Abstract

The Internet has developed into a new distribution channel and online transactions are rapidly
increasing. This has created a need to understand how the consumer perceives online purchases.

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if there are any particular factors that influence the
online consumer. Primary data was collected through a survey that was conducted on students and
Employees from different part of India.

Price, Trust and Convenience were identified as important factors. Price was considered to be the
most important factor for a majority of the Customers.

Furthermore, three segments were identified, High Spenders, Price Easers and Bargain Seekers.
Through these segments I found a variation of the different factors importance and established
implications for online stores.
TableofContents
1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background................................................................................................................1
1.2 Problem.....................................................................................................................1
1.3 ResearchPurpose.......................................................................................................2
1.4 ResearchQuestions....................................................................................................2
1.5 Limitations.................................................................................................................2
1.6 Summary....................................................................................................................3
2 Method..............................................................................................................................4
2.1 Choice of Methodology..............................................................................................4
2.2 Research Approach....................................................................................................4
2.3 Research Philosophy..................................................................................................4
2.4 Research Strategy......................................................................................................5
2.4.1 Secondary Data.....................................................................................................5
2.4.2 Primary Data.........................................................................................................5
2.5 Summary....................................................................................................................5
3 Theory................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................6
3.2 Customer Behaviour..................................................................................................7
3.2.1 Consumer Characteristics.....................................................................................7
3.2.2 Online Consumer Characteristics........................................................................10
3.3 Specific Consumer Traits and Online........................................................................11
3.4 Important Influencing Factors..................................................................................13
3.4.1 Identified Factors affecting Online Consumer Behaviour....................................13
3.5 Summary..................................................................................................................17
4 Empirical Research Method.............................................................................................19
4.1 Segments.................................................................................................................19
4.2 Sample.....................................................................................................................19
4.3 Non Probability, Convenience Sampling..................................................................19
4.4 TheQuestionnaire....................................................................................................19
4.5 Reliability.................................................................................................................20
 4.6 Validity.....................................................................................................................21
4.7 Generalizability........................................................................................................21
5 Results.............................................................................................................................22
5.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................22
5.2 Questionnaire–Collected data.................................................................................22
5.2.1 Online Consumer Traits......................................................................................22
5.2.2................................................................................................................................31
5.2.3 Online Consumer Behaviour...............................................................................34
5.2.4................................................................................................................................36
5.3 Identified Attributes.................................................................................................36
5.3.1 Primary Factor....................................................................................................40
6 Analysis............................................................................................................................41
6.1 TheFactors...............................................................................................................41
6.2 Two Step Cluster......................................................................................................41
6.2.1 Significance of the factors within the segments.................................................42
6.3 Segments.................................................................................................................43
6.3.1 DescriptionofSegmentOne:HighSpenders...........................................................43
6.3.2 Description of Segment Two: Price Easers..........................................................44
6.3.3 Description of Segment Three: Bargain Seekers.................................................46
6.4 Summary..................................................................................................................47
7 Conclusions......................................................................................................................48
7.1 Future research........................................................................................................48
8 References.......................................................................................................................48
9 Appendix..........................................................................................................................49
1 Introduction

The introduction chapter will be explaining the purpose of my research. There search questions,
limitations and a background will be presented.

Amazon Prime day is upon us once more, and as the world’s biggest online retailer looks set
to sell more products than ever before, it’s important to remember what got Amazon where
they are - no, it’s not the products... it’s the service.

For over twenty years, Amazon has set the standards in e-commerce with almost unrivaled
product inventory and competitive prices, and while that would be plenty for a successful
business, what’s taken Amazon to a legendary brand is the combination of customer
experience and product that keeps people coming back for more.

Want to become a customer experience expert? Check out the 10 CX books you need to read
in 2020.

1.1 Delivery and returns

Amazon has been on the forefront of several innovations in terms of its logistics operation,
with a whole host of options designed to make getting products from their warehouse to your
doorstep with minimal effort on the user’s part.

The common denominator here is effort - whether you’re buying or returning a product, the
experience is effortless - something customers are more than willing to give their loyalty for
in exchange.

Delivery Options - As an online retailer, one of the biggest challenges for Amazon is
competing with the “now” economy, and finding ways for people to actually receive items
purchased. In order to make delivery easy for consumers, Amazon has introduced several
options for shipping. Beginning with free shipping - all customers who spend $25 or more are
eligible for free shipping with Amazon, and for $119 a year, Amazon Prime customers have
the opportunity to get free shipping on thousands of single possible. Recently, Amazon has
also introduced Amazon Lockers, which the company calls “self-service kiosks”, where a
user can choose to have a package delivered for easier access to a pickup.

Physical Options - Amazon has entered the brick and mortar business by creating Amazon
Bookstores, Amazon Go (a checkout-less grocery store), and purchasing Whole Foods, in
order to provide immediate access in key markets for customers who are excited about the
frictionless Amazon shopping experience, but require faster access to goods. For those less
inclined to shop at a physical store, but still in need of goods quickly, Amazon also provides
“Amazon Fresh”, which allows for same day, or scheduled delivery of groceries to your
home, for an added fee, and “Amazon Restaurants” which provides delivery of meals for
same day ordering.
Ordering Options - In order to actually make it easy for customers to purchase goods,
Amazon has pioneered systems such as one-click ordering and “Dash” buttons. In one-click
ordering, Amazon allows customers to purchase an item using pre-set options (ex. credit
cards and shipping addresses), rather than having to take multiple clicks to purchase an item.
With “Dash” buttons, Amazon recognizes the need of some customers to re-order certain
items and allows customers to leverage the one-touch ordering options at times when they
need to re-stock. In order to meet the customers at every touchpoint, Dash buttons are
available on the web, in-app, using voice activation through Alexa, as well as for purchase.
For example, if you have a Dash button for your Tide detergent, you can keep the button
wherever you keep your Tide, and as you see the bottle running low, push the button for a
quick order of new Tide.

Return Options - As a retailer, particularly online, it is also important to consider how your
customers may prefer to return items. Amazon makes it easy for users to return items. Many
products come with a prepaid, printed return label, though those labels are also accessible
through the returns portal online. Last year, Amazon also started partnering with Kohls to put
return kiosks in select locations, for customers who would prefer to make the physical drop.

1.2 Digital Service Experience

Part of providing a great product experience is to consider the digital experience for
customers. As one of the first online retailers, Amazon created a model that set the standards
in e-commerce.

App - One of the easiest ways to access Amazon and deals is through the Amazon app,
especially for Prime Day. With the app, Prime members are able to set preview sale products
and select to get notified when they become available. They are also able to order products
using traditional online ordering, or Dash buttons, as well as access Amazon restaurants for
same-day meal delivery.

Social Media - 72% of customers expect a response to a complaint in under an hour. Today,
Customer Service via social is imperative. Amazon monitors the @AmazonHelp Twitter
handle seven days a week in seven languages.

What Amazon has been able to do whether, through its website, the app or social media is to
carry the experience through across multiple channels. They understand that wherever you
meet their brand, they need to make an impression and provide the same customer experience
that drives loyalty on other channels.

Learn more about creating Mobile CX in our webinar.

1.3 Product Experience

Building a great product is an important part of a customer’s experience. Amazon has created

an ordering system that has provided several components we now expect as consumers.
Searchability - Amazon combines a Google-like ability to search with an ability to sort by
Brand, Average Customer Review, Price, and availability, as well as by categories specific to
the brand. This morning, I was looking for a new router to help speed up our at-home
internet, and beyond the traditional preferences, I was also able to sort by connectivity type
(Wireless preferred), computer type, and speed, which helps to make the best decision when
it comes to equipping my home.

Product Education - To help you decide on a product, Amazon also provides the ability to
learn more about how the product meets your needs. Primarily through reviews and ratings,
which users can access to find out more about how a product performs compared to the actual
description provided. Amazon also provides a handy recommender system to help users
understand which products might best fit their needs based on terms searched, or based on
products bought together by other users.

Artificial Intelligence - As part of Amazon’s mission to make life easier, they have moved
beyond browser-based recommender systems, to intelligent products, like Alexa introduced
in November 2014. More than a way to shop, Alexa is able to assist in playing music, setting
alarms, providing news updates, and controlling networked smart devices. Like most Amazon
products, the goal of Alexa is to help make your daily tasks easier and to learn to provide
better suggestions while doing it.

Interested in improving your product experience expertise? Check out the 10 must-read books
on our Product Experience Reading List

1.4 What Else?

Another of Amazon’s brands is well known specifically for being an “Experience Brand.”
Zappos, former online shoe merchant, and current online apparel provider was purchased by
Amazon in 2009 for $1.2 billion. Zappos is well known in for creating a culture of WOW, by
not only going above and beyond for the customer, but also focusing on employee
engagement - and it’s paid off with an incredible 75% rate of repeat business.

The history Zappos's service-centered is highlighted by CEO Tony Hsieh in Delivering

Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, and its mantra, "Powered By Service" is
right on the company logo.

As users, we have high expectations when it comes to brands, largely because of the
leadership of industry pioneers. As we are building our shopping carts today, we will
certainly be taking full advantage of the customer experience.

1.5 Background
The invention of the Internet has created paradigm shift of the traditional way people shop. A
consumer is no longer bound to opening times or specific locations; he can become active at virtually
anytime and place and purchase products or services. The Internet is a relatively new medium for
communication and information exchange that has become present in our everyday life. The
number of Internet users is constantly increasing which also signifies that online purchasing is
increasing(Joineset,Scherer&Scheufele,2003).The rapid increase is explained by the growth in the
use of broadband technology combined with a change in consumer
behaviour(Oppenheim&Ward,2006).

The Internet is considered a mass medium that provides the consumer with purchase characteristics
as no other medium. Certain characteristics are making it more convenient for the consumer,
compared to the traditional way of shopping, such as the ability to at anytime view and purchase
products, visualise their needs with products, and discuss products with other consumers
(Joinetal.2003).Oppenheim and Ward (2006) explain that the current primary reason people shop
over the Internet is the convenience. They also recognize that the previous primary reason for
shopping online was price, which has now changed to convenience.

Online shopping is the process consumers go through when they decide to shop on the Internet. The
Internet has developed into a “new” distribution channel (Hollensen,2004) and the evolution of this
channel ,e-commerce ,has been identified by Smith and Rupp(2003) to be the most significant
contribution of the information revolution. Using the Internet to shop online has become one of the
primary reasons to use the Internet, combined with searching for products and finding information
about them (Joinesetal.,2003).Smith and Rupp(2003) also state that the consumers have never had
access to so many suppliers and product/service opinions. Therefore, the Internet has developed to
a highly competitive market, where the competition over the consumer is fierce. In order to have an
impact on and retain consumers, in a competitive market, Constantinides (2004) stated that the first
step is to identify certain influencing aspects when purchasing online, these can be regarded as
factors.

1.6 Problem
At any given time there are millions of people online and each of them is a potential customer for a
company providing online sales. Due to the rapid development of the technologies surrounding the
Internet, accompany that is interested in selling products from its website will constantly have to
search for an edge in the fierce competition. Since there are so many potential consumers, it is of
the out most importance to be able to understand what the consumer wants and needs.

The importance of analysing and identifying factors that influence the consumer when he or she
decides to purchase on the Internet is vital. Since the Internet is a new medium for there have been
new demands set by the consumer. That is why it is crucial for the online retailers to know what
influences the online consumer.

Analysing consumer behaviour is not a new phenomenon. The renowned marketing expert Philip
Kotler has published several works on the topic of consumer behaviour theories. These theories
have been used for many years not only to understand the consumer, but also create a marketing
strategy that will attract the consumer efficiently. Hence, understanding and identifying the
consumer is closely related to the directions a company will take with their marketing strategy.
These theories can also be applied to identify the online consumer and to create certain consumer
segments. However, some distinctions must still be made when considering traditional consumer
behaviour and online consumer behaviour.

Since online retailing is a new retailing medium and online consumer behaviour is diverse from
traditional consumer behaviour, one must identify what influences the online consumer. Analysing
the process that the online consumer goes through when deciding and making a purchase over the
Internet , shows some factors that consumers consider. These factors need to be identified and
taken into account by online retailers in order to satisfy consumer demands and compete in the
online market. To further understand how these factors influence different types of consumers, I
must identify segments which will enable us to make comparisons.

1.7 ResearchPurpose
The purpose of this research is primarily to identify and get insight in to what main factors the online
consumer takes into consideration when purchasing online. Further, I will investigate if any
segments can be established by identifying the consumers and how these segments relate to the
identified factors. The findings of this research will be outlined a simplications for online retailers in
order to enhance their consumer knowledge and increase their online marketing strategy
effectiveness.

1.8 ResearchQuestions
 What main factors affect the online consumer when considering and making a
purchase over the Internet?
 How do these factors influence the consumer when purchasing online?
 What kind of segments can be found within the identified consumers when
purchasing online?
 What is the connection with the identified factors and consumer segment groups?

1.9 Limitations
There are a number of factors influencing the online consumer. However, this research will try to
identify the main factors influencing the online consumer and will, therefore, try to limit these to a
few in order to be able to investigate the effect on the online consumer. Within the field of
consumer behaviour there are many theories and models that identify the consumer.This research
will limit itself to identifying the consumer through his/her consumer characteristics and the
consumer buying process. Consumer behaviour differs depending on what product or service is
bought. Hence, different factors are of different importance to consumers depending on the product
or service. Therefore this research will limit itself to since this is the product that is most widely
bought on the Internet. This seemed to be the most appropriate choice considering the limitations in
both time and resources.

1.10 Summary
Since the rapid development of the Internet online shopping has become a new and widely used
medium for retailing. In order to understand the consumer the retailers need to know what
influences the consumer. That is what I want to accomplish with my research.
2 Method

2.1 Choice of Methodology

I will attempt to find the main factors that influence the online consumer when making an online
purchase. In order to broaden my own understanding of the subject I conducted my initial research
in literature on consumer behaviour and e-commerce. I reviewed studies that had similar aims and
paid particular attention to their results.

For my own research I decided that the most appropriate approach would be a questionnaire that
would be filled out by students and employees.

This study started out as an exploratory study but developed into an explanatory study since I
started out with first gaining knowledge about consumer behaviour to further being able to gain
knowledge about online consumer behaviour. Having this knowledge I continue to identify specific
factors that are of importance when the online consumer is making online purchases. This
information is then used in order to find relationships and correlations between these variables.

2.2 Research Approach

There are two most commonly used research approaches, the inductive and the deductive method.
The inductive research method attempts to setup a theory by using collected data, while the
deductive research approach attempts to find the theory first and then test it to the observed data. I
chose a deductive research approach for my study as I would move from the more general to the
specific. I will present the theoretical findings on consumer behaviour in the next chapter, after
which I will present my questionnaire in chapter four where I present my collected primary data.

2.3 Research Philosophy

When starting a study there must be an understanding of in which way the study will be
approached. The established research philosophy explains this approach when collecting and
analysing data. The research process has three main focuses: positivism, realism, and interpretive
(Saunders,Lewis&Thornhill,2007).

Positivisms the approach where the researcher does not want to be affected by nor affect the
subject of the research. The researcher believes that the collected and analysed data can be
simplified to allow like generalization using existing theories to develop hypotheses from these. In
the realistic approach, there is a reality existing independent of the mind. Like the positivistic
approach it assumes a scientific approach to the development of knowledge. The interpretive way of
approaching the subject of the research does not agree with the fact that law-like generalizations
can be made. Instead it stress that the human mind and the social world are too complex in order to
be generalized (Saundersetal.,2007)

My research will be conducted with a positivistic approach, since I will try to affect and interfere with
the collected data as little as possible.

2.4 Research Strategy

When collecting data to approach the purpose of a research there are two ways in which the data
can be collected. In order to acquire a general knowledge about the topic, secondary data is
primarily used and is one of the ways by which data can be collected. These Conway to collect data is
the primary data collection. Usually when a study is conducted, secondary data is not sufficient
enough and needs to be completed with primary data which is collected by the researcher
(Christensen,2001).

2.4.1 Secondary Data

Secondary data can be classified into three different subgroups: documentary, multiple
source, and survey. Documentary second and data comes in both written and non-written form.
It is the data that can be collected from sources such as journals, databases, transcripts etc. This
form of data is dependent on the access the researcher has to it. Survey based secondary data is
the data that is collected through the survey and is available as data table forms. Multiple
source secondary data is data that has been compiled into documentary or survey form; the
main characteristics of this type of data is that it has been changed into a different form before
there searcher is assessing the data (Saundersetal.,2007).
I have mainly used documentary secondary data combined with multiple source data.
Documentary secondary data has been the data collected through different types of research
conducted within the topic, articles, and that are written on consumer behaviour and e-
commerce. This type of data has been the fundamental source for gaining knowledge within the
topic in order for us to be able approach the research problem. The secondary data that I used
for our research his data that has also lead to the conclusion of which factors that will be
examined. The multiple source data that I have used has been in order to choose which product
I would use for our research in order to be able to find the product that is most widely bought
over the Internet.

2.4.2 Primary Data

Primary data for our research was collected through questionnaires. When collecting
primary data one can choose to do interviews, observations, experiments, and questionnaires.
Due to the purpose of our research, only the questionnaire method would be able to approach
the topic and be able to collect the answers in a satisfactory manner. In our research the
primary data is mainly concerned with analysing the respondent in order to later on classify the
respondent. Further on, the primary data will be used to analyse the factors and how these are
related to the respondent. The primary data is conducted in a manner to be able to approach
our research and solve our research questions. The questionnaire will be explained in more
detail in chapter5, theEmpiricalmethodology.

2.5 Summary
In order to find the factors that influence the online consumer, as I have set out to do, this study will
go from an exploratory to explanatory study. This also explains the deductive approach that I chose,
as I first turn to the literature in order to gain knowledge. I do not want to affect the respondents’
answers and I, therefore, perform a positivistic approach to the study. By using secondary data I
attempt to find the influencing consumer factors and then continue with primary data in order
investigate the influence of the factors
3 Theory

3.1 Introduction
This dissertation aims at finding factors that affect the online consumer’s buying behaviour. By
reading literature concerning consumer characteristics and online consumer characteristics I believe
to find implications for certain factors that are of importance for the online consumer.

The Internet is a worldwide accessible series of computer networks that transmit data by packet
switching using the standard I Internet Protocol. It is a "network of networks “that consists of
millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry
various information and services, such a select, file transfer, the interlinked WebPages and other
documents of the World Wide Web. Originally the Internet was mainly used by academics, research
scientists and students; however that scenario has changed as commercial organizations have
moved to incorporate the World Wide Web into their promotional campaigns, and by offering the
facility of online purchasing (Jobber&Fahy,2003). The Internet has evolved into a worldwide
accessible marketplace for information exchange and e-commerce. The strategic importance to be
available for consumers on the World Wide Web, with information and services has become
particularly relevant to firms.

According to Vesterby and Chabert (2001) the Internet can make it easier for companies to have
information about their products or services available to their customers or potential customers. A
company can satisfy the consumers’ individual need of information at a low cost in comparison to
sending out product brochures for example. As the user can choose information from websites,
which implies that the information provider can achieve better understanding of the user’s needs
and wants by collecting data. On the other hand, the Internet is a place with hardly any structure or
rules: therefore, large efforts are needed in order to show the consumer where a specific site is
located, and what services are available on that site. Vesterby and Chabert (2001) claim that
companies with no physical presence must market themselves considerably, both online and offline,
for the consumer to remember their name.

Whether it is the traditional market or the online market, the marketer must understand the
consumer and how he makes his decisions and purchasing choices(Hollensen,2004), because the
consumer is under a constant flow of stimuli from the marketers advertisements. The marketer has
the possibility to decide and to control the output that will be forwarded to the consumers, but
when the advertisement reaches the consumer that control ends. The consumer then interprets the
information that has been sent out in his own way based on specific factors for every consumer.
Therefore marketers have developed different theories that can explain why consumers interpret
information in a certain way, and there by understand certain behaviours (Kotler&Armstrong,2007).
Several articles have set out to identify the characteristics of the online consumer. Allred, Smith and
Swinyard (2006) identify the online consumer to have the following characteristics: younger,
wealthier, better educated, having a higher “computer literacy” and are bigger retail spenders.

Donuthouand Garicia (1999) identify the online consumeras: older, make more money, convenience
seeker, innovative, impulsive, variety seeker, less risk aware, less brand and price conscious, and
with a more positive attitude towards advertising and direct marketing. Some of these
characteristics are similar, while others are the opposite.

Trying to identify the online consumer is difficult since the rapid development of e-commerce has
also led to an increase of both technologies and different types of consumers. It is also known that
the type of product has a significant influence on the online consumer behaviour which makes it
more difficult to identify consumer characteristics (Christopher&Huarng,2003). There are still some
characteristics that can be identified to specify the online consumer and the following text will try to
do so.

3.2 What is a Positive Mindset and Attitude? A Definition

You probably have an idea of what a positive mindset or positive attitude is

already, but it’s always helpful to start with a definition.

This definition from Remez Sasson (n.d.) is a good general description:

“Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright
side of life and expects positive results.”

Another, more comprehensive definition comes from Kendra Cherry at Very Well
Mind (2017B):

“[P]ositive thinking actually means approaching life’s challenges with a positive

outlook. It does not necessarily mean avoiding or ignoring the bad things; instead,
it involves making the most of the potentially bad situations, trying to see the best
in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light.”

We can extrapolate from these definitions and come up with a good description of
a positive mindset as the tendency to focus on the bright side, expect positive
results, and approach challenges with a positive outlook.

Having a positive mindset means making positive thinking a habit, continually

searching for the silver lining and making the best out of any situation you find
yourself in.

3.32 WHAT IS THE AMAZON EFFECT?

In the retail industry, the Amazon effect (or Amazonification) has been used to indicate the
progressive transformation of e-commerce websites and physical retailers to being “more like
Amazon” but, by extension, it also denotes the massive change in consumer expectations and
habits (Jelodari Mamaghani & Davari, 2020), especially from the customer-centric
perspective of the supply chain (Melnyk & Stanton, 2017).

The “Amazon effect” is generally associated with logistics, where the implementation of
same-day delivery services (such as Prime Now) and the 30-day return policy have increased
“customer impatience” (Daugherty et al., 2019). This customer impatience, framed as the
“Amazon effect,” has also been cited in Nature with regard to researchers that are “often
more interested in how quickly reagents can be delivered than in searching for antibodies
with appropriate validation data” […] It is the Amazon effect: they want it in 2 or 3 days,
with free shipping” (Baker, 2015, p. 275). To reach Amazon standards of efficiency in terms
of logistics, some of the biggest US retailers (i.e. Macy's and Office Depot) in fact integrate
their delivery system with parameters including population density and proximity of goods to
customers, aimed at offering same-day delivery from the nearest point when the customer
places her/his order (Inbound Logistics, 2017).

In cultural studies, the Amazon effect has been linked to the “filter bubble” (Pariser, 2011).
This indicates a state of intellectual isolation, in which information and content (e.g.
recommendations on e-commerce websites) are shown on the basis of search histories and
past online behaviors, and are the result of a collaborative filtering algorithm, as in the case of
Amazon (Linden et al., 2003). This process makes user searches and queries more
personalized and effective, but at the same time tends to make people unaware of conflicting
or different viewpoints, products, and so forth, thus isolating them in their own “cultural
bubbles.” Similar remarks have also been made in design studies to indicate a gradual
homogenization towards the features of the Amazon website (Porter, 2008) and the
associated changes in consumer behavior in online settings.

Showrooming is another example of consumers' shifting behaviors (Basak et al., 2017). This

is when consumers use brick-and-mortar stores to assess product characteristics before
buying the product online, especially for price reasons. Amazon usually varies product prices
by leveraging dynamic pricing algorithms (Chen et al., 2016), thus adapting them in real time
on the basis of demand, competitors, time of day, and customer buying patterns. In
macroeconomic terms, such pricing strategies have been studied to analyze the potential
pressure on the price discounts of retailers and on inflation rates (Charbonneau et al., 2017).

In the context of our study, the Amazon effect is intended as the increase in customer
expectations regarding all the attributes of retailing and the consequent decrease in customer
satisfaction in relation to retailers. We assume that these effects are due to the heightened
service standards dictated by Amazon and to the fact that customers constantly consider
Amazon as a benchmark when dealing with both online and offline (or omnichannel)
retailers. While there seems to be a relationship between higher service standards (in terms of
shipping, customer service, price, etc.) and customer expectations, and between customer
expectations and customer satisfaction, no study has investigated these links with regard to
Amazon. Our study aims to explore the Amazon effect by analyzing the way consumers
manifest their complaints about retailers on the Internet, and in particular on social media.
The increasing use of social media, which provide an immediate and interactive complaint
channel for customers, has already changed the way consumers share their product- and
service-related experiences with others (Istanbulluoglu, 2017; Mei et al., 2019). Consumers
in fact frequently voice service failures of omnichannel retailers (e.g. inconsistent prices,
quality issues, poor customer service support, delivery problems, etc.) via online reviews and
comments on social media (Rosenmayer et al., 2018).

Our study provides an initial step to substantiating the Amazon effect, by focusing on the
consumer electronics retailing industry, where the players suffer from their reliance on
business models that are still focused on physical stores, while consumers exhibit increasing
expectations related to their online buying journey.

3.43 CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS IN AN

OMNICHANNEL ENVIRONMENT
3.4.1 3.1 Consumer expectations and shopping patterns
in online stores
Online stores have consolidated their market share compared to traditional retailers
(Sopadjieva et al., 2017). Several studies show that in digital settings, both the characteristics
of the purchase environment and the post-purchase logistic services play a key role in
determining customer satisfaction (Cao et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2011). There is a general
agreement that customer satisfaction derives from the alignment between customer
expectations before accessing a service and the post-purchase experience (Gao & Lai, 2015;
Hult et al., 2019; Oliver, 1980; Terblanche, 2018). Beyond “traditional” satisfaction attributes
such as product quality and pricing, e-retailers must compete in relation to product
availability, breadth of the product offering, timeliness, along with shipping and return
services (Jain et al., 2017; Rosenmayer et al., 2018). These attributes have been analyzed in
terms of shopping (or, more generally, service) convenience (Beauchamp & Ponder, 2010;
Colwell et al., 2008; Grant & Philipp, 2014). Jiang et al. (2013) identify five dimensions that
affect shopping patterns in online stores, namely: (1) access (such as time/space flexibility,
availability of products and brands); (2) search (centered on the user-friendly aspects of
websites, i.e., website speed, variety and accuracy of search options); (3) evaluation (i.e.,
product information, categorization); (4) transaction, focusing on ease of check-out, range of
payment methods and price inconsistency; (5) possession/post-purchase, such as on-time
delivery and product return policies.

There is probably no other e-retailer in the market that epitomizes excellence in relation to all
these aspects as does Amazon (Nisar & Prabhakar, 2017; Soschner, 2020). Amazon has set
high standards of retailing and logistics services as well as pricing strategies, building
increasingly higher entry barriers for new players (Yip, 1982). In fact, several studies have
accused Amazon of predatory pricing and unfairly monopolizing markets (Budzinski &
Köhler, 2015). More importantly for our purposes, is the fact that about 74% of late adopters
to e-commerce, prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, started their e-commerce experience
with Amazon (Culey, 2021). It is thus likely that these new customers, along with those
people who were already well-versed in online shopping, base their expectations on Amazon
standards, thus making a broader selection of products, faster service and superior customer
service the “new normality” for all types of retailers. Amazon's performance is benchmarked
against not only by competitors, but also by consumers themselves, who, given their past
experiences with Amazon, form beliefs about what kind of service standard they should
expect also from other e-retailing operators. In other words, Amazon-related attributes
generate higher consumer expectations that are also reflected when they interact with other
retailers.

3.4.2 3.2 Assessing consumer expectations and

(dis)satisfaction via consumer complaints on social
media
A major problem concerning the conceptualization of customer satisfaction is the
dimensionality of the construct (Yi, 1990). While customer satisfaction is universally
recognized as a latent factor (i.e., measured through observable proxies), there is little
agreement regarding the factor structure, and defenders can be found of both its
unidimensionality and multidimensionality (Büschken et al., 2013; Santos & Boote, 2003).
On the one hand, it has been argued that satisfaction is essentially a one-factor construct,
ranging between the two opposites of dissatisfaction and satisfaction on a single bipolar
continuum. On the other hand, according to the second view, customer satisfaction is most
often conceptualized as a two-factor construct, since satisfaction and dissatisfaction are
thought of as two different and independent dimensions. In other words, customers' prior and
post-consumption beliefs are formed about both categories of the product/service attributes
and, depending on which type of attribute is disconfirmed, satisfaction or dissatisfaction (or
both) is generated.

Traditional methods use surveys to ask consumers/customers to retrospectively rate

products/services in terms of individual attributes or on an overall basis (Oliver, 2010).
However, such strategies suffer from various methodological issues, and particularly
instrument reactivity, that is getting responses distorted by the instrument itself (Yi, 1990).

The alternative to direct surveying is the measurement of alleged proxies, such as customer
complaints and praise of products/services (Oliver, 2010), which may be associated
respectively with dissatisfaction and satisfaction. The advantage of focusing on complaints
instead of dissatisfaction, for example, is that the former is an overt behavior (and may be
revealed unobtrusively), while the latter is not. However, researchers need to be cautious in
considering one (i.e. complaints) as an equivalent of the other (i.e., dissatisfaction), since
consumers who are less “vocal” may still be dissatisfied. In a similar vein, complaints might
be motivated by the consumer's willingness to provide feedback or to offer the retailer a
chance to improve (Mei et al., 2019; Oliver, 2010; Reynolds & Harris, 2005).

However, the internet has made multiple channels available to customers and to firms to
express their opinions about products (Bitter & Grabner-Kräuter, 2016). Social media has
become the most common channel for consumers to voice their complaints regarding retailers
(Kawaf & Istanbulluoglu, 2019). Several authors have also suggested that consumers prefer
to complain via Facebook due to the fact that this social media platform is “emotionally
charged” (Presi et al., 2014; Rosenmayer et al., 2018). Due to negative e-WOM mechanisms
and the global reach of Facebook, consumer comments and complaints have the potential to
strongly affect the retailer's image and reputation (Balaji et al., 2015; Hennig-Thurau et
al., 2004). In terms of assessing consumer expectations and (dis)satisfaction, researchers can
therefore draw from a large textual database in “naturalistic” digital settings, without having
to worry about subjects distorting responses because of the measurement instrument (Nam et
al., 2020). Having this amount of data available makes it easier to measure customer
satisfaction using proxies that can be extracted from texts. Using both automatized and
manual methods, several studies have analyzed the sentiment of online conversations,
considering texts as an indicator of the degree of user complaints/positive feedback and thus
of dissatisfaction/satisfaction (Aakash & Gupta Aggarwal, 2020; Gerdt et al., 2019).

Following Holloway and Beatty (2003)’s classification of service failure issues, six main
areas can be identified when consumer complaints are expressed online, namely
delivery/shipping, website design, customer service, payment, product quality, and security
problems. Rosenmayer et al. (2018) extended this framework to include “new” types of
complaints emerging from the omnichannel context, such as “bricks-and-mortar” shopping
experiences (e.g. customer dissatisfaction with in-store staff), and marketing activities
including communications and pricing (i.e., complaints related to advertising campaigns and
sales promotions). Rosenmayer et al. (2018)’s classification was used as a starting point in
our categorization of comments on the social media pages of consumer electronics retailers.
Different areas of service failures/consumer complaints are thus considered as specific
triggers of the Amazon effect. We thus aim to disentangle service attributes directly or
indirectly by referring to Amazon and their impact on consumer satisfaction.
3.54 METHODOLOGY
Content analysis uses systematic procedures to draw significant and replicable inferences
from texts (Krippendorff, 2004). This method tends to reduce textual, verbal, or multimedia
communication to data that can be also treated from a quantitative point of view (Riffe et
al., 2014). Content analysis of “natural conversations” on social media in the retail industry
was thus deemed as an appropriate method to reveal Amazon-related retailing attributes and
associated consumer expectations.

We used text comments on the social media pages of e-retailers. In particular, we focused on
the sentiments expressed by the comments, assuming that this would adequately reflect
customer satisfaction (Aakash & Gupta Aggarwal, 2020; Gerdt et al., 2019).

3.5.1 4.1 Units of analysis and research context

The units of analysis are the comments left by Internet users on the official Facebook pages
of Trony, Mediaworld and Unieuro (2016–2018), three large retail groups specialized in
consumer electronics in Italy. These three Facebook pages were selected for two reasons.
First, they are among the top five specialized retailers in Italy with a market share of around
50% of the total market. Second, a preliminary analysis was conducted to determine the most
important electronic retailer chains in Italy in terms of social media presence. During this
phase, the Facebook pages of Euronics and Expert (the other two major consumer electronics
retailers in Italy) were excluded from the analysis because they were relatively insignificant
from a quantitative point of view. Expert has a Facebook presence in single local stores and a
national page that is not followed very much by consumers (less than 50 K followers in
2018). In addition, some stores affiliated to Euronics were also bought by Unieuro in 2017.
Appendix reports the main data on these three retailer chains and their social media presence
on Facebook.

Large datasets of user-generated content (UGC) on corporate Facebook pages can be used to
analyze company-consumer interactions, where users freely express their opinions,
discontent, and request help and support (Kawaf & Istanbulluoglu, 2019; Smith et al., 2012;
Weitzl & Einwiller, 2020). This matches the cognitive aim of our research by analyzing
Amazon's influence on the consumer complaints and in their relationship with other retailers.

The focus on the electronics sector is justified by the fact that it is one of the industries most
severely affected by Amazonification in Europe, and particularly in Italy. In 2019 Amazon
accounted for 75% of total sales of the online market (1.8€ billion) for consumer electronics,
and in Europe around 150,000 jobs are estimated to have been lost in the whole industry due
to physical store closures (Gabanelli & Savelli, 2020).
3.5.2 4.2 NLP procedures
Following procedures in computational linguistics/Natural Language Processing (Bhogal et al., 2007;
Jackson & Moulinier, 2007), user-generated content was analyzed in two phases:

1. Extraction of conversations from the whole corpus (92,861 messages) that specifically refer
to Amazon, and manual tagging of topics in each message. This phase enabled us to identify
specific Amazon's service factors that are not fully met by other retailers and generate
consumer complaints. For the classification scheme in this phase 1 (i.e., manual tagging and
subsequent keyword extraction), we implemented both data-driven and theoretically-driven
approaches. First, we examined a sub-sample of the comments, to identify a starting list of
topics and sub-topics. We compared this list with categories identified in the literature on
service failures and consumer complaints about omni-channel retailers (Holloway and
Beatty, 2003; Jiang et al., 2013; Rosenmayer et al., 2018) in order to decide about the final
categories;
2. Identification of relevant keywords for each topic/service attribute identified in Phase 1 and
definition of specific associated queries, excluding explicit references to Amazon. In other
words, in the subset of comments extracted in Phase 1, we manually labeled the service
attributes that customers are unsatisfied with. By combining these keywords through
wildcards and Boolean operators, we created specific queries. We then used these queries
to inspect the remaining part of the whole initial corpus, excluding the subset of comments
mentioning Amazon. We thus generated a second subset of the initial corpus made up of
2763 comments. This procedure followed a manual ontology-based query expansion
technique (Bhogal et al., 2007), thus the comments not directly citing Amazon are logically
derived from those that cited Amazon. The rationale is to reveal how service attributes on
which Amazon frequently serves as a benchmark also spread to online consumer-generated
conversations that do not explicitly mention Amazon as the basis for comparison. In
addition, by separating comments based on whether they openly mention Amazon or not
enabled us to compare the two corpora and to show their similarities/differences in terms of
the sentiment expressed by consumers.

The sentiment of each comment was computed using an algorithm that specifically focuses
on the Italian language (Pelosi, 2015). To perform the sentiment analysis, NooJ, a NLP
environment, was used (Silberztein, 2015). The main difference between NooJ and other
NLP environments is its linguistic engine based on Atomic Linguistic Units, as opposed to
simple word forms (Monti et al., 2014). This is particularly interesting for sentiment analysis
as it analyzes a text based on predetermined grammar which is made flexible by
creating/modifying user-defined queries. The choice of automatic processing with Nooj thus
enables the sentiment analysis to be fine-tuned to the specific context (in our case, consumer
electronics retailing) and to enhance the replicability of the results (Donabédian et al., 2013).
Based on a specific algorithm for sentiment analysis in Italian (Pelosi, 2015), polarized words
and their syntactic contexts were isolated within the comments and a score was then assigned
to each comment ranging from −3 (extremely negative) to 3 (extremely positive). Following
Vitale et al. (2020), we then computed the overall sentiment score of texts by adding the
polarity scores of the words/phrases in each comment.
Finally, an additional dataset of consumer reviews was extracted from the Italian version of
the Amazon website (Amazon.it), to compare the sentiment scores between Amazon and non-
Amazon customers. This corpus was obtained through a web scraper created with R, which
firstly randomly collected ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers) of the products
in the first 25 pages of results from the consumer electronics category, and then collected all
the textual reviews associated with these products. The search was limited to reviews
published between 2016 and 2018, and a total of 4259 reviews was finally obtained.

3.65 FINDINGS
The aim of the first step was to identify all the conversations in the entire dataset with a
specific reference to Amazon and to classify them by topic. Twenty-one topics were
identified with at least one tag per comment (see Table 1).

TABLE 1. Topics related to the “Amazon effect,” number of conversations, excerpts

Topics N# of Examples of excerpts

comments

Price (marketing activities related 74 You could get it one week ago on Amazon for 50€ 

to promotions)

Customer service 50 Ahahahah I cannot help laughing …they do not know Amazon customer

service… forget it…

Shipping/delivery 42 Get better with shipping …otherwise Amazon beats you 1–0
Topics N# of Examples of excerpts
comments

In-store staff (assistance) and 19 I will buy it on Amazon so I do not waste 10 hours waiting for one of your

shopping experience sales assistants

Product availability 14 I do not have this problem, if I had wanted the game on Day One, I would

have bought it on Amazon (always infallible). If you wanted to get the

game on Day One, you should get it elsewhere, not on the Mediaworld

website

Return 13 With Amazon's return service, I do not even bother going to see the

products in person

Warranty 11 Buy from Amazon. 2 year full guarantee. If you do not want it anymore,

they will refund you

Refund 11 Amazon would have already credited you with the total order amount

Online customer experience 8 The most frozen website in the world! Amazon are light years ahead

(website design and usability,

payment problems)
 Note: Only 9 categories with frequencies >10 are reported.

Not surprisingly, price was the most cited theme with specific reference to Amazon: it
represents the main attribute on which consumers' expectations in electronics are focused.
Several users point out the convenience of buying on Amazon even when other retailers are
offering a promotion or price discounts1.

Many comments (50) contained evaluations about the customer service, mostly complaining
about issues related to response timeliness, difficulties in reaching out to operators, no
responses to calls for help, impoliteness, and flawed procedures. The other prevalent topic in
the corpus of comments citing Amazon concerned shipping/delivery issues. As expected,
users buying online are very concerned about the speed with which the products they buy are
delivered. Many users of omnichannel retailers, when complaining about delivery issues, tend
to directly mention the speed and flawlessness of Amazon's shipping service.

It is also worth noting that in the conversations linked to “in-store staff” and “physical store
shopping experience,” Amazon was also cited. In most cases, the inadequacy of the sales
assistants was linked to better remote customer assistance by Amazon.

Other topics mentioned within the corpus of comments citing Amazon were related to the
availability of products (especially very new products), the post-purchase service (returns,
warranty and refund policies), and the usability of the website. Consumers complained about
the retailer's poor website design or payment problems during the check-out process. In all
these areas, Amazon is deemed to perform better than other retailers.

In the second phase of analysis, Boolean queries were used to develop ontologies of the
topics from the total corpus of 92,861 messages, excluding explicit mentions to Amazon. A
manual ontology-based query expansion technique was used to iterate queries and refine the
results (Bhogal et al., 2007).2 This enabled similar topics to be identified in addition to
specific references to the e-commerce website. In this second step, topics were further
aggregated if they had notable similarities and had a minimum number of comments for each
topic (11 topics with a minimum of 40 comments).

The three main macro-categories in which an Amazon-related effect seemed relevant were:

 Customer service (1207 comments), considered as ineffective and slow when implicitly
compared to Amazon standards;
 Online customer experience (443 comments) in which consumers identified the low usability
of the e-commerce platforms of electronic retailers, obstacles in completing their purchases
(payment problems), missing information (or confirmation) regarding their orders, etc., as elements
of dissatisfaction;
 Shipping/delivery (229 comments), in which consumers complained about shipping times
taking longer than 2 days, considering that Amazon can deliver in 24 h or less.

Further matching related to the Amazon effect was also found in other topics, that is,
consumer expectations involving returns & refunds (171 comments), prices (133), in-store
staff assistance (68), and product availability (53).

After identifying a corpus of comments on the same topics as the corpus that directly referred
to Amazon, we compared the two corpora (i.e., the comments directly citing Amazon and
those not citing Amazon) with respect to the per comment sentiment. About half of the
expressions were negative in the dataset (Table 2) and nearly 500 expressions were classified
as very negative (about 13% of the total), showing the marked dissatisfaction of numerous
customers.

TABLE 2. Frequency distribution of polarized expressions

Label Value Frequency Percentage

Very positive 3 173 4.89

Positive 2 1289 36.44

Slightly positive 1 29 0.82

Slightly negative −1 299 8.45

Negative −2 1287 36.39

 Label Value Frequency Percentage

Very negative −3 460 13.01

Total 3537 100

We then aggregated the scores related to each single comment to calculate the overall
sentiment score. There was no significant difference between the sentiments of comments
directly referring to Amazon and the sentiments of those not mentioning Amazon. On
average both groups of comments were slightly negative.

Also, the percentages of positive, negative and neutral comments within the two groups
(Table 3) were very similar. In general, negative comments were more prevalent than positive
ones. This picture was practically the same within the two sub-corpora, highlighting the fact
that there was very little difference between the two in terms of sentiment distribution.
Confirming this trend, Pearson's Chi-squared test performed on the contingency table was not
significant (χ2 = 3.4922, df = 2, p > .10).

TABLE 3. Percentages of comments by sentiment category

Negative Neutral Positive Total

Comments citing Amazon 63 (28.4%) 86 (50.0%) 50 (21.6%) 199 (100%)

 Negative Neutral Positive Total

Comments not citing Amazon 785 (31.7%) 1382 (43.2%) 596 (25.1%) 2763 (100%)

Total 848 (28.6%) 1468 (49.6%) 646 (21.8%) 2962 (100%)

The fact that users manifest the same amount of dissatisfaction in comments in which they
explicitly refer to Amazon as a benchmark, and in comments where Amazon is not explicitly
mentioned, is consistent with our prediction that the service quality of Amazon has raised
customer expectations overall and, as a consequence, has made them more dissatisfied with
the current quality level of other service providers. In order to directly assess whether the
satisfaction toward the e-retailers in our sample is lower than the satisfaction toward Amazon
(and thus to verify that Amazon is a positive benchmark), we compared the sentiment of the
corpus of Facebook comments with a corpus of Amazon reviews about consumer electronics
products in the same time span (2016–2018) to obviate any product category and time effects.

We computed the sentiment score using the same procedure described for the other corpora.
We then compared the average sentiment scores of the corpus of FB comments and the
corpus of reviews on Amazon's website. The t-test was highly significant (t = 53.283,
df = 6973.7, p-value <.001), with 7.42 being the mean sentiment of the Amazon reviews and 
− 0.7 being the mean sentiment of the comments on e-retailer FB pages. It seems that
customers of electronic retailers in our sample were generally dissatisfied with the service
they received, especially compared with the satisfaction expressed by Amazon customers.

An additional analysis was carried out to assess which service aspects customers were most
dissatisfied with. A one-way ANOVA was performed with per comment sentiment as the
dependent variable and the comment topic as the explanatory variable. Statistically
significant differences were shown across the comment topics (F[96170] = 8.3687, p-value
<.001). The service areas that customers were most dissatisfied with were ‘in-store staff
assistance,” ‘returns' and ‘replacements', while the areas that received the least negative
evaluations (close to 0) were ‘online user experience’ and ‘warranty’ (Figure 1). Several
users were frustrated by the fact that they were unable to return products physically if they
bought them online, or because replacements (or reimbursements) took a very long time.

FIGURE 1

Open in figure viewerPowerPoint

Sentiment score of different service aspects

The post-hoc analysis was conducted with the Tukey method for pairwise comparisons which
revealed significant differences between comments concerning ‘replacement’, on the one
hand, and, on the other, ‘online user experience’ (t = −4.430, p < .001), ‘warranty’
(t = −3.302, p = .033) and ‘shipping’ (t = −3.467, p = .019). The sentiment of comments in
the category ‘in-store staff assistance’ was significantly different from that of comments in
the ‘online user experience’ (t = −5.247, p < .001), ‘warranty’ (t = −3.594, p = .0123),
‘shipping’ (t = −4.140, p = .001) and ‘customer service’ (t = −3.732, p = .007). In addition,
there were significant differences between ‘online user experience’, on the one hand, and
‘returns’ (t = 4.42, p < .001), ‘refunds’ (t = 3.278, p = .035) and ‘customer service’ (t = 3.958,
p = .003), on the other.

3.76 DISCUSSION
This study provides first-hand evidence of the Amazon effect in consumer electronics
retailing, in terms of the increasing customer expectations regarding service attributes with an
impact on their satisfaction level regarding other retailers.

The identification of various Amazon-related topics in conversations and complaints

regarding consumer electronics retailers sheds light on which features make customers prefer
Amazon over the competitors. The main attributes are in line with other research that
indicates price, customer service and shipping as the main reasons driving consumers to
choose Amazon (Epsilon, 2018).

Extending the analysis to conversations not directly citing Amazon (but derived from the
Amazon's service attributes), it seems that these same attributes also play a central role when
customers compare their experience with Amazon's competitors. In fact, in the Facebook
comments that mention Amazon, consumers explicitly state that the quality of service of
other e-retailers is considerably lower than Amazon's. Therefore, in these comments, Amazon
is clearly considered as a benchmark against which the service should be compared. As a
result of this explicit comparison, general dissatisfaction with consumer electronics retailers
is expressed. Our analysis reveals that also the group of comments not directly citing Amazon
expresses the same level of dissatisfaction. This is consistent with our thesis that Amazon is
taken as an implicit benchmark when evaluating other retailers, even when Amazon is not
explicitly mentioned.

On a more general level, this evidence consistently fits with the statement that Amazon has
increased customers' expectations regarding retailing and therefore has decreased customer
satisfaction towards other retailers. In addition, customers that buy through Amazon are
generally more satisfied than those that buy through other channels. In fact, the sentiments of
Amazon reviews regarding a sample of electronics products were substantially higher than
the comments of customers of other retailers selling the same type of products. This is
consistent with the fact that, irrespectively of the products purchased, the service provided by
retailers greatly contributes to the customer satisfaction. The direct comparison of the
satisfaction enjoyed by Amazon and by other retailers rules out the possibility that the
dissatisfaction is generalized towards retailing in general and it also reinforces the assumption
that Amazon is used as a basis for comparison by customers.

However, given the increasing expectations, the service attributes elicited by the comparison
with Amazon mostly seem to be dissatisfiers (i.e., attributes more likely to cause customer
dissatisfaction) rather than satisfiers (i.e., eliciting customer satisfaction). The items most
prone to becoming dissatisfiers are those that are perceived as being essential to the service
being evaluated. In other words, dissatisfiers constitute the core of the service experience and
are considered by customers as necessary but not sufficient conditions of product
performance (Cadotte & Turgeon, 1988; Johnston, 1995). Dissatisfiers engender
dissatisfaction when they are perceived as being inferior to expectations, but, in contrast,
when higher than expected, they are not likely to result in satisfaction (Bilgihan et al., 2018).
Therefore, the Amazon effect may also accelerate the fact that optional attributes of retailing
(Dholakia & Zhao, 2010) are increasingly becoming the key attributes of the service offering,
since customers consider them as the minimum requirements to be met by all players in the
market.

Interestingly, the increase in customers' expectations also seems to spill over from online
channels to offline players. In other words, even in dealing with physical shops, customers
seem to use Amazon as a benchmark of the shops' customer service. When bricks-and-mortar
customers perceive the quality level of employee assistance to be lower than they expected,
they are likely to be negative online, and to evaluate services using the set of features they
were impressed with in their previous experiences with Amazon. This is in line with the fact
that customer expectations tend to increase not only in relation to online retailing services,
but also offline stores. This is apparent when customers directly compare offline and online
customer services in relation to the various dimensions of the shopping experience (Izogo &
Jayawardhena, 2018).

The comparison of the sentiment of comments about Italian retailers across topics shows that
the online-specific attributes of retailing do not trigger the highest levels of dissatisfaction.
When commenting on attributes such as the online user experience, product availability
(which is usually a ‘plus’ of online stores) and shipping, customers are generally not highly
dissatisfied. In fact, they are highly disappointed with other aspects of the service (e.g.,
product replacements, returns, refunds) that are common to both online and offline channels,
and even with aspects that are specific to bricks-and-mortar stores, i.e. in-store staff
assistance. These results resonate with Rosenmayer et al. (2018)’s study on the complaints on
the Facebook pages of department stores' in which rude/inattentive in-store staff were the
primary complaint trigger.

Customers are becoming increasingly accustomed to cross-channel comparisons and tend to

expect a minimum level of specific attributes, irrespectively of the channel they use (Flavián
et al., 2020). Common practices such as showrooming (i.e., examining a product in an offline
store before buying it online) and webrooming (i.e., assessing product information online
prior to deciding whether to visit a traditional store; Jing, 2018), show that customers
compare prices across retail channels. In line with these practices, the analysis of service
failures drawn from the FB pages of electronic retailers through the sentiments of users
suggests that problem-free and rapid replacement or return of products has become the norm,
probably influenced by the conditions offered by Amazon. When omnichannel retailers do
not meet customers' expectations regarding these aspects, they show frustration.
3.87 IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND
FURTHER RESEARCH
Today consumers' daily lives—study, work, consumption, and interactions with other people
—are highly digitalized (Jackson & Ahuja, 2016). Consumers are buying less from physical
stores and more from e-commerce websites, and they are experiencing shopping via multiple
channels (Beck & Rygl, 2015).

The results of this study seem to confirm the broad impact of the Amazon effect on consumer
expectations in the consumer electronics industry. This can be probably explained as the
precise strategy of Amazon to raise the level of different services, thus becoming the standard
for all retailers. The result is to make consumers increasingly demanding. Amazon, in fact,
has been described as a “global private consumer protection regulator” (Winn, 2016), by
setting the minimum requirements that are considered viable in a specific industry, beyond
the mere compliance with consumer rights. In this scenario, click-and-mortar retailers must
also address the needs of consumers who are completely accustomed to an omni-channel
environment where all touchpoints can be used to ask for information and receive assistance.
These retailers are struggling to reach the service levels set by Amazon which leads to
customer complaints and frustration, thus reducing their overall satisfaction. From a practical
standpoint, the study suggests that retail managers need to pay more attention to social media
as a primary and dynamic platform for consumer complaints in order to anticipate consumers'
expectations, often associated with the standards dictated by Amazon, as well as the design
strategies used to deal with their complaints (Istanbulluoglu, 2017; Mei et al., 2019).

The scope of this study is limited by the narrow time span of the data, which prevented us
from studying variations in the influence of Amazon on consumer expectations over the long
term. Similarly, the focus on one specific retailing sector (i.e., consumer electronics) prevents
a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, especially considering the one-
stop-shop approach of Amazon's business model.

Further studies are thus needed to confirm and clarify the Amazon effect in all its facets. The
dynamics of proximity of different Amazon-related topics also show how consumer
preferences cannot simply be associated with one of the categories in isolation, but rather are
the result of a set of closely connected services, which enrich the customers experience and
generate satisfaction. The importance of the “bricks-and-mortar” shopping attributes could
advance the discussion on the Amazon effect, which is usually focused on the price and
logistics issues. Future research should investigate the interplay of the different services on
the basis of their affinity and the subsequent impact on the satisfaction/dissatisfaction of
consumers. This could also pave the way for exploring possible countermeasures for
traditional and online retailers.

Lastly, Amazon's strategies in traditional retailing, namely the launch of seven different store
formats (e.g., Amazon Go, Amazon 4-star3) that leverage on the strengths of its online
presence (e.g., dynamic pricing, users' ratings, free return) are likely to further demonstrate
that Amazonification is only at the beginning. Its effects are still to be felt and the changes in
the retailing environment and in consumer expectations have not yet been fully ascertained.

3.9 Characteristics and Traits of a Positive Mindset: 6

Examples

So, now we know what a positive mindset is, we can dive into the next important
question: What does it look like?

There are many traits and characteristics associated with a positive mindset,
including:

 Optimism: a willingness to make an effort and take a chance instead of

assuming your efforts won’t pay off.
 Acceptance: acknowledging that things don’t always turn out how you
want them to, but learning from your mistakes.
 Resilience: bouncing back from adversity, disappointment, and failure
instead of giving up.
 Gratitude: actively, continuously appreciating the good things in your life
(Blank, 2017).
 Consciousness/Mindfulness: dedicating the mind to conscious awareness
and enhancing the ability to focus.
 Integrity: the trait of being honorable, righteous, and straightforward,
instead of deceitful and self-serving (Power of Positivity, n.d.).

Not only are these characteristics of a positive mindset, but they may also work in
the other direction—actively adopting optimism, acceptance, resilience, gratitude,
mindfulness, and integrity in your life will help you develop and maintain a
positive mindset.

 
3.10 A List of Positive Attitudes

If you found the list above still too vague, there are many more specific examples
of a positive attitude in action.

For example, positive attitudes can include:

 It is looking adversity in the eye… and laughing.

 Getting what you get, and not pitching a fit.
 Enjoying the unexpected, even when it’s not what you wanted originally.
 Motivating those around you with a positive word.
 Using the power of a smile to reverse the tone of a situation.
 Being friendly to those you don’t know.
 It’s getting back up when you fall down. (No matter how many times you
fall down.)
 Being a source of energy that lifts those around you.
 Understanding that relationships are more important than material things.
 Being happy even when you have little.
 Having a good time even when you are losing.
 Being happy for someone else’s success.
 Having a positive future vision, no matter how bad your current
circumstances.
 Smiling.
 Paying a compliment, even to a total stranger.
 Tell someone you know that they did a great job. (And mean it.)
 Making someone’s day. (Not just a child’s… adult’s like to have their day be
special, too!)
 It’s not complaining no matter how unfair things appear to be. (It is a waste
of time… instead, do something!)
 Not letting other people’s negativity bring you down.
 Giving more than you expect to get in return.
 Being true to yourself… always (Jarrow, 2012).

 
3.11 Why is a Positive Attitude Considered the Key to
Success?

Now we know a little bit more about what a positive mindset looks like, we can
turn to one of the biggest questions of all: What’s the deal with having a positive
attitude?

What is it about having a positive mindset that is so important, so impactful, so

life-changing?

Well, the traits and characteristics listed above give us a hint; if you comb

through the literature, you’ll see a plethora of benefits linked to optimism,
resilience, and mindfulness.

You’ll see that awareness and integrity are linked to better quality of life, and
acceptance and gratitude can take you from the “okay life” to the “good life.”

3.11.1 The Importance of Developing the Right Thoughts

Developing a truly positive mindset and gaining these benefits is a function of the
thoughts you cultivate.

Don’t worry—this piece isn’t about the kind of positive thinking that is all
positive, all the time. We don’t claim that just “thinking happy thoughts” will bring
you all the success you desire in life, and we certainly don’t believe that optimism
is warranted in every situation, every minute of the day.

Developing the right thoughts is not about being constantly happy or cheerful, and
it’s not about ignoring anything negative or unpleasant in your life. It’s about
incorporating both the positive and negative into your perspective and choosing to
still be generally optimistic.

It’s about acknowledging that you will not always be happy and learning to accept
bad moods and difficult emotions when they come.
Above all, it’s about increasing your control over your own attitude in the face of
whatever comes your way. You cannot control your mood, and you cannot always
control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can choose how you handle
them.

When you choose to give in to the negativity, pessimism, and doom-and-gloom

view of the world, you are not only submitting to a loss of control and potentially
wallowing in unhappiness—you are missing out on an important opportunity
for growth and development.

According to positive psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, negative thinking, and

negative emotions have their place: they allow you to sharpen your focus on
dangers, threats, and vulnerabilities. This is vital for survival, although perhaps not
as much as it was for our ancestors.

On the other hand, positive thinking and positive emotions “broaden and build”
our resources and skills, and open us up to possibilities (Fredrickson, 2004).

Building a positive framework for your thoughts is not about being bubbly and
annoyingly cheerful, but making an investment in yourself and your future. It’s
okay to feel down or think pessimistically sometimes, but choosing to respond with
optimism, resilience, and gratitude will benefit you far more in the long run.

3.12 The Outcomes of a Positive Attitude

Aside from enhancing your skills and personal resources, there are many other
benefits of cultivating a positive mindset, including better overall health, better
ability to cope with stress, and greater well-being (Cherry, 2017A).

According to the experts at the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking can increase your
lifespan, reduce rates of depression and levels of distress, give you greater
resistance to the common cold, improve your overall psychological and
physical well-being, improve your cardiovascular health and protect you from
cardiovascular disease, and help you build coping skills to keep you afloat during
challenging times (2017).

You’ve probably heard of all these generic benefits before, so we’ll get more
specific and explore the benefits of a positive mindset in several different contexts:

 The workplace
 Leadership
 Dealing with disability (for both those with a disability and those around
them)
  Nursing and healthcare
 Recovery from cancer

3.12.1 10 Benefits of a Positive Mental Attitude in the

Workplace

No construct better captures the essence of a positive attitude in the workplace

quite like psychological capital (or PsyCap for short). This multicomponent
construct is made up of four psychological resources:

1. Hope
2. Efficacy
3. Resilience
4. Optimism

PsyCap was first conceptualized as “positive psychological capital” by renowned

management and leadership researchers Luthans and Youssef in 2004. The concept
quickly took off among positive organizational psychologists, and by 2011 there
were already hundreds of citations of PsyCap in the literature.

The first meta-analysis of all the research on PsyCap was conducted in 2011, and it
outlined some of the many benefits of PsyCap in the workplace:

 PsyCap was positively related to job satisfaction, organizational

commitment, and psychological well-being.

 PsyCap was also positively related to organizational citizenship (desirable

employee behaviors) and multiple measures of performance (self-rated,
supervisor evaluations, and objective measures).

 PsyCap was negatively related to cynicism, turnover intentions, job stress,

and anxiety.

 PsyCap was also negatively related to negative employee deviance (bad

employee behaviors; Avey, Reichard, Luthans, & Mhatre, 2011).

It seems pretty straightforward that positive attitudes like optimism and resilience
lead to positive outcomes for the organization and for the employees!

Another study by a few of the giants in the field of positive psychology (Sonja
Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener, 2005) investigated the relationship
between happiness and benefits to employees. They showed that positive attitudes
in the workplace also benefit the employee in addition to the organization:

 Happier employees are more productive than other employees.

 Happy salespeople have higher sales than other salespeople.
 Happy employees are more creative than other employees.
 Happy employees are evaluated more positively by their supervisors.
 Happy employees are less likely to show job withdrawal (absenteeism,
turnover, job burnout, and retaliatory behaviors).
 Happy employees make more money than other employees.

So, a positive attitude can have great benefits for the organization as a whole and
for all of its employees.

It turns out that a positive attitude can also result in benefits for leaders and their
followers (as well as spreading positivity throughout the organization).

3.12.2 The Importance of a Positive Mindset for Leadership

As important as a positive mindset is for the rank-and-file, it’s easy to see why it is
vital for those in a position of leadership.

Researchers Hannah, Woolfolk, and Lord (2009) outlined a framework for positive

leadership that rests on the idea that leaders with a positive self-concept (a
positive idea of who they are and a habit of thinking positively about themselves)
are more able to bring the “right stuff” to their leadership role.

In their theory, a leader with a positive mindset is not only more likely to be

actively engaged and to perform at a high level, he or she is also more able to
influence followers toward a more positive mindset through role modeling and
normative influence.

A study completed around the same time provides support for the relationship
between leader and follower positivity; trust in management influenced positive
PsyCap, which had a big impact on performance for leaders and followers (Clapp-
Smith, Vogegesang, & Avey, 2008).

Further, trust in management was linked to positive leadership and performance.

While trust in management isn’t necessarily indicative of a positive mindset in
both leader and follower, it is certainly a likely outcome of a generally positive
attitude in the workplace.

Forbes writer Victor Lipman (2017) puts findings like these in simpler terms:
“It’s always easier to follow someone with a positive outlook.”

In other words, positive attitudes in a leader will draw followers and encourage
motivation and engagement in subordinates. Lipman also notes that having a
positive outlook and being resilient is vital in leadership positions because there is
a lot of stress involved in managing and leading others.

Leaders must always be “on” and spend much of their time “performing” as a
strong, confident leader and perhaps even a public face. This role is a tiring one,
and being optimistic and resilient will help leaders stay sane and healthy in
challenging contexts.

3.12.3 The Promotion of Positive Attitudes Towards Disability

Having a positive attitude is also a boon for those educating, interacting with, and
caring for a disabled student, loved one, or patient.

A positive attitude toward disability facilitates disabled students’ education and

helps them assimilate into postsecondary education (Rao, 2004).

This makes it even more troubling to learn that, according to a 2012 study on UK
primary schools, only 38% of them had a Disability Equality Scheme in place and
only 30% had included a plan to “promote positive attitudes towards disabled
people” (Beckett & Buckner). Further, 76% of schools reported that their staff had
not received any training in the promotion of positive attitudes towards students
with disabilities.

With so many resources available for promoting positive attitudes toward

disability, there is ample opportunity to rectify this lack; for example, research by
The Children’s Society in the UK identified several ways to promote positivity:

 An inclusive ethos within the school.

 Staff teams who are knowledgeable, skilled, and committed.
 Better training, guidance, and support for teachers, including Disability
Equality training and ongoing INSET for all staff.
 High levels of awareness across the whole school community.
 Disability equality teaching being part of a wider strategy and included
across the curriculum and not just within subjects such as PSHE, Citizenship
and Religious education.
 A designated member of staff to coordinate teaching across the curriculum
 A better understanding of why promoting disability awareness and equality
is important.
  Links with disabled people within the school community and beyond, as
well as links with special schools.
 The availability of good resources.
 Awareness of, and the challenging of, stereotypes.
 A critical approach to the use of ‘disablist’ language which reinforces
discriminatory attitudes and negative stereotypes.
 Promotion of the social model of disability.
 The inclusion of positive and diverse images in all materials used within the
school and undertaking an audit of existing materials and resources to
ensure they promote positive attitudes (More information on these
suggestions can be found here).

A 2009 study also established that formal instruction in disability awareness

combined with hands-on fieldwork experiences with people who have a disability
can have a significant impact on the positive attitudes toward those with disability
(Campbell, Gilmore, & Cuskelly).

The research found that teachers-in-training who participated in a one-semester

course involving direct work with students who had Down syndrome greatly
improved their knowledge of the syndrome as well as their attitudes toward those
with Down syndrome.

All of these findings show that having a positive attitude towards those with a
disability is not only the right thing to work toward, but it also has a significant
positive influence on both those with disability and those around them.

Unsurprisingly, it’s also important for nurses and other health professionals to
cultivate a positive attitude towards their patients with a disability—something that
nurses sometimes struggle with (Tervo & Palmer, 2004).

3.12.4 Positive Attitude in Nursing and Health Care

On the subject of nursing and healthcare, this is another context where having a
positive mindset (towards oneself and one’s patients—disabled or otherwise) can
have a positive impact.

In fact, having a positive attitude is so important for nursing, expert Jean Watson
describes nursing as the “Caring Science” (2009). Indeed, positivity and caring are
ingrained in the field; just take a look at the five core nursing values:

1. Human dignity
2. Integrity
 3. Autonomy
4. Altruism
5. Social justice (Fahrenwald, Bassett, Tschetter, Carson, White, &
Winterboer, 2005)

These five values lay the foundation for a caring, positive mindset that is the
hallmark of good nursing practice. Nurses who embrace these core values and
adopt a positive mindset toward themselves, their work, and their patients can help
them find the meaning and fulfillment that likely prompted them to enter the field
in the first place.

Having a positive mindset in health care not only acts as a facilitator of meaning
and purpose in the lives of healthcare professionals but it also:

1. Improves the professional’s performance and helps patients find healing

and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
2. Reduces the frequency of accidents by enhancing focus.
3. Helps the professional build a good reputation and advance in their career
(Swanson, n.d.).

Luckily, there are evidence-backed ways for nurses to implement a more positive
outlook, including:

 The “Three Good Things” exercise, in which the nursing staff maintains a
“three good things” sheet that gets passed around all the nurses at the end
of their shift; each staff member writes down at least one good thing that
happened that day, and the charge nurse selects three of these positive
things to share with the oncoming-shift nurses to help them start their day
with positivity.

 Increasing social connections with patients by placing a “getting to know

you” board in each patient room; on admission, nurses can encourage the
patient to share something about themselves (not their illness or
hospitalization, but about who you are).

 Encouraging random acts of kindness by nurses—a practice which has the

potential to spread to patients and other healthcare professionals as well.

 Enhancing gratitude through a staff peer recognition board.

 Practicing loving-kindness meditation at staff meetings.

 Identifying and applying one’s Signature Strengths (Roberts & Strauss,

2015).
Speaking of the importance of positivity in health care, the benefits can extend to
the patients as well.

3.12.5 Positive Attitude and Cancer Recovery

You’ve probably heard the common phrases and encouragements used when
discussing someone’s cancer diagnosis.

A cancer patient will likely be told at least a few times that “You have to stay
positive!” and “You can fight this if you maintain a positive attitude.”

This idea that being positive will help cancer patients to fight the disease is a
common one, although the literature is a bit iffy on whether this phenomenon is
real (Coyne & Tennen, 2010; O’Baugh, Wilkes, Luke, & George, 2003).

Although it is unclear whether simply cultivating a positive mindset will help a

patient beat cancer, there’s no doubt that getting support, focusing on a healthy
mental state, and maintaining a positive attitude will help patients reduce their
tension, anxiety, fatigue, and depression, and improve their overall quality of
life (Spiegel et al., 2007).

Cancer Treatment Centers of America expert Katherine Puckett agrees that

positivity can be helpful for patients being treated for cancer, but clarifies that
other emotions are perfectly acceptable as well.

“So often I have heard a loved one say to a cancer patient who is crying, ‘Stop
crying. You know you have to be positive’… However, when we make space for
people to express all of their feelings, rather than bottling them up inside, it is then
easier for them to be optimistic. It is okay to allow tears to flow—these can be a
healthy release.” (Katherine Puckett, as reported in Fischer, 2016).

This indicates that the most important factor regarding positivity in cancer
recovery is that it is authentic. False smiles and superficial cheerfulness will likely
do nothing for the cancer patient, but working on cultivating an authentically
positive mindset and focusing on the activities and techniques that build well-being
can have a significant impact on a cancer patient’s quality of life and—possibly—
their chances of beating cancer.

3.13 33 Tips on How to Have & Keep a Positive Mindset in

Life and at Work

Do a quick Google search on how to cultivate a more positive mindset, and you’ll
see that there are tons of suggestions out there! We’ve gathered some of the most
popular and most evidence-backed methods here, but don’t hesitate to search for
more if you need them.

Larry Alton from Success.com lists 7 practical tips to help you get more positive:

1. Start the day with positive affirmations (scroll down to see some example

affirmations).
2. Focus on the good things, however small they are.
3. Find humor in bad situations.
4. Turn failures into lessons—and learn from them!
5. Transform negative self-talk into positive self-talk.
6. Focus on the present instead of getting mired in the past or losing your way
in the future.
7. Find positive friends, mentors, and co-workers to support and encourage
you (2018).

A successful author, speaker, and coach Brian Tracy (n.d.) echoes some of these
tips and adds a couple more:

1. Remember that it’s your response that determines the outcome of a

situation.
2. Use positive affirmations or phrases to chase off negative thoughts.
3. Find inspirational quotes and messages to bolster your positivity.
4. Decide to be happy by being grateful and assuming the people around you
have the best of intentions.
 5. Challenge yourself to maintain a positive attitude when something goes
wrong—show the world how resilient and positive you are!

For a more specific list of habits and actions you can take to develop a more
positive mindset, try these 10 suggestions from Megan Wycklendt (2014) of
Fulfillment Daily:

 Keep a gratitude journal.

 Reframe your challenges as opportunities for growth.
 Get good at being rejected—it happens to everyone!
 Use positive words to describe your life.
 Replace have with get (e.g., I have to go to work → I get to go to work).
 Don’t let yourself get dragged down into other people’s complaints.
 Breathe—consciously, purposefully, and mindfully.
 Notice the righteous and good in times of tragedy and violence.
 Have solutions ready when you point out problems.
 Make someone else smile.

Finally, these 11 techniques from Dr. Tchiki Davis (2018) can also help you adopt
a more positive attitude:

 Ask yourself, “Do I think positively?” Take a test or quiz on positivity to see
where you stand.
 Strengthen your memory for positive information by using positive words
more often.
 Strengthen your brain’s ability to work with positive information with
exercises that involve positive words.
 Strengthen your brain’s ability to pay attention to the positive by routinely
redirecting your focus away from the negative to the positive.
 Condition yourself to experience random moments of positivity (use
classical conditioning on yourself to build positive associations).
 Think positive—but not too much—and think negative when you need to;
sometimes we need to grieve, think about the negative consequences, and
use negative emotions to motivate and engage us.
 Practice gratitude (perhaps with a gratitude journal).
 Savor the good moments (stop to “smell the roses” and celebrate the
positive).
 Generate positive emotions by watching funny videos
 Stop minimizing your successes and acknowledge the efforts you put in.
 Stop all-or-nothing thinking; this cognitive distortion is not in line with
reality since things are very rarely “all good” or “all bad.”
 

3.14 Helping Students to Develop a Positive Attitude

Towards Learning and School

To pass along the benefits of developing a positive mindset to students, you can
encourage them to try the techniques listed above.

However, there are some methods for improving students’ attitude towards
learning and school that may be even more effective.

Elliot Seif from the ASCD’s Edge website outlines 13 ways you can help students
cultivate this mindset:

 “Reduce the emphasis on traditional testing as the key assessment tool,

and focus on more “natural” and diverse assessment approaches such as
essays and papers, reflective journals, oral presentations, and other
demonstrations of their learning.

 Create the expectation that effort makes a difference in learning. Help

students understand that when someone works hard, they are more likely
to succeed. Give students more opportunities to put effort into areas that
interest them and that they enjoy.

 Include narratives on report cards that focus on individual strengths and

interests.

 Where possible, instead of or in addition to reading textbooks, find and

have students read and choose books that are interesting to them, that
opens them up to the world around them, that makes them think!

 Focus primarily on student strengths and student success. For each

student, consider “the glass as half full” rather than “the glass as half
empty”. Encourage students as much as possible. Understand that not all
students will be strong in all areas and that it is important to help each
 student find his or her strengths and interests and to build on them. Also,
see “failure” as an opportunity for student growth. Make it clear to
students that not doing well is a cause for looking inside yourself to see
how you can do something better (and that you will do the same). Give
students more specific feedback, along with opportunities to redo their
work and improve it. Provide mentors and tutors and other help and
support for students who need it.

 Be willing to “slow down the learning process”. Focus learning on what you
think is important. Figure out ways to teach an idea differently, and work
on something for a longer period than you normally do if your students are
not “getting it”. Figure out alternative ways to teach something if your
approach isn’t working.

 Focus a good deal of your teaching on “learning how to learn” skill

development. Read up on how to teach study skills, learning to learn skills,
research skills, inquiry skills. Make sure that your students grow both in
terms of content they learn and the “learning to learn” skills they need to
develop in order to learn well in the future.

 Make “asking questions” central to your teaching and to your learning

environment and school culture. Write course descriptions around key
questions. Use essential questions to focus units, or have students develop
essential questions as the focus for learning. As you teach, encourage
students to ask clarifying and elaborative questions. Make it clear to
students that no question is too small or too silly. Build open time for
students to ask questions on the topics they are studying. Use “wait time”
when you are asking for questions. Teach students study strategies such as
SQ3R[i] that encourage students to turn statements (such as text headings)
into questions.

 Give students more choices and options – in the classroom, by offering

many electives, through multiple extra-curricular options. Choices/options
should give students opportunities to develop and expand their interests,
see connections and relevance in what they are learning, and expand their
talents.

 Use inquiry strategies, research skill-building activities, interactive learning

and projects as critical parts of teaching. Incorporate more interest-based
projects into your curriculum.

 Where possible, make learning experiences more “authentic”. For example,

consider how learning about the American Revolution might be tied to a
 current event happening in the world. Visit the area surrounding the school
to demonstrate how math might be used for everyday activity. Through
surveys, encourage students to provide feedback on whether they feel that
their learning is interesting, motivating, and relevant and whether they are
being encouraged to develop their talents and interests. Conduct student
surveys to determine what types of school and classroom activities are
most motivating and interesting. Create activities and experiences that
enable students to get outside the school and learn from the outside world
and perform community service.

 Create more ways to integrate learning across the curriculum and consider
ways to redesign the curriculum. Use themes to create more
interdisciplinary units. Connect separate subject areas, such as by teaching
American history and literature in tandem so that history topics and
specific literature that touch on similar time periods or themes are taught
at the same time. When redesigning or renewing the curriculum, examine
whether curriculum materials or programs have a significant component
built around developing curiosity, motivation, relevance, and interest.

 See yourself as helping students build “pathways to adult success”. How

can your subject, your grade level, your school contribute to making these
pathways smoother? How can you provide students with a concrete
understanding of their future options? Can you take field trips to different
places of business? Colleges and universities? Bring in speakers?” (Seif,
2013)

However, these techniques are not always within a teacher’s (or parent’s) realm of
control. If you these techniques are too overwhelming or the scope is out of your
control, try these 7 strategies that you will likely have the power to implement:

1. Be an example. Model a positive, encouraging attitude in all that you say,

do and believe.

2. Create a positive learning space for your student.

3. Help your student visualize a positive outcome from every scenario before
starting.

4. Eliminate negative verbiage from your students’ dialogue (e.g., respond to

“I can’t do it” with “Why can’t you do it? What’s holding you back? How
can I help?”).
 5. Help your students change negative thinking patterns (encourage them to
replace the negative thoughts with positive ones).

6. Play the role of your students’ biggest fan (encourage them and help them
develop self-confidence).

7. Incorporate a rewards system to encourage positivity at all times (Werrell,

2016).

For more tips and suggestions from the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, check out their excellent resource on instilling positive
attitudes and perceptions about learning here.

3.15 46 Activities and Games to Develop Positive Mindset

Skills (incl. Group Exercises)

If you’re interested in fun, engaging, and

hands-on ways to improve your positivity and enhance your positive mindset,
you’ve come to the right place!

There are many activities and games you can use to boost your positive thinking.

Some of the most popular ones are listed here, but feel free to search for more if
none of them align with your interests—there are a lot to choose from out there!

3.15.1 For Adults

Zdravko Lukovski from the Enlightenment Portal website has 10 exercises and
activities that you can implement in your own life or encourage your clients to try
in order to think more positively:

 Listen to your favorite music—it’s that easy! Music has a fairly unique
ability to put you in a positive state of mind, so take advantage of that fact.
  Express your thankfulness and gratitude for all the good things in your life.
Appreciate them, and write them down to help you remember.

 Remember to breathe. Breathe deeply, slowly, and mindfully to transport

your mind to a positive, calm place.

 Don’t live according to a label—labels come from others, not from yourself,
and you are so much more than a simple label could ever represent. Be
authentic, and it will be much easier to be positive.

 Check your internal dialogue, and challenge that critical inner voice to
make room for happiness.

 Engage in positive activities like meditation, yoga, hiking, playing a sport, or

whatever other activity you enjoy.

 Take back control of the things you can change—and put in the effort
required to actually change—but learn to accept the things you cannot
change.

 Go easy on yourself. Don’t kick yourself when you’re down; everyone fails,
and it doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.

 Pay attention to your diet, and ensure that you eat healthy food that will
contribute to a healthy and positive mind.

 Embrace change—it’s happening whether we want it to or not, so it’s best

to embrace it. Make an effort to step outside of your comfort zone (2015).

This list from Thought Catalog’s Kathy Mitchell (2017) has some of the same
ideas as Lukovski, but she adds a few more activities as well:

 Listen to upbeat music.

 Have sex (that can certainly be an engaging and life-affirming activity!).

 Travel, even if it’s not very far—the point is to interact with different
people and get to know other cultures.

 Eat healthy foods.

 Be thankful and cultivate gratitude.

  Journal and/or use a notebook to write things down—especially positive
things.

 Breathe mindfully and deeply.

 Use positive words and avoid phrases like “I can’t” and “I won’t.”

 Practice positive affirmations or mantras.

 Try the Best Possible Self exercise (imagine yourself in your best possible
future, and write about it).

 Volunteer and commit your time and efforts to helping others.

 Take control of the things you can, and accept the things you can’t.

 Remind yourself “Never a failure, always a lesson;” make every failure a

learning opportunity.

 Try the mirror technique—say something positive about yourself (and truly
mean it) every time you see yourself in the mirror.

 Socialize and spend time with others, including family, friends, your spouse
or significant other, and new friends or acquaintances.

If you’re more interested in games you can play to boost positive thinking, try
these suggested games from Mary Osborne (2017) at Live Strong.

3.15.2 Recognizing Positive Behavior

Gather your team (or family, friends, etc.) and review a list of a generic
individual’s positive behaviors (like giving credit to others, smiling, saying thank
you, and listening nonjudgmentally).

Next, ask players to identify their reactions to positive behaviors like these.

When everyone has listed their responses to these behaviors, talk about them as a
group to show that engaging in positive behaviors like these will attract clients,
customers, and coworkers rather than repel them.

 
3.15.3 The “Glad” Game

This game comes from the Disney movie Pollyanna, in which the main character
actively cultivates positive thinking.

Have one person bring up a negative event, like losing a job or breaking up with a
boyfriend or girlfriend.

The other players are challenged to turn the first person’s thoughts to the positive;
for example, they can say something like, “But now that I’ve lost my job, I’ll have
more time to _______.” The first person must come up with a word or phrase that
fits the blank.

This game will encourage you to find the silver lining and look for opportunities
instead of wallowing in despair.

3.15.4 Egg-Balancing Game

The egg-balancing game can be frustrating, but it can impart an important lesson in
staying optimistic and open-minded.

Give your player(s) a raw egg and a flat, somewhat textured tabletop (use a
tablecloth or placemat if you need to). Tell them to find a way to balance the egg in
an upright position on the table. They might say it’s not possible, but assure them
that it is!

Let them try for a while—they might actually be able to do it—but give them a
small mound of salt to balance the egg in if they are struggling for too long. If you
use the salt, remind them that this is an important thing to remember: sometimes
things that seem impossible actually are possible when you think outside the box!

3.15.5 Hunt for Happiness

This game is described as a “positive-thinking scavenger game” and it can be used

with both children and adults.

Have the players make a list of things that they feel make life worth living or, for
younger children, things that make them smile.
Once everyone has a list ready, send them off on a scavenger hunt to collect as
many items on the list as possible. If it’s too big to collect and bring back, you can
mark your “collection” of it on the list.

You’ll have to get creative to check off everything on the list, especially abstract
things like “love,” but that’s part of the challenge. As a bonus, it will also help you
boost your creative thinking in addition to your positive thinking.

To read more about these games, click here.

3.15.6 For Children

There are even more games and activities to help children develop a positive
mindset. If you’re a teacher, parent, coach, or anyone else who interacts with kids,
give these activities a try.

Big Life Journal has a great infographic that lists the ways you can help children
develop a positive attitude. You can find the whole blog post here, but we’ll
outline the 7 activities they describe:

1. Engage your child in loving-kindness meditation. You can teach him or her
the four traditional phrases directed towards loved ones if you’d like: “May
you feel safe. May you feel happy. May you feel healthy. May you live with
ease.”

2. Encourage your child to help others, whether that takes the form of
assisting an elderly neighbor with yard work or chores, helping a friend
with homework, or participating in a canned food, clothing, or toy drive.

3. Have your child create and write in an “Awe Journal.” Tell them to write
down any sights or moments from their daily life that they find beautiful,
extraordinary, awesome, or just all-around wonderful.

4. Encourage your child to set goals, visualize their path forward, and plan for
obstacles before they come face-to-face with them (this is the WOOP
approach: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan).

5. Share your own positive experiences with your child. Laugh with them, hug
them, and set aside quality time to simply be together.

6. Identify your child’s strengths and encourage him or her to put them to
good use and develop them further with productive, fun activities.
 7. Guide your child through the process of coming up with positive
affirmations like, “I am kind. I am enough. I am loving. I am good.” (Cullins,
2018).

Another collection of activities that can help children (and the whole family)
develop and maintain a positive mindset comes from Sharon Harding at the
Rediscovered Families website:

 Keep “Quote Books,” or notebooks for your children to write in. Every
week, choose a positive quote to share with your kids and encourage them
to write it down along with their thoughts, drawings that correspond to the
quote, or insights from a family discussion or activities based on the quote.

 Try the “Success of the Day” activity, in which each family member is
encouraged to talk about a success they had that day, like helping
someone, standing up for a peer, finishing a project, or committing (or
receiving) a random act of kindness. Your children can keep a journal of
their successes to look back on and draw inspiration from.

 Create Warm Fuzzy Jars for each of your children; whenever they do
something kind or helpful, they can place a pom-pom ball in their jar to
represent the warm fuzzy feeling they gave to another person. When their
jar is full, they get to choose a special or fun activity to do—with either
parent, both parents, their sibling, or the whole family.

 Write Morning Love Notes (sweet notes for them to read in the morning
and get a good start to their day) for your children, and encourage them to
write them for their siblings.

 Choose an Act of Kindness to help your kids understand the impact a

simple kindness can have. Try something like shoveling a neighbor’s
walkway when it snows, bringing a meal to a family in need, or
volunteering.

 Creating art that helps them to manage their feelings and turn their mind
towards the positive (more info here).

 Have each family member create a Slinky Character Trait Person.

Encourage each family member to identify some positive character traits in
each other and write them on the slinky person. You can find more detailed
instructions here.
  Help each child make a vision board to share their hopes, dreams, goals,
and aspirations with each other.

 Complete the Buggy and Buddy motivational art activity to help your

children boost their creative confidence and self-esteem.

 Make gratitude stones and encourage your children to practice gratitude

every day. All you’ll need is a small, smooth stone and some paint to create
a heart on the stone. Tell your children to carry them around and use them
as a reminder to think about the things they are grateful for. You can also
use them in other ways, detailed here.

3.16 10 Worksheets for Training a Positive Mindset (PDF)

If games and activities aren’t really your “thing,” there are lots of other ways to
cultivate a positive attitude.

One effective technique is completing worksheets designed to help you develop a

positive mindset.

A few of the many worksheets on this topic are described below.

3.16.1 Strengths Exploration

Becoming more positive can start with a fun and uplifting exercise—identifying
your strengths.

This worksheet lists 36 individual strengths, with room to add 4 more, that you can
use to pick out which strengths you embody. You can choose as many as you like,
but try to keep the list to those traits that you think are your biggest strengths.
Once you have your strengths identified, move on to the rest of the worksheet:
learning about your strengths in specific areas, how you apply them now, and how
you can use them more often.

The second page concerns your relationships—romantic relationships, family

relationships, and relationships with friends. There are three questions to guide you
here:

1. List the strengths you possess that help you in your relationships.
2. Describe a specific time your strengths were able to help you in a
relationship.
3. Describe two new ways you could use your strengths in relationships.

On the third page, you will answer the same questions but with your profession in
mind instead of relationships.

The fourth page repeats these questions but with a focus on personal fulfillment
(hobbies, interests, pleasurable activities).

You can find this worksheet here.

3.16.2 Gratitude Journal

Cultivating a regular practice of gratitude will help you to become more positive,
and this worksheet will guide you in establishing your practice.

First, the instructions for the sheet are as follows: “Two times a week, write a
detailed entry about one thing you are grateful for. This could be a person, a job, a
great meal with friends, or anything else that comes to mind.”

Next, the worksheet includes some tips for effective journaling, like:

 Don’t rush to write down the first things that come to your mind. Take time
to truly think about what you’re grateful for. Expect each entry to take
between 10-20 minutes.
 Writing about the people who you’re grateful for tends to be more
powerful than writing about things.

To help get you started, you can use one of the journaling prompts listed in the
worksheet, including:

 Someone whose company I enjoy…

 A fun experience I had…
  A reason to be excited about the future…
 An unexpected good thing that happened…

The next two pages provide you space to write up to four entries. It’s best if you
get a journal specifically for this purpose, but this space can get you started until
you obtain a journal.

Click here to download this worksheet.

3.16.3 Positive Journal

Similar to the gratitude journal, a positive journal is an effective way to use

journaling to improve your mindset.

The worksheet encourages you to make a point of recognizing positive experiences

throughout your day, however big or small. At the end of each day, use the
worksheet to record three positive things that happened.

It’s good to have an actual journal for your positive entries (either the same journal
you use for recording the things you are grateful for or a separate one), but this
worksheet includes space for entering three positive things for 7 days to help you
get started.

Click here to read the instructions in more detail.

3.16.4 Protective Factors

The Protective Factors worksheet will get you thinking about all of the positive
traits, attributes, and skills that contribute to your resilience and overall mental
health. Identifying these factors is essential to knowing when and how to use them.

The instructions are to review each of the protective factors listed and marking
where you are on the scale (from weak to strong). These factors include:

 Social Support
 Coping Skills
 Physical Health
 Sense of Purpose
 Self-Esteem
 Healthy Thinking
Once you have given thought to each protective factor, the next page poses some
questions about them:

1. Which protective factor has been the most valuable to you during difficult
times?
2. Specifically, how have you used this protective factor to your advantage in
the past?
3. What are the two protective factors that you would like to improve?
4. Describe how things might be different if you able to improve these
protective factors.
5. List specific steps or actions that might help to make these goals a reality.

To download this worksheet and learn about your own protective factors,
click here.

3.16.5 Looking Back, Looking Forward

This worksheet will help you to identify times in your life when things have gone
well, when you got things right, and when you thrived.

First, for the “Looking Back” portion, you will be instructed to choose a timeframe
to reflect on (for example, “the past year” or “since starting my new job”).

Next, you will answer several questions about the positive events and
accomplishments from this time period, including:

1. List your accomplishments from this timeframe, even if they seem minor.
2. Describe a great day from this timeframe. What made this day special?
3. How have you grown, or what lessons did you learn, during this timeframe?
4. What are you grateful for from this timeframe? Try to list at least three
examples.
5. What was a challenge that you overcame during this timeframe?

For the “Looking Forward” portion, you will complete a similar exercise but with a
future time period in mind.

Instead of the questions above, you will answer these five questions:

1. What would you like to achieve during this timeframe?

2. What are you looking forward to during this timeframe? Try to list at least
three examples.
3. What relationships would you like to strengthen during this timeframe?
 4. What can you do to help others during this timeframe?
5. Ideally, how will your life be different at the end of this timeframe? Give
specifics.

Once you have completed this worksheet, you will have a list of good things and
accomplishments already behind you, and a list of good things you have to look
forward to and work towards. Click here to get started.

3.16.6 Why I’m Grateful

This is a great worksheet for cultivating gratitude, and it can be used with children
or adults.

It lists six prompts for you to complete that will help you focus on the good things
in your life:

1. I am grateful for my family because…

2. Something good that happened this week…
3. I am grateful for my friendship with… because…
4. I am grateful for who I am because…
5. Something silly that I am grateful for…
6. Something else I am grateful for…

To start thinking about all the things you have to be grateful for, click here.

3.16.7 Positive Activities for Behavioral Activation

This worksheet is focused on the therapeutic technique of behavioral activation—

encouraging the patient to get more active, engage in positive activities, and gain
the rewards inherent in these activities.

It instructs you to create a list of activities that you find personally rewarding and
leaves space for you to do so.

Next, it instructs you to rate the ease of each activity on a scale from 1 (difficult) to
10 (easy) and the reward you get from each activity on a scale from 1 (not at all
rewarding) to 10 (very rewarding).

Completing this worksheet will leave you with a list of activities that you can refer
to whenever you need a quick boost, and help you learn about what you enjoy
most.
Click here to download this worksheet.

3.16.8 Positive Experiences

The Positive Experiences worksheet is a simple one in theory, but it can be

difficult to actually complete. The difficulty comes with an equivalent reward
though; you can get a great boost in your mood, self-esteem, and self-confidence
from completing it.

The only instruction is to consider each of the positive traits listed and write briefly
about times when you have displayed each of them.

The positive traits include:

 Courage
 Kindness
 Selflessness
 Love
 Sacrifice
 Wisdom
 Happiness
 Determination

If you’re feeling particularly down, you may be tempted to skip one or two, but
fight this urge! You have definitely displayed each of these traits at one time or
another—don’t sell yourself short!

You can find this worksheet here.

3.16.9 Positive Steps to Well-being

This resource is actually a handout, but you can certainly make it interactive by
taking notes or using check marks to indicate what you have tried, or what you
would like to try.

It lists 12 things you can do to improve your well-being. These 12 activities

include:

 Being kind to yourself

 Exercise regularly
  Take up a hobby and/or learn a new skill
 Have some fun and/or be creative
 Help others
 Relax
 Eat healthily
 Balance sleep
 Connect with others
 Beware drink and drugs
 See the bigger picture
 Accepting: “It is as it is”

To read more about how each of these activities contributes to your well-being,
download the handout here.

3.16.10 Positive Self-Talk/Coping Thoughts Worksheet

The positive self-talk/coping thoughts worksheet is a great way to turn your focus
from the negative to the positive and come up with positive statements you can use
to cope in future stressful or difficult situations.

Example coping thoughts and positive statements listed on the worksheet include:

 Stop, and breathe, I can do this.

 This will pass.
 This feels bad, and feelings are very often wrong.
 I can feel bad and still choose to take a new and healthy direction.
 I feel this way because of my past experiences, but I am safe right now.

After reading the example statements, the worksheet encourages you to write down
some coping thoughts or positive statements for difficult or distressing situations in
your life. You can write them directly on the worksheet, but it may be most helpful
to copy them onto a note card and carry them with you.

Click here to download this worksheet.

 
3.17 32 Quotes and Affirmations on Positive
Mindset/Attitude

While we’re on the subject of positive statements, we should also mention that
quotes and affirmations can be an excellent way to encourage positive thinking.

3.17.1 Affirmations

If you’re interested in affirmations, try the Mind Tools Content Team’s (n.d.) list
of positive thinking affirmations:

 I have plenty of creativity for this project.

 My work will be recognized in a positive way by my boss and colleagues.
 I can do this!
 My team respects and values my opinion.
 I am successful.
 I am honest in my life, and my work.
 I like completing tasks and projects on time.
 I’m grateful for the job I have.
 I enjoy working with my team.
 I’m bringing a positive attitude to work every day.
 I am excellent at what I do.
 I am generous.
 I am happy.
 I will be a leader in my organization.

3.18 Customer Behaviour

Donal Rogan (2007) explains the relationship between consumer behaviour and marketing strategy.
He states that “strategy is about increasing the probability and frequency of buyer behaviour.
Requirements for succeeding in doing this are to know the customer and understand the consumer’s
needs and wants.”
Chisnall (1995) points out that human needs and motives are inextricably linked and that the
relationship between them is so very close that it becomes difficult to identify the precise difference
which may characterize them. People may buy new coats because it protects them against the
weather, but the irreal underlying dominant need may be to follow the latest fashion trend. Buyers’
characteristics are important theories from Kotler and Armstrong (2007) and it explains the way that
the consumer interprets and receives stimuli from advertisements. The decisions of consumers are
influenced by a number of individual characteristics that are linked to the consumer’s specific needs
(Kotler & Armstrong, 2007).

3.18.1 Consumer Characteristics

Consumer characteristics are explained by: Cultural characteristics, Social characteristics, Personal
characteristics, and Psychological Characteristics. These characteristics are identified, by the
marketer, in order to identify the consumer and to be able to decide on the strategy to what kind of
consumer to target. Hence, these characteristics are used in order to segment the market and target
specific consumer groups.

Cultural Characteristics

The Cultural Characteristics are recognized as the main influencer of consumer behaviour. These
characteristics are developed by three features under pinning consumer behaviour: Culture,
Subculture, and SocialClass.

Culture is mentioned as the most basic cause of a person’s wants and needs. Kotler and Armstrong
(2007) argues that human behaviour is mostly learned and that I are exposed to different sets of
values and beliefs from a young age, and that these values influence our behaviour and decision
making. Hence, these characteristics are interesting for marketers and important indicators of
certain consumer behaviour and taste.

Subcultures are small group formations with a certain number of people that share values and
beliefs such as nationalities, religions or geographic regions. An identified subculture can serve as an
important and effective market segment which can be targeted.

Social class is recognized by Kotler and Armstrong (2007) as a class structure, consisting of a
combination of factors which gather different types of members. Some identified factors are income,
age, education, and wealth

Social Characteristics

The Social Characteristics are divided into three different categories, namely Reference Groups,
Family and Social Role and Status.

Reference Groups–According to Kotler and Armstrong (2007) the effects of the Reference Groups is
mainly based on the belief that a person’s behaviour is influenced by many small groups. When a
group has a direct influence it is called a Membership Group, for example: family, neighbours and
co-workers. Reference Groups are the groups to which the person often wants to be long to and to
be apart of but is not. These groups indirectly and directly form a person’s behaviour and attitudes.
There are three different ways by which these groups influence a person’s behaviour; they may
expose a person to new behaviours and lifestyles, influence a person’s attitudes and self-concepts
and also create a pressure of confirmation by Reference Groups. Another influence of importance is
the opinion leader . An opinion leader is a person that influences others to follow his believes and
attitudes towards certain issues, products or areas (Kotler& Armstrong,2007).
Family–Family members have a great influence on the buying behaviour. The involvement and
influence by different family members varies, both to which degree but also in what way. Therefore,
it is important for marketers to understand which role is played by whom in the family and direct the
advertisement towards the main influencing part of the family.

Roles and Status–Each person belongs to different types of groups and also plays different roles
whilst having different positions in the various groups. Roles are identified by Kotler and Armstrong
(2007) as what activities people are expected to perform from other members of the group.

Personal characteristics

These personal characteristics are categorized into: Age and Life-CycleStage, Occupation, Economic
Situation, Lifestyle, Personality and Self-Concept.

The Age and Life-Cycle Stage These stages explain different periods in life that the consumer
experiences as he goes through life. These different stages also represent different changes that the
consumer may experience when reaching a new stage. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2007)
marketers, therefore, define their target markets interms of the different stages in order to develop
appropriate marketing plans.

Occupation–The occupation tends to have an effect on the products and services bought by the
consumers. This leads to the possibility of developing different types of products or services that
suits interests identified to be above average within an occupation.

The Economic Situation–Wealth will affect a consumer’s product choice. A consumer may be price-
sensitive or not depending on the level of income, level of savings, level of interest rates, and also
the product or service itself.

Lifestyle–This is identified to be a person’s way of living which is recognized by the activities,

interest, or opinion she or she has and it also explains the way a consumer interacts in the world.

Personality–This is mainly explained by the terms self-confidence, dominance, sociability, autonomy,

defensiveness, adaptability and aggressiveness. These psychological factors are a result of one’s
environment. Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed
by a person that uniquely influences his or her motivations, and behaviours invarious situations
(Ryckman,2004).

Self-concept or Self Image–Is the conceptual understanding that people’s possessions reflect their
personalities. This concept does bring some conflicts in case people may have an image that satisfies
who they are but does not agree with who they want to be (the ideal self-concept),the question
then arises which one I would want to satisfy.

Psychological Characteristics

The psychological characteristics are divided into the following concepts: Motivation, Perception,
Learning, and Beliefs and Attitudes.

Motivation–Motivation refers to a person needs that must be satisfied. These needs are of different
kind; some are biological, such as hunger, thirst and discomfort ,and some are psychological such as
the need for recognition, esteem and belonging. Needs are not satisfied until they reach a certain
point of intensity and become a motive for the consumer to satisfy them. Kotler and Armstrong
(2007) discuss several motivation theories, among them are Freud’s and Maslow’s theories of
motivation. Freud argued that a person does not really and fully understand his or her motivations.
Maslow on the other hand wanted to understand why some people set out to satisfy some needs
before others.

He then came to the conclusion that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy from the most
pressing to the least pressing, as Kotler and Armstrong (2007) explains it. These needs are listed as
psychological needs, safety needs, socialneeds, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. When
one need has been satisfied, a person moves on to satisfy the next.

Perception-This characteristicis based on the understanding of how differently I perceive the same
situation or the same stimuli. Kotler and Armstrong (2007) explains perception as the process by
which people select, organize, and interpret information. There are three different processes that
decide how I interpret certain information. These are Selective Attention, Selective Distortion, and
Selective Retention.

Learning–Learning is, according to Kotler and Armstrong (2007), an act that changes people’s
behaviour because of their experience. It occurs through drives: strong internal wants that call for
action, stimuli: object that drives for certain action, cues: small stimuli that determinate when,
where and how the person will respond and reinforcement: when the response and stimuli towards
an object is experienced more than once.

Beliefs and Attitudes–These are acquired by people through learning and experiencing. They
influence the buying behaviour by making up brands and product images in the consumer’s heads. A
belief is explained by Kotler and Armstrong (2007) as a descriptive thought about something and is
based on real knowledge, opinions or faith. Beliefs can also be emotionally charged. Attitudes are
described as a person’s evaluations, feelings, and tendencies towards something, but also
determinations of people such as like and dislikes.

3.18.2 Online Consumer Characteristics

More specific identifications of the online consumer need to be made in order to

understand the online purchase behaviour. The identified characteristics are some key
characteristics in regard to the online consumer. These key characteristics were made in order
to identify online consumers and to be able to segment them.

Cultural Online Characteristics

Smith and Rupp (2003) identify that the difference in social class creates a difference in
purchasing Online Behaviour. Consumers from a higher social class generally purchase more and
have a higher intention to purchase online because there is a higher probability that they
possess a computer and also have greater access to the Internet. Consumers from lower social
classes would not have the same properties. The authors also point out that consumers with
lower social class, and there by not having the same properties, would not have the needed
computer literacy to be able to leverage a computer.

Social Online characteristics

The social influence on the online consumer comes from new Reference Groups
compared to the tradition always. For the online consumer new Reference Groups were
identified as virtual communities, consisting of discussion groups on a website. The consumer
can read about other people’s experiences and opinions which have shown to have the effect of
Reference Groups (Christopher &Huarng, 2003). Other Reference Groups, which are identified
by Christopher and Huarng (2003), are links to product related websites, which encourages
product selection and contact information.

Personal Online characteristics

Monsuwé, Dellaert and Ruyter (2004) explored the personal online consumer
characteristics and concluded that income has a vital role for online purchasing behaviour. The
authors discussed Lohseetal .(2000) who pointed out that consumers with higher house hold
income would have a more positive attitude towards online shopping. This conclusion was
explained by the fact that house holds with higher income would have a positive correlation
with the possession of a computer, Internet access, and higher education.
Smith and Rupp (2003) also identified the age factor as a determinant for online
purchase intentions. They argued that older people who had no frequent interactions with the
Internet and the computer would not use the Internet as a medium for purchases, while young
adults would. This was concluded by that the young adults used the Internet and computers
more frequently. Younger people were also identified to have more technical knowledge.
Monsuwéetal. (2004) also supported this judgement by concluding that younger adults usually
have greater interest in using new technologies to browse for information and evaluate
alternatives.

Psychological Online Characteristics

Smith and Rupp (2003) identified the psychological characteristics of consumer

behaviour as questions the online consumer would ask himself before making a purchase
online.

Motivation–The consumers is reasoning for incentives to engage in a particular behaviour. He

may ask himself questions like: should I look around for better price? If online shopping saves
me time, should I shop online more often? How much do I really need this product?

Perception- The consumer is interpreting acquired information by classing it. Questions such as
the following may come about: I feel that this site seems pretty secure. It seems that this site
has a good product but how can I be sure?

Personality- The consumer is adapting to influences of his cognitions. He may ask himself, what
types of Web sites are best suited for his personal buying preferences.

Attitude- The consumer is working out what his likes and dislikes are in respect to a particular
situation. He may ask himself: I am pretty unsure about extra costs, should I really be buying
items from the Internet? If I do not buy the item online, how else can I get it?

Emotions-The consumer is without conscious effort detecting how he is being affected by his
cognitive choice. He may ask himself: The last time I ordered from the Internet I had a really bad
experience .Should I try buying online again? What is the future of buying online? If Websites
get better should I invest more time in buying online?
3.19 Specific Consumer Traits and Online
Behaviour The online consumer’s characteristics that I have identified to be the most important ones
to have an effect on the online consumer, will be referred to as specific Consumer Traits and how
the consumer uses the Internet will be referred to as Online Behaviour.

The online consumer characteristics such as personal, social, and psychological characteristics need
to be identified in order to understand what is important for the online consumer. These
characteristics reveal the consumers’ lifestyle and identify who the consumer is and what attitudes
he has towards online shopping.

Therefore, I will be using the following characteristics to segment the online consumer, by analysing:

 The consumer’s demographics, as Bergmanetal.(2005).

 Life patterns concerning Online Behaviour, such as how much the consumer uses the
Internet, Webographics, as Bergmanetal.(2005).
 For what purposes, Internet Usage, also as Bergmanetal.(2005).
 How much the online consumer shops online, Online Shopping Patterns, can be used in
order to find out what impact certain factors have on different type of consumers
(Bergmanetal.2004).
 Prior experiences have also been identified to be relevant for what Beliefs and Attitudes the
consumer has towards online shopping and are therefore also important for there
search(Monsuwéetal.2004).
 Social influences have an effect on the consumer in the early decision making stage and
these were referred to as Reference Groups (Christopher&Huarng2003).

These are the consumer characteristics that are relevant for this research and need to be identified
in order to find out who the online consumer is and what affects him when shopping online. These I
will be referred to as Consumer Traits and Online Behaviour.

To summarise the prior text and to answer the question what identifies an Online Consumer, one
can draw the conclusion that for this research the important consumer characteristics that need to
be identified are:

 ConsumerTraits
 Demographics
 AttitudeandBeliefs
 ImpactofReferenceGroups
 OnlineBehaviour
 Webographics
 OnlineShoppingPatterns
 InternetUsage
 Gender, Age,
Demographics
Income

Online Consumer Previous and

Attitude and Belifs
Traits Future Experience

Impact of Family, Friends and

reference groups Online forum
Online Consumer
Segments
Webographics Time spent online

Online Shopping
Online Behaviour Expenditure
Patterns

Fun, Work, Emails,

Internet Usage Information,
Shopping

Figure3-1TheOnlineConsumerSegmentSubdivisions

3.20 Important Influencing Factors

When processing the previous literature in order to find what Specific Consumer Traits and Online
Behaviour that needs to be identified, I gained knowledge of which factors that were highly
important for the online consumer.

Brengman, Geuenes, Weijters, Smith and Swinyard (2005) segment online consumers through first
identifying the Internet usage lifestyle of every consumer; they believe that the Internet experience
is highly relevant for the identification of the online consumer. Lifestyle is, as presented above, a
describing group of consumers’ personal characteristics and is expressed as a person’s
demographics. These living patterns show what opinions and interests a consumer has for certain
products, for what reasons and which interest they have in the Internet, the Internet usage. The
study came to the conclusion that four segment groups could be conceptualized and these would
categorise the online consumers according to their shopping behaviour. The different attributes, that
explain these segments, show that the factors Price, Trust and Convenience are highly relevant
influencers on the online consumer shopping behaviour (Brengmanetal.,2005).

Monsuwéetal. (2004) created a framework through their study that would help the understanding of
consumer’s attitudes towards online shopping . Attitudes and beliefs are separated from consumer’s
psychological characteristics and mainly determined by learning and prior experiences. Further,
Bellenger pointsout that the ability to conduct price comparisons has been cited as a major reason
why consumers use the Internet (Wallace, 1995). Price sensitives hoppers are essentially concerned
with buying products at the lowest price or getting the best value for the money they spend
(Bellenger,1980).

There have been many attempts to identify and segment the online consumer through various
studies. By reading different studies I have identified certain factors that were constantly present in
the literature. There are many factors that have an impact on the online purchase behaviour, but I
have identified Price, Trust and Convenience to be very important and will put our attention to these
three factors.
3.20.1 Identified Factors affecting Online Consumer Behaviour

Price which is a part of the marketing mix is a factor used in order to stimulate the consumer and is
also a communicator, bargain tool, and a competitive weapon. The consumer can use price as a
mean of comparing products, judge relative value for money, and judge product quality
(Brassington&Pettitt,2000).

The factor Trust is considered to be a concern on the emotional basis in the minds of the consumers.
The consumers have a focus on their safety needs and want to satisfy them before making a
purchase(Brassington&Pettitt,2000).

The factor Convenience is considered to be a benefit in the eyes of the consumer and a quality
derived from purchasing over the Internet. It is therefore considered to be amotivator and a benefit
to consumers.(Constantinides,2004)

We believe that these factors have a significant influence on the consumer when purchasing online.
To further analyse the factors, I study underlying attributes that represent what way the factors
affect the consumers.

The Factor Price

The Internet has become a global market place on which consumers can gather and compare
information such as product information and prices. The technologies and innovative business ideas
of the Internet allow sellers to discriminate between buyers and buyers to discriminate between
vendors. Historically, however, prices have been set by negotiations after having examined the
product (Kotler & Keller, 2006). The Internet facilitates the scenario that comparisons can be
achieved with ease, overlooking several digital attributes (which can be communicated through the
web) and possibilities with several different vendors simultaneously. On the Internet it is after all the
price comparison prospect that interests price sensitive consumers, whilst another category of
consumers focuses on finding unique products with specialized features that might be difficult to
find offline and who, therefore, perhaps even consider the price as secondary.

However, when online, only digital attributes can be evaluated by the consumer, while offline non-
digital attributes (for which physical inspection of the product is necessary) can be tested (Lal &
Sarvary,1999). This could even influence impulsive shoppers to become more cautious about the
product as it can only be inspected digitally. Furthermore, when buying online, additional costs such
as freight charges, customs or prolonged delivery times can influence the online consumer’s decision
to reconsider the transaction even though the price is low. Table3.1 clarifies the fact that the factor
price has two attributes, saving money and price comparison.

Table3-1TheFactorPriceanditsAttributes

Factor Attributes
SavingMoney
Price
ComparingPrice

The Factor Trust

Monsuwéetal.(2004) conclude that because the Internet is a relatively new way of shopping, it is
challenging for the consumers and therefore perceived by the consumer as risky. They further
identify the sales person to be a silent source of trust for the consumer, and that the consumer is
dependent on the sales persons’ expertise. But since the salesperson has been removed in online
shopping, the authors argue that the basis of consumer trust has disappeared. They further explain
that the consumer is not able to check the quality of an item, nor is he able to monitor the safety of
the security when revealing personal data. The authors, therefore, conclude that if a high level of
security and privacy is communicated to the consumer the result would have a positive effect on
consumer trust and the intention to buy online.

According to Luhmann (1979) who has a sociological point of view on the theory of trust, there are
three modes of maintaining expectations about the future, familiarity, confidence and trust.To
experience trust, familiarity and confidence must have been established. However, trust is only
necessary when there is a high perceive drisk, such as during a purchase transaction or a similar
action.

The consumer’s previous experience and trust in the computerized medium is likely to affect his
amount of trust in online shopping (Lee & Turban,2001). According to Lee and Moray (as cited in Lee
& Turban, 2001) human trust in computerised systems depends on three factors:

 The perceived technical competence of the system-The systems apparent ability to perform
assigned tasks.
 The perceived performance level of the system-How fast and reliable it appears to bea ble to
finish the tasks.
 The human operators understand of the underlying characteristics and processes governing
the system’s behaviour.

Previous knowledge also affects trust. Luhmann (1993) states that ," Practical experience tends to
teach us the opposite: the more I know, the better I know what I do not know, and the more
elaborate our risk awareness becomes” (p.28).

Turbanetal.(2001) constructed a model that highlights what trust is constituted from when
purchasing on the Internet. According to figure3.2 which is a scaled version based on “A Trust Model
for Consumer Internet Shopping ”by Lee, Matthew K.O, and Efraim Turban (2001), trust is dependent
on the six variables
 Seller

Trust in Internet Competency

Benevolence

Ec Trust

Reliability

Trust in internet as
Understandability
Shopping channel

Security and
Payment

Figure3-2TrustinElectronicCommerce

Acompanymustshowtheconsumerthatitiscompetentinmanaginginformationandsupportingtheconsu
merafterapurchaseisdone.Ifthatcanbeachieved,theconsumerismorelikelyto"engageintrust-
relatedInternetbehaviourslikepurchasing,cooperating,andsharinginformation"(McKnight&Chervany,
2001-2002).Table3.2showsthefactorTrustanditsattributes.
Table3-2TheFactorTrustanditsAttributes

Factor Attributes
Perceptionofsafety
Trust TrustintheInternetRetailer
TrustintheInternetasretailshopping

The Factor Convenience

Convenience is anything that is intended to save time and frustration according to the Swedish
National Encyclopaedia. Further definitions of the concept of convenience are:

 The quality of being suitable to ones comfort, purpose or needs

 Personal comfort or advantage
 Something that increases comfort or saves work at a suitable or agreeable time(Lexico
Publishing Group[LLC],2007)

Online shopping as a new medium for retailing creates a number of different advantages. One of
these is that it is considered to be more convenient to shop online compared to the traditional way
of shopping. The convenience attributes that online shopping provides are:

 Less effort:
 Being able to shop at home
 Time saving
 Being able to shop at anytime of the day
Azjen (as cited in Kim&Park, 1991) claims that online shopping provides convenience for consumers
such as time savings and search convenience if compared to the traditional way of shopping.

Kim and Park(1991) also argue that if online shopping is to be perceived as convenient for the
consumer, the consumer must perceive a certain amount of easines s with accessing the Internet
and also with carrying out the behaviour with shopping online.The less complexity the consumer
perceives with accessing the Internet the more attention the consumer has to enter the Internet and
search for information.

The characteristics of convenience with online shopping can be summarized as follows:

Consumers can shop from their homes meaning they do not have to take certain aspects, needed
when shopping in the traditional way, into consideration. Online shopping is, therefore, considered
to require less effort. It is also considered to be time saving, the consumer can search for products
and prices easy through the developed search engines. Through tracking devices a consumer can at
anytime check where their package is. Another time aspect of online shopping is that it allows

The consumer to shop at any time of the day, the consumer does not need to consider if the stores
are open or not.Table3.3 shows the factor Convenience and its attributes.

Table3-3TheFactorConveniencewithAttributes

Factor Attributes
SavingTime
Convenience LessEffort
Shoppingatanytime

3.21 Summary
By first examining consumer behaviour theories I have investigated what identifies the consumer
and the processes that the consumer goes through before making a purchase. This has been applied
to gain understanding of the online consumer buying behaviour and has then been used in order to
find which characteristics that are relevant to identify and segment the online consumer.These have
been identified as Consumer Traits and Online Behaviour and are listed below along with the
respective subsegments:

ConsumerTraits:

 Demographics
 AttitudeandBeliefs
 ImpactofReferenceGroups

OnlineBehaviour:

 Webographics
 OnlineShoppingPatterns
 InternetUsage

Furthermore,I have pointed out certain factors that I believe are important for the online consumer
when shopping online through the literature overview. These factors have been identified as Price,
 Trust and Convenience through the literature. In order to comprehend how the identified factors
influence the online consumer I must first identify the online consumer. This identification needs to
be done mainly through the relevant Consumer Traits and online consumer behaviour that have
been identified earlier.

Figure 3-3 The influencing Factor's effect on Online Consumer Segments

Price Convenience Trust

Demographics Webographics

Attitude and Online

Consumer Online Online Shopping
Belief Consumer
Traits Behaviour Patterns
Segments

Impact of Internet Usage

Reference

Implications for Online Retail Store

We can then understand the relevance and impact of the factors for the all the respondents. By
gaining understanding and being able to segment online consumers I can see the relevance and
impact of certain factors for specific groups. Figure3.3 explains that Online Consumer Segments will
be developed through how the respondents answered questions that involved Consumer Traits and
Online Behaviour. The defined segments will be compared according to how the respondents in each
segment answers the questions involving Price, Trust and Convenience. Finally, implications for
online stores will be drawn from these results.
4 Empirical Research Method

Since our research is of deductive character our primary intention was to collect secondary data and
analyse it. By doing so I found the factors Price, Trust and Convenience. I then collected primary data
through a survey. The main purpose of the survey was to collect data about Online Consumer
Behaviour and the significance of the established factors, Price, Trust, and Convenience.

In order to be able to find and establish Online Consumer Segments, Consumer Traits and Online
Behaviour had to be identified. The segments were used in order to further identify what impact the
factors Price, Trust, and Convenience have on Online Consumer Segments.

4.1 Segments
A segment is a subgroup of people that share the one or more characteristics and these segments
have similarities such as that they share behavioural features or have similar needs. These
similarities make a specific segment homogenous in their needs and attitudes. Different types of
variables can be used in order to segment a market and one of the requirements was that it needed
to be measurable. I will be using the identified Consumer Traits and Online Behaviour variables to
segment the online consumers.

4.2 Sample
The factors that I intended to examine can be applied to and investigate data population that uses
the Internet and buys online. Since there are time and resource restraints, a specific population had
to be identified in order to generalise and create relevant segments. I decided that the sample size
should contain over 100respondents and I collected answers from 103respondents.

4.3 Non Probability, Convenience Sampling

The population for this research are Students and employees, India. The Sample was chosen on a
convenience basis. Convenience sampling involves using samples that are the easiest to obtain and is
continued until the sampling size that need is reached. The bias with the convenience sampling is
that it is hard to generalize to the wanted population (Saundersetal.,2007).

We will attempt to collect as many respondents as possible but since I will be studying students I
assume that there will be little variation in the population making it more approved to generalize the
response rates. The sampling method for students took also place on a convenience basis since the
students that agree to answer the questionnaire are those that were chosen.

4.4 TheQuestionnaire
In order to create the questionnaire I started out by deciding on the main variables that needed to
be investigated. These were: Demographics, Webographics, OnlineShopping Patterns,and Attitude
towards Online Shopping, Social Characteristics, Reference Groups, and the identified factors Price,
Trust, and Convenience.
For the questionnaire, which was self- administrated, I used the Delivery and collection
questionnaire method. This method was mainly used because of the limitations in time and available
resources. Different types of questions were set in order to be able to collect the information that
was needed concerning the different topics. The examined variables were of different types. They
were opinions, behaviour, and attributes.

Opinions are used to understand how a respondent feels about something ,behaviour attributes are
used to record what the respondent does, and attributes shows what the respondent possesses
(Saundersetal.,2007).In order to collect the correct data, I needed to ask questions with suited
alternatives that we read jested to the type of the variable that needed to be examined. In our
questionnaire I were only using closed questions that were of the list, category, ranking, quantity,
and ratingtype.

All rating questions used a seven-point Likers style rating scale. In order to determine the underlying
attitudes for Price, Trust, and Convenience I used the bipolar semantic differential rating, on a seven
pointscale.The values of the semantic differential rating scale are described by opposite adjectives
designed to anchor the respondent’s attitudes towards trust. These mantic differential rating scale
was later translated from1-7 to set a new value range of-3to +3for our analysis. The obtained values
were then being multiplied to obtain one final overall value, ranging from-9to+9,for each question
by using these mantic differential rating system.

The first questions (1.1to1.5) of the research were primarily used to explain the Demographics of the
respondent and were designed as background questions. These questions acted as category with
one quantity question. The quantity question (1.2) allowed the respondent to list their age. The
category questions (1.1,1.3,and1.4) were used to categorize the respondents after their: gender,
semester, and income respectively. The category questions gave us the ability to form different
segments of the respondents.

4.5 Reliability
Reliability is the extent to which data collection techniques yield consistent findings, similar
observations would be made by other researchers and if there is transparency in how sense was
made from raw data (Saundersetal.,2007). Reliability implies the ability of a survey to resist random
errors. According to Robson (ascitedinSaundersetal.,2007)there may be four threat store liability:

 Subject/ Participant error: This can occur when the respondent is on a “high”, for example
prior to the weekend. The opinions transmitted during this period could be overly positive,
and vice versa if it is a Monday morning, when the respondent is likely to be ona“low”.
 Subject/Participantbias:This occurs for example when the respondent is answering as they
think their boss would want them to answer, instead of answering with their own mindset,
fearing any consequences that might fall upon them if they fail to answer correctly according
to their boss.
 Observererror:This is when the observer is not collecting data as intended, and thus errors in
the final research are likely.
 Observerbias: When the observer is interpreting an answer with the help of his own beliefs
and values, the registered answer will be biased, and thus not represent the true answer
given from the respondent.

These threats can however be reduced. A highly structured questionnaire will make the observer
error almost non-existent. Guaranteeing anonymity will make a respondent more inclined to answer
truthfully, since he will not be held accountable for any answer, thus minimizing the bias. Finally, the
subject and participant terror can be reduced simply by choosing a neutral day to conduct the
survey, such as a Tuesday for example.

4.6 Validity
Validity is the extent to which the data collection method or methods accurately measure what they
were intended to measure (Saundersetal.,2007). When a quantitative research results in a measured
value that corresponds with the real value, then there search is considered to be completely valid. In
that case one has measured what was intended with perfect precision(Christensenetal.,2001).The
biggest task is to create clear and non-ambiguous questions that can be interpreted indisputable and
provide us with the right information for our purpose. However, there is no guarantee that the
respondents interpret the questions definitely, yet I have to assume they will and do consider the
benefit of doubt.

4.7 Generalizability
This term refers to how generalizable the results of our search are, and whether the findings can be
applicable too there research settings (Saundersetal.,2007). Due to our decision to focus on
students, and since this group only represents a small part of the Indian population, the results
would only be generalizable,if generalizable at all, to students.
5 Results

5.1 Introduction
The questionnaire was designed to collect primary data in order to find first-hand information on
how the respondents value the importance of price, trust, and convenience when making purchases
over the Internet. The questionnaire was designed to, first, collect data that would be used to find
segments among the respondents, and second, to collect data about the factors price, trust, and
convenience. The questions in the questionnaire were based on the findings from the literature.
Questions which were designed to collect data to find respondent segments were derived from the
findings within consumer behaviour. Questions about the factors price, trust, and convenience were
derived from the literature found about the factors when purchasing online. I Emailed questioner
link to all the respondents through the mail and collected emails in order to make sure not to collect
data from the same respondent more than once. I decided that the sample size should be
over200respondents and I collected 226 respondents. In order to analyse the collected data I used
the software program SPSS. The following will present and discuss the results from the
questionnaire.

5.2 Questionnaire–Collected data

5.2.1 Online Consumer Traits
Demographics

Questions1.1,1.2,1.3,and1.4

These questions were used inorder to establish the consumer demographics. They were used to find
out the respondents gender, age, semester at the University, and income.

Gender

Gender was included in the survey in order to find out if there is a difference between
men and women concerning the beliefs towards the factors. The following table will show the
distribution of the male and female respondents that were included in the survey.

Table5-4Q1.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Gender”

Sex Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Male 58 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Female 44 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Others 1 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Total 0 0

The distribution of male and female respondents shows a majority of male respondents
(57%), compared to the female respondents (42%).
 Gender
Others
1%

Female
42%
Male
Female
Others
Male
57%

Age

Age was included to find out if there is a significant relationship to what impact the
factors price, trust, and convenience have on different age groups. Age is a demographic value
that can also be used in order to further explain and elaborate on some of the other questions
that are used to find segments among the respondents. The respondents were asked to write
how old they were, instead of setting up different age groups to choose form. In this way I were
able to get the exact ageand there by setup different age groups according to the distribution.

Years Frequency Percent

Table5-5Q1.2Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Age” CumulativePercent
<=20 17 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is
** faulty **
21–25 77 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is
** faulty **
25-33 5 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is
** faulty **
34-41 1 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is
** faulty **
42>= 3 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is
** faulty **
Total 0 0
 Age
42 >=

34 - 41
Age
25 - 33

21 – 25

<= 20

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Area

The above diagram is showing the percentage of demography of respondents and what
is the percentage of respondents who lives in rural or urban region, the below diagram is
showing that 77% of the respondents are from urban areas and 23% of the respondents are
from urban area.

Table5-6Q1.3Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Area”

Area Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Rural 25 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Urban 78 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Total 0 0

Geographical Distribution
Rural
23%

Rural
Urban

Urban
77%

Occupation

This graph help us to know the occupation of the respondents, this is to know that
which segment of people are buying more products on the internet whether they are the
segment of students or government employees or professional, the above graph shows that the
 segment of the students i.e.90% of the students are using internet and use to buy online
products.

Years Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Student 70 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Professional 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Govt.Employee 5 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
SelfEmployed 3 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Other 1 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0
Table5-7Q1.4Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Occupation”

Occupution
Self Employed Other
3% 1%
Student
Govt. Employee
3% Professional
Professional Govt. Employee
24% Self Employed
Other
Student
69%

DisposableIncome

Income was used in the questionnaire mainly to find if the respondents that have a
higher income spend more money online or not. This variable is also used in order to find the
correlation to the factors price, trust, and convenience. The distribution of the variable income
is highly connected with the fact that the respondents are students and, therefore, have a lower
income.
This explains the fact that the majority of respondents have the lowest income
(52.48%).

Table5-8Q1.5Distributionaccordingtothevariable“DisposableIncome”

Years Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

<5000 53 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5001–6999 15 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
7000–8999 4 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
9000–10999 5 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
11000-12999 5 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
>=13000 21 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0

Disposable Income
>= 13000

11000 - 12999

9000 – 10999 Disposable Income

7000 – 8999

5001 – 6999

< 5000

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Internet Connection

This graph shows us the percentage of respondents who have their own internet
connections, its shows that 87.13% of respondents have their own internet connections and
35% people don’t have their internet connection.

InternetConnection Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Yes 88 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
No 15 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0

Internet Connection
No
13%

Yes
No

Yes
87%

Online Shopping
 This graph shows us the percentage of respondents who have done Online Shopping, its
shows that 68.93% of respondents have done Online Shopping and 31.7%people haven’t done
do Online Shopping

OnlineShopping Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Yes 71 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
No 32 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0

Online Shopping
No
31%

Yes
No

Yes
69%

Motivation

Thisgraphshowsuswhatmotivatesthepeopletobuyinternet,asfromaboveresultIfoundoutt
hatnotraveltoshopisthemainthingwhichmotivatesthepeopletobuyproductsonline.

Table5-9Q2.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Motivation”

Motivation Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

EasyPayment 21 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
NoHiddencost 6 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Widerangeofproducts 22 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Notraveltoshop 22 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0
 Motivation

No travel to shop Easy Payment Easy Payment

31% 30% No Hidden cost
Wide range of products
No travel to shop
No Hidden cost
7%
Wide range of products
31%

Competitive Prices

This diagram shows us that whether online marketers are giving competitive price or
not and result which is came is that most of the people thought that online marketers are
providing competitive prices than physical stores. And results 74.65% of people say that it
provides competitive prices and only 14.08% people says no.

Table5-10Q2.2Distributionaccordingtothevariable“CompetitivePrices”

CompetitivePrices Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Yes 53 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
No 10 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Can’tsay 8 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Total 0 0

Competitive Prices
No Can’t say
14% 10%

Yes
No
Can’t say

Yes
76%

Products buy online

The above graphs gives result that most of the time people use to buy 36% but the
margin with other things is very less as musicCd’ save percentage of 15 and Personal and
Healthcare15% S

Products buy Online

Personal and Healthcare 15

Mobiles and Acessories 34

Products buy Online
Clothing 21

Music CD's 15

Books 36

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Frequentlyvisitedonlinestore’s

Thisgraphshowsthat57%peopleusetovisitFlipkartforonlineshopping,31%usetogoatEbay,1
7%peopledoatAmazonandforotherpeopleusetovisitatBestBuyandothers.

Online stores
Other 7

Myntra 13

letsbuy 6 Online stores

Flipkart 57

Amazon 17

e-bay 31

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Factorshelptodecidetoshoponline

Thisdiagramshowsuswhataffectspeopletobuyproductsoninternetanditshowsthat21%peo
plecametoknowaboutshoppingsitesthroughsearchengines.Andtheyattractedtowardsitandstartg
ettingproductsfromthere.And20%peopledecisionisaffectedbyspecialoffersbytheoffersandthedisc
ountsgivenbythesites.
 Factors help to decide which site to shop
online
Tv advertising 4

Online Advertising 12 Factors help to decide

which site to shop online
Special Offers On Sites 20

Personal Recommendation 14

Search Engine 21

0 5 10 15 20 25

WayofPayment

Thisdiagramshowsthatmostlypeopleusescreditcardtopaytheirpayments42%peopleuseto
paybycredit/debitcardand14%throughCashondeliveryand11%throughInternetBankingand3from
paypal.

Way of payment
Cash-on-Delivery 14

GoogleWallet 1
Way of payment
Paypal 3

Internet banking 11

Debit/ credit card 42

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

FrequencyofOnlineShopping
 Frequency of Online shopping
Twice a week
Twice a month 4%
15% once a month
once a week once a week
8%
Twice a month
once a month Twice a week
72%

Attitudes and Beliefs

Questions4.1and4.2

Prior experience

This question was used in order to see what attitude the respondent had about
shopping online. The measured attitude was mainly derived through questions about the
respondent’s prior experiences. This usually also affects the attitude towards performing an
action, in this case the action was to shop online. The question was, therefore designed to let
the respondent rate their prior experience for shopping online.

Table5-11Q4.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable”Previousexperiencewithonlinepurchases”

Experience Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(VeryBad) 0 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 1 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 33 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(VeryGood) 13 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0
 Prior Experience
1 (Very Bad)
40

20
5(Very Good) 2 Prior Experience
13 0
01

24
33
4 3

Overall the respondents showed a good to very good prior experience with purchasing
online. The number of respondents with a very good attitude towards online shopping is high
and the distributed attitude declines as less respondents think of it as a bad experience. Rating
number four on the scale is considered as neither a good nor bad experience. The majority of
respondents,overall 35.87%, do consider their prior experience with online purchasing as
neither good nor bad. This question is closely related to the following question which
investigates the respondents’ future expectations of online purchasing.

Future expectations of online purchases

This question is a part of analysing the respondents’ attitude towards online purchases.
Future expectations are highly dependent on respondents’ prior experiences of online
purchases; this will be further discussed in the analysis of the results.
As with prior experiences the respondents have a highly positive attitude towards future
online purchases. The majority (41.38%), of the respondents have rated future expectations
with online purchases to be positive. Not considering the neutral respondents; an overall 80.9%
of the respondents had positive expectations.

5.2.2

Table5-12Q4.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable”Futureexperiencewithonlinepurchases”

Experience Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(VeryBad) 0 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 1 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 11 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
 5(VeryGood) 35 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0

Future Expectations
1 (Very Bad)
40

20
5(Very Good) 2 Future Expectations
35
0
01

11
24

4 3

Impact of Reference Groups

Questions5.1,5.2,and5.3

The impact of Reference Groups These questions were designed to find out which of the
three Reference Groups, family, friends, and online forum, that have an impact on the
respondent. Families as Reference Groups have not shown to have an impact on online
purchases among students. A majority of 32.39% do not consider any of their families’ opinions
and experiences at all when purchasing online.

Table5-13Q5.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Howmuchdoesfamilyaffectonlinepurchase”

Familyaffect Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Notatall) 11 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 15 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 23 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 13 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(VeryMuch) 9 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **
 Family affect
1 (Not at all)
40

20
5(Very Much) 11 2 Family affect

9 15
0

13
23

4 3

Friends as a Reference Groups have shown to have a bigger impact as a Reference

Groups when respondents consider their purchases online. This can be explained by the fact
that friends often are fellow students that attend the same program and have relevant
information that is of use to the respondent. The distribution of the respondents shows that the
majority of the respondents, 33.8%, take the opinions and experiences of their friends into
consideration.

Table5-14Q5.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Howmuchdoesfriendsaffectonlinepurchase”

Friendsaffect Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Notatall) 8 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 10 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 13 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(VeryMuch) 16 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **
 Friends affect
1 (Not at all)
40

20
5(Very Much) 8 2 Friends affect
16 10
0

13
24

4 3

Online forums do not have any impact on the respondents. A majority of 40.85% of the respondents
do not consider the opinions and experiences discussed on online forums at all.
Table5-15Q5.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“HowmuchdoesOnlineforumsaffectonlinepurchase”

OnlineForumsaffect Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Notatall) 7 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 9 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 29 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 18 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(VeryMuch) 8 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **

Online Forums affect

1 (Not at all)
40

20
5(Very Much) 7 2 Online Forums affect

8 9
0

18
29

4 3
5.2.3 Online Consumer Behaviour
Webographics

Question2.1

Time spent online

Thisquestionisusedinordertoinvestigatehowmuchtimetherespondentspendsonline.Ther
espondentthatspendsmoretimeonlinehasahigherexperiencewiththeInternetwhichaccordingtoth
eliteratureisareasontobuymoreonline.Hence,thisquestioniscloselyrelatedtotherespondentsshop
pingpatterns.Thiswillbefurtherdiscussedintheanalysisoftheresults.

Table5-16Q2.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“Timespentonline”

Timespentonline Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

<30 8 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
1-2 20 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2-5 19 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
>5 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 0

Time spent
>5 < 30
34% 11%

< 30
1 - 2 hours 1 - 2 hours
28%
2 - 5 hours
>5
2 - 5 hours
27%

Thedistributionshowsthatthemajorityoftherespondentsspendsomewherebetween30min
to2hoursonlineeachday.Thetwosecondmajorgroupsarerespondentsthatspend5hoursandrespon
dentsthatspendgreaterthan2-
4hoursonlineeachday,34%respectively27%.Theseresultswillbeusedinordertofindwhatdiffersbetw
eentheserespondentsandwhichofthefactorsprice,trustandconveniencehasthelargestamountofim
pact.

Table5-17Q2.1Distributionaccordingtothevariable“TimespentShoppingonline”

Percentageoftimespentonshopping Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

<20% 40 ** Expression ** Expression is faulty
 is faulty ** **
20–40% 23 ** Expression ** Expression is faulty
is faulty ** **
40–60% 2 ** Expression ** Expression is faulty
is faulty ** **
>60% 6 ** Expression ** Expression is faulty
is faulty ** **
Total 0 0
InternetUsage

ThisquestionwasincludedtoinvestigateforwhatreasontherespondentsmainlyusedtheInte
rnet.Therespondentsweregiven5alternativesfromwhichtheyhadtorank3bytheprimary,secondary,
andtertiarychoiceofusage.

Table5-18Q2.2Distributionaccordingtothevariables“Primaryuse,Secondaryuse,andTertiaryuse”

InternetUsage PrimaryUsage SecondaryUsage TertioryUsage

Fun 11(** Expression is 9(12.67%) 14(19.71%)
faulty **)
Work 21(29.58%) 16(22.54%) 9(12.67%)
Information 21(29.58%) 13(18.30%) 16(22.54%)
E-Mail 16(22.54%) 29(40.84%) 12(16.90%)
Shopping 2(2.82%) 4(5.63%) 20(28.17%)
Total 0 0 0
Accordingtothetable5.15therespondentsastheprimarymostpopularuselistedthealternati
vesWork(29.58%),Information(29.58%)andEmail(22.54%),accordingly.Thesecondaryoverallmost
popularchoiceswerethealternativesE-
mail(40.84.54%),Work(22.54%)andInformation(18.30%).ThetertiarymostpopularchoiceswereSh
opping(28.17%),Information(22.54%)andFun(19.71%).Accordingtothedistributionthealternatives
Fun,E-
mailandInformationwerethemostpopularalternatives,withtheexceptionofFunastertiaryusewhere
thatalternativewasreplacedwithwork.

5.2.4

5.3 Identified Attributes

Price

Questions6.2and6.3

Saving money when purchasing online compared to purchasing at store this is the first attribute of
the factor price and involves the respondents’ attitude towards saving money when purchasing
online. The respondent was asked two questions in order for us to establish their attitude. The first
question examined if the respondent agrees with the fact that purchasing online saves money and
these cond question examines the importance of this statement. The results from these two
questions gave us the following distribution of what the respondents’ attitude towards this
statementis.
Table5-19Q6.2Distributionaccordingtotheattribute“Savingmoneywhenpurchasingonline”

SavingMoney Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

 1(Notatall) 6 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 2 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 20 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 22 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(Always) 21 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **

Saving Money
1 (Not at all)
40

20
5(Always) 6 2 Saving Money
21
02

22 20

4 3

The table 5.17 illustrates whether the respondents feel that they are saving money when they
purchase online compared to a regular store.40.7% of the respondents felt that they saved money
and that it is important to save money when they purchase online. These condlargest category is a
neutralone, with 23.5% where the respondent felt that they neither save money nor do not save
money . The reason for the values being so high can be that even though the Comparing prices,
through different price comparison websites, before purchasing online.

ComparingPrice Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Negative) 1 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 4 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 18 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(Positive) 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **
 Comparing Price
1 (Negative)
40

20
5(Positive) 2 Comparing Price
24 1
0 4

18
24

4 3

Table 5.18 shows how the respondents use price comparison sites such as Ebayor Myntra. Almost
everyone uses this type of comparison prior to purchasing a, more or less often, and a large group
(31.9%) of the respondents does so very often. This displays an overall positive attitude towards
comparing price over the Internet even though the largest group of 24 respondents
(33.80%)consider comparing price over the Internet as positive. This can be concluded by the fact
that the respondents might not compare prices but think that it is important. This then translates
into neither a positive nor a negative attitude towards comparing prices when purchasing online.
The respondent might also compare prices but does not find it important.

Trust

Questions7.1,7.2

It is secure to shopping online

This question investigates what the respondents overall attitude is towards the first attribute I
identified that constitutes the factor trust. This attribute involves the respondent over all attitudes
towards security when shopping online. The respondent was first asked to answer whether they felt
secure when shopping online and then how important it is for them to feel safe when Shopping
online.
Table5-20Q7.1Distributionaccordingtotheattribute“SecuritywhenShoppingonline”

ComparingPrice Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Negative) 1 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 12 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 23 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 19 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(Positive) 16 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **
The values in table5.18 explain whether the respondents feel that it is safe to purchase online, and if
it is important to feel secure when purchasing online. The largest category (32.39%) feels secure and
also thinks it is important to feel neither secure nor not secure when shopping online. These
condlargest (26.76%), with just one respondent less, is the category slightly more positive than
“neither”. The large number could come from respondents that not feel secure when they shopping
online, but never the less feels that it is important to feel secure when they do. Hence, the
distribution of the respondents reveals that they generally have a more positive attitude towards
feeling secure when shopping online.

Trust in the Internet retailer

This question investigated the respondents overall attitude towards the trust in the Internet retailer.
Two questions were asked, one asked if the respondent has to trust the Internet retailer in order to
make a purchase from them, and these condquestion asked how important it is to have trust in the
Internet retailer before making a purchase from them. The results showed the respondents overall
attitude towards the third and last attribute constituting the factor trust.
Table5-21Q7.2Distributionaccordingtotheattribute“TrustintheInternetretailer”

ComparingPrice Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Negative) 2 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 7 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 28 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(Positive) 10 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **

The majority feel a need to trust the retailer, while also feeling that it is important to trust there
tailer when proceeding with a purchase. Only three respondents fell into the negative part of the
scale. This indicates that trust in the Internet retailer, to some degree, is almost always needed for
the consumer to make a purchase from an Internet retailer.

Convenience

Questions8.1,8.2,and8.3

If online purchasing is perceived as involving less effort compared to shopping at a store This
question examines one of the attributes that constitutes the factor convenience and is included in
the questionnaire in order to find out if the respondents perceive that purchasing online involves
less effort than compared to shopping in a store. This question is also a part of the fact or
convenience and the overall attitude the respondents have towards the factor convenience.
 Table5-2
2Q8.1Distributionaccordingtheattribute“ShoppingonlineinvolveslesseffortcomparedtoShoppingatphysicalstore”

ComparingPrice Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Negative) 0 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 8 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 12 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 22 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(Positive) 29 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **

The majority (40.85%) of the respondents did not find shopping online is convenient when it
involved the attribute less effort. The further distribution of all the respondents had a positive
attitude towards the attribute less effort. This is clearly shown by that one of the largest respondent
groups (30.99%) is the group with the highest value that perceived shopping online as always
involving less effort compared to shopping in store. Hence, there is an overall a positive attitude
towards this attribute among the respondents.

Does online purchasing save time compared to purchasing at a store?

Table5-23Q8.2Distributionaccordingtheattribute“Purchasing online saves time compared to purchasing at a
store”

ComparingPrice Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

1(Negative) 2 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
2 8 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
3 15 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
4 22 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
5(Positive) 24 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty **
faulty **
Total 0 ** Expression is
faulty **

The two big majority groups (33.90% respectively 30.99%) found shopping online either as always
time saving or that neither it saves time nor is more time consuming than shopping at store.The
overall distribution of the respondents had showed a positive attitude towards the attributes
hopping online saves time compared to shopping at a store. This is a logical conclusion that can be
derived from the fact that when shopping online from a computer at home does not involve having
to leave the home, which can be considered as time saving. But some complications at the website
or being able to use a computer from home, can explain the why the majority of respondents do
considers shopping online neither as time saving nor is more time consuming than shopping at store.
This explanation can also be applied to the respondents on the negative side of the scale.

5.3.1 Primary Factor

By considering all the attributes of the factors and looking at what factor each respondent had the
most positive attitude towards and labelling it as the Primary Factor, I were able to identify the
following distribution among the respondents for the factor sprice, trust and convenience in table
5.25:

Distribution according to the“Primary Factor”

PrimaryFactor Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Price 53 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Trust 10 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Convenince 7 ** Expression is ** Expression is faulty
faulty ** **
Total 0 0
6 Analysis

6.1 TheFactors
In order to gain an initial understanding of how the respondent feels towards

Price, Trust and Convenience, they were asked to rank these in the questionnaire accordingly. I have
then investigated the different attributes of the factors.

When the respondent was asked to just rank the different factors, the results showed that 73.9%
considered price as the primary concern when purchasing online. When the respondent was put in
front of the three factors, I could see that most of them chose price.However, if compared to the
Primary Factor, where the different attributes to the factors were used to find the overall attitude
and importance; the results did not match. The distributions for the Primary Fact or were Price:
41.6%, Trust:30.1% and Convenience: 28.3%. This showed that the respondent generally thought
that Price was the most important to him or her, but at the same time one of the other factors could
actually be the most important to a respondent, since the distribution shifted between the two ways
of evaluating, with the Primary Factor being the most accurate since it offers an overall attitude
measurement. This answers the questions one and two in our research.

6.2 Two Step Cluster

The two step cluster analysis was used to segment the respondents. This type of analysis grouped
data so that records within a group were similar. It could be applied to data that described customer
buying habits, gender, age, income etc. It created segments containing groups that had the most in
common and this method was selected due to the amount of variables that needed to be taken into
consideration when creating the segments.

By analysing the collected data, for the various variables that I intended to segment by, I decided to
exclude some variables. There as on was that some of the variables did not show a significant
variation which would have enhanced the homogeneity of the segments. Segments need to be
homogenous and diverse from the whole population in order for them to be targeted. The variables
that I did not use would instead be applied to give an additional explanation to the formed
segments. With the two step cluster analysis I found three segments in our sample, based on the
variables that I chose to segment by, which were: Expenditure on an average each month, Previous
experience with purchasing online, Future expectations with purchasing online, The impact of the
reference group: family, The impact of the reference group: friends, and The impact of the reference
group: online forums. In this research the variables are categorized into the following variables
shown by Figure6.1.
  ConsumerTraits:ImpactofReferenceGroups(Family,Friends,and,Onlineforums),andAttitudean
dBeliefs(PreviousexperienceandFutureexpectations)

Attitude and
Belifs
Consumer Traits
Impact of
Online Consumer reference Groups
Segments

Online Shopping
Online Behaviour
patterns

Figure6-4Segmentvariables

6.2.1 Significance of the factors within the segments

InordertoshowthattheresultsandconclusionswhicharetobepresentedbelowaresignificantIconducteda
KruskalWallistest.Thistestalsopresentedthatthenumberofcollectedrespondentswassufficientforthean
alysisthatIhadconducted.TheKruskalWallistestisthesametestasthepriorOneWayANOVAexpectfromth
efactthatKruskalWallisteststwovariablesatthesametimeforsignificance.

TwoStepClusterNumber N MeanRank
PriceFishbein 1 15 127,61
2 22 118,29
3 34 100,61
Total 71
TrustFishbein 1 13 151,37
2 27 112,26
3 31 94,15
Total 71
ConvenienceFishbein 1 21 121,40
2 12 124,27
3 38 97,53
Total 71

WhenIconductedthetestIfoundthatthefactorsPrice,Trust,andConvenienceshowedasignificantvariance
withinthesegmentsandthattheresultspresentedbelowconcurwiththeconclusionsthatIhaddrawn.Table
6.7showedthatallthreefactorswerehighlysignificant,especiallythefactorTrusttowhichtherespondentsh
adansweredwithhighvariances(,000).

6.3 Segments
Thetwo-
stepclustercreatedthreesegmentsoutoftheselectedvariables.AccordingtotheTable6.1thedistributiono
ftherespondentstothethreesegmentsis:SegmentOnewith47respondents,SegmentTwowith93respond
entsandSegmentThreewith86respondents.

Segments Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Segment1 15 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Segment2 22 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Segment3 34 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Total 71 0

6.3.1 DescriptionofSegmentOne:HighSpenders
Segmentoneheld20.8%ofalltherespondents.Theconsumersinthissegmentmainlyspenteachbetween4
00-
799SEKoneachmonthduringasemester.Hence,theyarethesegmentthatcanbeconsideredtospendmost
eachmonth.Theentiresegment(100%)hashadverygoodpreviousexperienceswithpurchasingonlineand
veryhighexpectationsforthenexttimetheywillpurchaseonline.Theexperienceandopinionsoftheirfamily
andfriendsasReferenceGroupsdidnotmattertothemwhentheypurchasedonline,neitherweretheexperi
encesandopinionsdiscussedinonlineforumstakenintoconsideration.

Asaconclusionthissegmentisthesmallestofthethreeandconsistedofconsumersthathadspentthemostm
oneyonshopping.Theyhadveryhighconfidenceinpurchasingonline,mainlyduetoverygoodpreviousexpe
riences.TheydidnotregardtheexperienceandopinionsofanyofthenamedReferenceGroups.

ByfurtherprofilingtheconsumersinthissegmentthatwerestudyingattheirfirstorsecondsemesterattheU
niversity,hadanageintervalbetween18to24years.Theyhadadisposableincomewithahighvariationbetw
een5.000SEKto11.000SEK.Thissegmentgroupspentmainlysomewherebetween1to2hourseachdayonli
ne,however,keepinginmindthatsomerespondentswithinthissegmentonlyspentbetweenhalfanhourto
1houronline.ThissegmentprimarilyusedtheInternetforfunandthesecondmostimportantasE-
mail,andthethirdasinformation.Becauseoftheidentifiedcharacteristicsofthissegment,Ichosetolabelthe
masHighSpenders

PrimaryFactorofConcernforHighSpenders

ThedistributionamongtherespondentsaccordingtothefactorsPrice,Trust,andConvenienceshowedthatt
hefactorTrustwasthemainconcernoftheHighSpenderswith46.67%,closelyfollowedbyPrice(33.33%).Th
ethirdconcernofSegmentOnewasidentifiedasConvenience(25.5%).

Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Price 5 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Trust 7 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Convenience 3 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
 ** **
Total 0 0
Accordingtotable6.1theprimaryfactorofconcernfortheHighSpenderswasTrust.Here,Trusthadanabove
averagedistributionwhichloweredthedistributionofthefactorsPriceandConvenience.Thisindicatedtha
ttherespondentsofthisSegmentOneweremoreaffectedbytheTrustattributeswhentheypurchasingonlin
e.

ByfurtherexploringthevariableTrustforthissegmentIfoundthattherespondentsweremainlyconcerned
withfeelingsecurewhenpurchasingonline.ThisalsoincludedtrustingtheInternetretailer.Therespondent
shadaveryhighpositiveattitudebothinagreeingtothestatementsandalsobyshowingtheirconsentthatthe
statementswereofhighimportance.ThethirdattributeofthefactorTrust,“trustingtheInternetasdistributi
onchannel”,didnotshowthesameoverallpositiveattitudeasthefirsttwo.Eventhoughthatamajorityofther
espondentswereonthepositivesideofthescaletherewasagroupof23.4%thatbelievedthisattributetoben
eutralforthem.

InthissegmentIalsochosetoanalysethequestionconcerningwhethertherespondentboughtfromthesam
eonlineretailer.Thissegmentwashighlyconcernedwithtrustingtheretailer,whichisanattributetothefact
orTrustandinfact,therespondentsinthissegmentalsopurchasedfromthesameonlineretailermorefreque
ntlythantherespondentsinSegmentTwoorSegmentThree.

Byaskingtherespondentstolistwhattheythoughtastheirprimaryconcernofthethreefactorswhenpurcha
singonline,IfoundthattheydidnotcorrespondwiththeresultswhenapplyingtheFishbeinmodel.Therespo
ndentsinSegmentOnehadlistedthefactorPricetheirprimaryconcern,thefactorConvenienceassecondar
yconcern,andlastthefactorTrustastertiaryconcern.Butwhenexaminingtheoverallattitudetowardsthese
factorsbydividingthedifferentattributesIfoundslightlydifferentresults,whichwerepresentedintable6.3.
Accordingtotable6.3,theprimaryconcernwasTrust,followedbyPriceandConvenience.

Theconclusionthatcanbeendrawnfromtheresults,isthatthereareconsumerswithahighlypositiveattitud
etowardspurchasingonlinewhichisformedbythehighlypositiveattitudetowardsthefactorTrust.Sodidth
eattributesoffeelingsecurewhenpurchasingonlineandhavingtrustintheInternetretailer.Sincethesewer
ealsotheconsumersthatspentthelargestamountofmoneyonpurchasingonline,therebytheyweregivingi
mportantimplicationstowardsthefactorTrust.

6.3.2 Description of Segment Two: Price Easers

SegmentTwoconsistedof22respondentsandwasthelargestsegmentgroupwith41.2%oftheoverallsampl
e.Theiraverageexpenditureonpermonthwasbetween200-
599SEK.Theconsumersinthissegmenthadaslightlylesspositivethanverygoodwhenitcametotheironline
purchasingexperience.Theirfutureexpectationsweresimilartothepreviousexperiences,andtheconsum
erexpectedanyfutureonlinepurchasetobeslightlylesspositivethanverygood.Mostoftheconsumershada
goodtoverygoodattitudetowardspurchasingonline.Generally,theconsumersinthissegmentdidnotconsi
dertheexperiencesandopinionsoftheirfamilies,butontheotherhand,theydidconsideritmorecomparedt
hananyoftheothertwosegments.Theirfriend’sexperiencesandopinionswould,however,affecttheirpurc
hasetosomedegree.Minorconsiderationswerealsotakentotheexperiencesandopinionsdiscussedinonli
neforumsbythissegment.Generally,therespondentstooktheexperienceandopinionsofthedifferentRefe
renceGroupsintomostconsiderationcomparedtotheothersegments,andtheywereespeciallyaffectedby
theReferenceGroupfriends.

ThefurtherprofileofthissegmentgroupissomewhatsimilartothatofSegmentOne.Therespondentsinthiss
egmentwereintheagebetween18to24years.Theyweremainlystudyingtheirfirstorsecondsemesteratth
euniversityandhadaincomeofvarioussize,themajority(43.0%),hadadisposableincomeofbelow5.000SE
K,butaanothergroup(26.9%),hadadisposableincomeofbetween7.000-
8.999SEK.TheyprimarilyusedtheInternetforfun,andlisttheirsecondaryuseoftheInternetforinformation
purposesandtheirtertiaryuseasE-
mail.Becauseoftheidentifiedcharacteristicsofthissegment,IchosetolabelthemasPriceEasers,sincethey
hadalowdisposableincome,butweremoreinactivewhenlookingforthelowestpricesastheywouldrelyont
heirfriends’opinions.

Primary Factor of Concern for Price Easers

ThedistributionaccordingtotheprimaryfactorofconcerninthissegmentshowedthefactorPricewith45.45
%tobethemaininfluencerwhenpurchasingonline.ThePricefactorwascloselyfollowedbythefactorConve
niencewith36.36%oftherespondents.InthissegmenttherespondentsconsideredthefactorTrusttheleas
timportantwith18.18%.

Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Price 10 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Trust 4 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Convenience 8 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Total 0 0

Asillustratedintable6.2,themajorityoftherespondentsinSegmentTwobelievedthatPricewastheirmosti
mportantconcern,followedbyConvenienceandTrust.ThisshowsthatthePriceattributesaffecttheconsum
erthemostwhenpurchasingonline.ItshouldalsobenoticedthattheConveniencefactorinthissegmentisve
ryhighwhencomparedtotheoveralldistributionofthefactortotheentirepopulationsample.Thesefactors
hadanoverallhigherdistributionwhichreducedthedistributionofthefactorTrust.

WhencloserexaminingtheattributesofthefactorPriceIfoundthataccordingtoSegmentOne,themajorityo
ftherespondents(52.7%),listedthattheydidagreewiththestatementthat“purchasingonlinesavedthemm
oney”andthemajority(62.4%)listedthat“savingmoneyishighlyimportant”.Thesecondattributeofthefact
orPrice,“comparingpricesthroughdifferentpricecomparisonwebsitesbeforepurchasing\online”,wassh
owntohaveanevendistribution.Therespondentswerealsoevenlydistributedbetweenthegroups,andthe
majorityfeltthatthiswasimportant.

SincethefactorConveniencehasahighdistributioninthissegment,thereneedstobefurtherexaminationo
fthedifferentvariablesinordertowhollyunderstandtheconsumersinthissegment.Ifoundthattheoveralla
ttitudewaspositiveandcamefromtheattributes“savingtime”and“lesseffort”.Theconsumersagreedwith
thefactthatpurchasingovertheInternetinvolvedlesseffortcomparedtopurchasingoffline.Yettheydidnotl
istitasimportant.Thesamedistributioncanbefoundfortheattributesavingtime,wheretheconsumersagre
edtothefactthatitsavedthemtimebuttheydidnotfinditasimportantastimesaving.Comparedtotheprevio
usattributetheyfound“savingtimewhenpurchasingonline”tobeofgreaterimportancethanwhenitinvolv
edlesseffort.ThelastattributeofthefactorConveniencewas“beingabletopurchaseonlineatanytime”whe
retheconsumersdidnotshowasmuchofapositiveattitudeastothepriorattributes.Acloserexaminationsh
owsthattherespondentagreedwiththestatementbutdidnotfindithighlyimportant.OverallIcanconclude
thattherespondentsagreedwiththeattributesbutdidnotperceivethemasimportant.
Whenaskedtoranktheimportanceofthethreefactors,therespondentsinSegmentTwolistedthefactorPric
eastheprimaryconcern,TrustasthesecondaryandConvenienceasthetertiaryconcern.Heretheprimaryco
ncerndidagreewiththeoverallattitudetowardsthefactors,whilethesecondaryandtertiaryconcerndidnot
.TheresultsshowedthattheconsumersinthissegmentweremoreConvenienceorientedthancomparedto
Trust.

InconclusionthePriceEasersweregenerallypricesensitiveandatthesametimeveryconvenienceoriented.
ThiswassupportedbythefactthattherespondentstookconsiderationoftheReferenceGroupsandmostlyt
ooktheopinionsoftheirfriendsintoconsideration.Inthissensetheywereveryconvenienceoriented.There
spondentsalsoconnectedtothefactthattheywantedtosavemoneybutdidnotfinditasimportantascompar
ingpricesbeforepurchasing.Instead,theyturnedtotheadviceandopinionsfromtheirfriends.Thefactthatt
herespondentsinthissegmentwerepricesensitivecanalsobeconcludedbythatthemajorityoftherespond
entshadthelowestdisposableincomeoftheoverallsample.BecauseofthePriceandConvenienceorientati
on,theconsumerdidnottakemuchconsiderationtothefactorTrust.EventhoughPriceEasersspentlessmon
eyonpurchasing,comparedtotheprevioussegment,theywerestillthelargestsegmentgroupandbecauseo
fthatimportant.

6.3.3 Description of Segment Three: Bargain Seekers

SegmentThreewasasegmentwith86respondentsand38.0%oftheoverallsample.Theseconsumersspent
aboutasmuchastheconsumersinSegmentTwo,between200to599SEKoneachmonth.Theyhadeitherslig
htlygoodorneithergoodnorbadpreviousexperiences.Futureexpectationsforpurchasingonlinewerewith
inasimilarsamerange.Overalltheconsumersinthissegmenthadtheleastpositiveattitudetowardspurchas
ingonlinecomparedtotheothertwosegments.Withinthissegmentamajorityof61.6%didnotconsiderthee
xperiencesandopinionsoftheirfamilyatall,whiletheyshowedamorepositiveattitudetowardstheexperie
nceandopinionsoftheirfriends.TheimpactoftheReferenceGrouponlineforumswasinlinewiththeRefere
nceGroupfamily,whereamajorityof66.3%didnotconsidertheexperienceandopinionsthatwerediscusse
d.TosummarizethevariableofReferenceGrouponecanfindthattheexperienceandopinionsoffamilyando
nlineformswerenotaffectingtheconsumeratallwhiletheexperienceandopinionsoftheirfriendsweretake
nintosomeminorconsideration.

OthervariablessuchasDemographicsandTimeSpentOnlinewereverysimilartotheothersegmentsandpar
ticularlytoSegmentTwo.Almostnodifferencecouldbefound.Whatmightseparatetheminthesevariables
wasthatthissegmentspentslightlymoretimeonline.Therespondentsinthissegmentlistthattheymainlyus
edtheInternetforfunandthereafterforinformationasbothsecondaryandtertiaryuse.Becauseoftheidenti
fiedcharacteristicsofthissegment,IchosetolabelthemBargainSeekers.

PrimaryFactorofConcernforBargainSeekers

InthissegmentthepreferablefactorofconcernwasPricewith47.06%oftherespondentsagreeingtoit.Thedi
stributionwasclearlymadeontheexpenseofboththefactorsTrustandConvenience.Thedistributionsofth
efactorstrustwere29.41%,andconveniencewas23.53%.

Frequency Percent CumulativePercent

Price 16 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Trust 10 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
Convenience 8 ** Expression is faulty ** Expression is faulty
** **
 Total 0 0

WefoundtheBargainSeekerstobehighlypricesensitiveandthattheydidnotgivemuchconsiderationtothef
actorConvenience.

Afterhavinginvestigatedtheattributesfurther,thatconstitutedthefactorPrice,Ifoundthattherespondent
shadamorepositiveattitudetowardscomparingpricesthantheyhadtowardsthefeelingofsavingmoneyw
hentheypurchasedonline.Thisindicatedthatcomparingpriceswasmoreimportantconcernfortherespon
dentsofthesegmentandsincetherespondentwerecomparingpricestheywouldautomaticallybelookingf
orthebestbuy.Bylookingforlowerpricesoneisconsequentlytryingtobesavingmoney.Iwerelinkingthisbe
haviourtothefirstattribute,thefeelingofthattheyweresavingmoney.Bycloserlookingattheattribute“com
paringprices”itshowedthattheconsumersdidfrequentlycomparepricebeforepurchasingandalsothatitw
asimportantforthemtobedoingso.WhenlookingatthesecondvariableIseethattheconsumerdidagreetha
tpurchasingonlinesavedmoney.However,theydidnotfeelthatitwasasimportantascomparingprices.Ove
ralltherespondentswerehighlypositivetothefactorPriceandthereforetookconsiderationtoitwhenpurch
asingonline.

Theprimaryconcernfortherespondentsinthissegmentshowedthattherespondentswerepriceoriented,f
orthesecondaryconcerntheystatedthattheywereTrustorientedandastertiaryconcerntheylistedConven
ience.TheseresultsmatchedwiththedistributionthatIacquiredaccordingtotheFishbeinmodel.TheBargai
nSeekershashadalowincomewhichmadethempricesensitive.Theywere,however,notConvenienceorie
nted;insteadtheytooktheirtimetocomparethepricesonlinewhichwasshownbythedifferentattributesto
thefactorPrice.Itshouldalsobenotedthattheyspentalittlemoretimeonlinethantheothersegments.Theyc
onsideredtheexperiencesandopinionsoftheirfriendswhichalsoshowedthattheywereactivelyseekingth
elowestpricesandthatitwasimportantforthemtodoso.Thatbehaviourexplainsthefactthattheresponden
tsfoundcomparingpricestobemoreimportantthanactuallysavingmoney,butasexplainedbefore,constan
tlysearchingforthelowestpriceswillautomaticallyresultinthewanttobesavingmoney.

6.4 Summary
The three segments that were found show a significant difference in the primary factor of concern.
The general distribution showed that the factor Price was the primary factor for the entire
population sample, and that these cond factor was Trust which was closely followed by
Convenience.

When segmenting the respondents through the different variables I found that Segment One was
mainly trust oriented and the respondents had a high positive attitude towards purchasing online. As
they-did spend the most money, in comparison to the other segments I chose to label them High
Spenders.

Segment Two were mainly Price and Convenience oriented and therefore took the most
consideration to the opinions and experiences of the Reference Groups. As they low disposable
incomes and were some what convenience orientated when acquiring information about low prices,
I chose to label them Price Easers.

Segment Three were highly Price oriented and there fore actively involved in searches for the lowest
prices online. They considered the experiences and opinions of their friends to some extent before
purchasing online while, and were actively searching for the lowest prices. Hence, I chose to label
them Bargain Seekers.
7 Conclusions

When a consumer purchases a online, he or she is affected by various factors. The main influencing
factors have been identified as Price, Trust ,and Convenience. The Price factor exists because prices
are often lower on Internet stores compared to physical stores due to lower costs. Purchasing a
online can greatly benefit the consumer in terms of convenience and saving money. It is also
convenient to shop on various sites with different assortments, from the home. Trust is evidently
needed since the consumer must share detailed personal and financial information when purchasing
a online. These types of data include the full name, delivery address and credit card number for
example, which makes Trust an important factor.

7.1 Future research

After having conducted our research and considering the limitations in time and resources that we
had been facing, it would be of interest to examine our research topic further as well as more
profoundly. Below, we have listed a few deductions for possible future research:

It would be interesting to conduct a survey at another university. If this would be done and similar
results were discovered, one could apply generalizability to the results

Conduct a survey on a larger sample, also including people that are not students and segmenting
according to that. This could find new segments, with new analytical possibilities.

This research was conducted from the consumers point of view, and if could also be conducted with
greater focus towards the online retailer.

We found that Price, Trust and Convenience were factors that are important when a consumer
decides to purchase online, but it would be interesting to see whether the concepts of these factors
are perceived equally between all consumers or if there were any discrepancies.

Furthermore, it would be of interesting to see if the factors were the same for other good that are
traded online. In general, this research could be conducted with a greater range of goods and with
greater detail towards the specific factors.

8 References

Literature:

 Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2000),Principles of Marketing,(2nd edn),Edinburgh Gate,

Pearson Education Limited.
 Chisnall, M. P. (1994)Consumer Behaviour,(3rd edn), Maidenhead, McGrawHill Companies.
 Christensen, L., Engdahl, N., Grääs, C. and Haglund, L. (2001)Marknadsundersökning – en
handbok, (2nd edn), Lund, Studentlitteratur.
 Hollensen S. (2004)Global marketing – A Decision Oriented Approach, (3 rdedn), Edinburgh
Gate, Pearson Higher Education.
  Jobber, D. and Fahy J. (2006)Foundations of Marketing,(2nd edn),Maidenhead, McGraw-Hill
Education.
 Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2007)Principales of Marketing,(12th edn),Upper Saddle River,
Prentice Hall.
 Kotler, P. and Keller, L. K. (2006),Markating Management,(12th edn), UpperSaddle River,
Prentice Hall.
 Luhmann, N., (1979),Trust and Power, New York, Wiley.
 Luhmann, N., (1993),Risk : a sociological theory,New York, de Gruyter cop.
 Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2007)Research Methods forBusiness Students,(4th
edn), Edinburgh Gate, Pearson Higher Education.
 Vesterby, T. and Chabert, M. (2001)E-marketing,Viby J, Jyllands-PostenErhvervsbogklubb.

Articles and Reports:

 Allred, R. C., Smith M. S. and Swinyard, R. W(2006), ‘E-shopping loversand fearful

conservatives: a market segmentation analysis’,InternationalJournalof Retail & Distribution
Management34: 4/5, 308-333.
 Brengman, M., Geuenes, M., Weijters, B., Smith, M. S. and Swinyard R. W.(2005),
‘Segmenting Internet shoppers based in their Web-usage-relatedlifestyle: across cultural
validation’,Journal of Business Research58, 79 – 88.
 Constantinides, E. (2004) ‘Influencing the online consumer’s behavior: theWeb
experience’,Internet Research14: 2, 111-126.
 Goldsmith, E. R. and Flynn, R. L. (2004) ‘Psychological and behaviouraldrivers of online
clothing purchase’,Journal of Fashion Marketing andManagement,8:1, 84-95.

Internet Sources:

http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4.html, Lexico Publishing Group,LLC, (2007)

(www.larsperner.com/teaching_materials.htm)

Corporate Authors:

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Online-Forschung e.V. [AGO F e.V.], 2007

Quotations:

Donal Rogan, FH Joanneum Graz, 28 May – 1 June 2007, InternationalConsumer Behaviour

9 Appendix

The Questionnaire

1. What is your Gender? *

  Male

 Female
 Transgender

2. Which category best describes your age? *

 <=20

 21-25

 25-33

 34-41
 42>=

3. Which area you belongs to? *

 Rural
 Urban

4. What is your occupation/ Employment status? *

 Student

 Professional
  Government Employee

 Self Employed
 Other: 

5. Which category best describes your disposable income? *

 < 5000

 5000-6999

 7000-8999

 9000-10999

 11000-12999
 >= 13000

6. Do you have your own internet connection? *

 Yes
 No

7. Have you ever done online shopping *

 Yes
  No

8. What motivates you to buy Online? *

 Easy payment

 No hidden cost

 Wide range of products

 No travel to shop

9. Do you feel that the online marketers are providing competitive prices? *

 Yes

 No
 Cant say

10. What products you buy on internet? *

 Books

 Music CD's

 Clothing
  Mobiles and Acessories
 Personal and Healthcare

11. Which of the following stores have you visited online? *

 e-bay

 Amazon

 Flipkart

 letsbuy

 Myntra
 Other: 

12. What factors help you to decide which site to use for online shopping? *

 Search Engine

 Personal Recommendation

 Special Offers On Sites

 Online Advertising
 Tv advertising
13. How do you make your payments on internet ? *

 Debit/ credit card

 Internet banking

 Paypal

 GoogleWallet
 Cash-on-Delivery

14. How often you do Online shopping? *

 once a month

 once a week

 Twice a month
 Twice a week

15. How is your previous experience with online purchases? *

1 2 3 4 5

Very
Very Good
Bad

16. What is your future expectations of online shopping? *

 1 2 3 4 5

Very
Very Good
Bad

17. How much does family affect online purchase? *

1 2 3 4 5

Not at all Very much

18. How much does friends affect online purchase? *

1 2 3 4 5

Not at all Very much

19. How much does online forums affect online purchase? *

1 2 3 4 5

Not at all Very much

20. How much time do you spend online daily? *

 < 30 min
  1-2 hours

 2-5 hours
 > 5 hours

21. How much percentage of your online time consists of online shopping? *

 < 20%

 20-40%

 40-60%
 > 60%

22. What is the reason to use Internet *

Fun Work Information Email Shopping

Primary usage

Secondary usage

Tertiary usage

23. Are you saving money while purchasing items online? *