Online Retail Websites Research Articles

Influence of website quality on online impulse buying behaviour: a systematic review of literature

PurposeOnline impulsive purchasing is growing exponentially, and website-related factors play a substantial role in this phenomenon. This study provides a comprehensive and integrative framework encompassing a variety of website-related factors influencing impulsive purchase behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a systematic literature review, which includes literature search from two prominent databases. This article consolidates the results of 60 relevant research papers, and thematic analysis is performed on various website-related aspects classified into five research topics.FindingsThe different website qualities have been classified into broad themes and their role in online impulse buying has been explored. The antecedents, moderators, mediators, and outcomes are portrayed in an integrated research framework. Possible research gaps have been identified, and a future research agenda has been proposed, representing potential research areas.Research limitations/implicationsAs we have included only studies published in the English language, this review may be limited by language bias. Relevant research published in other languages might have been excluded.Practical implicationsThis literature review may provide management insights to marketers and practitioners managing online retail websites. To sustain an online business in the long term, it is critical for online retailers to have a thorough understanding of all conceivable website stimuli and develop them in a way that compels consumers to make impulsive purchases.Originality/valueThis study represents an original contribution to the realm of systematic literature reviews. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first SLR that elaborately delineates the influence of website-related factors on online impulse buying behaviour.

The role of online retail website experience on brand happiness and willingness to share personal information: an SOR perspective

PurposeThe study aims to determine the role of online retail website experience on brand happiness and willingness to share personal information using the theoretical lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework. Further, it explores the role of brand intimacy and brand partner quality in mediating the path between brand happiness and willingness to share personal information.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 439 online retail consumers in India, using an online questionnaire. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling in IBM Amos.FindingsThe present study found that online retail website experience is significantly related to brand happiness. The finding also supports that brand happiness was positively and significantly related to ‘consumers' willingness to share personal information. This relationship was fully mediated by brand intimacy. Brand happiness also mediated the relationship between website experience and the willingness to share personal information.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the emerging literature on brand happiness and willingness to share personal information. It establishes a central role of brand happiness as a driver and a mediator of consumers' willingness to share personal information with e-commerce retailers, extending the stimulus-organism-response framework in the context of brand happiness and willingness to share personal information. Further, the study establishes the role of website experience as a marketer (and brand) led driver of brand happiness.Practical implicationsThe results have implications for the role of the website in enhancing the consumer experience, which in turn is a driver of brand happiness. Further, managers need to promote brand happiness with the help of website experience to enable consumers’ willingness to share personal information and help organizations customize their marketing campaigns.Originality/valueThis is among the first studies to evaluate brand happiness from the perspective of an online retail website experience and consider consumers’ willingness to share personal information from a branding rather than a technological perspective. Additionally, the study introduces the SOR framework in the context of brand happiness, with website experience acting as a stimulus for consumers, resulting in brand happiness, which is mediated by brand partner quality and brand intimacy (organism), leads to consumers' willingness to share personal information with online retail brands (response).

What Can Customers See? Exposed Information on E-cigarette Online Retail Website: A Systematic Review.

What Can Customers See? Exposed Information on E-cigarette Online Retail Website: A Systematic Review.

A research article on Importance of Online Customer Reviews on Customer Purchase

Online product reviews have grown into a valuable source of information influencing purchases with the rise of digital and social media. Customer reviews are a type of feedback for online stores and electronic commerce. Nowadays, consumers have constant access to online product reviews because to resources like smart phones, 24x7 internet access, and other resources to access websites. This product review has developed into a well-liked and successful marketing and sales tool that influences consumer product purchase behaviour. There are many platforms, such as online retailer websites, E-Commerce websites, brand websites, brand community blogs, and third-party reviews, where consumers can participate and engage in discussions about their purchase and consumption experience. Consumer opinions may influence the overall product sales and assist a customer in making a purchase. The goal of this study was to determine whether there is a link between consumer reviews and consumer buying habits. The purpose of this study is to clarify how various internet reviews affect consumers' purchasing decisions and intents. Online customer reviews (OCRs) are now a key resource for product details and have a significant impact on consumers' purchasing decisions. The decision-making process for consumer purchases has been significantly impacted as a result. OCRs' implications on customer behaviour have recently drawn a lot of scholarly interest. Therefore, it is necessary to review these impacts. The most recent research on the connections and linkages between OCRs and client buying is thus examined in this study.

Scanning Hybrid Transaction Algorithm for Secure Financial Transactions

Abstract: Identity theft is a frightening and often very serious concern to everyone. A novel risk-mitigation algorithm, the Hybrid Transaction Algorithm, is given in an effort to provide individuals with peace of mind (HTA). With the random codes, the proposed HTA aims to implement two-factor authentication. This kind of user authentication has been generally recognized, and many businesses have begun to employ it as a security feature. This may be used to identify people and provide a secure method of buying products online. The suggested method involves using mobile devices to log into card accounts using an application in order to examine the randomly generated code. This is then entered when required on an online retailer's website in order to verify the person making the transaction. This reduces the chance of an unauthorized user using someone else's details to make fraudulent transactions. Identity thieves cannot use stolen card information to make transactions unless they have a valid code. This, in turn, protects both the customer and the credit card companies, who may be financially affected. We give one case study to demonstrate the security of our methodology in order to better understand how it may safeguard someone from having a stolen credit card used. Keywords: Two-Factor Authentication; Hybrid Transaction Algorithm (HTA); AES Encryption; SHA–256.

“For research use only”: A comprehensive analysis of SARMs and related IPEDs purchased on local Australian websites between 2017 and 2018

IntroductionThe range of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) available is expanding beyond anabolic-androgenic steroids to alternatives such as selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs). Many have yet to complete clinical trials, so their toxicity and drug-drug interactions are unknown. Yet, they are easily accessible online and are marketed for synergistic use in cycles. This poly-drug use has implications in anti-doping and public health. Comprehensive studies on these products are lacking, particularly research focused on the Australian market, leading to a deficiency in understanding of the nature and use of these alternative IPEDs. MethodAustralian online retailers were surveyed, and 107 oral liquid products purporting to contain IPEDs were purchased between 2017 and 2018. A further 4 were obtained from a drug seizure. The product websites, packaging, contamination, and main active pharmaceutical ingredients were used to assess the product quality, to gain a holistic understanding of the products. A month-long stability test was conducted to identify other potential risks associated with the use of these products in Australia. ResultsMost online retailer websites were still live in 2019, notwithstanding changes in the Poisons Standard regarding popular IPEDs. Just over half the products were still available on the same website. Most homepages featured fitspo imagery, notably including women. Product-specific pages often featured a “for research use only” warning and presented usage details informally. The packaging also featured the “for research use only” warning, while lacking many requirements of true therapeutic goods.Qualitative chemical analysis revealed that while 94 of the 111 products correctly identified the main active pharmaceutical ingredient on the label, 90 were contaminated with other IPEDs. Validated quantitative chemical methods assessed dosage strength and homogeneity to reveal that only 34 of the 111 were considered of good quality. Uniting the chemical analysis data revealed that the only high quality IPED was one of the seized products. Additionally, the stability test revealed that these IPEDs are generally stable across the different conditions tested, approximating Australian weather extremes. ConclusionThis research has strengthened concerns over the quality of IPED products sold on the Australian market and indicates there is no relationship between IPED product presentation and its chemical quality. The high proportion of contaminated IPED products may lead to poly-drug positives in doping control and possible adverse health effects due to drug-drug interactions. Education on IPEDs must expand to include these other classes to protect the community.

Perceived health risk, online retail ethics, and consumer behavior within online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic

The risk of virus contracting during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer preference for online shopping to meet their daily needs than shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. Online shopping presents a different environment, atmosphere, and experience. The possibility of ethical violations is higher during online than face-to-face transactions. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the influence of perceived health risk and customer perception of online retail ethics on consumer online shopping behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, involving seven variables, namely perceived health risk, security, privacy, non-deception, reliability fulfillment, service recovery, and online shopping behavior. The data were collected through an online survey by employing the purposive sampling technique to a consumer who has shopped online during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. 315 valid responses were obtained and analyzed through quantitative method using SEM-Amos. The results showed that perceived health risk and four variables of online retail ethics including security, privacy, reliability fulfillment, and service recovery affected online shopping behavior. Meanwhile, non-deception was found to have an insignificant effect. The coefficient value proved perceived health risk to be more dominant in influencing online shopping behavior than the variables of online retail ethics. Thus, consumers pay more concern for their health during online shopping. However, positive consumer perceptions of the behavior of online retail websites in providing services also can encourage consumers to shop online during this pandemic.

The Mediating Effect of E - Satisfaction on E - Service Quality and E - Loyalty Link in Securities Brokerage Industry

The rising popularity and use of the internet - based e in India offers huge potential in the internet connected (e-commerce) market and economy, and in specific for the stock brokerage category, leading to improved electronic service quality (e-SQ), electronic satisfaction (e-Satisfaction), and electronic loyalty (e-Loyalty) and becomes powerful components for investment bankers and stock brokers to attract and keep traders in the online market. To cope and handle with advances in Technology (ICT) and the varying expectations and demands of stock traders, the relationship between e-SQ, e-Satisfaction, and e-Loyalty should be continuously reviewed. Nonetheless, the design of e-SQ for retailers in any industry remains an open question. In this study, E-SERVQUAL was combined with several other e-SQ scales to assess the e-SQ of major share brokers in India. The e-SQ frameworks in particular are Design, Functionality, Privacy, Reliability, and Recovery. An online questionnaire is used in the research and the sampling method used was convenience sampling. From the distributed questionnaire, 50 sets of finished and productive responses were returned by the traders and investors. The findings suggested that the five proposed dimensions of e-SQ for stock brokers in the share market be developed. Every aspect of e-SQ was observed to have significant positive and notable effect on stock dealers' e-satisfaction. The responsiveness of e-SQ had the greatest impact on online shoppers' e-satisfaction. The customer's e-Loyalty to use an online retailer's website on a regular basis was significantly influenced by their e-Satisfaction. The study's findings serve as the foundation for discussion on managerial and theoretical implication.

Optimal rebate strategy for an online retailer with a cashback platform: commission-driven or marketing-based?

This paper analyzes an emerging rebate mode where a cashback website not only serves as a promotional device in generating more sales for an online retailer, but also makes decisions on its marketing effort autonomously under certain product availability conditions set by the online retailer. Using a game-theoretic approach, this paper analyzes the optimal decision of both parties in commission-driven rebate mode and marketing-based rebate mode in a market dominated by the online retailer and cashback website respectively. Our main findings are as follows: (1) In the Retailer Stackelberg (RS) game, which rebate mode an online retailer will adopt is related to the marketing cost of the rebate channel and the consumer utility discount (UD) factor. (2) Both rebate modes will help the retailer to expand the market and increase profit because of price differentiation. (3) There is a possible price trap in marketing-based rebate mode. (4) In RS game, the effect of consumer UD factor on the optimal marketing effort is related to the product availability in the rebate channel. (5) In both RS game and Cashback-website Stackelberg (CS) game, the online retailer should strive to become a leader. However, the cashback website prefers the online retailer to be a leader when marketing cost is relatively low in the marketing-based mode. Our results, consistent with several real-world observations, have useful implications for marketers.

Virtual products as an extension of my body: Exploring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value in a virtual reality retail environment

Consumer’s ability to touch products is an essential component of one’s retail shopping experience. When the ability to touch is not available, Virtual Reality (VR) platforms may provide a simulated medium for consumers to haptically explore products. In multiple studies, we discover that a VR retail environment (vs. an online retail website) positively impacts hedonic shopping value. Further, we demonstrate that a VR retail environment leads to consumers perceiving certain products as an extension of the body as opposed to perceiving it as a presentation of the body. Our findings reveal that a VR retail environment is more suitable for products that are perceived as an extension of the body (e.g., tools) rather than as a presentation of the body (e.g., clothes). Finally, we unveil mediating pathways to these relationships involving telepresence and need for touch.

Systematic content analysis of online information on herbal smoking products

BackgroundHerbal smoking products (HSPs) are marketed as a safer alternative to tobacco. These are easily available at affordable prices in the online retail websites. This study aimed to analyze the HSP-related informational content available in the most popular online platforms. MethodsGoogle, Yahoo, Bing and YouTube online platforms were searched for HSP related content using appropriate keywords. First 50 search results were retrieved and screened for potential eligibility. The included web-pages were categorized as video and still records. From each included record, information regarding source, primary theme, health benefits/hazards and tone was abstracted. Additionally, video production quality, like ratio and video power index was also computed for each video record. All included records were subjected to descriptive statistics and Chi-square test, as appropriate. Level of significance was set at <0.05. Results174 still and 94 video records were included. 35.6% of the included still records were sourced by manufacturers/suppliers while that of scientific origin was 12.1%. 83% of the video-records were posted by general public. About 90% of the included records had not mentioned anything regarding age restrictions. 67.8% of the still records and 87.2% of the video records promoted the use of HSPs. ConclusionsThe informational content presented online is huge, mostly posted by the general public without any scientific rationale and exclusively favors the use of HSPs. There is no age restriction as to who can access the information, making this content easily accessible to people of all ages. Such spread of information may mislead the public in adopting the smoking of these herbal products. Since HSPs may act as a potential gateway to tobacco smoking, there is an urgent need to regulate the content available online.

To Hinder or to Facilitate: Retailers' Strategy of Consumer Information Sharing and Target Segment

Motivated by the phenomenon that some retailers with high-end brand images, such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, prefer to hinder consumers from sharing information through online reviews, we study an online retailer's strategy of hindering or facilitating consumer information sharing in a supply chain and its dependence on the retailer's brand image and target consumer segment. To capture the dynamics of consumer information sharing, we employ a two-period model in which consumers, with heterogeneous valuation of a product, arriving in the first period make purchase decisions based on the retailer's brand image and can find out the product quality only after their purchase, and consumers arriving in the second period learn about the product quality from the first-period consumers if the online retailer's website facilitates information sharing among consumers. We find that a high-end retailer is likely to benefit from hindering information sharing among consumers because hindering information enables the high-end retailer to induce all consumers to purchase. Such a target strategy prevents the manufacturer from extracting all of the profit from the retailer, as compared to a target strategy where the retailer only sells to consumers with high levels of willingness to pay. We also show that, interestingly, the retailer's dominant consumer information sharing strategy often benefits the supply chain when the product quality is exogenously determined. However, when the product quality is endogenous, the retailer's dominant consumer information sharing strategy can hurt the supply chain. Surprisingly, deterring consumers from learning about a product's true quality may generate more consumer surplus. Our work sheds light on the retailer's information sharing strategy by taking into account the target consumer segment as well as the interaction with upstream manufacturers.

COVID-19’s Effects on Turkish Online Retail Consumers’ Retail Website Visiting Behavior

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the economy on a global scale with its impacts on the way people work, socialize, shop and more. With many people started working remotely, and adopting self-quarantine like measures, the changes they make in their lives inevitably shaped a new normal where they change their daily habits, shopping included. This study aims to find out how the online shoppers’ online retailer website visits are affected by the revealed daily new cases, deaths, and recoveries from COVID-19 pandemic. Results of the study shows that there is a strong correlation, in general, between the daily online retailer website visit numbers and daily COVID-19 progression in Turkey between the dates of 10/04/2020, the day Turkish government first announced a curfew in all major cities, and 01/08/2020. Further, 28/06/2020 is identified as the start of the “normalization period” as it was the date President Erdoğan made it public that Turkey was to resume intra-country transportation, public transportation services, and public places were to re-open on 01/07/2020. When the data is split from the start of the normalization process, it was seen that the correlations still exist with some exceptions in pre-normalization and normalization periods within the studied dates. Also, three patterns that websites from the same online retail category follow are defined. The results suggest that the online retailer websites’ number of visits are correlated with the COVID-19 statistics revealed by the Turkish Ministry of Health; ergo the online consumers’ behavior is affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Disclosing Inventory-Scarcity Messages on Purchase Frequencies and Daily Sales in Online Retailing

To influence demand, some online retailers post messages (e.g., “5 units or less left in stock”) on their product pages to signal impending stockouts. These “scarcity” messages provide consumers “partial” inventory information, revealing only an upper bound on the number of units available for sale. To examine the impact of these messages, we obtained price and sales data from an online-retailer website across a sample of durable goods “before” and “after” the retailer posted these messages and during multiple inventory-replenishment cycles and indefinite time horizons. We then used these data to assess empirically the effect of posting these messages on these products’ purchase frequencies and daily sales. We find that publishing these messages fails to reduce the average frequency of purchase for the top 50% fastest selling SKUs in the sample. For the other SKUs, these messages can increase the frequency of purchase by 14.80%. We also observe that posting these messages can decrease daily sales by an average of 17.60% and that this effect is most pronounced for products purchased in larger quantities. This suggests that these messages’ inventory information has a negative influence on the sales prospects of durable goods over multiple replenishment cycles and indefinite time horizons.

Comparing datasets of volume servers to illuminate their energy use in data centers

As data centers proliferate, their energy intensity deserves close attention. Always-on operations and growing usage for cloud and other backend processes make servers the fundamental driver of data center energy use. Yet servers’ power draw under real-world conditions is poorly understood. This paper explores characteristics of volume servers that affect energy use, quantifying differences in power draw between higher-performing Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) and ENERGY STAR servers and that of a typical server. First, we establish general characteristics of the US installed base, before reporting hardware configurations from a major online retail website. We then compare idle power across three datasets (one unique to this paper) and explain their differences via the hardware characteristics to which power draw is most sensitive. We find idle server power demand to be significantly higher than benchmarks from ENERGY STAR and the industry-released SPEC database, and SPEC server configurations—and likely their power scaling—to be atypical of volume servers. Next, we examine power draw trends among high-performing servers across their load range to consider whether these trends are representative of volume servers, before inputting average idle power load values into a recent national server energy use model. Lastly, results from two surveys of IT professionals illustrate the incidence of more efficient equipment and operational practices in server rooms/closets. Future work should include server power field measurements in data centers of different sizes, accounting for variations in configurations and setting changes post-purchase, as well as investigating the linkage between time and server energy efficiency.

The role of customer engagement in the involvement-loyalty link

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the different dimensions of involvement and customer engagement (CE) and analyze the influence of CE on loyalty in an online retail context. The study also tests the mediation of CE between the facets of involvement and loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a survey for data collection from online retail website users and analyzed the data with partial least squares – structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results reveal that the dimensions of involvement drive engagement differently. The risk importance and risk probability do not influence CE whereas the sign, interest, and pleasure are positively associated with CE. Furthermore, CE mediates the link between sign, interest, and pleasure dimensions of involvement and loyalty.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights for the managers that the perception of value from a brand starts at its product category level and values like sign, interest, and pleasure can be provided to the customers by not only brand consumption but also by engaging them with the brand.Originality/valueThis is among the first studies to have empirically tested the effect of dimensions of involvement on CE and explain the role of engagement as a means for the customers to achieve expected values. It also contributes to the extant CE literature by testing its mediating role between involvement dimensions and loyalty, thus augmenting the studies, which have explored the antecedents and consequences of CE.

Fostering Purchase Intentions Toward Online Retailer Websites in an Emerging Market: An S-O-R Perspective

The study proposes a model for fostering customers’ purchase intentions from online retailer websites in an emerging market context through the application of the S-O-R framework. The research design is descriptive and cross-sectional. Through the purposive sampling technique, interviewer-administered questionnaires were fielded to respondents who completed a fictional buying task online. The results confirm the validity of the S-O-R framework to better understand how purchase intentions can be fostered through effective website design. The findings also prove the importance of visual appeal and perceived usability in affecting consumers’ purchase intentions via website trust and flow, as well as the importance of flow in affecting website trust and consumers’ purchase intentions. The study contributes to an understanding of S-O-R framework application in an online context in an emerging market and provides online retailers with a model to cultivate purchases from their websites through compelling online experiences and effective website design.

The Role of Reputation on Trust and Loyalty

The purpose of this article is to empirically examine the role of online retailer's website reputation on tablet commerce and to compare the trust arbitration between reputation and loyalty in two cultures - Finland and Nigeria. Data was collected from Finland and Nigeria, using purposive and snowball sampling methods. This article uses Structural Equation Modelling and mediation analysis. The results reveal that the reputation of online retailer's website is not a direct determinant of loyalty for online shopping while trust colligates with ease of use. The effect of an online retailer's website reputation is stronger in Nigeria than in Finland and trust is a strong predictor of ease of use in Finland than Nigeria. Furthermore, trust fully mediates the effect of reputation on loyalty in Finland and partially mediates the effect of reputation and loyalty in Nigeria. The implication of the result on existing and future managers were discussed with future direction.

The Role of Telepresence and User Engagement in Co-Creation Value and Purchase Intention: Online Retail Context

ABSTRACTUsing the technology of three-dimensional (3D) product presentation within online retailing, the current study aims to explore the role of telepresence and its determinants (control, color vividness, and 3D authenticity) in enhancing user engagement, which in turn impacts co-creation value and purchase intention. To test the proposed hypotheses, this research developed a hypothetical online retailer website, which presented a variety of 3D laptops that users could co-create, change the color, and control the content and form of. This research collected the data from Jordanian consumer panel members via online self-administered questionnaires. This research finds that control, color vividness, and 3D authenticity are the main determinants of telepresence. Furthermore, this research finds that telepresence has a positive impact on user engagement, which in turn positively impacts co-creation value and purchase intentions. This research finds that co-creation value impacts purchase intentions. The current findings contribute to the online retailing literature by connecting user engagement with co-creation value, as previous research had focused on one of them but not the link between them.

Understanding the effects of different review features on purchase probability

ABSTRACTThe role of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has been recognized by marketers and academics, but little research has examined the impact of eWOM on purchase behavior. Building on dual-process models of persuasion, this study aims to disentangle the effect of different online review features (i.e. argument quality, review valence, review helpfulness, message sidedness, source credibility and reviewer recommendation). Using product reviews and purchase data from an online retailer website, we investigate the financial impact of online product reviews on purchase decisions. The results demonstrate the persuasive power of different review features that are derived from dual-process models of information processing. Managerial implications on how advertisers and companies should design and manage online product reviews are offered.