1. How do Digital Millennials Shop Online?
Customization and/or Social Shopping:
How do Digital Millennials Shop Online?
Arnold Kamis and Jonathan Frank
Information Systems and Operations Management, Suffolk University
Abstract
This paper investigates how Social Shopping and Customization interplay to affect Digital Millennials’ online shopping experience. We test whether the social richness of online shopping in pairs can overcome the leanness of the online shopping experience. Can the interactivity of Online Customization accomplish the same purpose? Is there a synergistic, interaction effect? Our 2x2 experimental design with 182 subjects examines this question with customizable versus packaged vacation travel. Partial Least Squares analyses of Perceived Effectiveness, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Enjoyment and Intent to Purchase suggest that a user’s Intention to Purchase is linked to the suitability of the site’s user interface as well as the perceived social / technological richness of the website. The results shed light on Digital Millennials’ online shopping preferences, and provide guidance to web site designers incorporating Social Shopping or Customization into online shopping applications. Future research will extend the results to other populations, task domains and devices.
Methods
We expect that a user’s intention to either purchase or return to a site is linked to the suitability of the site’s user interface as well as the perceived social / technological richness of the corporate website, i.e., how user-centric it is [18]. That is, a solo user could be more able and willing to customize a travel vacation, because s/he would know precisely what s/he wants. On the other hand, social shoppers (traveler and his or her helper) would use each other as a reality check, as validation, for making a travel vacation choice. They may achieve a custom-fit in social desirability rather than feature desirability. In sum,
A user interface that supports a customizable vacation package could benefit solo shoppers.
A user interface that supports a simple search-and-select of travel packages could benefit social shoppers
In addition, we expected users who were stronger seekers of information to have more positive perceptions of the ease of use, effectiveness and enjoyment of the user interface. We expected those perceptions, in turn, to positively influence the user’s intent to purchase the chosen vacation.
We employed a 2x2 factorial design. The Solo vs. Social Shopping factor X Packaged vs. Customization factor yielded 4 treatments. The units of analysis were Online Shopping Digital Millenials, alone and in pairs. We started with Digital Millennials recruited from MIS and Marketing classes, in a controlled experiment. The task design was deliberately simple and open-ended. Subjects were told to shop for the best vacation, given $2000. They were told that complete participation, from beginning to end, was required to qualify them to win a prize.
Results by Treatment
Background
Digital Millennials are online up to three hours per day for entertainment, peer communication, shopping and entertainment [1]. Digital Millennials shop socially, relying on friends and family when making purchases, more so than any other age group. Social Shopping has been defined as “the opportunity to support peer-to-peer interaction across multiple vendor locations and in enabling spontaneous human social engagement at varying levels of intimacy, allowing collaborative purchases to occur” [2]. Social Shopping is not the only way to reach Digital Millennials, however. Consider customization, a growing trend in electronic commerce [3-6]. Digital Millennials are the most likely age group to design custom products online, particularly automobiles, computer hardware, greeting cards, apparel and consumer electronics. Social Shopping is a newer phenomenon which appears to have strong promise. This study examined the intersection of customization and Social Shopping among Digital Millennials.
Conclusions
The implication for practitioners is that both Shop1 and Shop4 are viable models of human-computer interaction to implement, and that Shop1 may be better than Shop4. Furthermore, since a packaged (non-customizable) goods model is simpler to implement, the primary challenge is to encourage users to shop virtually with a friend. In the age of social networks and communities, that task can be achieved rather easily. This study is a significant proof of concept and stepping stone to researching the following:
Higher cost categories of products. For example, highly customizable midmarket cars, e.g., Scion, could lead the way toward upmarket brands, e.g., Audi or BMW.
Higher cost categories of services, e.g., Fidelity and Schwab are interested in helping the overwhelmed individual investor .
Larger social group sizes, from pairs (2) to larger (3+) groups of subjects.
Figure 1: Research Model
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University, and by a grant from StudentCity.com.
Results
Project Goals/Objectives
Our purpose is to address how Social Shopping and customization interplay to affect Digital Millennials’ online shopping experience. Our research addressed the following questions:
Can the interactivity of customization overcome the leanness of solo online shopping?
Can the social richness of shopping socially overcome the leanness of solo online shopping?
Is there a synergistic, interaction effect between Social Shopping and customization?
References
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Tu, Q., et al., Measuring Modularity-Based Manufacturing Practices and Their Impact on Mass customization Capability: A Customer-Driven Perspective. Decision Sciences, (2): p
Tu, Q., M.A. Vondermebse, and T.S. Ragu-Nathan, Manufacturing practices: antecedents to mass customization. Production Planning & Control, (4): p
Tu, Y.L., S.Q. Xie, and R.Y. K. Fung, Product Development Cost Estimation in Mass customization. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, (1): p
Figure 2: Overall Results