Bourlakis, 2008 et al e-consumer behavior

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e-Consumer behaviour:
Past, Present and future Trajectories of an
evolving retail revolution
M. Bourlakis, Brunel University, United Kingdom
S. Papagiannidis, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Helen Fox, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

abstraCt
Several measurement scales have been designed by both practitioners and researchers to evaluate per-
Shopping online has emerged as one of the most popular Internet applications, providing a plethora of
purchasing opportunities for consumers and sales challenges for retailers. The aim of this paper is to shed
further light on the past and present status of the e-consumer phenomenon, by looking into online shopping
behaviour and by examining the major reasons for being motivated or being de-motivated from buying
online, focusing on the trust element. Building on that analysis, the possible future status of e-consumer
behaviour is presented via an examination of ubiquitous retailing, which denotes the next stage of that
retail revolution.

Keywords: e-consumer; e-retail, internet shopping; retail revolution.

iNtroDUCtioN ing findings from the literature followed by
Shopping online has emerged as one of the a subsequent discussion on the present status
most popular Internet applications. Initially, of the phenomenon. The last sections provide
the selling focus was on durable, non-food our views on the future state of e-consumer
items such as books, but nowadays almost behaviour, by presenting ubiquitous retailing as
any product can be traded on-line. It is not a possible evolution of retailing, before drawing
surprising then that the major retailers have relevant conclusions.
capitalised on that selling format. For ex-
ample, in the U.K., Tesco was the first grocery iNterNet CoNsUMer
retailer to launch this facility in 1996.
sHoppiNG: past statUs
The paper examines the past, present and
Rowley (1998) states that the Internet shopping
future status of e-consumer behaviour and aims
experience has become a challenge for Internet
to shed further light on that phenomenon. The
retailers that need to ensure success at each
next section analyses the past status of the
stage (Figure 1).
e-consumer behaviour concept by discuss-

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International Journal of E-Business Research, 4(3), 4-, July-September 2008

For the first two stages, the website can be titudes and behaviour. In a similar vein, Girard
adapted for each different consumer, allowing et al. (2003) illustrated how shopping orienta-
them to have their own home page for specific tion and demographics have differential roles
needs and wants. Their shopping habits can be to play, based on the type of product purchased
recorded, which helps in making the selection on the Internet. They also believe that gender,
and ordering a quicker experience. For the In- education, and household income revealed
ternet medium to be attractive to retailers, there strong influences on preferences for shopping
are a number of issues associated with delivery, online whilst convenience is another key reason
distribution, and relationships in the supply for purchasing online (Mayer, 2002; Phau and
chain that will need to be pre-considered. Poon, 2000; Poon, 2000; Seybold, 2002; Shim
Focusing on the demographic element of et al., 2001; Teo, 2002; Thomas, 2003). A useful
the E-consumer, Mintel (2000, 2003) reports categorisation of the key influential factors for
that the UK Internet user is predominately male, Internet shopping is developed by Shim et al.
aged 20 – 30 and has an AB socio-economic (2001) including transaction services (related to
background. Gender is believed to influence security, product guarantees, safety, privacy, and
the extent and pattern of participation in web service), convenience (which relates to overall
activities and Rodger and Harris (2003) found speed of Internet shopping and freedom from
that women were less emotionally satisfied hassles), sensory experiences (which includes
with Internet shopping than men. Specifically, the social, personalising, and recreational expe-
females expressed lower emotional gratification riences of shopping) and merchandise (product
with Internet shopping and are more sceptical information, comparative shopping opportuni-
of online shopping than males, perhaps because ties, and variety of merchandise choice). The
that emotional bond with the retailer is not attitude toward Internet shopping encompasses
evident in a virtual environment (Rodger and specific attributes related to transaction services
Harris, 2003). Men reported greater trust in (Shim et al., 2001).
Internet shopping, and perceived the Internet Similarly, there have been many stud-
as a more convenient shopping outlet than did ies indicating reasons for abstaining from
women. Overall, emotion and trust are the two the Internet. Anon [A] (2002) states that, in
critical determinants of consumer shopping at- principle, web retailing is not a cheap option,

Figure 1. The stages of the Internet shopping experience (Source: Rowley 1998)

Browsing and Product Identification

↓
Selection and Ordering

↓
Security and Payment

↓
Delivery

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compared to traditional retailing as the cost of Internet shopping and identify specific ‘trust
packaging, distribution, stock management, and building’ constructs. These include the follow-
record keeping is likely to be higher for distance ing: trustworthiness of the Internet merchant
selling compared to traditional retailing. Anon (ability, integrity, benevolence), trustworthiness
[B] (2002) cites security problems, the lack of of the Internet shopping medium (technical
trust in Internet retailers, the lack of Internet competence, reliability, medium understanding)
knowledge and finally, the long delivery time and other contextual factors (effectiveness of 3rd
for goods. Jones and Vijayasarathy (1998) party certification and effectiveness of security
suggest that individuals have unfavourable infrastructure). They also elucidate on the key
perceptions of Internet shopping security as parameters that may affect consumer trust in
they are wary of giving credit card details over Internet shopping, including credit card loss
the Internet and Rowley (1996, 1998) argues assurance policies, product warranty policies,
that businesses should provide alternative ar- policy on returned merchandise, availability
rangements. For example, consumers should be of escrow service, ability to schedule human
able to make arrangements using phone, fax, customer service sessions and, ability of user-
or post, should use tokens on different sites, friendly, reliable, efficient storefront interfaces
should apply encryption for their credit card with animated characteristics (Lee and Turban,
numbers and should use electronic cash by 2001). Rowley (1998) also states that to attract
withdrawing ‘digital money’ from an Internet the Internet shopper, the Internet retailer needs to
bank and stored on the hard disk. focus on the speed of transaction, convenience,
Focusing on the ‘risk’ element, Forsythe selection, and price. Online shopping offers
and Shi (2003) analyse the types of perceived retailers the opportunity to gain new customers
risk and demographics on online shopping notwithstanding the given opportunities to im-
behaviour that contains six types of perceived prove customer loyalty (Roberts et al., 2003).
risk. These are the financial risk, the product To conclude, there is a range of factors that
performance risk, the financial risk, the social affect e-consumer shopping either positively (mo-
risk, the psychological risk, the physical risk, tivating factors) or negatively (inhibiting factors)
and time / convenience risk (Forsythe and Shi, and subsequently, they can motivate or de-motivate
2003). Product performance risk is defined shoppers. Table 1 synthesises the previous discus-
as the loss incurred when a brand or product sion providing a literature review thematic chart
does not perform as expected. Financial risk for the motivating and inhibiting consumer-related
is defined as a net loss of money to a customer. factors during online shopping plus possible areas
Psychological risk may refer to disappoint- for further improvement.
ment, frustration, and shame experience if
one’s personal information is disclosed. Time fUrtHer CoMMeNts oN tHe
/ convenience risk may refer to the loss of time
and inconvenience incurred due to difficulty of preseNt statUs
navigation and / or submitting orders, finding The previous analysis examined academic
appropriate web sites, or delays receiving prod- material published till 2004 and hence it will
ucts. Social risk involves fears of isolation from be worth considering whether any progress
people and not receiving the pleasure whilst has been made on the issues raised in Table 1.
shopping. Physical risk involves not being able Aiming to address this point, the current sec-
to use the senses, such as touch and smell. tion analyses relevant material published in
In order to alleviate these risks, trust is professional associations’ magazines, govern-
required. This becomes a prerequisite for foster- ment reports and practitioners’ journals from
ing and nurturing online shopping relationships. 2005 onwards.
Aiming for that, Lee and Turban (2001) propose Specifically, there are still security con-
a model for developing consumer trust during cerns relating to Internet transactions amongst

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consumers and in 2006 it was estimated that weighting in consumer decisions about online
almost $2 billion would be lost (Finextra, 2006) shopping” (Brown et al., 2007, p. vi). Also, of-
in existing and potential e-commerce sales. That fering customer incentives can only strengthen
survey, executed by Gartner with 5000 online that relationship with consumers. Under social
US adults, found that almost half of these (46%) embedding strategies, online firms capitalise on
had concerns about theft of information and their positive recommendations and positive
Internet data breaches. Similarly, the research word-of-mouth communications from friends
indicated that 70% of the surveyed online con- and family members and these firms could
sumers do not trust unknown companies and also use the Internet to disseminate reputation
delete suspicious emails from unrecognised information, as is the case with the major online
sources (Finextra, 2006). Another survey echoed retailer, Amazon, with its affiliate programme
the above and illustrated further how online (Riegelberger, 2006). Lastly, institutional em-
consumers were concerned about cyber crime bedding strategies include the development of
and are still concerned about online privacy trust programmes via the use of industry asso-
and security (NewsBlaze, 2007). Unavoidably, ciations and regulatory programmes. However,
these concerns lead to changes in online behav- Riegelberger (2006) argues that using trust as a
iour with online consumers preferring to shop differentiation point by online firms will soon
from recognised retailers which have already erode as online consumer expectations are on
worked on how to increase online consumer the increase and will soon become a ‘must do’
confidence. tool. An example of such an increase in online
Therefore, it can be reasonably suggested expectations is apparent when online consumers
that trust is still of pivotal importance (and a engage in online window shopping. Based on
prerequisite) as it has always been for online a survey carried out by Scan-Alert examining
transactions. However, the most success- the behaviour of more than 7 million online
ful online firms, including retail firms, have shoppers, it was found that the average online
made the trust element the key differentiator consumer requires over 19 hours to make their
for their online strategies compared to other first purchase on a website following a first visit
online firms, which continued with the same (Leonard, 2005). That increased length of time
online customer practices and subsequently, indicates that current Internet shopping involves
have achieved mediocre results (Riegelberger, consumers spending a considerable amount of
2006). For example, the successful online firms time cross-checking and comparing websites
have developed detailed online trust-building or a ‘catalog of catalogs’ before making a final
strategies (see also Lee and Turban, 2001) with decision (ScanAlert, 2005). It also illustrates
their customers including a range of ‘embed- how online retailing is an ultra competitive
ding’ strategies such as temporal embedding, business and far more competitive than the
social embedding and institutional embedding traditional / physical retailing (Leonard, 2005).
ones. Firstly, temporal embedding implies de- Nevertheless, there is little evidence that price
veloping a strong relationship with a customer is the principal criterion of online shopping.
by signalling the firm’s long-term plans, goals However, providing to the consumer the ability
and investments or even by being attached to to check prices online and get the best possible
a well-established brand. It is not surprising price is, and will always be, a very attractive
then that many successful online retailers selling point (Brown et al., 2007).
are the ones which also enjoy a traditional / Brown et al. (2007) examined the demo-
physical retail presence and hence, are able graphic element of the E-consumer and reported
to transfer their positive brand image from that differences between demographic groups
physical retailing to online retailing. This can in the UK are gradually decreasing. This was
be partially explained by the fact that an estab- explained by the fact that specific consumer
lished, trusted brand does “carry considerable groups are catching up, including older people

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Table 1. The E-Consumer: A literature review thematic chart
Central Theme Year Major Findings
Author(s)
Girard et al. 2003 - Shopping orientation and demographics have
Motivating fac- differential roles to play, based on the type of product
tors for online purchased on the Internet
shopping - Convenience and recreational shoppers were the
dominant orientations that influence consumers’
preferences for shopping online, and this influence varied
with the product types
- Gender, education, and household income revealed strong
influence on preferences for shopping online
Lee, Turban 2001 - The parameters that may affect consumer trust in Internet
shopping include: 1) credit card loss assurance policies,
2) product warranty policies, 3) policy on returned
merchandise, 4) availability of escrow service, 5) ability
to schedule customer service sessions, 6) ability of user-
friendly storefront interfaces with animated characteristics
Morganosky, 2000 - The majority cited convenience and time saving as their
Cude primary motivation for buying groceries online
- Shopping online appears to be the most advanced leading
edge technology in grocery shopping
- Online grocery shoppers seem to recognise and value
differences between the online grocery shopping experience
and the in-store shopping experience
Phau, Poon 2000 - Online marketing should be perceived as having five
components:
1) promotions, 2) one-to-one contact, 3) closing, 4)
transaction, 5) fulfilment
- Internet shopping is generally still unfamiliar to most
Internet users
- Expensive goods, such as automobiles, jewellery and stereo
systems are not ready for web selling. The monetary risks
involved in buying these products are too great. These
products also require more than visual inspection
- People shop online mainly because of convenience
Poon 2000 - Industry sector dimension, actual experience of competitive
advantage, and quality information support are key to
Internet commerce benefit
- For those retailers who have been online for about 2 years,
there is evidence that Internet commerce has been providing
benefit to its adopters
Rodgers, 2003 - Emotion, trust, and convenience are three critical
Harris determinants of people’s shopping attitudes and behaviour
- Females express lower emotional gratification with
e-shopping because of their inclination toward left-
hemisphere processing
- Men reported greater trust in Internet shopping, and
perceived the Internet as a more convenient shopping outlet
than did women

continued on following page

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International Journal of E-Business Research, 4(3), 4-, July-September 2008 9

Table 1. continued
Anon [B] 2002 - The main concern for not purchasing online is security
Inhibiting - Another reason for not purchasing online is that people
factors for online believe it is more enjoyable and easier to buy goods and
shopping and services in a store
other concerns - Books, followed by Music (CDs) are the most popular
products purchased online
Forsythe, Shi 2003 - Internet represents a fundamentally different environment
for retailing from traditional retailing media
- Internet browsers appear to be much more concerned than
shoppers with the risk associated with Internet shopping.
Risk perception was much greater among browsers than
those who shop on the Internet
Koyuncu, 2004 - Individuals are inclined to increase their shopping from
Bhattacharya the Internet since online shopping provides better prices,
and allows individuals to shop more quickly than other
shopping alternatives
- Individuals tend to shop less from the Internet because
online shopping requires longer delivery time for items
bought online, and payment involves risk
Rowley 1998 - The major problems with Internet shopping are transaction
problems / concerns, lack of credit card security, difficulty
in locating products / services, poor product quality /
insufficient information, technical problems in software /
slow interface
- For Internet retailing to be attractive to retailers, there are
a number of issues associated with delivery, distribution,
and relationships in the supply chain that will need to be
satisfactorily resolved
Teo 2002 - Main deterrents to purchasing online have been customers’
preference to examine products, the need to possess a credit
card, and security concerns
continued on following page

and lower socioeconomic groups. In addition, that further developments will emerge from
Brown et al. (2007) noted that, although online these initiatives notwithstanding the rapidly
shopping is increasing its popularity to both men evolving and dynamic field we are dealing
and women, the purchasing behaviour between with. The next part provides a synopsis of these
them does vary. possible future developments and scenarios by
Following the previous discussion, we can making the appropriate interconnections with
conclude that some progress has been made; the previous discussion.
however, there is still a long way to go with
a plethora of issues being unresolved. One of a fUtUristiC sCeNario:
these is the further enhancement of trust and
reduction of risk during online shopping. Apart WHeN is MY friDGe fiNallY
from the industry, the latter has also attracted GoiNG to orDer MilK?
the attention of research funding bodies as wit- Jones and Wijayasarathy (1998) suggest that
nessed by, inter alia, the considerable funding electronic shopping has the potential to radi-
given by the Data Information Fusion Defence cally alter the structure of shopping behaviour.
Technology Centre to De Montfort University Also, Forsythe and Shi (2003) believe that the
in the UK (Net4now, 2007). It is anticipated Internet represents a fundamentally different
environment for retailing from traditional

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Table 1. continued
Anon [A] 2002
- Retailers need to address some of the concerns about credit
Areas for
card security, since most online sales will involve credit
improvement for
card payments
online shopping
- If you are trying to sell a product that is obtainable readily
from the local supermarket or high street, you are less likely
to succeed than if you are selling something rare, different,
or unusual
- Web retailing is not a cheap option, compared to traditional
retailing. The cost of packaging, distribution, stock
management, and record keeping are likely to be higher for
distance selling compared to traditional retailing
Fram, Grady 1997
- To improve shopping, respondents of this survey most often
asked for easier processes for locating products / services,
along with improved visuals / graphics
- Women (in sample) find little difference between the quality
of goods found in local stores / catalogues and those sold on
the net
Jones, Wi- 1998
- Electronic shopping has the potential to radically alter the
jayasarathy
structure of consumer in-home shopping behaviour
- Security is an issue; channels may not be secure, and credit
card numbers might be intercepted and then misused
Mayer 2002
- Consumers cite fear that credit card details will be stolen
- Although certain things have improved, e.g. delivery, there
is still substantial room for improvement
- Key information is often lacking, e.g. failure to disclose
whether a product is in stock
- Returning goods and getting a refund was often problematic
1996
- Supermarkets are now using the Internet because ‘that’s
Raphel
where the customers are’
- Customers are cautious about using the Internet for
shopping. They are concerned about security
Roberts et al. 2003
- Significant number of people will stick to conventional
supermarkets for grocery shopping because of the nature of
social contacts and the need to touch and feel the products
- Main driving force for groceries online is convenience and
time saving, but consumers are sensitive to product prices,
delivery charges, and Internet access costs
- Deepest concern with Internet shopping is security
Rowley 1996
- The Internet is useful tool for marketing (depending upon
the audience that you try to reach), but is far less effective
in generating sales
- Security is a major issue with four methods overcoming
this; prior arrangements, tokens, encryption, and electronic
cash
- The future of successful e-tailing will be about
rediscovering the fundamental principles of why people
really buy
Vijayasarathy 2003
- There is a need to profile the online shopper using more
sophisticated psychographic measures such as shopping
orientations, rather than relying solely on demographics
- Results suggest that shopper segments (community, home,
and apathetic) derived from shopping orientations differ
when online

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retailing media. However, any radical transfor- marketing, micro payments and location based
mations would have required new approaches services are among the first applications to reach
to consumer behaviour and attitude and one such devices, allowing the consumer to interact
could argue that improvements and electronic with near-by points of sales. For example, a
evolutions of existing shopping mechanisms consumer can buy refreshments from a vending
are not enough. For example, Fletcher (1999) machine and pay using his mobile phone or get
believes that grocery home shopping will never the latest offers from nearby shops.
be more than a niche market (only 4% of all In scenarios like the above, the customer
food shopping is done from home). This argu- is still largely in charge of the transaction and
ment finds support from Roberts et al. (2003), purchasing decision. In the future, this may
who suggest that a significant number of people change, as pervasive computing gradually finds
will stick to conventional supermarkets for its way in the environment and a wider-range of
grocery shopping, because of the nature of purchasing opportunities become a reality. At
social contacts and the need to touch and feel that point, rule-based purchasing may become
the products. Although it is difficult, especially an attractive proposition for consumers, who
when taking into consideration the fluid nature could program the points-of-sale to automate
of the networked environment, to predict what purchasing based on certain conditions (e.g. the
may happen in the future, one could draw chandelier would order light bulbs only when a
suggestions from one aspect of the evolution third of them were burnt out). Grocery shopping
of computing, that of ubiquitous computing. is ideal for this kind of purchasing. Most items
Ubiquitous computing encourages the seamless can be restocked with minimum associate risk:
integration of technology in the environment, not much is lost if you end up ordering a bit
allowing users to interact with it naturally. more milk and bread than you needed.
Ubiquitous retailing could be an application When it comes to trust, it is difficult to
of such an approach to interacting with tech- hypothesise whether ubiquitous retailing will
nology. The pervasive nature of the interaction increase or decrease customers’ trust when
allows users to radically alter the mechanisms of shopping online, as this will depend on how
ordering goods. As everything could potentially each consumer uses the technology. The time
be transformed into a point of sale, the consumer and convenience elements of buying online
would be constantly surrounded by spending may be further enhanced, as customers will
opportunities that are accessible without having have a plethora of opportunities within their
to visit a web site, login, add the products to the environment to complete purchases, without
shopping cart and then checkout. Established being confined within the narrow boundaries
relationships, coupled with semi-automated of desktop computers. In addition, although
ordering mechanisms, could significantly alter browser security may not be an issue any more
the shopping experience. The convenience fac- (as there will be no browsers as we know them
tor could be easily further strengthened, if one today), security and privacy implications may be
allows the environment itself to assume some even more complicated. If securing one channel
control of the shopping. If a light bulb is burnt is as difficult as it has been, one can only start
out, then the chandelier could order one by to imagine the implications of securing and
itself. To some extent, we are already looking monitoring so many points of sale!
at this phenomenon: mobile commerce and Such automated purchasing, based on rules,
location-based services. will have a number of significant implications
Mobile phones and other mobile devices for both the consumers and the retailers. Goods
like PDAs have gradually become powerful may be classified as commodity items whose
enough to provide an additional online conduit, purchasing could be delegated to the technol-
which has only recently started to look attrac- ogy and items that the consumer feels require
tive for wider commercial applications. Mobile personal attention when purchasing. For the

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first type of items impulse buying may suddenly up being the best profiling method ever! Data
become a thing of the past, as the consumer does mining techniques could potentially generate
not need to worry about having enough milk in very detailed customer profiles. In order to
the fridge again. Which products end-up in these take advantage of these, retailers would need to
two categories will depend on the consumer and rethink their customer relationship management
his special needs and requirements. This will strategies and how they market their products
probably result in consumers being positioned to the consumer. Whether convenience justifies
between the two emerging extremes: those who such extreme profiling, at least with today’s
would not mind automating as many of their standards, and whether balance between pri-
purchases as possible and those who would vacy and ease of purchasing can be achieved,
prefer the ‘traditional shopping’ and engage is something still to be seen. Considering that
in every step. There have been signs of such via the use of these techniques the retailer is
patterns already. For example, Seybold (2002) gaining consumers’ trust we recommend that
suggests that during shopping, consumers are retailers should formulate customer relation-
disappointed to lose the opportunity to touch ship management programs building on this
and feel the products and to make ‘impulse emerging relationship with consumers. Based
buys’. These customers would probably not on the arguments posed in this paper, we also
allow all their shopping to be automated, even propose a conceptual framework that depicts
if it were very convenient. the retail revolution in online retailing, where
From the retailers’ point of view, ubiqui- trust enjoys a different status depending on the
tous retailing may spark a chain reaction of stage of that revolution (see Figure 2).
changes, as they will not get to engage with Apart from the above, traditional order-
the customer in the same way. If the retailer’s ing processes will also be significantly affected.
role becomes that of a supplier automatically Issues like the ease of navigation of a web site
filling the consumer’s shopping basket and will not be featuring in the lists of consumer con-
delivering the goods, when is the retailer go- cerns, simply because there will be no need to
ing to build a relationship with the customer? visit a web site to order. Ubiquitous retailing, by
The answer may be that pervasive retailing definition, will aim to seamlessly integrate the
and especially automated shopping will end point of sale with the environment; ease of use

Figure 2. Trust and online retail revolution

Future
Past Online Current Online Ubiquitous
Retailing Retailing Retailing

1990 2000 2010 2020

Consumer trust
Consumer trust forms the basis
Consumer trust
becomes a of a customer
is a prerequisite
differentiator relationship
programme

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will have to be an intrinsic characteristic of the by one retailer. In the second, and perhaps
new systems. The specialisation of point of sales more interesting scenario, a number of pre-
to perform well-defined purchasing would also defined retailers get to fulfil the order, based
allow for speedier transactions, enhancing the on their offered price. As the cart will be auto-
convenience factor. In fact, transacting models matically processed by the customer’s purchas-
themselves may be significantly affected. Instead ing agent, the best price will be selected among
of performing one-off transactions for many the prices offered by the different retailers, which
items, goods may be purchased one at a time or could spark ‘price wars’ among them! In such a
placed on temporary shopping carts, either on the networked environment, in which transactions
consumer’s or the retailer’s side. A balance will will be performed by automated agents, fine tun-
then be required between the processing-periods ing these agents would have a significant impact
of such carts (Figure 3), which could be time- on retailers’ adopted strategies.
based (e.g. once a day), cost-based (e.g. when the Finally, pervasive and ubiquitous shopping
items’ total cost reaches a predefined amount) or could help convergence in online shopping.
urgency-based (e.g. I need a light bulb now!). An Traditionally customers usually order products
example of such an approach can be seen in the that are of low to medium value, e.g. books
‘Intelligent shelves’ case (Metro, 2006), which or DVDs, but not very expensive items e.g. a
guarantees that customers no longer face empty house. They would not buy few low value items
shelves. The products placed in the system are (e.g. a few pieces of fruit or a box of washing
equipped with Smart Chips that contain informa- powder) from the online supermarket either,
tion relevant to the product itself or its logistic as it is easier to buy these from a nearby store
processes. A RFID reader integrated into the and any potential saving will be lost in the now
shelf automatically recognizes when an item is relatively high delivery cost, compared to the
removed by reading the product information. product’s cost. Automated purchasing could
Should stocks diminish, the system can take the result in economies of scale, extending the
necessary action. cost boundaries within which online retailing
Shopping carts may be ‘retailer-based’ or currently operates, and reduce the impact that
‘market-based’ (Figure 3). In the first scenario the distance from the nearest store may have
the customer and the automated agents place on the decision to buy online.
the items in one cart that is to be undertaken

Figure 3. Ubiquitous retailing transaction modes

Personal goods Manual decision Retailer-based

Transaction

Time-based

Commodity Cost-based Market-based

Urgency-based

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is prohibited.


Michael Bourlakis is currently a senior lecturer at Brunel University (UK). Michael has more than 10 years
experience dealing with marketing, distribution channels and supply chain management. Michael gradu-
ated in business administration at the Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece) and obtained
both his MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Edinburgh (UK). Michael worked as a research
associate at the Management Centre, University of Leicester (UK) and at the Oxford Institute of Retail
Management, Templeton College, University of Oxford (UK) and as a lecturer at Newcastle University. He
has published in various logistics, supply chain management and marketing journals.

Savvas Papagiannidis graduated from the physics department of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Upon completion of his PhD he joined the eBusiness Group at the business school in the same University.
Savvas has started a number of eBusiness ventures and also worked as a freelance Internet developer. His
research interests include management of Internet and emerging technologies, high-technology related
entrepreneurship and e-business models.

Helen Fox has graduated from the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle
University.

is prohibited.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Bourlakis, 2008 et al e-consumer behavior

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