Exploring Online Consumer Behaviors Essay

The overall objective of this research was to document people’s reactions, attitudes, motivations, and behaviors that have affected online purchasing behaviors. The World Wide Web has been accessible to the public now for over twenty years. It came upon the world and exploded in popularity like few things have done in the history of the world. The purpose of this research is to understand how individual behaviors affect online consumerism. According to Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2010) online consumer behavior can be defined as â€Å"the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the process they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideals to satisfy needs† and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society†. There are many variables to consider when outlining behaviors of internet consumerism. Three main factors are affected by behaviors of online consumers, â€Å"attitudes towards online shopping, motivations, such as price, convenience and hedonic motivations, and online information search† (Vazquez & Xu, 2009). If a person has a positive experience of shopping on the internet, then their attitude will affect the outcome of purchasing online. Online consumers feel more in control when they can search with relative ease of low prices and special offers. A great motivation of online shopping is the comparison of prices, more information is available online concerning the products, which allows the consumer to make better decisions. The problem of online consumers is important and requires further research, because online shopping could become the way of shopping for most of the world. In contrast to this scenario, is the fact that we are losing our ability to maintain a high level of customer service on- site. The employees many shoppers encounter seem more to be filling a spot than actively engaging in helping consumers with purchases or becoming knowledgeable about what they sell. Online consumerism is not however without its apprehensions. Research conducted by Janda, stated in her article that there were, â€Å"four consumer online concerns identified, privacy, security, credibility, and virtual experience† all having negative effects on consumer purchasing (2008, p. 339). Online consumers are worried about their personal information being collected when purchasing on the internet. The transference of information makes some consumers nervous and they do not want to take the risk. Shipping and return policies is also a major concern along with the credibility of the online retailers when looking into the merchandise descriptions. Consumers that had more experience with navigating the internet felt safer and comfortable while using the internet at their residence or on the job, rather than using community computers (Koyuncu & Lien, 2003, p. 721). Another negative behavioral pattern documented is that of compulsive buying tendencies. These tendencies to over buy can have detrimental effects on the consumer, notably affecting monies, feelings, and relationships. According to â€Å"The Relationships Between Consumers’ Tendencies to Buy Compulsively and Their Motivation to Shop and Buy on the Internet,† Somewhere between five and nine percent of America’s population could be identified as people who have a propensity to compulsively buy (Kukar-Kinney, Ridgeway, & Monroe, 2009). Motivators of this type of behavior include the very key ingredients of online shopping. These motivations are the following items that may be purchased at any time, shopping can be done frequently, a broader variety ex ist, and also purchases may be brought in private. According to this research the following results show that, â€Å"search costs were the most important motivation, followed by product assortment/price, brand equity, transaction costs, customer orientation, and perceived quality. The least important motivation associated with online auction behaviors was social interaction. (Jeon, Crustsinger, & Kim, 2008, p. 36). To determine which factors and variables are associated with online consumer behaviors, several questionnaires will be emailed to a random chosen amount of email participants. The questionnaire will explore which factors and variables have an impact on online behaviors. 1. What factors and variables identify the behaviors of online consumers? 2. What strategies can be formulated to control online behaviors and purchasing? References Hawkins, D., & Mothersbaugh, D. (2010). Consumer behavior and marketing Strategy. In Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy (11thED.) Columbus, Ohio: McGraw- Hill. Janda, S. (2008). Does gender moderate the effect of online concerns on purchase likelihood? Journal of Internet Commerce, 7(3), 339-358. doi: 10.1080/15332860802250401 Jeon, S., Crustsinger, C., & Kim, H. (2008). Exploring online auction behaviors and motivations. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 100(2), 31-40. doi: 1082-1651 Koyuncu, C., & Lien, D. (2003). E-commerce and consumer’s purchasing behavior. Journal of Applied Economics, 35(6), 721. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA102272684&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w Kukar-Kinney, M., Ridgway, N., & Monroe, K. (2009). The relationship between consumers’ tendencies to buy compulsively and their motivations to shop and buy on the internet: Consumer Behavior and Retailing. Journal of Retailing, 85(3), 298-307. doi: 10.1016/j.jretai.2009.05.002 Vazquez, D., & Xu, X. (2009). Investigating linkages between online purchase behaviour variables. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 37(5), 408. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/10.1108/09590550910954900 References Janda, S. (2008). Does gender moderate the effect of online concerns on purchase? likelihood? Journal of Internet Commerce, 7(3), 339-358. Jeon, S., Crustsinger, C., & Kim, H. (2008). Exploring online auction behaviors and motivations. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 100(2), 31-40. Koyuncu, C., & Lien, D. (2003). E-commerce and consumer’s purchasing behavior. Journal of Applied Economics, 35(6), 721. Kukar-Kinney, M., Ridgway, N., & Monroe, K. (2009). The relationship between consumers’ tendencies to buy compulsively and their motivations to