Special Issue of Qualitative Approaches to eMarketing and Online Consumer Behaviour: Guest Editors’ Introduction

Abstract

The new possibilities offered by digital technologies facilitate advanced forms of exchange and interaction between consumers and businesses. Thanks to the Internet, consumers are presented with new opportunities to enhance their power in relationships with businesses. Besides having access to an unprecedented amount of information, online consumers can compare a vast range of products, access independent and professional sources of expertise, and interact in an efficient and productive manner with firms and institutions. As a result, online consumers may play an active role in both marketing communication programmes and the design of products and their related sets of benefits and values. These consumers are more willing and prepared to disseminate their opinions about brands and products -whether supportive or unfavourable, and even to sanction firms among far-reaching audiences. Online consumers benefit from a collective intelligence, demand greater control over their shopping experience and the design of value propositions in terms of their own individual interests. In the context of digital technologies, businesses are better prepared to face the challenges of satisfying online consumers. In addition to benefiting from Internet-based processing systems to manage great masses of consumer data, firms may adopt advanced customer-centric paradigms and define and develop e-marketing strategies and programmes that are more precise and more closely matched to customers' needs. The potential of digital technologies to transform the marketing environment has resulted in a great deal of research on the online consumer and the business strategies and orientations which companies adopt in order to build relationships with consumers through the Internet. Initial research has mostly focused on developing consumer profiles and identifying online segments in this digital marketing environment. However, the expansion of ecommerce in general and the widespread adoption of the Internet as a marketing channel led to the appearance of a broad and varied array of research topics on consumer behaviour and e-marketing. This includes the e-shopping decision, online consumer satisfaction and loyalty, and trust in purchasing decisions on the Internet. Interest in qualitative approaches to research in e-marketing and online consumer behaviour has increased in recent times, thus facilitating a more in-depth analysis of the motivations and perceptions of connected consumers. Qualitative approaches enable researchers to access online consumer behaviour, often through direct observation, in its natural environment. They facilitate the analyses of how consumers shop and interact with one another by means of digital technologies. Importantly, such research is consumer-centric, focusing on emerging consumer perspectives rather than a researcher-defined agenda. In this way, qualitative research allows gaining deep insights and a better understanding of consumer behaviour which might not otherwise be possible by adopting solely quantitative approaches. Thus, qualitative methods may be considered as important elements in the Internet researcher's toolbox. In fact, with the development of social networking, qualitative and mixed methods approaches may emerge as important contributors to the field: in ways such as helping to discover the new forms through which the Internet empowers consumers; facilitating the exploration of new routes for co-creation of value and for consumer participation in the innovation processes; aiding with the evaluation of the impact of personalization practices developed within eCRM programmes on consumers; and, promoting the analysis of consumer behaviour in virtual consumption communities. With this editorial project we aim to reflect on and discuss the use of qualitative techniques within e-marketing research. A collection of high-quality theoretical and qualitative-empirical analyses - which have undergone a rigorous triple-blind review process - is presented. …