With the repaid growth of Internet users, the economy of the virtual cybermarket becomes worthless. Among all kinds of business activities on the web, on-line shopping is the most directly contact between buyer and seller. Competition no longer takes place in the physical marketplace but in the marketspace (Rayport and Sviokla,1994). This implication indicates the breaking of traditional restrictions of the time and place. Businesses can contact a large number of consumers in a faster and cheaper (low entrance obstacle) way. For the marketers, the key point to succeed in the cybermarket is to understand and analsize the consumer behavior. Internet marketers should revisit traditional models of consumer behavior, examine their underlying assumptions, and explore their validity in the new Internet context.¡]Butler and Peppard, 1998¡^ Therefore, this study seeks to further our understanding of consumer buying decision process on the web according to the EKB model which includes five stages: need identification, information search, evaluation and choice, purchase decision, and post-purchase behaviors.¡]Engel, Blackwell, and Kollat, 1984¡^ This research is concentrated on the first three stages. A web survey was conducted on one entrance web site (Openfind), three purchasing web sites (Cybercity, Aago, and Citymart) and two virtual community web sites (CityFamily and OHOT) from March 6 2000 to March 20 2000. The total valid sample is 3986 consisting of 1364 (34.2%) web patrons and 2622 (65.8%) web non-patrons. And the main findings of this research are as following¡G 1. The characteristics of the majority respondents are male, high educated and students or employees from information industries. 2. The main purpose of web use is sending or receiving e-mail (according to 47% of the respondents¡¦ answers). 3. The top three products in the web transaction are book and magazine (27.9%), computer hardware (12.4%) and communication products (11.7%). 4. For the web patrons, five factors were extracted from the questions on behavior in the information search stage. They are named "related information obtained from the media", "troubles in web transaction and information", "confidence in web transaction and information", "information from the comparison of visiting numerous web sites" and "word-of-mouth reference". And six factors were extracted from the questions on the behavior in the evaluation and choice stage. They are named "requirement of post-purchase warranty", "perceived risk of the product", "influence of direct sales experience and other media", "confidence in web transaction", "confidence in his/her buying decision", and "influence of the reference group". As for the web non-patrons, four factors were extracted from the questions on behavior in the information search stage. They are named " related information obtained from the media", "taking on-line shopping as a waste of time and money", "troubles in web information", "confidence in web information". And three factors were extracted from the questions on the behavior in the evaluation and choice stage. They are named "warranty given by seller", "perceived risk of the product", "confidence in web transaction". 5. The web patrons¡¦ behaviors of "word-of-mouth reference" in the information search stage and "confidence in web transaction and information" in the evaluation and choice stage are influenced by their different gender, age, occupation, and education. The web non-patrons¡¦ behaviors of " related information obtained from the media" and "confidence in web information" in the information search stage and "confidence in web transaction" in the evaluation and choice stage are influenced by their different gender, age, occupation, education, and income. 6. Three clusters are formed according to the above eleven factor scores. Cluster 1 persons are named as "highly confident persons". Cluster 2 persons are named as "risk-avoidance persons". Cluster 3 persons are named as "self-confident persons". 7. The first three stages of consumer buying decision processes on the web are proved to be¡Gneed identification, information search and evaluation and choice. The relationships between these three stages are need identification will positively affect information search and information search will negatively affect evaluation and choice.

Abstract The purposes of the study were to improve the understanding of the Internet shoppers¡¦ motives and their influences on other stages at the EKB Model. According to an on-lined survey at 2001 with 6069 valid samples, 5 factors of motives were extracted. They were the needs of ¡§achievement, approval and happiness¡¨, ¡§self-recognition and show off¡¨, ¡§economical benefits¡¨, ¡§convenience¡¨, and ¡§ no disturbance¡¨. The factors in the information search stage were ¡§references to outside information¡¨, ¡§basis of own experiences¡¨, ¡§searching sequence with web information¡¨, ¡§promotion messages on web media¡¨ and ¡§information quality on current web shopping¡¨. The factors in the evaluation and choice stage were ¡§opinions from reference groups¡¨, ¡§contents in the web site¡¨, ¡§subsidiary service with the product¡¨, ¡§previous experiences of direct sales¡¨ and ¡§personal economical needs¡¨. Three clusters were formed according to the 28 motive variables. All respondents attached importance to the needs of ¡§no disturbance¡¨ and ¡§convenience¡¨. These needs were the main reasons why they shop on line. They differed from the needs of ¡§achievement, approval and happiness¡¨ and ¡§self-recognition and show off¡¨. Therefore we named the 3 clusters as ¡§ high-achievement motivated persons¡¨, ¡§mid-achievement motivated persons¡¨, and ¡§low-achievement motivated persons¡¨. The 3 clusters had different buying behaviors on information search, evaluation and choice, purchase and post-purchase. They also differed from the web usages and shopping patterns. Additionally, the results showed that women and young generation might play as crucial roles on Internet shopping in the future.