Human capital is basically knowledge, skill, or expertise embodied in people and acquired through investments in formal or informal education, training, or learning by doing. If one adopts the household production model of consumer behavior in which the household or consumer is viewed as producing goods or services in the household that they sell to themselves, in effect, it is natural to think of labor used in the household. It follows that human capital should be an important input to the process of household production. Following the prevailing of the internet, on-line shopping is the whole new tendency towards consumption. In the view of human capital, on-line shopping provide more information about goods and prices to consumers, but the point is that consumers build the skill to search information. When consumers have the ability to shop by computer and internet, and are also familiar with the on-line shopping procedure through on-line shopping experience, it may rise the consumption of on-line shopping. This is a kind of accumulated human capital effect. Many empirical research show that most internet users have higher degree, and on the other hand the percentage of employees from information industries is also increasing. Students and employees from information are the large weight users. Thus it can be seen that shopping on the web or not depends on the degree of eduction and contact with internet. This study use the concept of human capital to explain the motive of on-line shopping. When consumers have the ability to shop by computer and internet, and are also familiar with the on-line shopping procedure through on-line shopping experience, it would lower the full price of on-line shopping, and then increase the consumption. It involves with the effect of network externality, therefore this external effect lower the full price and rise the consumption of on-line shopping. That is why more and more people are willing to consume on the wed. The purpose of this study is using the generalized human capital model under the network externality to discuss the role of human capital when consumers consume the activities of on-line shopping.

Convenience and price are the main considerations of the consumers on internet shopping. "Group buying" is a consumption pattern emerging in recent years; it can be used in many places and has become a mainstream. The consumer now through the ¡§group buying¡¨ to reduce their living expenses. The earlier group buying was focus on the products of foods, and physical goods. But through the development of internet, the new internet group buying has been different. It¡¦s not only focused on the foods and physical goods, but also includes all kind of entertainment (cosmetology, outdoor events¡Ketc.). In this study, we regarded the consumers who were ever participated in the new online group shopping as our main target. Through this research, we can understand the consumer¡¦s lifestyle, personality and involvement of new online group shopping. It also can provide a direction for online shopping industry in the future.

<p>Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business.</p><p>Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character.</p><p>The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions:</p><p>A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way.</p><p>When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.</p>

Internet commerce is nowadays a well known phenomenon. There is awareness that a lot of newly created companies operate their business through the Internet. You can see a tendency where many young people try to establish an Internet business with the hope of success and expansion on today’s fierce market rivalry. To achieve success, companies have to consider factors like business concept, logistic knowledge, future vision, resources and contacts when initializing their business. Having this in mind, we can clarify the purpose with this paper: “To analyze in what way On-line shopping companies that sell consumer electronics, cell phones and music/entertainment products, have expanded” The paper is based on telephone interviews with three On-line shopping companies. The questions asked are the same for each company and are of dielectric character. The outcome of the interviews led the writers to a couple of conclusions: A company's expansion is influenced of the world it´s living in. The customer’s needs and requirements stand in focus. The company whom best satisfies the customer’s needs distinguishes itself among the competitors. The conductor's role and person also influence the ability to expand, a careful respective risk inclined person runs companies in various way. When on-line shopping companies extend, they develop its distribution for customer benefit. This is done in cooperation with the Swedish postal service to lower company carriage-charges and to employ further staff members. When companies grow they become more attractive to suppliers, forcing them to filter and choose correct suppliers according to company needs. A growing company demands thorough development of its delivery service. The actions taken involve cutting the time of delivery, assure correct quality and price of products and having a back-up plan in case problems should arise when the company i.e. reconstruct their storehouse or when purchasing another company. These factors converge in one basic outlook: To get hold of further more pleased customers.

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.

The business model of on-line group buying has been introduced and thrived since 1998 in America. Unfortuately, this internet-based purchase merchanism did not make its growing progress which should be presumed to be an effective and attractive system as an efficient transaction spot on line. Our research specifically focused on the physical consumers' view, including the practical participants in the on-line group buying and the general consumers who never have such experiences on it, to establish a statistical analysis on the effects to consumers' join intention and purchase decision of on-line group buying. We intend to explore the most direct recognition and requirements of the consumers in this commercial mechanism. Also would like to contribute some effective and valuable advices to the future business running under the on-line group buying model for reaching a successful development on it. Over the thorough approach on the collection of related research essays and from the close observation and investigation on the domestic on-line group buying activities, we therefore designed a questionnaire composed with the possible items which might effect the consumers' intention to decide if they would like to join the group buying. By applying the exploratory factor analysis, in this essay, we conclude the 8 major dimensions to our research topic: (1) Familiarity with the group-buying platform and initiators, (2) Recognition to essentials of products, (3) Fulfillment of the cumulative volume of orders, (4) Delivery and payment terms, (5) Convenience to consumers' decision process, (6) Gap between reference prices, (7) Stimulative function, (8) Brand recognition. Furthermore, we can obtain the following inductive reasoning comments from our descriptions and definitions on the 8 major dimensions of our survey. A. Maturity of the internet use can effectively increase consumers' intention to join the on-line group buying. B. Mutation of the modren lifestyle can just meet and satisfy the requirements from consumers. C. Model of group buying can easily and promptly raise the consumers' involvement and understanding on target products.

A presente dissertação investiga o quanto influencias situacionais, presentes nos sites de empresas do comércio eletrônico, impactam na intenção de recompra do consumidor online. Para tanto, um modelo teórico integrativo foi desenvolvido e investigado, baseado em uma revisão teórica dos principais estudos que pesquisam intenção de compra no e-commerce. Buscou-se o desenvolvimento de um modelo que proporcionasse uma explicação abrangente dos principais fatores advindos do contexto de compra nos sites que tivessem uma relação positiva com a satisfação e intenção de recompra do consumidor. Uma das grandes contribuições dessa dissertação é a identificação dos fatores presentes nos sites de empresas do e-commerce mais importantes no processo de decisão de compra do consumidor. Como contribuição teórica, esse modelo desenvolvido abrange além dos principais construtos que já estão sendo investigados nesta área de estudos (conteúdo, layout, risco percebido e diversão) construtos ainda não investigados em um mesmo modelo: Tipo de apelo utilizado na comunicação, Comunicação do preço, Tipo de manchete e Facilidade percebida na realização da transação. Além disso, investigou-se se a variável gerações de consumidores seria moderadora destas relações. Os dados desse estudo foram coletados a partir de uma amostra de 228 questionários válidos aplicados em consumidores que utilizam a Internet para realizar compras. O método de coleta de dados aplicado nesta pesquisa foi a pesquisa do tipo survey com questionários auto-administrados pela Internet. Para a análise de dados primários coletados, optou-se pelo uso do mínimo quadrado parcial (Partial Least Squares ou PLS) para a obtenção tanto das relações dos construtos independentes e dependentes, como também das relações existentes entre todos os construtos do modelo proposto. Resultados obtidos demonstram que a satisfação afeta diretamente a intenção de recompra do consumidor. Além disso, todos os construtos do modelo tiveram a hipótese sustentada, indicando influencias com magnitudes distintas, mas todas positivas. A variável gerações demonstrou moderar a relação de 4 dos 8 construtos da pesquisa. Destaca-se por fim que o modelo proposto permite a explicação de elevada proporção da variância total da intenção de recompra. / This project presents a study that investigates how recurrent online consumers are influenced by different aspects while shopping through websites (e-commerce). The author reviewed main international academic studies about buying intents through the internet, and then investigated and modeled an integrative survey, which could correlate both consumer satisfaction and rebuying intent with a series of factors related to the shopping experience. The main contribution of this paper is the identification of the most important factors on the online stores (e-retail) which positively impact the online shoppers, both, those already analyzed in many studies as content, layout, enjoyment and perceived risks, and some new constructs that have not been analyzed together as headlines, price/discount offers, advertisement appealing and easiness of browsing. Moreover, this paper also offered a perspective about whether and how these factors vary according do consumers\' generation. All data was extracted from an online self-administered survey with 330 consumers in São Paulo who declared being used to shopping goods through Internet. It came to a 228 valid respondents, whose responses were analyzed through the method of Partial Least Squares (PLS), in order to obtain both, the correlation of dependent and independent constructs, as well as the correlation among all factors analyzed within this study. The main outcome of this study is that online shoppers\' satisfaction strongly impacts their rebuying intention. Moreover, all the constructs present in this study have proved their positive impact on consumers rebuying intention, each factor varying in correlation strength, but all positive and statically proven. Besides that, the variable \'generation\' moderated 4 out of all 8 constructs presented in this study. Lastly, the proposed model statically explains higher proportion of total rebuying intention variance.

<p>This report is a part of a diploma work, conducted as a part of a Master of Science degree. The diploma work consists of a preliminary study, two case studies, a user study, a paper and this report. It was created at the Linköping University for the department of Science and Technology, in cooperation with Unilever Research in the UK, and partly with the EC founded project, Smartdoc IST-2000-28137. </p><p>Hand-held, mobile devices like Personal Digital Assistances (PDAs) are becoming increasingly popular in today’s wireless world. While trying to pack all the possible information into a small window, a nightmarish scenario is created for the interface designer to deal with. The goal for this project was to investigate different Visual User Interfaces (VUIs)on PDAs, and how to apply desktop interaction techniques to PDAs. </p><p>A VUI model based on Zooming User Interface (ZUI) techniques, to adapt two complete different visualisation application areas; on-line brand-based shopping and flood warning system for PDAs, is presented. The on-line brand- based shopping was evaluated in a benchmark usability study comparing it to traditional PC based on-line shopping.</p>

A presente dissertação investiga o quanto influencias situacionais, presentes nos sites de empresas do comércio eletrônico, impactam na intenção de recompra do consumidor online. Para tanto, um modelo teórico integrativo foi desenvolvido e investigado, baseado em uma revisão teórica dos principais estudos que pesquisam intenção de compra no e-commerce. Buscou-se o desenvolvimento de um modelo que proporcionasse uma explicação abrangente dos principais fatores advindos do contexto de compra nos sites que tivessem uma relação positiva com a satisfação e intenção de recompra do consumidor. Uma das grandes contribuições dessa dissertação é a identificação dos fatores presentes nos sites de empresas do e-commerce mais importantes no processo de decisão de compra do consumidor. Como contribuição teórica, esse modelo desenvolvido abrange além dos principais construtos que já estão sendo investigados nesta área de estudos (conteúdo, layout, risco percebido e diversão) construtos ainda não investigados em um mesmo modelo: Tipo de apelo utilizado na comunicação, Comunicação do preço, Tipo de manchete e Facilidade percebida na realização da transação. Além disso, investigou-se se a variável gerações de consumidores seria moderadora destas relações. Os dados desse estudo foram coletados a partir de uma amostra de 228 questionários válidos aplicados em consumidores que utilizam a Internet para realizar compras. O método de coleta de dados aplicado nesta pesquisa foi a pesquisa do tipo survey com questionários auto-administrados pela Internet. Para a análise de dados primários coletados, optou-se pelo uso do mínimo quadrado parcial (Partial Least Squares ou PLS) para a obtenção tanto das relações dos construtos independentes e dependentes, como também das relações existentes entre todos os construtos do modelo proposto. Resultados obtidos demonstram que a satisfação afeta diretamente a intenção de recompra do consumidor. Além disso, todos os construtos do modelo tiveram a hipótese sustentada, indicando influencias com magnitudes distintas, mas todas positivas. A variável gerações demonstrou moderar a relação de 4 dos 8 construtos da pesquisa. Destaca-se por fim que o modelo proposto permite a explicação de elevada proporção da variância total da intenção de recompra. / This project presents a study that investigates how recurrent online consumers are influenced by different aspects while shopping through websites (e-commerce). The author reviewed main international academic studies about buying intents through the internet, and then investigated and modeled an integrative survey, which could correlate both consumer satisfaction and rebuying intent with a series of factors related to the shopping experience. The main contribution of this paper is the identification of the most important factors on the online stores (e-retail) which positively impact the online shoppers, both, those already analyzed in many studies as content, layout, enjoyment and perceived risks, and some new constructs that have not been analyzed together as headlines, price/discount offers, advertisement appealing and easiness of browsing. Moreover, this paper also offered a perspective about whether and how these factors vary according do consumers\' generation. All data was extracted from an online self-administered survey with 330 consumers in São Paulo who declared being used to shopping goods through Internet. It came to a 228 valid respondents, whose responses were analyzed through the method of Partial Least Squares (PLS), in order to obtain both, the correlation of dependent and independent constructs, as well as the correlation among all factors analyzed within this study. The main outcome of this study is that online shoppers\' satisfaction strongly impacts their rebuying intention. Moreover, all the constructs present in this study have proved their positive impact on consumers rebuying intention, each factor varying in correlation strength, but all positive and statically proven. Besides that, the variable \'generation\' moderated 4 out of all 8 constructs presented in this study. Lastly, the proposed model statically explains higher proportion of total rebuying intention variance.