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Despite evidence indicating the significant influence of online reviews on purchase decisions, even after considering a product's average rating (Vana and Lambrecht 2021), the underlying factors behind this effect and the broader impact of reviews on consumer decision making remain uncertain. This study uses clickstream data from a major online retailer to explore how negative reviews affect consumer search and purchase decisions. Leveraging exogenous variation created by the display of online reviews sorted by recency, the authors find that negative reviews significantly reduce a product's purchase probability because they (1) contrast with the often-high average product rating, (2) decrease the probability that consumers continue browsing for information about the focal product, (3) increase the probability of visiting the page of substitute products, and (4) increase the probability of viewing reviews about substitute products. Importantly, these effects apply to utilitarian products but not hedonic products and when reviews pertain to product functionality or customer service but not to taste-related factors. The authors estimate a product's vulnerability to negative reviews along two dimensions—purchase and search probability for substitutes—and display these effects on a two-dimensional map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing number of shoppers entering e-marketplaces, e-retailers commonly use tailoring technology to cater to diverse shopper needs and gain a competitive advantage. However, the impact of shopper heterogeneity in this tailoring competition remains unclear. Focusing on e-retailers' tailoring practice, we fill the gap by revealing its impact on e-marketplace channel competition and sellers' coordination decisions. We find that shopper expertise with competing e-retailers and pricing contracts with product sellers significantly alter the downstream landscape, and all stakeholders should rethink e-retailers' tailoring strategies. We discover that e-retailers may aim to sell to experienced consumers under a sell-to contract, while sellers target inexperienced consumers. Conversely, under a sell-on contract, the seller's target aligns with the e-retailer of higher tailoring capabilities. Surprisingly, inexperienced consumers influence all market participants more than experienced consumers. Notably, the preferred target consumers of all parties may shift when tailoring is effective only for experienced consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an order arrives at a warehouse it is usually assigned to a batch and a decision is made on how long to wait before assigning the batch to a picker and starting the picking tour. If the idle time of the pickers is minimised, the batch is immediately assigned, and the picking starts. Alternatively, if a time window is introduced, other orders may arrive, and more efficient batches may be formed. The method to decide how long to wait (the time-window strategy) is therefore important but, surprisingly, almost completely overlooked in the literature. In this paper, we demonstrate that this lack of attention is unwarranted, and that the time-window method significantly influences the overall warehouse performance. In the context of the online order batching problem (OOBP), we first demonstrate that the effects of different time-window strategies are independent of the methods used to solve the other subproblems of the OOBP (batching and routing). Second, we propose two new time-window strategies, compare them to existing methods, and prove that our methods outperform those in the literature under various scenarios. Finally, we show how time-window methods influence different objective functions of the OOBP when varying numbers of orders and pickers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies lead consumers to engage with companies online after they see TV ads, and firms increasingly wish to coordinate TV advertising in real time with online marketing activities. As a result, firms are keen to measure how TV advertising affects consumers' online behavior, but a key question is over what window of time to measure this effect. The standard industry practice of using short attribution windows around an ad to measure a causal effect may miss the possibility that consumer behavior shifts over time due to, for example, intertemporal substitution. The authors collaborate with an online travel platform and evaluate the results of a field test in which part of the country was exposed to TV ads while another part of the country formed a control group. Using the synthetic difference-in-differences approach, the authors find that TV advertising leads to an instantaneous increase in online browsing and sales. However, they also document evidence for intertemporal substitution: consumers appear to move their online activities forward in time in response to TV advertising, leading to lower browsing and lower sales at times when no ad is airing. The authors further explore the effects of TV advertising on channel choices, device choices, and promotion usage and discuss the implications for advertisers and the ad-measurement industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Net Promotor Score (NPS) is ubiquitous, relying on a single-item question to capture consumers' word-of-mouth (WOM). The question asks consumers for their likelihood of recommending a brand to friends and colleagues. Despite its popularity and advantages over longer satisfaction surveys, NPS has potential weaknesses. Among them are that the NPS question (1) is double-barreled by asking in a single question for likelihood to recommend to friends and likelihood to recommend to colleagues, (2) focuses on recommendations, and thus, ignores consumers' likelihood to spread negative WOM, and (3) ignores online WOM, which often involves recommendations to strangers rather than friends or colleagues. This paper empirically tests these three potential weaknesses of the NPS measure on the WOM conclusions derived from NPS. Specifically, three experiments vary whether NPS assesses likelihood to recommend to a friend and colleague in a single question (how NPS is currently measured) or in two separate questions. In addition, NPS is compared to responses to an explicit negative WOM question (intent to warn others about the brand). Moreover, across studies, the NPS is reported for a recent positive experience and either a recent negative experience or a recent mixed experience. NPS is also compared to likelihood to engage in online WOM in terms of posting an online review and the intended online rating. By examining these issues, this research sheds light on consumers' interpretations of NPS, the factors that influence these interpretations, and how these factors affect NPS' ability to predict negative WOM, online WOM, as well as satisfaction, loyal behavior, and WOM in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the early months of the pandemic, stay-at-home orders and concerns about infection catalyzed a shift toward online activities, such as remote work and e-shopping, resulting in a significant decrease in conventional travel. However, as the effects of the pandemic diminished, the pandemic-induced online activities began to subside, and conventional travel started to rebound. The challenge among transportation planners and policymakers is to determine the lasting effects of the pandemic and adjust the policies accordingly. In the same efforts to understand the evolving travel-related activities and inform policymaking, the 3 Revolutions Future Mobility Program at the University of California, Davis, conducted four waves of mobility surveys between Spring 2020 and Fall 2023. Key findings from the analysis of these data reveal that remote work and a combination of remote work and physical commuting (i.e., hybrid work) emerge as an enduring outcome of the pandemic. The pandemic accelerated the rise of e-shopping, both for grocery and non-grocery purchases, with findings demonstrating the critical influence of socio-demographic factors, including age, gender, and income, on e-shopping adoption and frequency. The findings show that socio-demographic factors such as work status, income level, and work arrangements are associated with household vehicle ownership changes and individual vehicle miles traveled (VMT). In particular, an increase in commute frequency reduces the likelihood of vehicle shedding, while amplifying the likelihood of vehicle acquisition. In the meantime, remote workers exhibit lower commuting VMT but higher non-commuting VMT compared to hybrid workers. The findings demonstrate a similarity between the percentage of respondents who used public transit, bikes, e-bikes, and e-scooters for commuting and non-commuting trips to some degree between 2019 and 2023. These insights underscore that adapting to shifting activity and transportation patterns is crucial for policymakers and planners to build a sustainable and inclusive post-pandemic future.

An emerging virtual-reality technology, virtual fitting rooms (VFRs) allow online shoppers to virtually try on clothes. Despite its increasing popularity, how VFR technology influences different consumer groups is hitherto unknown. Neglecting such nuances may significantly undermine VFR effectiveness. From a large-scale field experiment with real-world transactional data and five laboratory experiments, the authors document the asymmetric effects of VFR use conditional on consumer body types, characterize the theoretical underpinnings, and identify a systematic set of managerially actionable moderators that can mitigate adverse effects. Specifically, while VFR use enhances product evaluations and purchases among consumers with relatively low body mass index (BMI) levels, it negatively influences responses from high-BMI consumers due to self-image threat induced by avatars that resemble consumers' own bodies. To cope with self-image threat, high-BMI consumers tend to shift the blame to the apparel item, resulting in negative product responses. The authors identify four feasible solutions to alleviate the negative responses among high-BMI users of VFRs, namely, promoting diversified beauty standards, featuring mannequin faces for VFR avatars, providing consumers opportunities to engage in prosocial behavior, and presenting high-status products. These findings offer guidance for retailers to leverage this new technology smartly to enhance both business performance and consumer well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers have an aversion to purchasing near-expiry food products, which leads to enormous food waste and economic loss. Given the importance of this issue, past research has studied the effect of impending expiration date on product sales, but its focus has been limited to perishable food products. Since the expiration dates of non-perishable food products are treated as less important than those of perishable food products, we expect that the resulting effect on sales largely varies by shopping environment. With the growing importance of online shopping in food sales, we examine how the effect of impending expiration date differs between mobile and PC shopping environments. By analyzing a unique data set from an online salvage store, we find that consumer aversion toward near-expiry products is more salient in the PC shopping environment than in the mobile shopping environment. However, when there is a deeper price promotion, the between-channel difference is reduced as the sensitivity of an impending expiration date on sales increases in the mobile shopping environment. These findings not only represent novel contributions to the literature but also provide managerial implications for practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to help online grocery retailers determine the optimal return and refund policies for perishable grocery items. Three refund policies and two return requirements are modelled: no-refund, full-refund and partial-refund, with or without product return. We first derive the optimal refund policy under two scenarios, where either product return is or is not required for refund. We further analyse how market conditions impact the optimal policies. Lastly, we investigate when product return should be required for refund. Our results show that a more generous refund policy should be offered if the product has a higher profit margin, if an unsatisfactory product has a large negative impact on consumer utility, and if consumers have high return costs when product return is required for refund. Our results also show that it is optimal not to require the unwanted product to be returned when consumer's return cost and product return rate are above certain threshold values. This paper fills the gap in the literature on return and refund policies in an online grocery setting. The findings of this paper provide explicit guidance to online grocery businesses on how to optimally determine the return and refund policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertising to a consumer provides potentially useful information to the consumer and moves them along the purchase journey, and tracking the consumer's online activities enables an advertiser to infer the consumer's purchase journey state and target repeat ads accordingly. However, many consumers dislike being tracked, and, furthermore, repeat advertising may lead to ad wearout. The authors develop a model with consumers, an advertiser, and an ad network to investigate, under the preceding considerations, the impact of regulations that endow consumers with the choice to opt in to or out of online tracking. The authors find that, if ad effectiveness is intermediate, opting in to tracking decreases ad repetition; otherwise, opting in increases ad repetition. To make an opt-in decision, a consumer weighs the cost of ad wearout from repeat ads against the benefit of obtaining potentially relevant product information from them, and the consumer opts in to tracking if either ad effectiveness is intermediate or sensitivity to ad wearout is low. This opt-in pattern creates counterintuitive implications; for instance, higher ad effectiveness, even though it implies higher ad valuation for the advertiser, may reduce repeat ads and the ad network's profit. Under regulation that requires consumer consent for tracking, the results shed light on when and why consumers give such consent, and provide useful insights for practitioners and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors develop an attribute-based mixed-membership model of consumers' preference for stockkeeping units in store assortments. The model represents the underlying "topics of interest" that drive shopping behaviors as probability distributions over product attributes. It overcomes several limitations of latent Dirichlet allocation topic models and is particularly useful for making preference predictions in large and frequently changing store assortments. The authors apply the proposed model to investigate topics driving browsing and purchase activities in an online deal marketplace of fashion products and explore how preference structures evolve over time. They find commonalities and differences in the topics that drive the browsing and purchase stages of online shopping processes. In general, browsing covers a broader range of product attributes than purchases. Consumers tend to browse products of premium positioning and/or deep discounts in the deal marketplace, but when purchasing, they tend to gravitate toward lower-tiered products at their original prices and modest depths of discounts. The authors illustrate how insights from the proposed model can be utilized to profile consumers based on their price preferences and to improve personalized product recommendations. They show that the model's performance is particularly strong in predicting preferences for new products that are not in the existing assortment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food stockpiling is a common strategy to cope with food shortages, especially during major crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper investigates the effects of online shopping on household food stockpiling behaviour, using data collected from urban residents in China. Unlike previous studies considering only binary decisions, we take into account two-stage decisions (whether to stockpile and how much to stockpile). We employ a novel double-hurdle two-stage least square approach to model the sequential decision-making process and to address the endogeneity issue of online shopping. The empirical results show that online shopping significantly increases the probability that households choose to stockpile food and stockpiling ratio. Online shoppers in Eastern China are more likely to stockpile food, while their counterparts in the Western region tend to have a higher food stockpiling ratio. Online shopping significantly increases stockpiling ratio of perishable food such as fruits and vegetables relative to non-perishable food such as grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze a sample of consumer‐electronics products sold by the US NewEgg online‐retailer to study the impact of price‐matching guarantees (PMGs) on prices. By applying a difference‐in‐differences approach, we find that the price of the policy‐adopting retailer increases by 4.7% during the policy validity period and up to 5 days after the treatment, while those of the non‐adopting competitor are not affected. Results are mainly driven by highly‐rated, visible, and expensive products, whereas the policy does not affect low‐rated, less visible, and cheaper products. These findings are consistent with the hypotheses that PMGs act as price discrimination or signaling tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-commerce platforms generally provide consumers with the function of virtual shopping carts to help them store interested products. Although about 80% of online consumers intends to purchase after adding products to their shopping cart, the abandonment rate of cart products has been up to 70%. It is important to understand how to improve consumer attitude toward product both before and after cart use. Building on the relevant literature and the consumer shopping goal stages theory, this study aims to examine the effects of product price, as one of the most indispensable and important information in online shopping, on consumer attitudes toward product at different decision-making stages in online shopping (i.e., add-to-cart stage and place-an-order stage), and the mediating roles of perceived product quality and monetary sacrifice. The findings from behavioral experiment suggest that high price leads to a more positive attitude toward product at add-to-cart stage by strengthened perception of high product quality, while results in a less positive product attitude at place-an-order stage because of the enhanced perception of monetary sacrifice. Both theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated Vietnamese people's behavior and future intention to purchase medicines and functional foods online and their associated factors. From March to May 2023, a Google Form questionnaire was distributed via social networks and online platforms. Convenience and snowballing sampling methods were employed to recruit 1,305 Vietnamese people. In the past year, 50.3% of participants purchased at least one kind of medicine and/or functional foods online (medicines: 27.6%, functional foods: 45.1%). Among 656 buyers, nearly a third bought these products more than three times and only 5.9% felt dissatisfied with their previous experiences. This purchasing behavior was more prevalent among females, those married, having higher education levels, usually shopping online, having longer time of Internet use per day, and seeking health information on the Internet (p < 0.001). In addition, 77.5% of participants intended to purchase these products online in the future and 61.2% would introduce this kind of online purchase to other people. The purchase intention was significantly associated with the participants' previous experiences, area, contracting chronic diseases, and using the Internet for self-medication, while factors associated with the introducing intention included their education level, occupation, and previous experiences in online purchases (p < 0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAmid concern about the welfare implications of the revenue share model between food service establishments (FSEs) and food delivery companies (FDCs), academic contributions have been mostly theoretical. Within a conceptual framework of fairness, our empirical study provides a perspective from the third party in the multi-sided market: the consumer. Following an incentivized payoff allocation experiment with 500 English food consumers, we make three observations: (1) participants prefer to make allocations to FSEs as opposed to FDCs, (2) participants who perceive fairness as a social construct (honesty, responsibility) derive the most disutility from advantageous inequality and the least disutility from disadvantageous inequality in relation to FSEs, and (3) participants who perceive fairness as a structural construct (processes, outcomes) prefer more equal payoff allocations to FSEs and FDCs. The perception of price unfairness in the online food order and delivery industry is apparent, speaking to the need to find market and policy solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, online shopping has become one of the main consumption methods, with online retail sales reaching 13.79 trillion yuan in 2022. However, not all consumers are satisfied with their online shopping experiences. This study proposed that consumers' rational attitudes toward online shopping were an important influencing factor for their satisfaction. Additionally, consumers' trust in online shopping platforms is a mediator in the above relationship. Two studies were conducted to investigate this proposition. In Study 1, participants' rational attitudes were first operationalized by a procedure to approve their decisions. Then, their rationality, trust in online shopping platforms, and consumer satisfaction were measured. It was found that participants' rational attitudes improved their satisfaction through the mediating role of their trust in online shopping platforms. Study 2 further examined the hypotheses by providing participants with either budget alert information or no information. The results showed that such alert information increased participants' rationality and supported the findings of Study 1. Based on the results, rational consumers are more likely to be satisfied with their consumption, and trust is a key mechanism. Therefore, online shopping platforms and retailers should make efforts to improve consumers' rational attitudes and protect their rights and interests to obtain consumers' trust and a win‒win result between themselves and consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research study is to describe the factors that influence consumers' purchasing decisions in live shopping broadcasts. The proposed research methodology is based on the qualitative paradigm with an interpretative approach. A semi-structured questionnaire is applied to interview 25 people who had participated in live shopping transmissions at least once. The results show eight families codes: (1) motivation, (2) participation, (3) trust, (4) influence of social networks, (5) time pressure, (6) customer satisfaction, (7) distrust and problems, and (8) quality of service. The aesthetic aspect of the seller and the endorsement of a celebrity have no valorization. In conclusion, the purchase decision variables of live shopping broadcasts do not differ significantly with respect to what has been found in previous literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embodied virtual agents (EVAs) are used in various online shopping scenarios to enhance consumer experience. Humanoid avatars and output modalities of EVAs are two important factors affecting online shopping experience, which have been widely studied in shopping websites before. Moreover, immersive virtual reality (IVR) shopping is a future trend in online shopping, but research on EVAs in IVR environments is limited. The impact of them in an IVR shopping environment is not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of an EVA's humanoid avatar and output modalities on the online shopping experience in an IVR environment. First, 66 participants were invited to participate in a 2 (humanoid avatar: presence vs. absence) × 3 (output modalities: text-only, voice-only, and text and voice) within-group experiment to complete the specified purchase task. After each purchase task was completed, participants were required to fill in a subjective questionnaire to score the six different combinations of virtual agents (VAs). After all purchase tasks were completed, a follow-up interview was conducted to better obtain the participants' preferences and detailed reasons for the six different combinations of VAs. The results showed that humanoid avatars significantly enhanced participants' perceptions of warmth, communication, trust, and satisfaction. Additionally, output modalities significantly enhanced participants' perception of warmth, communication, trust, comfort, and satisfaction. Finally, the humanoid avatar and output modalities had significant interactions in terms of comfort. The results of this research provide theoretical reference and guidance for the design of VAs in IVR shopping environment, and also provide inspiration for the design and research of VAs in other online shopping environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Unlike previous generations of artificial intelligence (AI), AI assistants today can autonomously perform actions without human input or intervention. Several studies have proposed but not tested the notion that increased levels of AI autonomy may ultimately conflict with consumers' fundamental need for autonomy themselves. Across five experiments (N = 1981), including representative samples and pre‐registered hypotheses, we investigate consumer responses to high (vs. low) AI autonomy in the context of online shopping. The results show a pronounced negative effect of high AI autonomy on consumers' adoption intentions – an effect mediated by consumers' relative state of powerlessness in the presence of high AI autonomy. However, when consumers face situations characterized by scarcity, such as when preferred options are being sold out rapidly (e.g. Black Friday), the aversive aspects of high (vs. low) AI autonomy are attenuated. Together, these findings offer novel insights regarding whether, when and why consumers are willing to adopt high (vs. low)‐autonomy AI assistants in online shopping settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experience and credence characteristics are hard to assess when consumers select food products. Therefore, consumers who are unfamiliar with specific products typically use search characteristics as a proxy for product quality. As search characteristics are pivotal in consumers' decisions, we expect them to be reflected in the resulting product prices in the beer market. Besides traditional search characteristics such as beer color or fermentation type, new search characteristics such as online consumer ratings are emerging in beer markets all over the world. Thus, we use a hedonic price estimation to learn about the relative importance of traditional versus new search characteristics in the Belgian beer market. Specifically, the beer prices for 1517 different beer products of two large beer retailers are investigated to compare the role of traditional beer characteristics—color, fermentation type, beer style, origin, brewery type, and alcohol percentage—with the role of online beer ratings from the platform RateBeer.com. We find that while traditional characteristics still play a key role in the beer market, the role of online ratings seems dependent on the retail context [EconLit Citations: C36 Instrumental Variables Estimation, D83 Search—Communication, Q11 Agriculture—Prices, Q18 Food Policy]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online shopping has experienced substantial growth over the past decade, and this trend is expected to persist. The convenience it offers consumers serves as a driving force behind this expansion. Online retailers stand to benefit from a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior and online shopping habits, as it enables them to formulate more effective marketing strategies and tailor their communications to the preferences of online shoppers. This paper aimed to develop a bespoke questionnaire leveraging data from a EuroStat report in 2021. As novel methodology a Sugeno-type predictive fuzzy model was constructed using these data, empowering businesses to make more precise predictions regarding the requirements and behaviors of distinct consumer groups. The study examined the following areas of consumers: online shoppers belonging to the X, Y, and Z generations; living in small towns, towns, or in the capital; and studying, working, or both. In addition, the likelihood of spending money online was determined regarding the following product categories: Bills, utilities; (2) Food, shopping; (3) Entertainment; (4) Wellness, beauty; (5) Electronic items; (6) Fashion; (7) Home, decoration and (8) Other goods. The results of this survey, combined with the fuzzy model developed, serve as valuable resources for online retailers seeking to enhance their marketing strategies and gain a deeper understanding of customer preferences. The conclusions highlight patterns and preferences among different age groups and locations, providing valuable insights for online retailers to enhance their marketing strategies when identifying main target groups for specific products. Additionally, the research offers a more comprehensive understanding of demographic attributes associated with these age cohorts than EuroStat data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the dramatic and recent growth in demand for curbside pick-up and drop-off by ride-hailing services, as well as online shopping and associated deliveries, balancing the needs of roadway users is increasingly critical. Local governments lack tools to evaluate the impacts of curb management strategies that prioritize different users' needs. The dwell time of passenger vehicles picking up/dropping off (PUDO) passengers, including ride-hailing vehicles, taxis, and other cars, is a vital metric for curb management, but little is understood about the key factors that affect it. This research used a hazard-based duration modeling approach to describe the PUDO dwell times of over 6,000 passenger vehicles conducted in Seattle, Wash. Additionally, a before-after study approach was used to assess the effects of two curb management strategies: adding PUDO zones and geofencing. Results showed that the number of passenger maneuvers, location and time of day, and traffic and operation management factors significantly affected PUDO dwell times. PUDO operations took longer with more passengers, pick-ups (as opposed to drop-offs), vehicle´s trunk access, curbside stops, and in the afternoon. More vehicles at the curb and in adjacent travel lanes were found to be related to shorter PUDO dwell times but with a less practical significance. Ride-hailing vehicles tended to spend less time conducting PUDOs than other passenger vehicles and taxis. Adding PUDO zones, together with geofencing, was found to be related to faster PUDO operations at the curb. Suggestions are made for the future design of curb management strategies to accommodate ride-hailing operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the order picking operations is indispensable for warehouses that promise a high customer service level. While many areas for improvement have been identified and studied in the literature, a large gap remains between academia and practice. To help with closing this gap, we perform a case‐study in collaboration with a spare‐parts warehouse in Belgium. In this study, we optimize the order picking operations of the company, using the actual warehouse layout and real order data. A state‐of‐the‐art online integrated order batching, picker routing and batch scheduling algorithm is adapted to consider multiple real‐life constraints. More specifically, the dynamic arrival of new orders is considered, and a capacity constraint on the sorting installation should be respected. Furthermore, a new waiting strategy is studied in which order pickers can temporarily postpone certain orders, as combining them with possible future order arrivals may allow for more efficient overall picking performance. Finally, the performance of the current operating policy is compared with that of both a seed batching heuristic and our metaheuristic algorithm by use of an ANOVA analysis. The results indicate that the number of order pickers can be reduced by 12.5% if the new optimization algorithm is used, accompanied by an improvement in the offered customer service level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate Vietnamese people's knowledge, attitudes, and experience in purchasing medicines and functional foods online. Methods: Via an online survey, the data of 1,070 participants were collected, including their general characteristics, Internet use, previous experience, knowledge, and attitudes towards purchasing medicines/functional foods online. Factors associated with their knowledge and attitudes were identified via multivariate linear regression models. Results: During 2022–2023, about 97.2% of participants used the Internet to seek health information (self-diagnosis: 65.0%, self-medication: 72.6%). Roughly 52.8% bought medicines and/or functional foods online. Among 565 buyers, 41.8% felt satisfied. Only 19.9% understood that selling medicines online was illegal in Vietnam. The main benefits of purchasing medicines/functional foods online that many people agreed on included convenience (87.1%), freedom from location (84.8%), and being able to order/buy products after opening hours (84.7%). Many people felt worried about the ability to buy counterfeit or substandard products (87.7%), inaccurate product information (85.0%), the lack of supervision of the authorities (83.7%), and increasing risks of drug abuse, self-medication, and treatment non-adherence (82.5%). Roughly 84.3% found distinguishing between legal and illegal online pharmacies difficult. Participants' average knowledge and attitude scores were 6.514 ± 2.461 (range: 0–16) and 89.330 ± 13.720 (range: 23–115), respectively. The main factors associated with people's knowledge and attitudes towards purchasing these products online included their frequency of Internet use, seeking health information online for self-medication, feeling satisfied with previous experience, and having at least one chronic disease. Conclusions: Many Vietnamese people's knowledge about purchasing medicines/functional foods online was limited. With the increasing need for online shopping, enhancing their knowledge is paramount. In the forthcoming years, when the Ministry of Health and relevant authorities publish legal documents and enact laws involving online pharmacies and trading medicines on the Internet, ways to recognize licensed online pharmacies must be widely propagated and disseminated in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article aims to investigate the factors, precisely motives for TikTok use, perceived ad intrusiveness, attitude toward advertising, ad credibility, ad value, and online flow experience, driving buying impulsiveness among Generation Z users on TikTok. We developed and analyzed a theoretical model using SmartPLS. We used a quantitative-based approach to collect data by surveying a convenience sample of 2406 online questionnaires. The results indicate that motives for TikTok use negatively affect perceived ad intrusiveness while positively affecting the online flow experience and ad credibility. Attitude towards advertising negatively impacts perceived ad intrusiveness, while attitude towards advertising positively influences ad credibility and value. Furthermore, ad credibility has a positive impact on ad value, which, in turn, positively influences online impulse buying. As such, adapted ad content leads to a positive attitude toward advertising, creating an optimal experience on the platform and a positive perception of ads regarding credibility and value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using web-scraping, we have gathered daily data on prices and product availability for over 50,000 unique food items from 7 major retailers in Poland since January 2020. We find a 24% drop in product availability during the first COVID-19 wave in April 2020. Next, with two-step and iterative GMM applied to a variety of specifications, we show a modest price response to stockouts, as a 10% decline in food product availability leads to an immediate 0.5% rise in prices throughout the first COVID-19 wave. During the subsequent pandemic waves, this link disappears. We also detect only a 4% drop in product availability following the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, thus we suspect that the recent price movements are linked primarily to cost and demand factors. Our evidence is indicative of retailers fearing consumer anger during unorthodox times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For online retailers, increasing click-through rates and reducing dropout rates are critical to success. In this study, we examine the effect of verbatim repetition of the website's headline message on the proceed button, based on research on processing fluency. In our field study involving 956 online platform visitors, we found that verbatim repetitions of the header message on the proceed button resulted in an increase in the conversion rate by more than 10 percentage points compared to gist repetitions and new messages. Our findings highlight the importance of simple verbatim features and demonstrate the successful application of processing fluency research to impact consumer behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the advancement of technology and the pursuit of time efficiency have increased people's interest in online shopping. Various models of helmets are preferred by motorcycle riders, including those that fully cover the face, only enclose the chin, or are half-faced. However, a common feature in all models is that the earlobes remain within the helmet. Anatomically, considering the possibility of changes in the structure of the auricle (pinna) due to helmet usage and the potential impact on the transmission of sound to the middle ear in the future, our study is designed to identify alterations that may occur in the earlobes of motorcycle couriers as a result of helmet use. Participants in our study were selected from individuals working as couriers. A total of 200 participants, comprising 100 individuals who regularly use helmets and 100 individuals who do not use helmets, were included based on voluntary participation. Individuals with a history of earlobe surgery or auricular anomalies were excluded from the study. The selection criteria for helmeted couriers included a minimum of five years of helmet usage. Morphometric measurements were conducted through a photometric method using a digital camera, which is an indirect measurement technique.The distance between the landmark points marked on the auricle and the attachment distance of the auricle to the head were calculated using the MB Ruler program. According to the statistical analysis of the morphometric data obtained, it was observed that the cymba concha height, as well as the width and height of the auricle, were significantly lower in both the right and left ears of couriers. As a result, it can be speculated that prolonged helmet usage may affect the cartilaginous structure of the ear, thereby altering the distance values between landmark points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media live shopping has grown rapidly and become common in Indonesian e-commerce since 2020. The development of live and real-time interactions between streamers and audiences establishes trans-parasocial relationships. The relationship is an extension of the parasocial concept, where this seemingly reciprocal relationship occurs between streamers and their audience. This study aims to explore the processes and patterns of forming trans-parasocial relationships between streamers and audiences during TikTok Shop live shopping sessions in Indonesia. This study employs a qualitative method with a netnography study conducted during TikTok Shop live session and postsession comments on X/Twitter. The data include verbal statements from the streamers and audiences on the chat sections, as well as the audience’s posts with keywords related to streamers on platform X/Twitter. Based on data categorization analysis, this study identifies five aspects of the formation of trans-parasocial relationships; (1) building proximity, (2) engaging in self-disclosure, (3) addressing personal acquaintances, (2) receiving audiences’ responses, and (5) creating a reciprocal interaction. The proximity between streamers and audiences can be virtually built by both parties by incorporating conversations about topics rather than products during live sessions. The formation of trans-parasocial relationships leads the audience to keep watching TikTok live shopping and could become a strategic online marketing communication method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social commerce blurs the boundary between online social interaction and online shopping. The emergence of video streams introduces novel marketing modalities to social commerce. However, there is a paucity of comprehensive studies investigating the impact of emerging marketing techniques such as short videos and live streaming on consumer purchase intention. This study employs Bourdieu's conceptual framework to construct a Field Theory-based model, investigating the impact of atmospheric and capital characteristics of social commerce platforms on consumer purchase intention through affective and rational pathways, respectively. A survey involving 515 Chinese social commerce consumers demonstrates that atmospheric characteristics (emotion and social presence) and capital characteristics (information quality and quantity) in video streams enhance similarity and power. Both similarity and power are associated with an increase in consumer purchase intention. This study validates the dual-path influence of social commerce characteristics and discusses theoretical and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In online shopping, user perspectives transit dynamically from abstract categories to concrete subcategories within a short period. We propose a perspective-estimation system that estimates the dynamic, short-term perspectives of users by inferring a hierarchy of categories based on their actions. The proposed system analyzes the wish list rankings of users and their operational histories to extract the categories emphasized at that moment. It then employs formal concept analysis to infer the hierarchical structure of categories, thereby visualizing the dynamic short-term perspective. In experiments involving 57 participants, the proposed method rates its match with user perspectives on a seven-point scale, achieving an average score of 4.84, outperforming the feature estimation method using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), which scored 4.36. The statistical significance was confirmed through the Wilcoxon rank-sum test with a statistic W=4.80 and a p-value of 1.56×10-6. Compared with LDA, the proposed system is statistically significant in terms of the degree of agreement with the perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mandarin Chinese, the expression nǐ kànzhe bàn ba can be employed in either 'you-decide use' (you assess and decide by yourself), whereby the speaker disclaims his/her deontic authority to the recipient in decision-making, or 'I-claim use' (you have to assess and decide cautiously), whereby he/she claims a higher degree of deontic authority than the recipient when determining a proposed action. Focusing on the 'I-claim use' of nǐ kànzhe bàn ba, this study examines how this expression is manipulated by customers to negotiate solutions for their complaints with customer service representatives in Chinese e-shopping platforms. Utilising naturally occurring data from Taobao service encounters spanning about one year, this study employs a discursive approach and finds that this expression fulfills one of a number of pragmatic functions: (1) when there is no mutual agreement on the complaint proposals, the customers deploy it to upgrade their deontic authority to orient to their own unilateral solution and refrain from further negotiations; (2) when expressing a negative evaluation, the customers use it to pre-empt potential complainables that reflect their strong deontic authority; or (3) following non-substantive rectification on the part of the agent, the customers use it to express diluted deontic authority in order to display disaffiliation and solicit more substantive proposals. By analyzing the use of this expression in e-shopping service encounters, our study contributes to understanding how deontic authority is exercised in negotiating solutions to complaints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the lockdown and the increased spread of food delivery applications (FD Apps) during COVID-19 pandemic have augmented the consumption of fast foods. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 673 adults from different regions of Saudi Arabia using an online questionnaire. Findings: Data showed that 61% (N = 410) of participants used FD Apps during the pandemic. Among those users, 54.9% (225) were females and 70.5% were in the 18–44 years old group. Most FD Apps' users were university graduates (74.4%). The increased use of FD Apps during the pandemic significantly affected the eating behavior and the nutritional pattern. It has further significantly augmented the consumption of fast foods (p-value < 0.05). Originality/value: This study reports on the use of FD Apps during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and its impact on consumer eating pattern. This study shows the need for prudent use of these applications to limit ordering fast foods and consider healthier choices. It further calls for education programs, awareness campaigns, legislative measures and formal policies to rationalize the use of such applications for better nutrition, health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study leverages daily web-scraped data to evaluate the impact of economic sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on consumer prices and product availability across different goods categories. We find that international sanctions significantly disrupted Russian price dynamics, with the exchange rate serving as the primary transmission mechanism. Utilizing granular online data allows us to circumvent potential misreporting and track real-time economic indicators at high frequency. Our analysis uncovers heterogeneous effects across product groups, with sanctions associated with an average increase of 11.7 percentage points in the Russian CPI. The results highlight how trade policies and geopolitical events can rapidly propagate through retail markets, underscoring the importance of timely price monitoring during periods of economic turbulence. More broadly, we demonstrate the value of online data for evaluating policy shocks, paving the way for similar applications in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed methods study explored online grocery shopping perceptions by surveying individuals who do and do not receive SNAP benefits (n = 129) and by conducting interviews with SNAP recipients (n = 26) who have grocery shopped online. T-tests assessed survey findings, codebook thematic analysis was used to identify qualitative themes, and results were interpreted collectively. Survey results found no differences in perceptions of online grocery shopping between SNAP and non-SNAP recipients (p-values = 0.2-1.0) and that 97% of SNAP recipients felt comfortable using SNAP online. Five qualitative themes were identified and provided context to the survey results. The study findings can inform policy actions within SNAP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the effects of five restaurant marketing antecedents (i.e., food quality, perceived healthiness, promotional innovativeness, authenticity, and menu quality) on three outcome variables (i.e., brand preference, pay a price premium, and eWOM) through memorable experience in the context of full-service restaurant online food ordering. PLS-SEM was used to analyze 336 responses collected from U.S. consumers. The results show that perceived healthiness, promotional innovativeness, authenticity, and menu quality are strong predictors of memorable dining experience. Subsequently, memorable dining experience is a strong predictor of full-service diners' behavioral responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology is increasingly disruptive, and economic transformation according to technology development is inevitable. Especially the field of E-commerce is constantly catching up with that development. We can easily see the development and importance of e-commerce in Vietnam and worldwide after the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, to attract and get customers online, businesses need to come up with solutions to increase the customer experience when shopping for their products. And the solution to this problem is the application of blockchain technology (blockchain) to e-commerce. Customer experience when shopping on e-commerce platforms with blockchain application is influenced by factors such as perceived risk, security, transparency, information synchronization, cost savings. To carry out this research, the research team conducted a survey and analysis based on 402 most suitable survey questionnaires, then conducted an assessment of factors affecting the shopping experience of customers when applying blockchain to e-commerce using Smart PLS 4.0 software and SPSS software. The survey was conducted with customers who have experience buying on e-commerce. The results of this research paper are a premise for many other future studies related to blockchain technology and draw out the governance implications for Vietnamese businesses in improving the shopping experience of customers when applying blockchain technology to e-commerce. In addition, the research results also help shoppers access the benefits of blockchain technology, helping customers feel more secure and confident when buying on e-commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the concept and practice of shopstreaming (also known as livestream shopping) have grown significantly within the e-business world, as it integrates live streaming technology with e-commerce. However, the relationship between the perceived benefits of this shopping mode and the intention to use it is not fully understood. This research seeks to enhance the current understanding of this relationship by studying the association in the context of fashion and personal care (FPC) goods. Uniquely, the study bases its core model on a combination of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and some elements of the enhanced stimulus–organism–response (ESOR) theory, which incorporates cognitive, emotional and physiological processes within the organism component. This enables the development of a framework which facilitates the examination of the relationship between perceived benefits and intention to purchase within a shopstreaming environment, moderated by attitude (organism). The uniqueness of the study is further enhanced by the inclusion and analysis of perceived platform quality and the streamer's (seller's) influence as moderating constructs. These analyses were carried out using data from 901 respondents to a structured questionnaire, collected over a 4-month period. The results of the study showed that the seller has a significant moderating effect on the mediation of intention to purchase by attitude, though the mediation between perceived benefits and attitude was not affected by perceived platform quality. The study therefore offers significant insights to Saudi FPC brands, streamers and marketing agencies to develop and optimise sales and content strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have acknowledged the impact of weather changes on retail uncertainty. They primarily focus on understanding how weather conditions affect offline consumer behavior and aim to develop effective marketing strategies. However, there is little research on the complex impact of weather on online shopping behavior. To bridge this gap, we conduct a study with a sample of 261 consumers from China with shopping experience in community retail shops (CRSs). We utilize the S-O-R model and theories, including meteorological emotional effect theory, emotional coherence, and meteorological psychology, to model and elucidate the relationship between weather and consumers' online shopping behavior in CRS. Our findings reveal that weather conditions affect consumers' spending patterns and purchase diversity, mediated by consumers' emotions and risk aversion when they comfortably shop online at home. Furthermore, employing the fsQCA model, we identify the critical path through which weather conditions and consumer types influence risk-aversion awareness. The results provide management implications for retailers to develop online marketing strategies for different consumer types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the effect of the e-servicescape on the emotional response and revisit intention of customers in an internet shopping mall (ISM) environment. The literature was reviewed on the e-servicescape, emotional response, and revisit intention in an internet shopping mall. A relevant model and hypothesis were established. For the empirical study, a survey form was developed and conducted on 150 customers with experience using a certain ISM. Reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed using SPSS 27.0 and Amos 26.0 software, and the causal relationships were identified through structural equation modeling (SEM). Study results and implications were discussed and suggested. Among the factors of the e-servicescape in an ISM, aesthetics and surrounding elements did not have a significant effect on emotional responses, and spatial functionality showed a positive effect on emotional responses. Aesthetics had a weak negative effect on revisit intention. Surrounding elements and spatial functionality had no significant effect on revisit intention. The emotional response had a positive effect on revisit intention. This study identified the importance of the e-servicescape in the ISM environment and especially emphasized the importance of spatial functionality on the emotional response and aesthetics on revisit intention. This study presented several suggestions and implications to corporate managers regarding the development and management of the future ISM environment and other similar business settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, live streaming has become the mainstream way of online shopping in China. As the dominant player and performer in live streaming, streamers play a crucial role in consumers' purchase decisions. Therefore, this study focuses on the self-presentation behavior of streamers in the context of e-commerce live streaming and explores the mechanism of its influence on consumers' purchase intention from the perspective of persuasion knowledge. A total of 538 consumers from China participated in this anonymous survey. The results indicate that helpful and empathetic behaviors of streamers can significantly enhance consumers' purchase intention, while derogatory, exaggerated, and flattering behaviors of streamers can significantly diminish consumers' purchase intention. Persuasion knowledge played a mediating role and had a significant negative impact on purchase intention, while anticipated inaction regret weakened its effect on purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The digital era has significantly transformed the behavior of Indonesian consumers, particularly with the emergence of shopping trends through live streaming on e-commerce platforms. This study investigates the influence of the Big Five personality traits, financial perception, and external factors on the tendency for impulsive buying during live streaming. By integrating theories from consumer behavior and psychology, this research explores how self-control, money availability, economic well-being, time pressure, and sales promotions affect the tendency for impulsive buying. Using an online survey distributed among Indonesian consumers, this study provides insights into how these factors interact in the context of digital shopping during live streaming purchases. The findings aim to help e-commerce businesses optimize their sales strategies and offer recommendations to enhance consumer satisfaction. The results show a negative influence between self-control and the tendency for impulsive buying, with conscientiousness and extraversion personality traits showing significant effects on impulsive buying. The perception of money availability has a positive influence on the tendency for impulsive buying. From an external factors perspective, sales promotions positively influence purchase intentions, while time pressure negatively affects buying intentions or the tendency for impulsive buying. These insights aim to assist digital marketers and e-commerce businesses in optimizing their sales strategies and improving consumer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aims to investigate the variables influencing customer intent to purchase smartphones and to smooth the way and increase investor interest in investing in Afghanistan considering the identified factors (Subjective Norm, Personal Factor, Operational Factor, Software Performance, and Product Physical Features). Data was collected through a Google Forms structured questionnaire, which was developed from previous studies, using a 5-point Likert scale. This study determined that a sample size of 800-1000 respondents would be appropriate for the survey; 892 replies in all were gathered. The factor analysis test was applied to test the variables' validity. In the study, Binary Logistic Regression Analysis (LR) was performed to assess whether there is a significant relationship between smartphone purchasing decisions and the following factors: Subjective Norm, Personal Factor, Operational Factor, Software Performance, and Product Physical Features. The research showed that there is a significant relationship between the mentioned factors and smartphone purchase decisions. There are a variety of elements that influence consumers' intentions to buy smartphones, but subjective norms, personal factors, operational factors, software performance, and physical features are the factors that drive consumers to purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]