on purchase intention or on the influence of community members’ characteristics regarding purchase intention. Therefore, this study aims to provide an integrated framework for operational and user characteristics’ antecedents associated with consumers’ participation in online brand communities and their effect on purchase decisions. Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual model. Data were collected via a survey of the Facebook pages of 282 members of Egyptian telecommunication companies. The findings provide insights into how these antecedents should be managed to enhance participation in virtual telecommunication communities.     

Online consumer behaviour and its relationship to website atmospheric induced flow: Insights into online travel agencies in China

Although the study of flow has recently received a lot attention, little is published about what factors controllable by firms influence its formation. Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge between the relationship of website atmospheric cues and flow experience. Using a stimulus–organism–response framework (S–O–R framework) as the theoretical basis, this study examines the impact of consumer perceptions of website atmospheric cues (informativeness, effectiveness and entertainment) on the development of flow and its subsequent impact on purchase intention and satisfaction. A self-administered online survey was used for data collection through an internet market research firm which randomly selected individuals from its online panel. Our results support the validity of the S–O–R framework in the context of online tourism and indicate that flow fully mediates the three site atmospheric cues with regards to purchase intention and satisfaction with the travel website. This study enhances our understanding on the determinants of online purchase intention and satisfaction as well as on how a proper web atmospheric design alters consumer shopping experience which entices favourable purchase intention and generates satisfaction.     

An empirical analysis of factors that influence retail website visit types

Consumers may have a variety of reasons for using a retail brand's website, including browsing, purchasing, or browsing followed by purchasing. In this study we examine visits to three different retail websites to develop a typology of website visit behaviors and reveal factors that are associated with each visit type. We find four visit types that are consistent across all brands, which we label “touching base,” “search/deliberation,” “goal-directed,” and online shopping “cart-only” visits. One of the brands has an additional visit type we term “considered visits.” The type of visit a consumer makes is influenced by a combination of marketing channels, and their visit and purchase history with the brand. For example, shoppers that are directed to a retailer's website by clicking on a search engine link (paid or organic) are more likely to make visits that are associated with a purchase goal, while visits generated by an email are more likely to be just touching base. These findings provide marketers with a more refined understanding of the different ways consumers use their websites, and the factors associated with these visit behaviors.     

The Recent versus The Out-Dated: An Experimental Examination of the Time-Variant Effects of Online Consumer Reviews

Conventional wisdom suggests that the most recent online reviews may have a greater impact than out-dated online reviews on consumers’ purchase decisions because of their up-to-date nature. However, building on the theory of temporal distance and construal fit, this study proposes a new perspective, suggesting that the influence of online reviews posted at different times is a function of the timeframe for the consumers’ intended purchase. Four experiments demonstrate that although recent online reviews are more influential in shifting consumer preferences towards near-future consumption decisions, the relative influence of out-dated online reviews in shifting consumer preferences increases when consumers are making distant-future consumption decisions. This effect occurs because of a construal fit between the construal level of the online reviews posted at different times and that of the timeframe of consumers’ purchase decisions. The recent reviews are represented at a relatively lower construal level, with the low-level construal matching the timeframe of the near-future consumption decision. Out-dated reviews, however, are represented at a relatively higher construal level and match the timeframe of the distant-future consumption decision. This construal fit, in turn, enhances consumer engagement and consequently exerts a greater influence on consumer preferences.     

“Showrooming” in Consumer Electronics Retailing: An Empirical Study

The present study focuses on multichannel retailing strategies and describes the state of consumer behavior regarding “showrooming” (the practice of examining merchandise or products in a retail store and then buying it online). Founded on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the authors examine the antecedents of showrooming using data collected from a sample of 176 retail consumers. Based on their results, they define perceived control, website compatibility, and subjective norms as the main antecedents of consumer attitudes toward online purchases. Additionally, they state that previous experience and reasons against purchasing online are directly associated with consumers’ intention to purchase on the retailer’s website. Finally, some theoretical conclusions and practical implications for retailers are discussed.     

Combining channels to make smart purchases: The role of webrooming and showrooming

In this study, the authors analyse the influence of specific combinations of online and physical channels (webrooming and showrooming) on the customer experience, specifically, on smart shopping perceptions and feelings. Taking into account that cross-channel consumers are driven by different motivations, the influence of shopping motivations is controlled. The results of an experiment in the fashion industry show that webroomers have greater perceptions of time/effort savings and of making the right purchase, and greater smart shopping feelings, than showroomers. Furthermore, webrooming leads to higher personal attribution than showrooming, meaning that consumers feel responsible and in control of their purchase outcomes. Personal attribution then mediates the impact of webrooming on smart shopping feelings. Although companies may have difficulties in tracking consumers’ use of online and offline channels, their enhanced control over the process may improve their experience through smart shopping perceptions and feelings.     

Shopping orientations as antecedents to channel choice in the French grocery multichannel landscape

This paper investigates the influence of consumer shopping orientations on grocery channel attractiveness and choice. It extends the concept of shopping orientation (utilitarian and hedonic) to account for emerging motivations among French consumers: shopping in line with sustainable and ethical values. In doing so, it helps profile segments of consumers who choose to shop through new online channels (Drive through) and newly deployed store formats (city stores). A sample of 300 French customers, responsible for shopping in the household, was surveyed. Hypotheses were tested through Latent Class Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling with categorical outcomes. Our findings indicate that consumers shopping orientations influence the way consumers will combine the different channels and store formats for grocery purchase. In particular, our results highlight the importance of responsible retail practices and ethical assortments in consumers' choice of online formats whilst local product orientation influences the choice of city stores and market places.