E‐shopping lovers and fearful conservatives: a market segmentation analysis

Purpose – To classify internet users into holiday shopper and non‐shopper segments, and to profile the demographic, psychographic, and computer use characteristics of each segment.Design/methodology/approach – Self‐report data come from a national US sample of online internet users. Segments are customer revealed using traditional cluster analysis. Lifestyle measures are reduced to higher order measures using factor analysis. Profiles are analyzed via descriptive statistics, graphs, and radar charts.Findings – Six important segments are identified in the data. Three of the segments characterize customers who resist online shopping, even though they engage in other online activities. Security fears and technological incompetence typically inhibit these users from engaging in electronic exchange. Some internet users simply choose not to shop online. Three of the segments describe active e‐shoppers who are driven by a unique desire to socialize, minimize inconvenience, and maximize value.Research limitations...

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