A Critical Review of Online Consumer Behavior

The topic of online consumer behavior has been examined under various contexts over the years. Although researchers from a variety of business disciplines have made significant progress over the past few years, the scope of these studies is rather broad, the studies appear relatively fragmented and no unifying theoretical model is found in this research area. In view of this, we provide an exhaustive review of the literature and propose an integrative model of online consumer behavior so as to analyze the online consumer behavior in a systematic way. This proposed framework not only provides us with a cohesive view of online consumer behavior, but also serves as a salient guideline for researchers in this area. We conclude our paper with a research agenda for the study of online consumer behavior.

Online Consumers' Switching Behavior

Limited studies have investigated online consumer loyalty and retention from a relationship orientation in electronic commerce research. It is important to understand the differences in relationship orientations between people who have the propensity to stick to particular web sites (“stayers”) and people who have the propensity to switch to alternative web sites (“switchers”). This study proposes a relationship-based classification schema consisting of five dimensions, i.e., commitment, trust, satisfaction, comparison level of the alternatives, and non-retrievable investment. Data were collected from 299 college students who had experience with e-commerce websites. Using discriminant analysis, we found that stayers and switchers were significantly different along the five research dimensions. Satisfaction with the current website was the most important discriminant factor, followed by trust, commitment, comparison level of alternative websites, and non-retrievable investment in the current website. Implications of the findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Consumers' Optimal Experience on Commercial Web Sites

Though marketers are aware that online marketing strategies are crucial to attract visitors to Web sites and make the Web site sticky (Hoffman et al., 1995; Morr, 1997; Schwartz, 1996; Tchong, 1998), little is known about the factors that can bring out such a compelling online experience. This chapter examines how specific Web atmospheric features such as dynamic navigation design, together with Web users’ surfing goals, can lead to an optimal online experience. In addition, the chapter also examines the consequences of an optimal surfing experience on consumers’ attitudes toward commercial Web sites/brands (promoted on these sites) and purchase intentions. In this chapter, we review related research on online consumer experience, identify two key antecedents of the optimal online experience, report an experiment testing the effects of these antecedents and provide insights for future research.

Returns on e-Branding Investment

Consumer-centric organizations recognize customer relationships with brands as a source of sustainable competitive advantage that they can leverage to successfully introduce brand extensions. Marketers seeking to leverage brand equity associated with core off-line products to introduce e-brand extensions recognize that success depends on initiating brand relationships with prospective customers, as well as maintaining relationships with existing customers. This research proposes and empirically demonstrates that investment on e-branding relationships with current users generates higher returns for online extensions that have close fit with the core off-line product. In contrast, investments on nonusers have a higher return on adoption of online brand extensions that have low-fit with core products, compared to current customers and can increase overall profitability. Further, we show that Web site features like personalized e-mail and interactive aids have a significantly higher impact on customer profitability and motivate prospective consumers to move to higher levels of relationship with the firm, than financial incentives like sales promotions. Managerial implications for return on e-branding investments and future research directions are discussed.

E-Branding the Consumer for Cultural Presence in Virtual Communities

Brands have evolved from signs of property rights to signs of product attributes to signs of consumer attributes. Brands have become an important mode of consumer communication, identifying and distinguishing consumers as social objects within consumer market culture. Virtual communities have evolved from telephonic verbal communication to highly interactive electronic media that provide rich audio-visual sensory detail that gives consumers a sense of being in an environment. As a fundamentally cultural phenomenon, marketing communication reflects shared patterns of consumer thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors. Virtual communities are particularly suited for communication in consumer culture because they afford consumers authentic cultural presence. Culture depends on communication. Communication depends on symbols. Symbols constitute electronic environments. E-branding affords consumers the necessary tools to communicate their roles and relationships in virtual consumer culture environments for transfer to actual consumer culture environments. Consumption in actual environments results in brand viability and marketing success.

The Naming of Corporate eBrands

This chapter examines whether classical brand naming concepts are sustainable for entrepreneurial firms in the Net Economy. A prior study of Kohli and LaBahn (1997) covers the formal brand naming process and gives insights into brand name objectives and criteria. To follow the research purpose, their findings have been adapted to entrepreneurial firms in the Net Economy. Three hundred nineteen e-entrepreneurs located in German business incubators were analyzed for their brand naming process. The availability of an appropriate domain name is found to be a basic driver for deciding on a brand name. The domain name influences the course of action during the naming process. Two groups were found that significantly differ in proceeding with the naming process. One group of e-entrepreneurs follows the traditional process of Kohli and LaBahn (1997), whereas the other group follows a new approach giving more emphasis on the domain name. Here, the process shows to be iterative in nature instead of a step by step procedure.

Multi-Channel Retailing and Customer Satisfaction

Multi-channel retailers that utilize an eCRM approach stand to benefit in multiple arenas - by providing targeted customer service as well as gaining operational and competitive advantages. To that end, it is inherent that multi-channel retailers better understand how satisfaction – a necessary condition for building customer loyalty – influences consumers’ decisions to shop in one retail channel or another. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of shopping experience on customers’ future purchase intentions, both for the retailer and for the channel. Using a controlled experimental design, U.S. and European subjects responded to a series of questions regarding the likelihood making a future purchase following either a positive or negative shopping encounter. Results suggest that shopping intentions vary based on the shopping channel as well as cultural differences.

Trademark Infringement in Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Since its launch in 1994, the Web has continued to grow at a phenomenal rate, from an estimated one billion Web documents in 2001 to over eleven billion in January 2005 (Gulli & Signorini, 2005). For most users, navigating this ever expanding sea of data has become a significant challenge. Search engines – sites that maintain indexes of Web content – allow users to specify words / phrases and return a list of sites that potentially match these criteria – have become a key way of finding information on the Web. Google, the world’s largest search engine is estimated to have indexed over 8 billion pages (Sullivan, 2004c) and to be used in nearly 50% of consumer searches (Nielsen NetRatings, 2006). Over 6.4 billion individual searches took place during May 2006 within the USA alone (Comscore, 2006). Clearly being favourably positioned in such search results is very important for site owners wishing to get visibility to the online consumer. In the beginning, search engines were unbiased, striving to display the results that provided the most relevant answers to user queries (Sullivan, 2002). While many were supported by advertising, in general this took the form of banner advertisements – graphical adverts displayed across the top of the page and clearly differentiated from the engine’s search result listings. Today, however, search engines need more workable business models to meet the substantial costs of maintaining their databases and improving their technology (Princeton Research Associates, 2002). For that reason, many now market their ability to route consumers towards specific Web sites - blurring the line between their ‘results’ and their ‘advertisements’. Like tour guides supplementing their income by bringing potential customers to restaurants or gift shops, many search engines now actively direct users to sites which have paid for positioning on their results pages (Lastowka, 2002). In most cases, these paid placements are based on advertisers bidding for the specific keywords under which they wish to be displayed. For example, an online sports retailer might wish to appear when ever users enter “running shoes” as a search criterion. Bidding on these keywords would insure that the sports retailer’s site is displayed prominently in the resulting search listing. Controversy has arisen, however, over the use of trademarked terms as keyword triggers. For example, can the same online retailer bid on the keyword “Nike” and / or use the trademark “Nike” in the copy of the advert subsequently displayed, thus potentially diverting shoppers who might otherwise have bought directly from Nike.com - the Web site of the trademark owner? Clearly doing so compromises Nike’s brand equity – its monopolistic right to be able to profit from its investment in building up the Nike brand (Arvidsson 2006). As George (2006, p 215) puts it “brands are the placards by which modern consumers choose their products”. Corporations rely on brands to stimulate consumer awareness and foster an affinity for their products (Spinello 2006). Legal protection against brand infringement comes from trademark law – a subsection of intellectual property law that prevents third parties from benefiting from the value and goodwill built up in a brand (Gallafent 2006). However, such legislation has developed in the off-line world. How do its principles and practices transfer to e-commerce? While still a developing subject, this paper examines the ethical and legal position surrounding trademark infringement in a specific area of the electronic arena – within paid search advertising. The paper explains the rational behind the problem, outlines the current legal situation and offers advice as to how trade name owners can better protect their e-brand.

The E-Mode of Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is a crucial strategy to any brand’s strategy. Given the rapid development of technology and it impact on online strategies, changing lifestyles of consumers and the consumer interaction required as a part of contemporary brand strategy, there may be need for brands to synergize their positioning strategies with online positioning strategies. This would enable brands to adapt to an environment which is increasingly becoming digital. The paper after taking into consideration the published literature on brand positioning, attempts to formulate online positioning strategies using different aspects of brand positioning, price, customer interactivity and consumer community orientation. Implications for marketing managers are provided.

Understanding Consumer Reactions to Offshore Outsourcing of Customer Services

Offshore outsourcing is a fast-growing aspect of the world economy today and it has drawn attention from policy makers as well as public at large in many developed countries. However, there is hardly any research on how outsourcing of customer services may influence individual consumers, their perceptions, attitudes and behaviors. In this chapter, the authors first review the extant literature in the country-of-origin and services marketing areas to highlight key concepts and theories relevant to this area. Next, they show how offshore outsourcing of customer services may influence consumer perceptions about service quality, brand image and brand loyalty on one hand and impact customer satisfaction, complaint behavior and repurchase intentions on the other. The role of several relevant demographic and psychographic variables is also discussed. Finally, the findings from a survey-based study among customers in three developed countries (US, UK and Australia) are reported along with a discussion of managerial implications and future research directions in this area.