Search results

This article provides an in‐depth chronology of the development of in‐home electronics shopping, beginning with optimistic predictions of revolutionary growth and possible displacement of traditional retailers, through the acknowledged marketplace failures of two U.S. pioneers of videotex. Included are findings of various research studies and controlled market test results that highlight practical problems associated with this technological innovation in consumer marketing. In addressing the reasons contributing to its disappointing past, the article focuses on the impact of system, organization, product, and demand variables on in‐home electronic shopping. Prestel, the British videotex system, and Minitel, the French videotex system, are described and compared with the commercial efforts of major U.S. corporations. In addition, the article high‐lights the advantages and disadvantages of two leading technologies (television shopping shows and laser videodisc retailing) that currently compete with in‐home electronic shopping for the nonstore retailing market. The article concludes with some cautionary comments and pragmatic suggestions for increasing the probability of commercial success of in‐home electronic shopping.

Electronic‐retailing is the buzzword of 2000. Every other press release I receive relates to electronic commerce or Internet shopping. Therefore, it seems appropriate to focus this summer issue of Retail Insights on the subject. The first article by Rowley discusses the phenomenon of shopping bots, the intelligent agents designed to support comparison shopping across a number of Internet sites. She reviews the functions and evaluates the coverage of different shopping bots. In the second article, Wee and Ramachandra assess the level of cyberbuying activities in China, Hong Kong and Singapore by concentrating on the who, why and what of online retailing.

Predicts a major increase in electronic home shopping, via the television and the Internet, over the next ten years. Discusses the economics of selling via the Internet and compares the advantages and disadvantages of online and TV shopping. Looks at the advances made in the USA, and addresses potential technical issues which may hinder progress in the UK.

Female consumers' preferences for shopping via CD/ROM, television or catalogue versus in a specialty store were investigated. Videotaped shopping simulations were viewed by 191 subjects who selected preferred options within each of six forced‐choice pairs. Specialty store was most and television least preferred. Catalogue was most preferred among non‐store options. Fashion Opinion Leadership, Clothing Interest Inventory and Shopping Orientation measures, and demographic and open‐ended questions were used to profile and explore preference behaviour. Analysis with Chi‐Square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID) profiled five consumer segments. Subjects had positive and negative perceptions of each venue and believed that shopping through electronic media will be dominant non‐store options in the future.

Buying behavior has been significantly altered by technological developments as a result of the rise of the Internet. Online buying behavior is also inextricably linked to electronic payment systems, such as credit cards. This paper investigates how credit-card systems and online shopping increases compulsive buying of female and male consumers.

In the current study, the authors tested the influence of credit card possession and the role of Internet shopping on gender differences in compulsive buying in a representative German sample (n = 1,038). Binary logistic regression analysis and moderator analysis were applied.

As predicted, Internet shopping increased compulsive buying, but the association was the same for females and males. Further, credit card possession moderated the effect of gender on compulsive buying, with females showing a higher proneness to compulsive buying.

This research, which is based on a representative population study, contributes to the understanding of the role of credit cards and the one of online shopping in developing compulsive buying patterns among female and male consumers.

The absence of a theoretically sound framework for delineating the various forms of Internet retailing may negate recognition of situation‐specific issues or engender insights being drawn from, and applied to, incompatible contexts. To address this gap, the fulfillment‐product classification scheme that segments Internet retailing into four categories was developed. Efforts were then directed towards providing a more detailed examination of perceived Internet shopping value than has to date been performed by examining the sources and inhibitors of utilitarian and hedonic value relative to each fulfillment‐product category. The interviews with experienced Internet shoppers generated theoretical and managerial insights pertaining to value, while the classification scheme has applications beyond that of the current research topic.

Increased demand for organized home help for elderly and disabled people and parallel budget cuts of social care require new efficient solutions to save home‐helpers’ time and ensure the current quality of provided services. A number of trials for renewing grocery purchasing process as a part of home help for the elderly and disabled have lately been initiated in Finland. In all but one of these trials electronic commerce (EC) services are included in the purchase process. In this article we compare these trials using the time efficiency of home‐helpers as a primary criterion. Using electronic order delivery gives even additional benefits, releasing the home‐helper from the need to visit the grocery store. The Full EC Model would be the best solution. However, it might not be feasible for most customers, who do not necessarily have the technology or ability to use it. Therefore, the intermediary based EC seems to be most suitable for this customer group.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the benefits delivered to traditional retailers from using shopping portals as their entry mechanism to the online trading environment. The paper also aims to highlight the possible drawbacks inherent in such an approach.

A case study approach was used with an online portal, combining documentary analysis and semi‐structured interviews, using a team‐based interviewing approach. This facilitated the development of a multi‐layered picture of the organisation.

Using a shopping portal delivers several benefits to traditional retailers in terms of marketing synergies, site traffic generation, access to web site management and fulfilment services, and the ability to offer customers a multi‐channel retailing experience. Drawbacks may include partner interdependence and turnover, restricted organisational learning and restricted delivery capabilities.

Highlighting the benefits and drawbacks of shopping portals generates guidelines that traditional retailers can consider to help them decide whether such portals are the right choice for their individual firm or not.

This paper expands the literature on the phenomenon of the online portal by demonstrating its potential as a mechanism for traditional retailers to engage in electronic retailing.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a value‐based framework for the consumer e‐trust building process.

The data collection procedure consisted of two steps. The first was a brief questionnaire measuring potential informants' personal values. From this pool of potential informants, 30 were recruited for the interviews: five security‐ and five excitement‐minded consumers from three fields of electronic commerce; electronic newspapers, electronic grocery shopping, and electronic healthcare services.

The findings of the study reveal two value‐based external factors in e‐trust building that consumers perceive as risks in e‐commerce, and three value‐based behavioral patterns in e‐trust building that informants adopt to reduce perceived risks and build trust in e‐commerce. Furthermore, findings of the current study suggest that e‐trust building process is different based on individuals' personal values.

This study takes into account only two consumers' personal values, security and excitement, and ignores others. However, it identifies the role of the consumers' personal values in e‐trust building, and thus opens new perspectives for further e‐trust research. The study also identifies different strategies that consumers can use to build trust in e‐commerce.

This study opens new perspectives in e‐trust research by exploring the role of consumers' personal values in e‐trust building process. The study also provides new insights for other researchers to develop understanding on mechanisms that consumers use to build e‐trust.

Like any product purchases, the success of online shopping depends largely on user satisfaction and other factors that further affect customers' intentions to continue shopping online (continuance intentions). This study seeks to integrate fairness theory with the trust concept to construct a model for investigating consumers' continuance intentions toward online shopping.

An online survey collected data from 226 users with online shopping experience to empirically validate the hypothesised model.

The results indicate that distributive fairness and interactional fairness exert significant positive effects on customers' satisfaction and trust in vendors. Satisfaction is a strong predictor of the continuance intentions of consumers. However the fact that the relationship between trust in vendors and consumers' continuance intentions is insignificant offers insight into trust: consumers continue shopping online with certain levels of misgiving.

The findings suggest that a user's trust in an online vendor can be enhanced by increasing fairness, particularly distributive fairness and interactional fairness. This also implies that an online user's satisfaction and trust are not just related to products: therefore vendors should put effort into the pre‐ and post‐sale experiences.