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Within the last few years, retail sales have averaged an annual growth of about 4% with electronic commerce retail sales averaging an increase of over 20% per year (U.S Census Bureau, 2008). The e-commerce retail sector of apparel, accessories, and footwear reached $18.3 billion in sales and ranked as a top selling category (Shop.org, 2007). A growing apparel market with strong buying power is the plus-size clothing industry with approximately $32 billion in sales in 2005, and an average of about a 10% growth rate each year (Yadegaran, 2006). Despite the growth in the industry, little empirical research has been conducted regarding plus-size Internet apparel shoppers. Additionally the field lacks research that focuses on garment fit for the plus-size market. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of product presentation factors, visual fit information (size of model photographed) and written fit information (fit related product description), on plus-size women's perceived fit risk, purchase intention, and loyalty intentions in Internet apparel shopping. This study employed a 2 x 2 between subjects' factorial design: visual fit information (plus-size model vs. non plus-size model) by written fit information (more elaborate vs. less elaborate). Four mock web pages were created to closely mimic the design of a true plus-size Internet apparel retailer. Each web page presented a model wearing the same dress for plus-size women and a written product description. The stimuli consisted of an identical dress in color and style, presented on both a plus-size model and a non plus-size model, and similar written fit information with more detailed information about garment style, garment dimensions, and fit editorial presentation for more elaborate stimuli. One hundred fourteen women between the ages of 19 and 64 participated in this study for incentives such as a free plus-size apparel gift-card, using snowball sampling method. Using descriptive statistics, multivariate analyses of variance and univariate analyses of variance, the present research showed (1) no main effects of visual fit information on perceived fit risk, purchase intention, and loyalty intention, and (2) no main effects of written fit information on perceived fit risk, purchase intention and loyalty intention. The study added valuable empirical findings to the literature on the relationship between fit related information and perceived fit risk, purchase intention and loyalty intention among plus-size Internet apparel shoppers. / Master of Science

The starting point of this dissertation is the increasing number of Swedish consumers who use the Internet forshopping. Convenience is said to be an important ground for this choice. However, there are few studies thatattempt to understand the true meaning of convenience. This study sets out to understand what convenienceentails for Internet shoppers, what characterizes a convenient Internet shopper, what charterizes a convenientonline product or service, and finally how different meanings of convenience can be explained in differentshopping situations. The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of consumers’ conveniencegrounds when shopping online. Qualitative data was collected from 24 respondents, 12 female and 12 male,living in the Swedish cities of Örnsköldsvik, Stockholm, Göteborg and Borås. Data collection was mainlyconducted by means of group interviews and additional personal interviews, questionnaries and shoppingexperiment observations. The study has its theoretical outlook based in convenience literature, and conveniencemotives when choosing a particular store, however, adjusted to better fit the phenomenon of onlineshopping.This theoretical approach emphasizes different dimensions of convenience and gives special insight intoremote shopping consumers. Results show that convenience is an important ground for Internet shopping.Convenience in this context, can be seen from a psychological and/or behavioural perspective. However,grounds for convenience entail efficiency and rationality reasons for all of the respondents included in thestudy. These results indicate that convenience is best understood by using a resource efficiency approach.When using this approach the study shows the importance among the respondents to save time and energy,both from a psychological as well as a physiological perspective. Another useful explanation in order tounderstand the meaning of convenience is to use consumers’ descriptions of themselves as planned orimpulsive. In most cases the respondents describe themselves as planned consumers, which in turn indicatethat the use of a resource efficency perspective is valuable.It is a great variety of products and services described as convenient, however the study pinpoints twoexceptions: home electronic devices and tickets. The study shows that one reason for the differences inconsumers’ convenience perceptions is how time is perceived. Another reason is how customer perceivespsychological or physiological energy. A third reason is how they perceive security and safety. Another importantresult is that convenience differs between women and men in the study. The female consumer givespriority to saving time and saving physical energy. The male consumer gives priority to timing. The study’s resultscan help online businesses to identify how their customers perceive convenience to better designcommunication, virtual store, information, payment and deliviery according to their wants and needs. Anotherpractical implication drawn from the findings is to use direct delivery when possible and offer home delivery. / <p>AKADEMISK AVHANDLING: För avläggande av ekonomie doktorsexamen i företagsekonomi som</p><p>med tillstånd av Handelshögskolans fakultetsnämnd vid Göteborgs</p><p>universitet framlägges till offentlig granskning fredagen den 5 oktober</p><p>2007, kl 10—12 i sal B33 vid Företagsekonomiska Institutionen,</p><p>Vasagatan 1, Göteborg.</p>

This research examines intermediate patterns of joint consumption whereby constellations, anti constellations and configurations are seen as representing patterns of consumption which lie between the traditional micro (product-centred) and macro (societal-centred) studies of consumption. A series of models are developed: of the relationship between individuals and consumption from a social psychological perspective of the formation of patterns of joint consumption and of the three forces which influence patterns of consumption: the symbolic-functional force (located in the product) the physiological-esteem-self-actualization force (located in individual needs) and the expressive-instrumental force (located in activities or behaviour). A two stage empirical study explores the content, structure and context of consumption patterns amongst mail order shoppers in the U.K. The quantitative stage involved the application of correspondence analysis to data extracted from the BMRBffGI database and the qualitative phase was a series of in-depth interviews with mail order industry marketing personnel. The findings confirmed the existence of three identifiable groups amongst mail order shoppers, with different intermediate patterns of joint consumption representing different sets of responses to the three forces which influence consumption and which had been modelled above. The research extends work on the grammar of consumption by developing a set of rules of combination for analyzing the structure and levels of joint consumption: constellations, anti constellations and configurations, which could be associated with the groups of mail order shoppers. The study concludes that products cohere around social roles and that interdependence exists at two levels, firstly, amongst the forces which influence consumption, and secondly, between consumption and the societal-cultural context. It was seen that functional and symbolic complementarities could be found in the intermediate patterns of joint consumption and that different combinatorial rules could be applied to the different levels of consumption patterns elicited for the various groups.

This study investigates the consumers' intention towards Internet shopping. The Theory of Planned Behavior is used to predict behavioral intention (BI), which is a function of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC). The effects of demographic and personal variables on BI are also examined. Data analysis (n = 303) indicates that attitude, subjective norm, perceptions of behavioral controls, and previous purchases are significant predictors of behavioral intention. Product/Convenience, Customer Service (attitude factors), Purchase and Delivery, Promotional Offers, Product Attribute (factors of PBC), subjective norm, hours spent online, money spent online, and previous purchases discriminate respondents of high BI from low BI. Behavioral intention of shopping online is highest for Specialty Products followed by Personal, Information Intensive, and Household Products.

I och med att människor runt omkring i världen idag kopplas ihop med hjälp av ny teknik och kommunikationsmedier är det intressant att studera hur konsumenter från ett visst land ser på handel med andra länder på nätet. Denna studie syftar till att skildra vilka faktorer på landsnivå som gör att svenska konsumenter väljer att näthandla en digitalkamera från ett land framför ett annat. Mer specifikt utreder studien svenska konsumenters köpbeteende vid näthandel inom landet och gentemot Polen, Tyskland och USA. Tidigare forskning har visat att tillit har en viktig betydelse vid handel mellan länder och näthandel (Michaelis et al, 2008; Connolly &amp; Bannister, 2008). Därför kopplas landsfaktorerna i studien ihop med en egenkonstruerad tillitsmodell som bygger på tidigare teorier om tillit. Med hjälp av en enkätundersökning som genomfördes bland studenter på Uppsala Universitet kom denna studie fram till att faktorer som språk, informationsteknologins utveckling samt lagar och förordningar alla påverkar tilliten vid näthandel. Respondenterna i enkätundersökningen föredrog att handla från svenska webbsidor i första hand, sedan i turordning amerikanska, tyska, och i sista hand polska.

The behaviour of consumers on the Internet is increasingly a focus of marketing research. In particular, consumers’ behaviour in online shopping, from adoption motivation to post-usage behaviour, has become a major focus of research in the field of marketing, especially within consumer behaviour. Yet it has been acknowledged that while aspects such as adoption and usage motivation are now better understood, there are many questions that remain unanswered, and this warrants continued research effort. In line with the above, this research addresses an issue in online consumer behaviour that is currently under researched and which relates to the role that the consumer’s regulatory focus trait plays in their manifested behaviour in online shopping. The research argues that it is important to understand the role of regulatory focus in online shopping because this psychological trait has been shown to affect other aspects of human behaviour such as in response to advertising, dieting and sports. Drawing upon research from consumer behaviour and the wider fields of marketing and psychology, this research proposes a number of hypotheses relating the consumer’s regulatory focus to her perception of online shopping, motivation for online shopping, and actual usage behaviour in a structural manner. The resulting structural equation model is then tested using empirical data obtained from 306 Internet shoppers in the United Kingdom. The results of the research confirm that regulatory focus has an influence on consumer behaviour in online shopping by affecting their perception, motivation and usage of online shopping. The research makes a unique contribution by demonstrating that regulatory focus is a valid and robust predictor of online shopping behaviour and behavioural outcomes, a conclusion which is relevant to both marketing research and marketing practice. Finally, the research identifies and recommends areas for future studies.

To date much of the literature on consumers’ concerns about business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce has described findings from quantitative research. As a result, much of that literature has focused on specific previously-identified concerns (e.g., privacy of personal information, use of credit cards for on-line payment). Also, there has been little research into the concerns of New Zealand consumers, and all of it has been quantitative. In order to gain a broader understanding, this study took a qualitative approach. Three focus groups were conducted, in order to identify consumers’ concerns. The concerns that were thus identified were combined with those that a review of the literature had previously identified, and were used to draw up a set of guidelines to be used in semi-structured interviews. Fifteen interviews were then conducted, in order to gain consumers’ views about each concern. It seems that at a higher level, consumer’s concerns have shifted. The literature suggests that in the past consumers’ concerns about Internet shopping have focused on the fact that Internet shopping is conducted via the Internet – as a result of which consumers have, for example, been concerned about the privacy of their personal information ('if I give them my e-mail address, will I get spam?') This study suggests that now consumers’ concerns focus on the fact that Internet shopping is a form of shopping – as a result of which they are now only prepared to use the Web sites of 'reputable companies', and they now require to be able to evaluate an item adequately before buying it. And it seems that another result of this is that consumers now expect that the 'reputable companies' whose Web sites they visit will – as a matter of course - address to their satisfaction issues such as the privacy of their personal information. While there are some types of products that consumers are prepared to buy on-line (e.g., air travel), there are many about which they are reluctant. Concerns were expressed about a wide range of potential purchases, and for a variety of reasons; also, some data was inconsistent (for example, some consumers were not prepared to buy clothes on-line, but others were). This appears to be an area in which consumer attitudes are still evolving. It is suggested that it may be helpful for further research on this matter to consider both demographic factors and the degree of consumer involvement in particular types of purchases.