Group Buying Research Articles

Perceived Risk in Tuanzhu Group Buying and Traditional Online Buying in Taiwan

<p>Consumers who have adopted tuanzhu group buying (TGB) changed from one-on-one online buying to buying led by a tuanzhu (ie. group leader). The tuanzhu integrates the demands and funds of multiple consumers and is responsible negotiating with the seller to achieve better transaction results as well as to acquire more information about the product to reduce various kinds of risk. However, the TGB mechanism is marred by delays and uncertainties, which can trigger potential customer risks. We recruited as participants 193 college students from four business schools. All students participated in the research voluntarily. The respondents were randomly assigned to the traditional online buying and TGB groups. Of the 193 surveys distributed, 146 were returned. Results of this study show that consumers’ perceived risk is higher with TGB than with online buying. As a result, TGB is much more complicated than traditional online buying, and thus consumers’ perceived risk is higher with TGB than with traditional online buying.</p>

Rapid structural assessment of garment factories in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is the world’s second biggest exporter of garments, producing a range of clothes for all the major designer labels. The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Savar in April 2013 highlights the lack of building control that had accompanied the very rapid growth of this industry since the early 1990s and initiated a widespread assessment of the structural integrity of hundreds of similar buildings. Medway Consultancy Services (UK) Ltd undertook assessments of some 200 factories between May 2013 and December 2015 for two major buying groups. Each factory building was inspected visually to confirm that it had been built according to available plans and that the resulting structure was fit for purpose. Additional investigations, including ground investigations and exposure of footings, were undertaken in a small number of cases. This paper describes the process for prioritising assessments and the systematic approach adopted for rapid categorisation of structures. It discusses the outcomes and challenges faced when working in developing countries, particularly within a politically sensitive environment generated by global media attention.

A secure mobile group buying system based on the concept of spontaneity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a secure mobile group-buying system for application on spontaneous group-buying websites. Design/methodology/approach The proposed mechanism uses the Schnorr digital signature technique. Findings The proposed scheme is able to satisfy many security requirements. The computation costs of each phase and party were also analyzed, and the communication cost of each phase was calculated. Originality/value The results indicate that the proposed scheme is suitable for real-world application.

Concurrent Ownership Restrictions in Singapore's Housing Markets

Demand restrictions are used by government as a policy measure to curb price increases in overheating markets. Singapore’s government implemented demand restriction policies in 2011 and 2013 together with other cooling measures to disallow private housing owners from buying a public housing flat, while concurrently owning a private house. However, the policies do not prohibit public housing owners from upgrading to private houses, if they meet the occupation criteria set on their existing public housing flats. This paper sets up a policy experiment to test the asymmetric responses of these two groups of buyers in relation to the policy shocks by examining price variations in their housing purchases in the private housing markets. We use the sample of private housing transaction data between 2005 and 2015, and find significant and positive price effects, which are estimated at about 2.4% and 1.8% in 2010 and 2013, respectively, on private houses bought by public housing buyers relative to private housing buyers in the post-policy periods. The results affirm the asymmetric effects of the demand restriction policies on the two groups of buyers, and the price differences in their purchases are reflective of price elasticity of the policies on private housing buyers. For public housing buyers, the price premiums they pay for private housing are consistent with the upward mobility motives.

A Double Auction Mechanism for Heterogeneous Multi‐unit Spectrum Trading

The last decade has witnessed a rapid growth in wireless communications technology, and as a result the demand for spectrum resources increased rapidly. Unfortunately, many new wireless demanders cannot access the limited wireless licenses in time while large chunks of spectrum are idle. To solve this, we design a multiunit double auction mechanism for heterogeneous spectrum channels, which take the spatial and temporal reuse into consideration. The proposed scheme first introduces the multi-participants multi-heterogeneous-spectrum trading double auction to illustrate the system model. Some techniques such as spectrum categorize, virtual sellers and buyers’ conflict graph construction, and reconstruction of buyer groups are adopted to achieve a high efficiency of the algorithm. Then, we also prove the truthfulness, individual rationality, and budget balance of the proposed scheme. Finally, the simulation results show that the practical performance of the proposed scheme can efficiently improve the spectrum transaction ratio, reuse ratio, and the buyer's satisfactory ratio.

Determinants of Consumer Participation in Online Group Buying: An Example of Luggage

Under the rise of network group-buying, consumers can form groups of strangers through the Internet, under the leadership of an coordinator, to integrate internal opinions and negotiate with vendors. Therefore, the coordinator gradually becomes a business. In this newly developed business, the coordinators compete with each other. In the past, most of research studies with regard to Internet group-buying focused on exploring the internet factors of consumer willingness or intention to repurchase. However, studies about applying the characteristics of an coordinator as a moderator to determine the impact of the repurchase intention were rare and thus, this is what this study set out to do. In this study, data was collected through an online questionnaire to examine the relationship between commodity eWOM, the features of the coordinator, online contexts and consumer repurchase intention. Empirical results show that: (1) eWOM has a significant impact on repurchase intention, (2) the features of the coordinator have a significant impact on repurchase intention, (3) online contexts have a significant impact on repurchase intention, (4) the features of coordinator have a negative moderate effect on eWOM and repurchase intention, and (5) online contexts do not have a moderating effect on eWOM and repurchase intention.

Emancipatory or Neoliberal Food Politics? Exploring the “Politics of Collectivity” of Buying Groups in the Search for Egalitarian Food Democracies

In the context of apolitical tendencies in food studies, this paper explores how alternative food networks can contribute to developing emancipatory food politics rather than constitute a tool to reproduce neoliberal subjectivities. For this purpose, I contend that the post-political literature offers a useful approach to examining the concept of food politics by developing a more robust theoretical framework, permitting the establishment of linkages with broader contemporary processes of social change. The analysis of an action-research process with buying groups in Spain is used to examine the “politics of collectivity” at play, that is, how these initiatives institutionalise “the political”. Specifically I explore the motivations mobilised to construct place-based ethical repertoires and unveil how these groups govern the relationality of consumption practices in the pursuit of broader processes of change. I conclude by discussing the contribution of these initiatives to building egalitarian food democracies.

A fair and secure group buying system based on arbitration computing mechanism

Trading is a mutually agreeable process. Buyers hope that they can buy their favorite goods or services through trading, and merchants hope that they can obtain a reasonable profit. If friends or family of a buyer are interested in the same commodity or service, they can often buy at a lower price by buying in volume. This concept is referred to as group buying. Although the profit on a single commodity decreases for a merchant, the overall profits are increased due to volume. Traditionally, buyers and merchants trade through a group buying service company. However, sometimes transaction disputes arise. This might happen because a buyer has already paid through a group buying service company but has not received the merchandise or because a merchant has delivered merchandise to a buyer but has not been paid. Transaction disputes arise. We propose a fair group buying system. The proposed scheme uses secure computing theory to meet the security requirements such as mutual authentication, integrity of transaction data and anonymity of buyer. We propose a fair and secure group buying system based on arbitration computing mechanism to provide a comprehensive method for arbitrating an appeal. We create a win/win situation for the buyers, the merchants and the group buying service companies.

When social media met commerce: a model of perceived customer value in group-buying

Purpose Social commerce using social media has been on the rapid increase. Among various social commerce models, group-buying has become the mainstream. There is a paucity of research related to how customers perceive value in group-buying situations. This paper aims to examine and analyze various factors that influence perceived customer value in group-buying. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a survey on customers who had purchased a restaurant service deal on a group-buying site. A partial least squares technique was used to estimate the model. Findings Results show that perceived customer value affects customers’ group buying intentions and that all four antecedents of perceived value (low price, valence of experience, trust in social media and reputation of the group-buying site) have a significant influence. Implications and further research directions are discussed at the end of the paper. Originality/value This study provides valuable strategic implications for social commerce firms.

Violencia y desigualdad socioespacial: consideraciones conceptuales en torno al desarrollo geográfico en Latinoamérica

Este artículo teórico desarrolla las bases conceptuales de la construcción socioespacial contemporánea del territorio en la región latinoamericana. En su fase inicial se reflexiona sobre cómo se instala la planificación estratégica en esta región del mundo. Según diversos investigadores, este modelo de intervención urbana transforma a la ciudad en una mercadería de lujo destinada a un grupo élite de potenciales compradores (Vainer, 2000, p. 83) que ha fortalecido la posición del capital especulativo (Ciccolella, 2005, p. 106). De manera conjunta se analiza el nuevo patrón urbano desigual, desarrollado en América del Norte desde los años sesenta del siglo pasado, expandiéndose por Europa y América del Sur durante las décadas posteriores. Además, para comprender las lógicas que definen el espacio urbano analizado y reforzar la tesis de Vainer y Ciccolella, se analizan las variables de competitividad y sociedad de consumo, fragmentación y segregación urbana, y, por último, racialización del espacio. La investigación examina estas variables con el fin de aportar luces en la construcción de un territorio socioespacial más equilibrado y que rivalice con la tendencia hegemónica que territorializa un desarrollo geográfico desigual, intención que cobra relevancia cuando se pone en consideración que la región latinoamericana posee los índices de desigualdad y violencia más altos del mundo. Sin embargo, los gobiernos siguen apelando a corregir estos hechos con más violencia y represión, sin considerar cuestiones estructurales como son el modelo económico subordinado y dependiente, agravando las condiciones sociales mediante acciones autoritarias que combaten las consecuencias y no las causas.

What Influences Buying Leisure Services Coupons on Online Group Buying?

The aim of the paper is to identify and evaluate the parameters of quality, which influence the customers to purchase the leisure services coupons on online group buying (OGB). We examine six quality parameters, namely price, trust, belonging to virtual community, system quality, information quality and service quality towards intention to buy leisure services coupons on group buying sites. These quality parameters were tested using three focus groups discussions and paper based survey data collected from 81 experienced customers. The result shows that price has the greatest impact on customers’ intention to buy on group buying sites, while other quality parameters have no significant influence. Additionally, we identified positive relationships among customers’ group buying experience (positive/negative), customers’ purchase frequency in online group buying and intention to buy on group buying sites in the nearest future. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.27.3.12944

Environmental sustainability of agri-food supply chains: An LCA comparison between two alternative forms of production and distribution of endive in northern Italy

Alternative cultivation practices such as organic and integrated farming are generally proposed as a mean to reduce environmental impacts associated with food production and consumption. For the same reason, various schemes of direct sale or distribution of local agricultural products have been increasingly developed as an alternative to large-scale distribution of nationally or globally sourced products. However, for a variety of vegetable crops such as salads and leaves, there is few scientific evidence about the relative environmental performance of alternative farming techniques. Similarly, alternative distribution systems have mainly been investigated only in terms of their energy and climate change performance, and mostly within the debate on domestic/local versus imported/delocalised food supply. In this paper, life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare the potential environmental impacts of two agricultural supply chains, with the primary aim of testing the expected benefits of vegetable organic farming and of alternative forms of distribution promoting packaging reduction and a shortened supply chain. Organic and integrated production of endive (Cichorium endivia) in Lombardia (northern Italy) were firstly compared, according to a cradle-to-farm gate approach. The comparison was then extended to the whole supply chain, considering the direct distribution of raw organic endive to local networks of ethical purchasing groups by means of returnable crates, and the large-scale retailing of conventional endive as a ready-to-use product after its industrial cutting, washing and packing. Fourteen environmental and human health impact categories were considered as terms of comparison, along with the cumulative energy demand. Results revealed that none of the examined farming techniques has a better overall environmental profile. In fact, when impacts are expressed per hectare of cultivated area, nearly half impact categories (7/15) are favourable to organic farming, with impact reductions ranging from 13% to 55%. However, organic fertilisation practices are responsible for higher impacts of this cultivation form in terms of acidification (+16%), terrestrial eutrophication (+32%) and non-carcinogenic human toxicity (+127%). Per kg of harvested product, impact categories favourable to organic farming are reduced to five, while six are favourable to integrated farming (which achieves higher yields). Organic farming techniques thus need to be further improved in terms of fertilisation practices and achievable yields in order to achieve a more sustainable production system. Considering the whole supply chain, the direct distribution of the raw organic product loose at the local level is preferable for all impact categories except one, where the impact of the farming stage is dominant and against organic production. This exception however disappears if farming is excluded from the comparison (i.e. only distribution and consumption are considered). Observed reductions in overall supply chain impacts range mostly between 20% and 48% and are mainly enabled by the absence of disposable packaging items and industrial processing.

Consumer’s Tastes Preferences and Priorities for Pricey Durablesas Revealed by Actual Purchases in National Capital Region of Delhi

Consumer’s Tastes Preferences and Priorities for Pricey Durablesas Revealed by Actual Purchases in National Capital Region of Delhi

Untangling the relationships between consumer characteristics, shopping values, and behavioral intention in online group buying

This study examines the link among consumer characteristics (price-sensitive behavior, variety-seeking behavior, and compulsive buying behavior), shopping values (utilitarian and hedonic shopping values), and behavioral intention in online group buying (OGB). This study tests usable responses collected by means of mall-intercept systematic sampling from consumers who previously participated in OGB. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data and test the hypothesized relationships. Findings suggest that price-sensitive and variety-seeking behaviors are significantly related to utilitarian shopping value, whereas price-sensitive, variety-seeking, and compulsive buying behaviors are significantly related to hedonic shopping value. Both utilitarian and hedonic shopping values significantly influence consumers’ OGB intentions. For a successful OGB strategy, Internet marketers and site operators should emphasize the utilitarian shopping value of price saving and selection and introduce the hedonic shopping values of promotions and sensory experiences. This study provides a link between two streams of prior research – that is, consumer characteristics and shopping values. Furthermore, it validates an empirical model whose results can help business practitioners make better-informed marketing management decisions for OGB and help academics and consumers better understand OGB behavior.

The moderating role of consumer characteristics in the relationship between website quality and perceived usefulness

Purpose – Online group buying (OGB) websites have rapidly increased in number in recent years and have become an interesting model for online transactions. Previous studies have shown that consumers’ individual characteristics are critical in group buying participation and the perceived usefulness (PU) of an information system, whereas the role of consumer characteristics on the OGB website-quality-PU relationship remains unclear. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether consumer characteristics (i.e. gender and utilitarian orientation) moderate the OGB website-quality-PU relationship. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 658 OGB website consumers participated in this study. Data were analysed by employing hierarchical moderated regression method. Findings – The primary findings are as follows. First, the effect of system quality on consumer PU of the OGB website was stronger for male consumers than for female consumers. Second, the effect of information quality on PU was stronger for high-utility-orientated consumers than for low-utility-orientated consumers. Originality/value – Because of the increasing importance of e-commerce and the growing number of shoppers purchasing from OGB websites, the finding provides enhanced understanding of OGB consumers for segmentation strategies.

The “tipping point” feature of social coupons: An empirical investigation

Groupon has pioneered a new business model that combines the features of daily deals and group buying. Utilizing a large proprietary dataset of Groupon users, the authors formulate three hypotheses about the effects of the tipping point (i.e., whether enough people have purchased the deal before it can be redeemed) on consumer behavior. The results indicate that (1) surprisingly, the tipping point does not stimulate consumers to refer the deal to others, (2) after controlling for detailed deal characteristics, information about the tipping point increases deal purchase probability and accelerates deal purchase speed by removing consumers' uncertainty about whether the deal will eventually tip, and (3) through a comparison of the different effects of prior purchases on purchase likelihood before and after a tipping point, conformity rather than social learning is identified as playing the dominant role in contagious purchases. Taken together, our results support the fact that the tipping point can alter consumer behavior and affect sales. However, recent changes made by Groupon are inconsistent with our empirical results and keeps the company from fully utilizing its potential. This study also provides an example of using web analytics tools to augment clickstream data and consolidate information from other sources.

Managing the Revenue of Sales Platforms: Insights into Service Fees

Online sales platforms have grown substantially in recent years. These platforms assist sellers to conduct sales, and in return, collect service fees from sellers. We study the fee policies by considering a fee‐setting platform, on which a seller may conduct a sale with a reserve price to a group of potential buyers: the seller retains the object for sale if the final trading price is below the reserve price. The platform may charge two types of fees as in current practice: a reserve fee as a function of the seller's reserve price and a final value fee as a function of the sale's final trading price. We derive the optimality condition for fee policies, and show that the platform can use either just a final value fee or just a reserve fee to achieve optimality. In the former case, the optimal final value fee charged by the platform is independent of the number of buyers. In the latter case, the optimal reserve fee is often a decreasing, instead of increasing, function of the seller's reserve price. An increasing reserve fee may make the seller reluctant to use a positive reserve price and hurt the platform's revenue. In general, the optimal fees are nonlinear functions, but in reality, linear fees are commonly used because of their simplicity for implementation. We show that a linear fee policy is indeed optimal in the case that the seller's valuation follows a power distribution. In other cases, our numerical analysis suggests close‐to‐optimal performance of the linear policy.

Online Sellers’ Website Quality Influencing Online Buyers’ Purchase Intention

The increase adoption of Internet among young users in Malaysia provides high prospect for online seller. Young users aged between 18 and 25 years old are important to online sellers because they are actively involved in online purchasing and this group of online buyers is expected to dominate future online market. Therefore, examining online sellers’ website quality and online buyers’ purchase intention is crucial. Based on the Theory of planned behavior (TPB), a conceptual model of online sellers’ website quality and purchase intention of online buyers was developed. E-tailQ instrument was adapted in this study which composed of website design, reliability/fulfillment, security, privacy & trust, and customer service. Using online questionnaire and convenience sampling procedure, primary data were obtained from 240 online buyers aged between 18 to 25 years old. It was discovered that website design, website reliability/fulfillment, website security, privacy & trust, and website customer service positively and significantly influence intention of online buyers to continuously purchase via online channels. This study concludes that online sellers’ website quality is important in predicting online buyers’ purchase intention. Recommendation and implication of this study were discussed focusing on how online sellers should improve their website quality to stay competitive in online business.

Group buying spectrum auction algorithm for fractional frequency reuse cognitive cellular systems

Fractional frequency reuse (FFR) can not only coordinate inter-cell interference (ICI), but also improve communication quality of cell-edge users, whose key idea is to make a tradeoff between frequency utilization efficiency improvement and ICI suppression. In terms of the fact that conventional spectrum auction neglects the inter-cell and intra-cell interference and wireless spectrum has become scarce resources in cognitive radio networks, in this paper, FFR technology is introduced into the field of spectrum auction and a group reuse spectrum auction mechanism for FFR (GRSAF) is proposed in cognitive cellular systems to achieve higher spectrum allocation and usage efficiency. A Lagrangian relaxation (LR) algorithm is developed to solve the optimal sum utility maximization spectrum allocation problem. Simulation results show that the GRSAF mechanism can significantly improve the sum utility, spectrum reusability as well as satisfaction degree of buyers compared with other two existing auction mechanisms.

The impact of performance measurement on purchasing group dynamics: The Canadian experience

Purchasing groups were first created in the healthcare sector, which has faced unprecedented challenges in terms of cost control for over two decades. Purchasing groups are indeed supposed to generate additional savings and more efficient purchasing processes. However, although various aspects of purchasing groups have been studied since the early 2000s, both their performance measurement and the influence that this measurement has on inter-organizational dynamics have been neglected. In purchasing groups, the dynamics between the group itself and its members often results in tensions between both parties. Performance measurement within purchasing groups could alleviate those tensions, since “objective” data could then be used to improve communication.Based on a case study, this research sheds light on performance measurement in a purchasing group, on the dynamics between the group and its members, and on the interaction between performance measurement and inter-organizational dynamics. Results indicate that measuring performance impacts the dynamics between both parties, but that the relationship is also the other way around, and that the inter-organizational dynamics is quite complex. In addition, this paper proposes a framework summarizing the research findings.