Development of Online Shopping - Literature review Example

To assess of Chichester clothing buying preferences in terms of type of shops in order to identify successful factors for an online clothing business: A Literature Review Name: Institution: Date: Introduction The purpose of this research is to assess the clothing buying preferences of University of Chichester students in terms of types of shops in order to identify successful factors for an online clothing business. This chapter provides general background knowledge about student’s shopping choice and summarises a variety of previous research studies regarding student’s online shopping behaviours; market characteristics which affect students’ choice of shopping channel; and characteristics that drive a student to prefer one online shopping platform over the others; and finally give an overview of research gap that exists. Development of Online Shopping A study conducted by Zhou, Dai and Zhang (2007) concluded that online shopping has been popular phenomena for about two decade. The study observed that since the mid-1990s, online shopping has grown considerably, and the increase in the number of online shoppers has been impressive. This increase can be attributed to the increasing rate of internet technology penetration and advancement in technological communication items such as mobile phones. During this period, many people have gained the ability to surf the internet thus gaining the ability to shop online. An extensive research study sampled 780 United Kingdom fashion retailer websites in order to examine the characteristics of retailers (Marchiniak and Bruce 2004, p. 386). The study also established the relationship between levels of online involvement and the type of fashion retailer. The results of this study established that online designer retailers in the UK use their online marketing channels specifically websites as informational tools. However, transactional retailers were found to be product specialists whose focus is in mail order and pure retailing. The study concluded that transactional e-retailers have greater levels of involvement in e-retailing (Marchiniak and Bruce 2004, p. 391). Other factors that were examined include website functionality, market positioning, and product focus. Consumers’ attitudes to purchasing online In their research study, Delafrooz et al. (2010) examined the factors influencing attitudes and intentions of University Putra Malaysia (UPM) students. This study was examined through a five-point Likert scale self-administered questionnaire (p. iv). The study found a relatively high online shopping intention among the postgraduate students. Characteristics such as hedonic orientation, demographic characteristics, perceived benefits, and utilitarian orientation were found to be optimistically as well as considerably linked with students’ attitudes to purchasing online. Another characteristic that was also connected with the intention to purchase online was the perceived behavioral control. Other aspects that were examined in this research were trust in the construct of perceived behavioural control which had higher direct effect and; convenience, wider selection, utilitarian orientation, income, and prices which were found to have higher indirect effect on the intention of students to shop online (Delafrooz et al. 2010). In this study, 18.26 percent of the participants showed a likelihood to purchase clothing online. The results of this study revealed a similarity in the types of products that Malaysian students purchase online and the types of products that global shoppers purchase online. In their review of available literature, Monsuwe et al. (2004) examined the factors that drive consumers to purchase online. The review observed that the large number of shoppers in Europe and United States do their purchases online (Monsuwe et al. 2004, p. 102). The review found out that the attitudes and intentions of consumers to shop online are also affected by exogenous factors such as situational factors, consumer traits, trust in online shopping, previous online shopping experiences, and product characteristics. Monsuwe et al. (2004) findings were consistent with Delafrooz et al. (2010) study. Both studies concluded that consumers attitude towards online shopping is influenced by the direct effects of relevant shopping online shopping features (Monsuwe et al. 2004, p. 103; Delafrooz et al. 2010, p. 138). Monsuwe et al. (2004) constructed a framework that can help retailers to understand consumers’ intentions to purchase online. The framework developed borrowed from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) which was very influential in the information systems research. According to TAM, the determinants of consumers’ attitude towards using new technologies include “usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyment” (p. 104). This shows that, in TAM model, both hedonic and utilitarian aspects act as determinants of consumers’ attitudes towards using a new technology. The aim of this review was to extend the TAM framework in order to identify more specific drivers of consumer adoption of new technology. Attitude is the most examined psychological factors among the four psychological factors (motivation, perception, belief and attitude) that influence the shopping behaviour of a consumer. Delafrooz et al. (2010) found personal attitude to be the widely acknowledged factor in online consumer decision-making and behavioural intentions. Attitude acts as a bridge that links the consumer’s individuality and the use that satisfies their need. This study also identified other characteristics such as personality, demographic, and the perception of online shopping benefits. Delafrooz et al. (2010) study further concluded that there is a need for online retailers to understand the Technology Acceptance Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The authors found these frameworks ideal for understanding the consumer’s intentions to adopt online shopping behaviour and enablers of the development of effective strategies. These strategies include increasing online traffic flow and identification of the most effective online marketing tool (Delafrooz 2009, p. 3). Kiyici (2012) study examined the online shopping behaviour of the college of education students in Turkey. The results of this study indicated that there is a positive correlation between internet self-efficacy and observed that internet self-efficacy decreases internet shopping anxiety. It also found out that computer literacy positively correlate online shopping. Consumers have a tendency of comparing the perceived benefits of different shopping channels with the main motivation of online purchasing being the increased convenience compared to in-store shopping (Delafrooz et al. 2010, p. 138). Online Shopping Behaviour of Clothing Product among Students In her research study, Kramer (2012) sampled 212 students and used them to examine the determinants of online shopping for clothing and the interaction between the use of online channels to search for information and the choice of purchase channel. This study used the Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action Model (1975) to explain online shopping for apparel. The outcome of the study pointed out that attitude towards online shopping for apparel was mediated by internet search instead of a direct relation to online shopping intention. The subjective norm was found to have an effect on both the intention to purchase online and the attitude towards online shopping (Kramer 2012). This shows that Kramer’s study was consistent with Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (1975). Therefore, subjective norm influences online shopping intention which in turn, affects the actual online shopping behaviour. Further results of this study indicated that female students are more likely to be interested in online shopping for apparel compared to their men counterparts. A notably great number of female respondents showed that they had done an online purchase for apparel prior to this study (Kramer 2012). The more the consumer is supported by family and friends, the more likely he/she is to purchase online. The study found no significant direct effect on online purchase intention for apparel by the consumers’ attitudes. According to Kramer (2012) findings, the relationship between online purchase intention and consumer’s attitude is mediated by online search. As a result, the study concluded that online retailers could benefit greatly by informing consumers about the above attributes. Increasing these attributes contributes to an increase in the consumers’ intention to purchase their apparel online. The study observed that although the two variables are separate in the TORA model, there were other studies that proposed a positive relationship. Kramer (2012) study concluded that the most important attributes of online shopping for students were a better quality of clothes, lower prices and more possibilities to compare apparel. Finally, the study suggested that online retailers should continually assure online consumers of apparel that their websites will lead to this. Dennis et al. (2010, p. 10) sampled 30 female students aged 18-24 to examine their online shopping behaviours specifically in social e-shopping. The students were drawn from United Kingdom Universities. This study found out that a large percentage of both hedonic and utilitarian shoppers prefer social media shopping platform as opposed to other traditional sites. Individual differences are found between female hedonic shoppers and utilitarian shoppers. While female utilitarian shoppers use social e-shopping sites to increase their shopping productivity, female hedonic shoppers use these sites for entertainment aspects. The results of Dennis et al. (2010) study which indicated that enjoyment via social e-shopping is important for young female consumers is consistent with other studies (Delafrooz et al. 2010; Monsuwe et al. 2004). Social e-shopping sites were found to bring enjoyable moments to young female consumers because they have characteristics such as high interactivity and range of features (Dennis et al. 2010, p. 18). Women like online marketing tools that allow them to socialise, chat about celebrities, and inform each other about fashion shopping choices. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) Many studies in the online shopping field have used TAM framework to examine different issues related to online shopping and online marketing. In their study, Zhou et al. (2010) developed an Online Shopping Acceptance Model (OSAM) from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Their motivation to examine the TAM framework and expand it to OSAM came from the evidence that there is increased number of consumers who are purchasing diversified products on the internet. According to Zhou et al. (2010), TAM together with the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour have been “extensively adopted for explaining ……user behaviour in an online shopping environment” (p. 50). Other studies have extended TAM model to include subjective norms to explain usefulness and intentions of application in terms of social influence as well as cognitive instrumental processes. TAM fails to capture some specific online shopping characteristics. Some studies have criticised the use of TAM because it does not capture characteristics such as the online shopping environment’s ultimate goal which is to entice consumers to shop online (Zhou et al. 2010, p. 50). TAM treats online shopping channels as generic information systems. In another study, TAM model was found not to be all-inclusive in its application. In his study, Monsuwe et al. (2004, p. 119) extended the TAM model by exogenous factors which include consumer traits, product characteristics, situational factors, trust in online shopping, and previous online shopping experiences. In his study, Sedeke (2010, p. 27), sampled the ten best fashion bloggers to examine the effectiveness and impact of fashion blogs on the current apparel industry. This study examined different aspects of blogging in fashion and apparel industry. The results indicated that personal approaches, first time experience, in addition to, preeminence of visual over written content are the main features of blogs. These fashion and apparel bloggers were found to have a slight preference of Twitter over other social network sites (p. ii). However, this study found no obvious forms of public relations. The most dominant characteristics of social media blogs in apparel online shopping are marketing purposes and brand management. According to Sedeke (2010) research findings, social blogging is perceived as a new source of information by the modern generation. The young generation including students are progressively more utilising the social media and are “appreciating its easy-use and efficiency” (p. 46). The study further observes that social blogging is a “phenomenon of predominantly young generation” (p. 47). Another feature of social blogs is the valuation of the information and knowledge about a product based on the first experience of trustable and identifiable individual. Social media product and services buyers appreciate product information from someone they can identify with rather than from the official source. Apparel online retailers are increasingly employing the services of social medial bloggers. Sedeke (2010, p. 48) findings concluded that social media marketing through blogging is advantageous because it is informal, direct and relaxed as it creates causal atmosphere, engages consumers, and even encourages them to interact and participate. Social media marketing tool is also interactive. Online retailers can gain great insights concerning their products and services though consulting their social media sites. In social media marketing sites, there is a presence of rich comments that lead into multidirectional discussions. Consumers have realised that they can actively participate in shaping the products and services that they like. Several studies have found social media marketing platform to be an ideal marketing tool in the clothing industry. Several other studies have found social media marketing platform to be an ideal marketing tool in the clothing industry (Bilal et al. 2014, p. 1). Consumer-oriented View of Online Shopping The internet penetration rate is very high. The potential benefits of online shopping include easy access to product or service information, low price, diverse selection portfolio and personal attention among others (Zhou et al. 2010, p. 41). The increased adoption of online shopping has stimulated extensive research interests with researchers focusing on developing ways in which online retailers can attract and retain consumers. The consumer-oriented view has its focus on consumers’ salient beliefs about online shopping. Such beliefs have been found to influence the consumers’ choice of online purchase channel (p. 41). There is increased intensity in competition for online consumers. As a result, Zhou et al. (2010) attached importance on the need for online retailers to gain greater understanding of the “antecedents of consumer acceptance of online shopping” (p. 42). In order to accomplish this, the authors developed the Online Shopping Acceptance Model (OSAM). OSAM framework was used in this study to provide an in-depth analysis of purchaser issues related to online shopping recognition. Online Shopping Acceptance Model OSAM is an extension of TAM that was proposed. Zhou et al. (2010) incorporates the consumer aspects from the “traditional retailing and marketing models” (p. 50) to build up the OSAM model. The OSAM model predicts and explains consumer acceptance of online shopping by extending the TAM model. In their study, Zhou et al. (2010, p. 51) replaced the perceived usefulness with perceived outcome. They further added three new factors such as shopping orientation, shopping motivation, and online experience. In OSAM framework, satisfaction accounts for repeated online shopping, and it acts as a mediating factor between behaviour and shopping intention. Other factors that were incorporated include online shopping experience, consumer demographics, and normative belief. Research Gap A research gap exists in the previous studies. Research studies have not established clearly the reasons why consumers purchase online. For example, Kramer (2012) findings deviate from Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action Model (1975). The study predicted direct relationship between student’s attitude and intentions towards online shopping. Secondly, the study found a positive correlation between the subjective norm and students’ attitudes towards online shopping for apparel. In conclusion, Kramer (2012) proposed further research in order to construct actual numbers from online shops. The study suggested that such research would provide a more accurate picture. Technology Acceptance Model has been used in many studies about online shopping. However, this model fails to capture the characteristics that are specific to online shopping. There are several implications for online retailers of apparel. The most critical concept in consumer behaviour of online shopping for clothing products is the internet search component. Therefore, comprehensive information of apparels should be found on the online retailer’s website. References Bilal, G., Ahmed, M. and Shahzad, M. 2014. Role of Social Media and Social Networks in Consumer Decision Making: A Case of the Garment Sector. International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Sciences and Engineering, 5(3), pp. 1-9. Delafrooz, N., Paim, L. and Khatibi, A. 2010. Students’ Online Shopping Behaviour: An Empirical Study. Journal of American Science, 6(1), pp. 137-147. Delafrooz, N. 2009. Factors Affecting Students’ Online Shopping Attitude and Purchase Intention. Thesis. University Putra Malaysia. Available at http://www.academia.edu/247308/FACTORS_AFFECTING_STUDENTS_ONLINE_SHOPPING_ATTITUDE_AND_PURCHASE_INTENTION Dennis, C. Morgan, A., Wright, L. and Jayawardhena, C. 2010. The Influences of Social e-Shopping in Enhancing Young Women’s Online Shopping Behaviour. Available at http://www.academia.edu/2823263/The_influences_of_social_e-shopping_in_enhancing_young_womens_online_shopping_behaviour Kiyici, M. 2012. Internet Shopping Behaviour of College of Education Students. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 11(3), pp. 202-214. Kramer, M. 2012. The unravelling of apparel: online shopping behaviour. The Journal of Undergraduate Research, 5(1). Marchiniak, R. and Bruce, M. 2004. Identification of UK fashion retailer use of web sites. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 32(7), pp. 386-393. Monsuwe, T., Dellaert, B. and de Ruyter, K. 2004. What drives consumers to shop online? A literature review. International Journal of Services industry Management, 15(1), pp. 102-121. Sedeke, K. 2012. Effective Fashion Blogs and Their Impact on the Current Fashion Industry. Master Thesis. University of Rotterdam. Zhou, L., Dai, L. and Zhang, D. 2007. Online shopping acceptance model – A critical survey of consumer factors in online shopping. Journal of Electronic Commerce, 8(1), pp. 41-62. Read More