Many retailers are rushing into the click-and-collect (C&C) format, where shoppers place orders online and pick up the goods themselves later. The authors study the demand implications of C&C and ...postulate how different ways of organizing this format—each with its own convenience features—appeal to households with different shopper characteristics. Using two data sets, each covering the introduction of two C&C fulfillment types by a major grocery retailer in a large number of local markets, the authors compare the impact of in-store fulfillment (pickup at existing stores), near-store fulfillment (pickup at outlets adjoining stores), and stand-alone fulfillment (pickup at free-standing locations). The authors find that the shift in online consumer spending significantly differs between the three order fulfillment types, as does the impact on total spending. No one order fulfillment type systematically dominates; the effects depend heavily on shopper characteristics. The study’s results provide guidance on which C&C fulfillment type(s) to operate under what conditions and caution retailers not to take the easy in-store route routinely.
Empowered by social media, individuals are active content creators in social networking sites. This has brought new changes in business environment, of which social commerce is one of them. Social ...commerce, a new stream in e-commerce, highlights the role of technological advancements to develop a new social commerce era. In social commerce era, individuals share their knowledge, experiences, and information about the products and services with peers, providing a supportive environment in an online context. Drawn from social support theory, relationship quality, and social media concept this research proposes a model to investigate the role of social factors that impact on relationship quality and social commerce intention. A survey conducted on Facebook, a popular social networking site, and PLS-SEM method was applied to empirically test the proposed model. The results offer a valuable picture of social factors that influence relationship quality and social commerce intention. Towards these ends, the study highlights a new picture of consumers' behaviour in social commerce era. It provides a new theory in the area of research — social commerce. Practical implications of the research also highlight new technological changes in e-commerce platform and provide new strategies to firms to adopt these new technological advancements.
•Social factors influence relationship quality and social commerce intention.•The perception of social support in a SNS is positively associated with the user's social commerce intention.•Social interactions produce different values for business.•Theories from both information systems and marketing need to be investigated with a view to application in social media.
Web personalization has been widely adopted in the mobile shopping context to improve shopping experience and consumer loyalty. Timing is a crucial issue of the implementation of web personalization, ...a topic not yet adequately investigated in the extant literature. Web personalization could classify into two forms, namely Before-search Web Personalization (BSWP) and After-search Web Personalization (ASWP), in the mobile shopping context. Besides, motivations are the critical factors in mobile shopping, and seldom research has studied the effects of motivation on consumer's use of web personalization in the mobile shopping context. To advance understanding of the timing issue of web personalization, this paper employs the Uses and Gratifications method to investigate how mobile shopping motivations influence consumers' use of BSWP and ASWP, respectively. Furthermore, this paper also investigates the role of an important personal disposition (i.e. need for cognition). Empirical results indicate that shopping motivations could have significant effects on web personalization use; furthermore, BSWP use and ASWP use are predicted by different shopping motivations. Besides, need for cognition is found to positively moderate some effects of mobile shopping motivations on web personalization use. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
•U&G is employed to study two timing of web personalization, namely ASWP and BSWP.•M-shopping motivations significantly affect BSWP use and ASWP use.•BSWP use and ASWP use are predicted by different shopping motivations.•NFC plays a role in the effects of motivations on web personalization use.
Purpose - The study aims to verify the impact of institutional pressures on the perception of obstacles and benefits of the adoption and maintenance of e-commerce in Brazil's micro and small ...companies. Theoretical framework - The study was conducted based on the precepts of Institutional Theory, focused on the institutional pressures approach. It verified the orientation and adaptation of actions taken by MSEs towards the use of e-commerce as an organizational practice. Design/methodology/approach - The research was conducted based on a survey involving 120 managers of companies that use e-commerce. The survey was composed of 28 questions concerning institutional pressures, benefits, and obstacles perceived by managers, in addition to aspects related to the adoption and maintenance of e-commerce. Structural equation modeling was used for the data analysis. Practical & social implications of research - The outcome of this study demonstrated that institutional mimetic and normative pressures provide the perception of benefits and help overcome obstacles concerning e-commerce, which compels companies to adopt and improve this business modality. On the other hand, coercive pressures showed no association with the perception of benefits, but mitigated the perception of obstacles, which suggests that coercive pressures are motivated according to the local context they form part of. Originality/value - There is increased discussion of Institutional Theory, in which it is possible to verify that institutional pressures influence MSEs to adopt and maintain new forms of online business. Thus, the results orientate the development of strategies by management using digital technologies as tools that allow competition.
There are numerous factors affecting online retail behavior, which are discovered in the last two decades, but no previous study has compiled the scientific literature on social influence into a ...systematic literature review. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper evaluated available articles on social influence in online retail and developed a comprehensive model. The article critically examines the theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodologies (TCCM) that have been used to study the role of social influence in online retail. The Web of Science database was used, following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for systematic inclusion and exclusion of articles. From an academic perspective, we offer four strong propositions for future researchers, such as the use of novel or advanced theoretical models, determining social influence variations based on continent versus culture and product versus service, a comprehensive conceptual model, and a higher focus on the validity, robustness, and balance of data, technique, and samples during research. We also recommend qualitative, mixed-method, or experimental approaches for future studies. From a managerial perspective, we offer some useful recommendations based on the conceptual model. This comprehensive assessment not only emphasizes earlier contributions but also creates a research roadmap for the future.
This article presents findings regarding collective organisation among online freelancers in middle‐income countries. Drawing on research in Southeast Asia and Sub‐Saharan Africa, we find that the ...specific nature of the online freelancing labour process gives rise to a distinctive form of organisation, in which social media groups play a central role in structuring communication and unions are absent. Previous research is limited to either conventional freelancers or ‘microworkers’ who do relatively low‐skilled tasks via online labour platforms. This study uses 107 interviews and a survey of 658 freelancers who obtain work via a variety of online platforms to highlight that Internet‐based communities play a vital role in their work experiences. Internet‐based communities enable workers to support each other and share information. This, in turn, increases their security and protection. However, these communities are fragmented by nationality, occupation and platform.
During the last decade, virtual goods have become an important target of consumption online (especially in games, virtual worlds and social networking services) amongst physical and digital goods. In ...this study we investigate the question of why do people purchase virtual goods by conducting a meta-analysis (random effects model) of the existing quantitative body of literature (24 studies) on the topic. The meta-analysis revealed an important aspect of value of virtual goods: contrary to traditional goods, the reasons why people purchase virtual goods are tightly connected to the platform where they are sold in. These findings underline the significance of service design and its relationship to the formation of value of virtual goods: the value of virtual goods is context-bound, and therefore, bound to the environment where they are usable in. Most factors that were found to be significant predictors of purchase behavior (such as network effects, self-presentation, enjoyment, ease of use, flow and use of the platform) are directly related to the aspects and design of the platform beyond the general attitudes towards virtual goods themselves. Moreover, we found that enjoyment and prolonged use of the platform were more important predictors for purchases in virtual worlds than in games.
•Virtual consumption has emerged alongside of material and digital consumption.•A meta-analysis of literature on why do people purchase virtual goods is conducted.•Following factors are found to be positively associated with virtual consumption.￮Attitude, flow, network size, self-presentation, subjective norms, social presence.￮Perceived value, enjoyment of the platform, service use intention and ease of use.
In this study, we examine and propose a personalization technology acceptance model (TAM) for e‐commerce. We conducted a 2 (Privacy concerns priming vs. Control condition) × 2 (Personalization vs. ...Nonpersonalization) factorial, between‐subjects experiment among college students (Study 1, N = 205) and adult samples (Study 2, N = 211). The findings indicate consumers' perceived usefulness of personalization technology is positively related to their behavioral intentions to use an e‐commerce mobile app, supporting Davis (1989)'s TAM. Data further demonstrate that consumers' privacy concerns (i.e., Study 1) and willingness to self‐disclose (i.e., Study 2) moderate the personalization–behavioral intention relationship. Overall, the efficacious operation of personalization technology in e‐commerce depends on the usefulness and precision of personalized recommendations as well as consumers' privacy concerns and preferences in trading off personal information.
Research summary
Research on entrepreneurship has focused primarily on the individual characteristics of founders in driving the success of new ventures offering stand‐alone products and/or services. ...In recent years, we have seen an increase in entrepreneurship in digital platforms—where success requires positioning products and services within dynamic digital networks that depict complex connections among platforms, complementary modules, and consumers. This article introduces key elements of a theory for settings where entrepreneurship success is intricately connected to the moves of other entrepreneurs and coordinated within and across platforms. We introduce a network‐centric view to understand how entrepreneurs occupying the role of third‐party developers support digital platforms by their choices to link to them. Furthermore, we develop propositions reflecting a dynamic perspective representing two key stages of competition in digital platforms, initial launch, and scale‐up. We hope this work guides further theorizing and empirical research in digital platforms and entrepreneurship in general.
Managerial summary
Over the last decade, we have seen a rise in digital entrepreneurs who support platforms such as Apple iOS, Google's Android, Facebook, Twitter, and others. The success of platforms requires support from applications, and entrepreneurs in such settings play a critical role in making some platforms succeed relative to others. Our study provides insight into how digital entrepreneurs can orchestrate strategic moves that allow them to navigate the complex landscape of linking and adapting to different platforms and how these linkage choices can lead to entrepreneurial success.
Order increases, supply chain disruptions, changing customer behavior, store closures, and more that have been caused by the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) will undoubtedly affect the online ...commerce forms of business. The coronavirus pandemic has a significant impact on digitalization and customer experience and well-being in mobile commerce. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, online sales and the number of online shoppers using wireless internet-enabled devices have increased tremendously. The article develops, an experimental study that captures COVID-19 and digital commerce’s impact in terms of customers’ experience and well-being during the pandemic period. The study explores the synergy between technology evolution and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on customers’ behavior based on survey data collection and the technology acceptance model (TAM). The results reveal that, for millennials, digital commerce seems to be the typical way of shopping and paying in the pandemic period since the oldest generations adopted in a smaller proportion the use of mobile devices for shopping and payments. Besides, retailers are confronted with great challenges raised by millennials’ expectations. The result confirms four of the six hypotheses based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). As a result, it shows that the easiness of use, trust, mobility, and customer involvement influences the behavioral intention of the customer to use mobile commerce, and that usefulness and customization does not influence the behavioral intention.
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