Product characteristics and Internet shopping intentions

Estimates of online sales by product categories reveal that certain types of products fare better than others. A few conceptual papers have offered frameworks to assess the compatibility of a product to online marketing and sales. These frameworks that are based on product characteristics could help explain the differences in the asymmetrical success of online retailing. This paper reports the results of an empirical study that investigated differences between Internet shopping intentions for products categorized by cost and tangibility. Analyses of data, collected through a mail survey from over 750 respondents, show that intentions to shop using the Internet differ by tangibility of product. Reasons for this discrepancy are provided through an examination of salient and normative beliefs, along with implications for online merchants.

[1]  John G. Lynch,et al.  Interactive Home Shopping: Consumer, Retailer, and Manufacturer Incentives to Participate in Electronic Marketplaces , 1997 .

[2]  Gerald L. Lohse,et al.  A Classification of Internet Retail Stores , 1997, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[3]  William R. Darden,et al.  An action strategy approach to examining shopping behavior , 1990 .

[4]  Pamela D. Morrison,et al.  Matching Electronic Distribution Channels to Product Characteristics: The Role of Congruence in Consideration Set Formation , 1998 .

[5]  W. Reilly.  Methods for the study of retail relationships , 2022 .

[6]  C. Steinfield,et al.  A Social Information Processing Model of Media Use in Organizations , 1987 .

[7]  Joseph M. Jones,et al.  Print and Internet catalog shopping: assessing attitudes and intentions , 2000, Internet Res..

[8]  Jonathon N. Cummings,et al.  Internet Paradox Revisited , 2002 .

[9]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[10]  H. Raghav Rao,et al.  On risk, convenience, and Internet shopping behavior , 2000, CACM.

[11]  Richard J. George.  IN‐HOME ELECTRONIC SHOPPING: DISAPPOINTING PAST, UNCERTAIN FUTURE , 1987 .

[12]  Jungjoo Jahng,et al.  Effective design of electronic commerce environments: a proposed theory of congruence and an illustration , 2000, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part A.

[13]  Dennis L. Hoffman,et al.  Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments : Conceptual Foundations 1 ) , 1998 .

[14]  O. Williamson.  Markets and Hierarchies , 1975 .

[15]  Bart J. Bronnenberg,et al.  Exploring the implications of the internet for consumer marketing , 1997 .

[16]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[17]  R. Wigand,et al.  Electronic Markets and Virtual Value Chains on the Information Superhighway , 1995 .

[18]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[19]  R. Daft,et al.  Media Symbolism, Media Richness, and Media Choice in Organizations , 1987 .

[20]  Kenneth T. Rosen,et al.  E-Retail: Gold Rush or Fool's Gold? , 2000 .

[21]  Joseph M. Jones,et al.  Intentions to Shop Using Internet Catalogues: Exploring the Effects of Product Types, Shopping Orientations, and Attitudes towards Computers , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[22]  Ting-Peng Liang,et al.  An empirical study on consumer acceptance of products in electronic markets: a transaction cost model , 1998, Decis. Support Syst..

[23]  Moez Limayem,et al.  What makes consumers buy from Internet? A longitudinal study of online shopping , 2000, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part A.

[24]  Sui Meng Poon,et al.  Factors influencing the types of products and services purchased over the Internet , 2000, Internet Res..

[25]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  State versus Action Orientation and the Theory of Reasoned Action: An Application to Coupon Usage , 1992 .

[26]  Jonathan W. Palmer,et al.  Electronic Commerce in Retailing: Differences Across Retail Formats , 1997, Inf. Soc..

[27]  K. Evans,et al.  The impact of social influence and role expectations on shopping center patronage intentions , 1996 .

[28]  Anol Bhattacherjee,et al.  Acceptance of e-commerce services: the case of electronic brokerages , 2000, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part A.

[29]  Jonathan Steuer,et al.  Defining virtual reality: dimensions determining telepresence , 1992 .

[30]  Pamela L. Alreck,et al.  Consumer perceptions of mail/phone order shopping media , 1994 .

[31]  Zhan G. Li,et al.  E-tailing--For all products? , 2000 .

[32]  David W. Schloerb,et al.  A Quantitative Measure of Telepresence , 1995, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[33]  Peter A. Todd,et al.  Consumer Reactions to Electronic Shopping on the World Wide Web , 1996, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[34]  Soyeon Shim,et al.  Consumer intention to utilize electronic shopping , 1990 .

[35]  Joseph M. Jones,et al.  Internet consumer catalog shopping: findings from an exploratory study and directions for future research , 1998, Internet Res..

[36]  JoAnne Yates,et al.  Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies , 1987, CACM.

[37]  Patrali Chatterjee,et al.  Commercial Scenarios for the Web: Opportunities and Challenges , 1997, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[38]  Stanley C. Hollander.  The Wheel of Retailing , 1960 .