Acquiring goods and services via the Internet : Consumer shopping perceptions Acquiring goods and services via the Internet : Consumer shopping perceptions Lori N.K. Leonard /leonard/index.html

Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, Settle and Alreck (1986) identified five areas of consumer needs Physical Safety Love and affiliation Prestige and esteem Self-fulfillment

Consumer Needs Twice as many people have visited e-commerce sites to research than have actually made purchases from sites (Tweney, 1999). Gender is also an issue when satisfying consumer needs via the Internet. Women are the primary shoppers in America (Verdisco, 1999). Today women are turning to the Internet in order to save time, yet men continue to buy more online than women (Tweney, 1999).

Contact Vehicles The mail Phone Store Internet Web television

Function Keeney (1999) identified the following four fundamental objectives of Internet commerce to the customer Convenience F lexibility Reliability Security

Methodology Students Sample All Undergraduate Students Enrolled in information systems course All between the ages of 18 to 34 Instrument of Study A 16-item questionnaire was developed to collect data with regard to the three research questions: The consumer needs being satisfied over the Internet the contact vehicle perceptions the Internet’s acquisition function perceptions

Results Respondents: 209 usable responses were collected from the undergraduate students. They were found to spend between 0.2 and 98 hours on the Internet per week, with the average being hours 76.6 %were between the ages of 19 and % between the ages of 25 and % were male 55.5 % were female 83.7 % were single 88.5 % had no children.

Findings Of the respondents : 81.3 % had Internet access at home 18.7 % did not 78.5 percent had both and Web browsing capabilities After Komp and Walstrom ( ) study: 53 % had Internet access at home 42 % had and Web browsing

Research Question 1: Consumer Needs Three interrelated usage patterns On average Purchases made over the internet Between 2 and 3 different items over the Internet. The number increases to between 3 and 4 different items, if you exclude respondents who never purchase anything over the internet However, many of the respondents are researching insurance online

Most frequently purchased items Satisfy — love and affiliation fulfillment Airline tickets/reservations, books/magazines, and CDs Clothing is a basic, physical need, but it also can be used for love and affiliation

Does the gender of the individual determine the number of goods or services researched or purchased? Traditionally, men buy hardware, software, and electronics — love/affiliation needs Women buy food, beverages, and clothing — physical needs Bhatnagar, 2000

Do individuals perceive the acquiring of goods/services via the Internet to be more like acquiring goods/services by mail, phone, store, or Web television? Research Question 2: Contact Vehicle Do individuals perceive the acquiring of goods/services via the Internet to be more like acquiring goods/services by mail, phone, store, or Web television?

Research Question 3: Function Is it convenient? Flexible? Reliable? Secure?

Concerns about purchasing via internet

Table 9 Internet Function Perceptions Based on Internet Purchasing Function Perceptions Based on Preferred Outlet Table 10 Internet Function Perceptions Based on Preferred Outlet

Discussion Seventy percent of the respondents have purchased at least one item via the Internet, with the majority of purchases related to the love and affiliation need—so they are more knowledgeable Prestige and esteem needs and self-fulfillment needs are more risky, expensive items and therefore are least likely to be purchased over the internet Physical needs, such as food, are also considered high risk because of an individual’s need to touch-and-feel (Bhatnagar et al., 2000) Prestige and esteem needs and self-fulfillment needs are researched frequently via the Internet however because time spent researching the best shopping deals depends on individual need and cost structure (Vakratsas, 1998)

Discussion (continued) Individuals perceive purchasing over the Internet to be least like purchasing from a store. Touch and feel contact as opposed to video enhanced pictures of products (on the Internet). However, depending on the number of hours spent on the Internet per week, individuals who spent more hours perceived the Internet to be more like purchasing from a store Respondents reported that they perceive the Internet to be the most convenient and flexible of all purchasing vehicles, but a store to be the most reliable and secure. This indicates that individuals can see the inherit benefits of Internet transactions, but they still have concerns (and often the risk outweighs the benefits (Bhatnagar et al., 2000) individuals who have purchased goods/services over the Internet perceive the Internet to be more convenient, flexible, reliable, and secure than individuals who have not made a purchase Also, individuals who prefer purchasing from an outlet other than a store perceive the Internet to be more convenient, flexible, reliable, and secure. Again, becoming comfortable with the outlet leads to improved perceptions

Discussion (continued) the Internet has evolved and more individuals make purchases and slowly perceptions will also improve as they have for other outlets just like shopping via telephone (Bhatnagar et al., 2000) A comparison of this study’s sample below shows more and more people turn to internet for purchase goods and services Limitations Not all demographic groups were included The changing nature of the internet Depends on the individual

Conclusion The largest number of items being purchased via the Internet is to fill love and affiliation needs with physical needs/items also being purchased frequently. Concerns about security issues The Internet is perceived to be least similar to purchasing from a store Web page design and functionality, specifically focusing on meeting the wants of consumers explore the changing dynamics Internet demographics Vs non- Internet demographics Age, income, and education, as well as gender consumer attraction to Web sites should be assessed

References A. Bhatnagar, S. Misra, and H.R. Rao, "On Risk, Convenience, and Internet Shopping Behavior," Communications of the ACM, volume 43, number 11 (November), pp S. Krishnamurthy, E-Commerce Management: Text and Cases. Mason, Ohio: Thomson South-Western R.L. Keeney, "The Value of Internet Commerce to the Customer," Management Science, volume 45, number 4 (April), pp