Influencing the online consumer's

behavior: the Web experience

Abstract:

Addresses one of the fundamental issues of e‐marketing: how to attract and

win over the consumer in the highly competitive Internet marketplace.
Analyses the factors affecting the online consumer's behavior and examines
how e‐marketers can influence the outcome of the virtual interaction and
buying process by focusing their marketing efforts on elements shaping the
customer's virtual experience, the Web experience. Identifying the W eb
experience components and understanding their role as inputs in the online
customer's decision‐making process are the first step in developing and
delivering an attractive online presence likely to have the maximum impact on
Internet users. Click‐and‐mortar firms delivering superior Web experience
influence their physical clients’ perceptions and attitudes, driving additional
traffic to traditional sales outlets. Provides a contribution to the theoretical
debate around the factors influencing the online consumer's behavior and
outlines some noticeable similarities and differences between the traditional
and virtual consumers.

INTRODUCTION

The advancement of the World Wide Web has resulted in the creation of a new form
of retail format- electronic retailing (e-tailing) or web-shopping. The rapid growth of
Internet technology development has enabled Malaysian consumers to purchase
products or services from the web-retailers and search product information over the
Internet. However, web-retailers can only offer certain ranges of products and
services to the web-shoppers. This includes e-banking services, technology
gadgets, cosmetics, clothing and airlines e-ticketing services. Wolfinbarger and Gilly
(2001) assert that web-shopping presents different shopping experiences even
when the same products are purchased. Through web shopping, consumers interact
in a virtual environment via the website interface (Alba, Lynch, Weitz and
Janiszewski, 1997; Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Hence, web shopping is perceived
to be more risky and therefore trust and risk play a prominent role in online
transaction (Forsythe and Shi, 2003; Pavlou, 2003). Web-shopping behaviour does
not necessarily follow traditional consumer behaviour in the bricks-and-mortar
retailing environment. Thus, Internet marketers are urged to explore the
determinants of customer online purchasing intention among web shoppers.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Internet Subscription in Malaysia

Based on the research carried out by Maddox and Gong (2005), the Internet market
penetration rate has increased dramatically in the Asian region. According to the
Malaysia Internet Usage and Telecommunication report (retrieved from
http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/my.htm), the number of Internet subscribers
has increased from 2.9 million in year 2004 to close to 5 million in year 2006. Thus,
there is a positive growth in Internet subscription and purchase in Malaysia.
Considering that web shopping is still at the development stage in Malaysia, not
much information is known about consumer attitude toward web shopping and the
factors that affect customer online purchase intention in the web-shopping
environment. This is especially true in the context of Malaysia where web shopping
is still new and consumers are less familiar with the concept of online shopping.
Therefore, it is crucial to identify the antecedent relationship between shopping
orientations and consumer online purchase intention in the web-shopping
environment in the Malaysian context.

Web-Shopping

Advancement in Internet technology has facilitated the growth of in-home shopping

(Lumpkin & Hawes, 1985). Shim, Quereshi and Siegel (2000) define web-shopping
as the process that consumers go through to purchase products or services over
the Internet. The terms online shop, Internet shop, web-shop and online store are
used interchanged in the extant literature. Web-shopping is an e-commerce
application used for business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B).
From the consumer’s viewpoint, web shopping allows the web shopper to search
and compare various product or service alternatives from different online stores that
are located in different parts of the world. The interactive nature of the Internet
offers opportunities for consumers to use the web shopping facilities effectively by
improving the availability of product information thus enabling direct multi attribute
comparisons and subsequently reduce prospective buyers’ information search costs
(Alba et al., 1997). The Internet also provides benefits to companies. As
consumers are increasingly using the Internet as a shopping approach in performing
their purchasing activities, companies can take this opportunity to use the Interne t
as a medium to attract and maintain current and potential customers. In this regard,
online retailers must understand consumers’ perceptions of website characteristics
and their online shopping behaviour. Thus, the research will try to explore the
concept of online purchase intention and the antecedent relationship between
shopping orientations and customer online purchase intention.

Online Purchase Intention

Customer online purchase intention is among the intensive research areas in the
extant literature. Customer online purchase intention in the web-shopping
environment will determine the strength of a consumer’s intention to carry out a
specified purchasing behaviour via the Internet (Salisbury, Pearson, Pearson and
Miller, 2001). Furthermore, the theory of reasoned action suggested that consumer
behaviour can be predicted from intentions that correspond directly in terms of
action, target and context (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to Day (1969), the
intentional measures can be more effective than behavioural measures to capture
customer’s mind as customer may make purchases due to constraints instead of
real preference when purchase is considered. Purchase intention can be classified
as one of the components of consumer cognitive behaviour on how an individual
intends to buy a specific brand. Laroche, Kim and Zhou (1996) suggest that
variables such as customers’ consideration in buying a brand and expectation to
buy a brand can be used to measure consumer purchase intention. Based on the
argument of Pavlou (2003), online purchase intention is the situation when a
customer is willing and intends to become involved in online transaction. Online
transactions can be considered as an activity in which the process of information
retrieval, information transfer, and product purchase are taken place (Pavlou, 2003).
The steps of information retrieval and exchange may be considered as intentions to
use a web site; however, product purchase is more applicable to an intention to
handle a web-site (Pavlou, 2003). Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the concept of
online purchase intention in this study. In order to trigger customer online purchase
intention, web retailers have to explore the impact of shopping orientations on
customer online purchase intention.

Shopping Orientations

Brown, Pope and Voges (2001) define shopping orientations as the general
predisposition toward the acts of shopping. This predisposition may be
demonstrated in different forms such as information search, alternative evaluation,
and product selection. Li, Kuo and Russell (1999) conceptualize the concept of
shopping orientation as a specific portion of lifestyle and operationalized by a range
of activities, interests and opinion statements that are relevant to the acts of
shopping. Many researchers conclude that shopping orientations reflect a
customer’s view of shopping as a social, recreational or economic phenomenon, as
well as an individual’s motivations for shopping (Hawkins, Best, & Coney, 1989;
Howell, 1979; Lumpkin, Hawes, & Darden, 1986; Shim & Mahoney,
1992).Therefore, customers’ shopping orientations may alter with changes in social,
cultural and economic values and the environment in the society. Customers with
different shopping orientations have shown different shopping behaviour, such as
preferences for store choice (Gutman & Mills, 1982; Hawkins et al. 1989), perceived
importance of store attributes (Lumpkin, 1985; Shim & Kotsiopulos, 1992), and the
use of information sources (Hawkins et al., 1989; Lumpkin, 1985; Moschis, 1976).
Stone (1954) pioneers the research on the shopping orientations concept and
classifies shoppers into four categories which are economic, personalizing, ethical,
and apathetic. Economic shoppers are described as having a major concern for the
prices of products so they would shop for the best choice of quality and price.
Personalizing shoppers enjoy developing a close relationship with store personnel
and tend to shop close to home. Ethical shoppers feel a duty to shop at specific
local or neighborhood stores rather than chain stores so as to give smaller
merchants a chance for success. Apathetic shoppers have little or no interest in
shopping or in store type and try to minimize buying effort. The advocacy of Stone
(1954) were tested and reconfirmed by various researchers in the respective studies
(Darden & Raynolds, 1971; Lumpkin et al., 1986). With the emergence of online
shopping activities, customers’ online shopping behaviour may be different in terms
of their shopping orientation. Swaminathan, Lepkowska-White and Rao (1999)
suggest that shopping orientations is one of the important indicators of making
online purchase. Based on the relationship study between shopping orientations
and online shopping orientation, Vijayasarathy and Jones (2000) identify seven
types of shopping orientations, such as in-home shoppers who liked to shop from
home; economic shoppers who shopped around before making purchase decisions;
mall shoppers who preferred to shop at malls; personalized shoppers who liked to
shop where they knew the salespeople; ethical shoppers who liked to shop in local
stores to promote the community; convenience shoppers who placed a premium on
convenience when shopping; and enthusiastic shoppers who enjoyed shopping. The
result of the study found that customers who prefer traditional in-home shopping,
such as by mail order via catalogs, tend to show high intentions toward online
shopping, whereas individuals with a preference for mall shopping tended to have
low online shopping intentions. In the emergence of diverse retail outlets and
increasing competition in the marketplace, online retailers must understand
customers’ shopping orientations in order to maximize customers’ online purchase
intention that leads to the increase in online sales. Several researchers have
demonstrated that shopping orientations significantly impact the customer online
purchase intention (Vijayasarathy & Jones, 2000; Park, 2002; Brown et al., 2001;
Seock, 2003; Gehrt et al., 2007). Shopping orientations is regarded as a multi-
dimensional construct. According to Gehrt, et. al. (2007), there are seven types of
shopping orientations which include recreation, novelty, impulse purchase, quality,
brand, price, and convenience. However, the present research will only investigate
five types of shopping orientation such as impulse purchase orientation, quality
orientation, brand orientation, shopping enjoyment orientation, and convenience
orientation. Thus, these constructs will be tested as the independent variabl es
under the grouping of shopping orientations.

Quality Orientation

Quality is regarded as a key strategic component of competitive advantage and

herefore the enhancement of product or service quality has been a matter of main
concern to firms (Daniel, Reitsperger, and Gregson, 1995; Foster and Sjoblom,
1996). Garvin (1987) identifies five approaches to quality: transcendent, product-
based, user-based, manufacturing-based, and value-based. Transcendent definition
of quality is synonymous with innate excellence. The assumption of transcendent
approach is that quality is both absolute and universally recognizable. The product-
based approach has its roots in economics. Garvin (1984) argues that differences in
the quantity of some ingredient or attribute possessed by the product are
considered to reflect differences in quality. Whereas in the user-based definition,
quality is the extent to which a product or service meets or exceeds customers’
expectations. The manufacturing-based approach has its roots in operation and
production management. Its quality is defined as conformance to specifications
(Crosby, 1979). Quality of conformance relates to the degree to which a product
meets certain design standards. Besides, the value-based definition equates quality
with performance at an acceptable price, or alternatively conformance at an
acceptable cost. The impact of quality orientation on online purchase intention is
well documented in the extant literature. Bellenger and Korgaonkar (1980) state
that recreational shoppers tended to consider quality, variety of product types and
pleasant store atmosphere as important factors when choosing stores. In the
context of web-shopping environment, Gehrt et al. (2007) discover that customers
from the shopping enjoyment segment are positively inclined toward recreation,
quality, and impulse orientations when making online purchase.

Brand Orientation

A brand is defined as a name or symbol, trademark and package design tha t

uniquely identifies the products or services of a retailer, and differentiates them from
those of its competitors (Aaker, 1991). In the cyber marketplace, a corporate brand
identity is a cognitive anchor and a point of recognition where customers perceive a
great deal of uncertainty (Rajshekhar, Radulovich, Pendleton and Scherer, 2005).
For many online retailers, the brand name is the company’s name. In the e-
commerce environment, trusted corporate and brand names are used by customers
as substitutes for product information when they intent to make online purchase
(Ward and Lee, 2000). Several studies have found that brand loyalty exhibits strong
impacts on purchase intention in the traditional offline retailing world (Hawes and
Lumpkin, 1984; Sproles and Kendall, 1986). A strong brand name not only attracts
new customers, but also has the lock-in ability to make customers feel comfortable
with their purchase decisions. A study carried out by Jayawardhena, Wright and
Dennis (2007) conclude that brand orientation is positively related to the customer
online purchase intention.

CONCLUSION

Implications of the Research

The research findings and contributions have brought theoretical and

managerialimplications to the various stakeholders. From the theoretical
perspective, the relationship between shopping enjoyment and customer online
purchase intention is inconclusive. Based on the research carried out by Seock and
Bailey (2008), there is a positive relationship between shopping enjoyment
orientation and customer online purchase orientation. However, both Childers et al.
(2001) and Monsuwe et al. (2004) argue that shopping enjoyment orientation is
positively related to the online purchase intention, mediated by the attitude toward
online shopping. This warrant further research in the future to investigate the
mediating effect of attitude towards online shopping.

In terms of managerial implication, the research findings do provide some insights

and feedbacks for the e-retailers to formulate and implement various business
strategies to increase customer online purchase intention. To increase customer
impulse purchase, e-retailers can provide e-mail updates on product development
or offer special discounts for a limited time to potential online customers. E-retailers
may offer loyalty programme or club memberships for those online customers who
exhibit strong brand orientation. In targeting quality orientated customers, e-retailers
can provide full online version of product quality information and product search
information through the companies’ website. To attract more convenience-oriented
customers, e-retailers may need to minimize the process of placing order and allow
different modes of product delivery to this group of online purchasers.

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Arnold, M.J. and Reynolds, K.E. (2003) ‘Hedonic shopping motivations’, Journal of
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CONSUMERS MOTIVATION FOR ONLINE SHOPPING

Abstract:
Consumers shop online for goal-oriented, instrumental reasons, and for experiential
reasons. However, goal oriented motives are more common among online shoppers
than are experiential motives. Based on our exploratory research of online shopping
using 5 offline and 4 online focus groups conducted in conjunction with Harris
Interactive, we identify and discuss attributes that facilitate goal-oriented online
shopping, including accessibility/convenience, selection, information availability and lack
of unwanted sociality from retail sales help or shopping partners such as spouses. The
goal-oriented characteristics of online shopping collectively result in an experience that
is involving for buyers, but which results in low commitment to purchasing. Buyers shop
when and where they want, and are comfortable abandoning a site and products placed
in a shopping cart either on a whim or to further consider their purchase; consumers
often use the words "freedom" and "control" in explaining the value of online shopping.
While consumers are more likely to describe offline rather than online shopping in
experiential terms, we find evidence of experiential motivations for online shopping
emerging. We offer managerial implications for cultivating goal-oriented and experiential
online buyers.

Comparative Study of Online and Offline Shopping

Abstract

The study tries to recognize that, how consumer measure channels for their
purchasing. Specifically, it progresses a conceptual model that addresses consumer
value perception for using the internet shopping versus the traditional shopping.
Earlier study showed that perceptions of price, product quality, service quality and
threat strongly impact perceived value and purchase intents in the offline and online
network. Observations of online and offline buyers can be evaluated to see how
value is constructed in both channels. It is hitherto to recognize what factors
influence online and offline shopping choice progression. The objective of this study
is to provide an impression of online shopping decision process by comparing the
offline and online decision making and identifying the factors that motivate
customers to decide whether to do online shopping or go for the offline shopping.
Consumer’s shop when and where they want, where they are comfortable with the
products and the choice of shopping. The study finds that female are more into
online shopping than male. Since last two years as population are more aware of
the technology the online shopping increased immensely. The people from the age
group 35 and above are less likely to do online shopping because they are less
aware of the technology. However the respondent said that they will love to
purchase from online shopping if only the price of the product is less than the
market. They revealed that it is fairly important to go for e-shopping.

Introduction

The increase in technology provides good opportunities to the seller to reach the
customer in much faster, easier and in economic way. Online shopping is emerging
very fast in recent years. Now a day the internet holds the attention of retail market.
Millions and millions of people shop online. On the other hand the purchasing of
product from traditional market is continuing since years. Many customers go for
purchasing offline so as to examine the product and hold the possession of the
product just after the payment for the product. In this contemporary world
customer’s loyalty depends upon the consistent ability to deliver quality, value and
satisfaction. Some go for offline shopping, some for online and many go for both
kind of shopping. The focus of the study is on the consumer’s choice to shop on
internet and at the traditional stores at the information gaining period. However
online shopping is easier for the people and less price than the offline shopping.
While making any purchase decision consumer should know the medium to
purchase whether online shopping or the offline shopping. Consumer should decide
the channel for them which can best suit to their need and wants and which can
satisfy them. In this competitive world how consumer can decide the particular
medium for their purchase of goods is very important to understand in a managerial
point of view. (Laing and Lai, 2000) said that the internet shopping is the third best
and most popular activity over internet after online shopping next comes the e-mail
using, instant messaging and web browsing. These are even more important than
watching or getting entertain by the internet or getting any information or news, this
are the two very common thought which comes to the people’s mind when
considering the internet users do when they are online. The behaviour of online
shopping is also known as online buying behaviour and internet shopping. Buying
behaviour means the purchase of good over internet using web browser. Online
shopping also consist the same five steps which is related to traditional shopping
behaviour. (Chiang and Dholskia, 2003; Lynch, Kent, and Srinivasan 2001) they
said that in the typical way of online shopping when the consumer need some
product or service they go through the internet and browse or search the things they
need and their information. But rather than searching actively, many a times
potential consumers are attracted by the information about the product they want.
They see many products online and choose the best one which suits him/her. Then
they purchase that product and finally the transaction takes place and post sales
service provided by the online sites. Online shopping attitude and behaviour are
related to the consumer. Previous studied have focused on why the products of the
online shopping is different from other products. Many studies have focused that the
high touch products that the consumer feels when they need to touch, smell or try
the product. It requires the offline shopping at the purchasing stage because it
cannot be done in the online shopping. Even with the increase in the online
shopping and the recognition that online shopping is more likely to impose the
pressure on offline shopping or traditional shopping. The research is very limited in
this area or field. Online or e-shopping is a kind of electronic shopping which allow
the consumer to purchase goods over the internet directly from the seller using a
web browser. There are some alternative names of online shopping those are as
follow- e-web store, e-shop, e-store, internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online
store, online store front and virtual store. Mobile commerce or m-commerce is
described as purchasing from the online retailer by the mobile optimized online sites
or application (app). (Aldrich Archive, 1982) online shopping is invented by a
English entrepreneur Micheal Aldrich in 1979. (Palmer& Kimberly,2007) Tim
Berners Lee is the one who created the first World Wide Web server in 1990. It was
opened for a commercial purpose. There after many technological innovation
emerged in 1994 like the online banking, the opening of online pizza shop by Pizza
Hut, Netscape SSL v2 encryption standard for secure data transfer, and Intershop’s
first online shopping system. In 1994 the first secure transaction was over the web
either by Net market or Internet shopping. Amazon was launched in 1995, it is the
first online shopping site of the world and after that eBay was introduced in
1995.Today many countries are doing online shopping but still some countries are
at the starting point of the experiment of online shopping. In 1987, the merchant
account was launched that helped the software developers to sell their software
online easily. Swreg was the name of first software and the oldest software that is
still available. Future shop is a book for how new technology will change the way of
shopping and what the customer buy. It was published in the year 1992. The book
consists of the topic like what will happen in the future date of e-commerce and how
the internet will take place in the society. 1994 is the mouth of year of online
commerce and Yahoo is launched in this year. In 1995 approx. 12000 domain
names were registered in the internet. In 1998 Google entered the world of e-
commerce and yahoo launched yahoo store online. The customer of online
shopping should have internet and a valid method of payment in order to purchase
the products from the internet. Amazon, Myntra, flipkart are some of the examples
of the successful online shopping sites that use less price of the items and large
stocks to attract the consumer. In general the population from high level of income
and high level of learning are more favourable to do online shopping. The
population who are more knowledgeable and more explored to the internet are more
into online shopping. The increase in technology increases the online shopping by
the consumer. The increase in technology creates a favourable attitude towards the
consumer for online shopping.

Factors Affecting Online Shopping

Online shopping becomes relevant in the last decade. The kind of business online
retailer are doing is proof enough that they are providing some benefits to customer
which offline shopping does not give to the customer. These are the factors
affecting online shopping: Risk: When customer buy products from online shopping
they do not touch or feel the product in a physical sense .Hence we understand that
lot of risk is involve while buying an online product whether it will reach us on proper
time or not is also a concern and also there may arise a risk of product size and
color as it may differ in real view or sense. Sometimes the product ordered is kind of
damaged.

Convenience: Online shopping is much more convenient than offline shopping.

Instead of taking out your vehicle and visit shop to shop you can just sit at your
home and do the shopping. It is convenient to sit at one place and shop the product
of our choice without moving from place to place. Once you have decided on what
you want to buy the payment process is seamless and the order is delivered to your
place. Online shopping makes things more convenient. We can have a lot of choice
over there in any kind of material we want to deal with that too without any fear of
dealing with any dealer or distributers. Online shopping is convenient in its real
sense as it do not carry any dealing with issues of asking for wanted items or
issues of asking for desired kind of items which helps in avoiding the part of
waiting, asking, questioning about the product.

Anxiety: People’s anxiety of exploring the sites and experimenting over them is also
a matter of concern. Sometimes people those who are not very known to any sites
like flip kart myntra or any sites they just feel like it’s a tough kind of activity over net
and its complicated in there sense as they are not very fond of doing online
shopping as it takes a time to even understand the product about its details. This
particular activity makes them irritated over any kind of fatal online dealing.

Previous online experience: How has been a person’s experience in past as far as
online shopping is concerned is a major story of concern. Previous experience is
what matters actually as its hamper or sometime it keep good view or mood of
people. There are two experiences one is about good and another is about bad.
Both has its own and different affect in the mind of buyers. So these factors also
influence online shopping or e shopping. Pricing Policy: Online retailers gets an
inherent advantage in pricing as they don’t have to bear expenses like store rent,
bills etc. They can pass their price directly to customer and generally offer a lower
price to customer than offline market. Even when shipping charges are included
than also it is better than the offline shopping. Hence, determines the level of online
shopping. Lower the price- higher the mood to demand, higher the price –lower the
demand. Price of any commodity also influences the purchasing power of any
specific buyer. Consumer generally prefer mild or normal price with good quality and
do not want to spend or expense lot for any kind of stuff. So buying and selling both
are simultaneously affected by the price of product.

Quality: The quality of product at online sites and offline stores vary a lot and then
this determines the frequency of online shopping. Quality also carries good affecting
nature over any kind of shopping. As consumer or buyer want to have a good
quality of product as they spent their huge sum of money. In general, qualities is a
primary need over any kind of purchasing as it somewhat secure or give a good
sense of buying or kind of guarantee about the product preferred.

Online trust: It depends on customer perception whether they trust a particular site
and its product and services. Hence the frequency of online shopping also depends
upon whether they trust a particular site or not. People are different in there nature
and thoughts, some kind of people trust online dealing some kind of people are in
fear of online dealing. Trustcarry a lot of points examples- trust about the same
product size quantity weight and security

Tangibility of the product: At the store the customer gets to touch and feel the
product they purchase before buying which help the customer to take the decision
to buy the product or not whether the product will suit the customer need or not.
Whether, we can and see feel a product is also a reason which determines whether
a person’s wants to go for shopping or not. Tangibility of any product also
determines the online shopping. Without touching the preferred or desired
substance nobody can get its security about the worthiness or quality or sense of
any preferred product.

Delivery time: The product ordered by the customer in online shopping takes a
minimum of six to seven days to deliver the product to the customer. But in offline
shopping the possession of the goods is immediately transferred to the buyer. So
this is a major factor which affects the online shopping. People want a good delivery
time; they prefer to get a product in a desired time or in short time of duration.
Duration is the second major factor affecting the demand of product.

Income: The person whose income is more, do more online shopping as compared
to the person whose income is less. Income plays a major role to purchase online
products. Higher income people prefers to purchase online more than offline as it
gives them reliability and convenient. Higher the income higher wills the purchasing
of online product and vise-versa.

Taste and preference: The taste and preference of the customer vary from
customer to customer and time to time, taste and preference also a factor which
influences online shopping. Taste and preference of age group also matters in
online shopping. Old people buy or purchase product for their kind of use. Young
generation or teenagers use to purchase their taste of product. Taste and
preference move in tend of ages and choices. Every customer or buyer choices are
different in nature as per their ages.

Information: The information given in the site may not be correct or may not be
appropriate information. The full information about the quality of the product may not
reach to the customer. Hence it will affect the online buying of the customer.
Information provided by the preferred sites may be not the same about the detail of
the product. May be with the provided information and details customers are not
very satisfied. Sometimes it happens that even many customers use to buy the
product after their full knowledge of details as they prefers the detail are accurate
and good in sense. Information related to product may vary in its real sense when it
arrives or delivered to relevant customer.

Variety: The kind of variety that a customer gets online is hard to match any
product purchased offline. The online retailer’s stock products from the entire major
brand and a customer can find any product in their listing no matter how hard to find
it is in the offline store. Online and offline both shopping provide variety of range
from various brands. Variety in it itself is the foremost dealing factor which influence
the market. Larger the variety of product in shop higher the selling and vice-versa.
People generally prefer to move where they get more variety of products.

Discreet shopping: While buying some products like lingerie customers don’t feel
comfortable to purchase it in offline store. Shopping online is discreet and some
online portals also provide discreet shopping. Purchase of girly material are very
convenient in offline shopping as it is not dealt with any kind of uncomfortable
situation. There is no person to who is to ask for any kind of intimate product,
customer can easily cope with offline as they can go and purchase their usable
items without any kind of hesitations.

Offers: Apart from offering products at lower price most online shopping regularly
come up with discount offers in association with bank, brand etc. Which entail
customer to get additional saving while buying products online? Offline stores only
give offer or discount during stock clearance or when the manufactures gives the
discount on the products. Online shopping always provides offers at all the time and
day. In every purchase we get some offers even if there is no festival or carnivals.
Offers are a great factor which attract customer to purchase online. Offer carry a
great influence in shopping.

Instant gratification: Customer buying offline gets their products as soon as they
pay for it but in online shopping customer have to wait for their product to get their
product. Under normal circumstances waiting a day or two does not matter much
but when a customer want to get the product instantly than offline shopping become
necessary. Available product and services: Online shopping offer customers more
benefit by providing more variety of goods and services that they can choose from.
There are some goods which a customer can only find online.

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EFFECTS OF WEB EXPERIENCE FACTORS ON VIRTUAL RETAIL PURCHASE

PREFERENCES

Abstract

This article examines the effects of different elements of the Web Experience (WE)
on the buying behaviour of virtual consumers, specifically on the choice of the
online retail vendor. The purpose of the study is to empirically test the theoretical
findings as to the main parameters of the online customer experience and measure
their relative importance and role as inputs in the customer’s decision-making
process. The study was conducted by means of an online consumer survey in a
realistic virtual shopping environment. The results of the study show that out of the
five web experience components analyzed, four (the usability, trust building,
marketing mix and aesthetics) have a positive and significant effect on the choice of
e-vendor while the fifth one (interactivity) does not seem to positively influence the
choice of an online vendor. Furthermore the study examines the effect of two
behavioural variables (experience and motivation) on the choice of online -
vendors.This topic could expand the scope of academic research on the issue of
online marketing and at the same time provide online marketers with new insights
and tools for building a commercially successful online presence.

INTRODUCTION

The ever-increasing importance and role of their online activities. The pressure is
the Internet as a strategic commercial tool upshot of the fact that the Internet has
and marketing channel has increased the gained ground against traditional media
and. This study has been developed within the Research Projects whose references
are PCI08-0004 (Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación
Tecnológica, JCCM, 2008-2010), and 541A (Programa Plan Promoción
Investigación en el PDI, UCLM, 2009).

ABSTRACT

Advertisers and marketers around the world are collaborating to perfect what they
are calling a 'media and marketing ecosystem. Harnessing the interactive
capabilities of social networks, broadband video channels, mobile

services, video games, and virtual worlds, marketers are, focusing much of their
attention on youth. In this era of E-age consumer behavior is rapidly changing as
the digital marketing is evolving rapidly in every business segment.The digital
transformation is not restricted to one product or brand or product segment o r
country or set of people. In fact the digital evolution has spread across products,
segments, markets, countries and generations. The Research paper addresses one
of the fundamental issues of e- marketing: how to attract and win over the consumer
in the highly competitive Internet marketplace. It analyses the factors affecting the
online consumer's behavior andexamines how e-marketers can influence the
outcome of the virtual interaction and buying process by focusing their marketing
efforts on elements shaping the customer's virtual experience, the Web experience.
The online companies are delivering superior Web experience to influence their
physical clients’ perceptions and attitudes, driving additional traffic than to
traditional sales outlets. The Research paper provides a contribution to the
theoretical debate around the factors influencing the online behavior of Indian.

Introduction

With the explosion of Internet, smart phones and other mobile devices businesses
across the world have started adopting an effective digital strategy. It is an
established fact that there is a growth of internet access and mobile device.
Business houses are using technology and mobility to their advantage, particularly
for digital marketing, with the use of rich consumer data. Indian youth of 21st
century is very aggressive, volatile and impulsive. Today’s youth population has a
much different consumer behavior. Today’s youth is internet lover. They explore
internet widely and do a lot of research before they make a purchase decision. For
them the reviews and peer opinions matter to them more than what the
manufacturing company proclaims about its products or services. Marketers feel
that today’s youth need to be “pulled” than “pushed”. With the growing internet
penetration and advent of high speed 4G internet arrival in India, Gen Y population
is bound to distend and change further. Their awareness level is higher than their
previous generation. Their demand is never constant and keeps on changing
change. Hence, they can’t be satisfied easily. They are very active and well
connected through social networks and hence, can be influenced through the same.
This generation has considerable amount of disposable money and they prefer to
spend it on fitness, gadgets, clothes, acquiring lifestyle products, hoteling, surfing
the net, holidaying, etc. Marketers feel that today’s generation is open to risk and is
willing to try anything and, as a result, marketers are ever willing to try innovative
strategies. The youth can be characterized as those consumers who are willing to
try new products. This young lot of ready to try out new products and brands is also
trendsetters which are powered by an increasing purchasing power. Unlike their
yesteryear contemporaries, they decide how they want to spend, and what they
want to spend on and where they want to buy and at what price they would buy.
Digital marketing, currently accounting for Rs350 crore of the Rs22,700 crore
advertising market, is set to grow at 150% over the next three years, according to a
joint study by audit and consulting firm Ernst and Young and industry lobby
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

Consumer Characteristics

Income is found to be one of the influencing factors that have a considerable im pact
on online consumer buying behavior. Studies reveal that higher income group has
access to and knowledge of Internet and computer and smart phones. Higher
income group also are more ready to take the risk of shopping online. Education is
one more demographic factor that influences the shoppers to shop online . Internet
is accessed more by those users are educated. Education is considered correlated
to Internet and online shopping. It has been observed that better educated people
are bound to be more techno savvy and find it easy to use internet and therefore do
online shopping with ease. Age is yet another factor that influences the online
shopping. It has been found that the youth falling under the age of 15 to 35 are
more digital oriented and prefer to shop on web. Today’s youth is educated, well
informed, considerably exposed, highly digital and social, and because of this have
high expectations and demands from the marketers. These new age youth demand
a seamless, digitally enabled, less time consuming shopping experience.

Reference

Economic Survey 2013-14

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

http://www.livemint.com/Consumer

http://www.ibef.org/industry/advertising-marketing-india.aspx

http://www.mckinsey.com/client_service/high_tech/latest_thinking/impact_of_the_int
ernet_on_aspiring_countries

http://thedigitalmarketingblog.in/2015/02/india-digital-marketing-statistics-2015

AN INVESTIGATION OF CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING STYLES

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the consumer decision -
making styles of young-adults in Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis was
conducted to determine the dimensions considered by young-adults in their
transactions in the market. Seven reliable factors and their corresponding decision -
making styles were identified: Novelty, Brand Conscious Consumer; Perfectionistic,
High-Quality Conscious Consumer;Confused by Overchoice; Recreational,
Hedonistic Consumer;Impulsive, Careless Consumer;Variety-Seeking andHabitual,
Brand-Loyal. Comparison was made with other studies to identify differences and
similarities of consumer style factor structures across different countries.

Introduction

Young-adult consumers provide an interesting topic for the consumer research for
at least four reasons (Grant and Waite, 2003). First, at the period of transition from
adolescence to early adulthood, the young people seek to establish their own
individual personas and form behaviour patterns, attitudes, and values, hence t heir
own consumption patterns. They make purchases to define themselves and to
create an identity of their own making (Holbrook and Schindler, 1989). Many of
these patterns are carried well into individual’s lifetimes (Moschis, 198 7). Secondly,
young people are able to influence the purchase and decision-making of others
(Grant and Waite, 2003). Thirdly, they act as a change agent by influencing society
and culture (Leslie et al. 2001). And finally, from a marketing perspective, young
adults are recognized as a specialized market segment that forms a powerful
consumer spending group in their own way (Moschis, 1987; Grant and Waite, 2003).
One specific group of young-adult population in Malaysia that represents the most
lucrative market segment is college students. Despite the fact that the majority of
college students are unemployed and their ‘earning’ comes mainly from educational
loans and parental contributions, college students represent an extremely la rge and
important market segment for many products and services. They are seen as a
lucrative market since they have higher than average lifetime earnings and are just
beginning a major transition period which is a key time to change previous
behaviours (Warwick and Mansfield, 2000). Marketers are keen to target this group
because they perceive them as potential loyal customers both currently and in the
future (Feldman, 1999; Speer, 1998). The rapid growth of college student population
in Malaysia over the past two decades has been largely attributable to the
government policy of expanding the tertiary education facilities through public a s
well as private institutions (Government of Malaysia, 2006). With the expansion of
tertiary educational services, which resulted in the establishment of 20 public
universities and many more private colleges, the number of students in further and
higher education has been increasing steadily over the years. Recent statistics
showed that the number of students entering local public universities for
undergraduate studies rose dramatically from 29,962 in 2001 to 58,304 in 2006 – a
95 percent increase within a five year period (Ministry of Higher Education, 2007).
The government policy to have at least 35% of the labor force with tertiary
education should see this growth continue in the future (Government of
Malaysia,2001). While this segment is a potentially lucrative target for many
marketers, it is also complex and must be examined carefully. One aspect of
consumer behaviour of college students that deserve investigation is their decision-
making styles. In this context, the Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) developed by
Sproles and Kendall (1986) provides a potentially useful instrument to assist
marketers in examining consumer decision-making styles. According to Sproles and
Kendall (1986, p. 267), identification of decision-making styles among consumers
“helps to profile an individual consumer style, educate consumers about their
specific decision-making characteristics, and counsel families on financial
management.”

References

Canabal, M. E. (2001). Decision Making Styles of Young South Indian Consumers:

An Exploratory Study. College Student Journal, 36 (1), 12-19.
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of a Scale for Profiling Consumers’ Decision-Making Styles. Journal of Consumer
Affairs, 27 (1), 55-65.

Fan, J. X. & Xio, J. J. (1998). Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Young-Adult

Chinese, Journal of Consumer Affairs,32 (2), 275-294.

Fan, J. X., Xio, J. J. & Xu, Y. (1997). Decision-Making Styles of Young-Adult

Chinese Consumers: An International Comparison. Consumer Interests Annual, 43,
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Feldman, J. (1999). Back-to-school buying guide. Money, 28 (9), 165-168.

Gonen, E. & Osemete, E. (2006). Decision-Making Styles of Young Turkish

Consumers, Journal of the Home Economics Institute of Australia, 13 (1), 26-33.

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Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan National Malaysia.

Government of Malaysia. (2006). Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010. Putrajaya:

Percetakan Nasional Malaysia.

Grant, I. C. & Waite, K. (2003). Following the Yellow Brick Road - Young Adults’
Experiences of the Information

Super-Highway. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 6 (1), 48 -57.

Hafstrom, J. L., Chae, L. S. & Chung, Y. S. (1992). Consumer Decision-Making

Styles: Comparison between United

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158.

Hiu, A. S. Y., Siu, N. Y. M., Wang, C. C. L. & Chang, L. M. K. (2001). An

Investigation of Decision-Making Styles of Consumers in China. Journal of
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Holbrook, M. & Schindler, R. M. (1989). Some Explanatory Findings on the

Development of Musical Tastes. Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (1), 119-124.

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Consumers. European Journal of Economics,

The Effects of Information Overload on Consumer Confusion: An

Examination on User Generated Content
Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of information overload on consumer confusion in User-Generated
Content (UGC) environments and to find whether consumers’ final buying decisions are affected by the confusion. In
this respect, consumer data gathered online was analyzed by means of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) on the
basis of the theoretical framework. In addition to model tests, a scale was developed to measure ‘information
overload’ depending on UGC. The results revealed that depending on the quality of information created in UGC
environments, consumers’ perceptions of information overload and consequently their confused reactions are related.
The most important dimension of the information overload was found to be the information processing capacity. The
level of involvement, the level of internet self-efficacy, and the perceived usefulness of UGC were also related to the
degree of information over- load. Statistically meaningful relationships were found between perceived information
overload and confusion, and this confusion had a negative effect on consumers’ buying decisions, thus resulting in a
decrease in purchasing.

A study of the impact of social media on consumers

Abstract

Social media have provided new opportunities to consumers to engage in social interaction on the internet.
Consumers use social media, such as online communities, to generate content and to network with other users. The
study of social media can also identify the advantages to be gained by business. A multidisciplinary model, building
on the technology acceptance model and relevant literature on trust and social media, has been devised. The model
has been validated by SEM-PLS, demonstrating the role of social media in the development of e-commerce into
social commerce. The data emerging from a survey show how social media facilitate the social interaction of
consumers, leading to increased trust and intention to buy. The results also show that trust has a significant direct
effect on intention to buy. The perceived usefulness (PU) of a site is also identified as a contributory factor. At the end
of the paper, the author discusses the results, along with implications, limitations and recommended future research
directions.

TRADITIONAL SHOPPERS AND ONLINE SHOPPING

Abstract

The recent advancement in technology has facilitated commerce around the globe. This online medium of commerce
has provided great opportunities for many consumers. However, there are many issues surrounding online shopping
that need to be addressed before the advantages of online shopping are fully realized. One significant issue is
consumer attitude and behavior. The purpose of this paper is to examine the online shopping behavior of consumers
who still shop from traditional stores. A survey was conducted in a shopping mall of a medium size city in the
southeastern region. The results show a positive attitude of offline consumers toward online shopping.