The main objective of this study was to determine the consequences of making changes to retail web-sites by examining how consumers respond to change within online retail environments. To achieve this aim, the study drew theoretical guidance from the general Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) paradigm. In particular, building upon web-site typology theories, the study proposed that two types of change influenced consumers’ internal responses, prompting behavioural consequences. The two types of change were Task-Relevant and Non-Task-Relevant – representing the two broad components of the retail web-site. A conceptual model was developed outlining the expected effects of change on the emotional (Arousal, Pleasure and Dominance), psychological (Flow), and cognitive (Hedonic and Utilitarian Value) states predicted to precede re-acceptance of the changed retail web-site (Attitude toward Re-patronage and Re-patronage Intention). To empirically examine this model, an online experiment (using a 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial design) was conducted, in which subjects were exposed to a modified version of a commercial personal banking web-site. A total of 292 responses were collected from Internet users in New Zealand. Simple linear regression, two- and three-stage hierarchical regression, and path analysis were used to analyse the dependence relationships outlined in the conceptual model. The results of the study suggest that both types of change have individual impacts on consumer response moreover, the effects are very different. In particular, Non-Task-Relevant Change appears to carry positive consequences, such as positive emotion, while the effects of Task-Relevant Change appear to carry negative consequences such as negative emotions and reduced value. Furthermore, findings suggest that offsetting the negative influences of change on emotion (particularly pleasure) can aid managers in minimising the negative consequences of change. The complete findings, their implications for the current research, and the provision of directions for future research are discussed in detail.

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As online fashion retailing has grown immensely over the last fifteen years, retailers’ website designs have had to evolve to meet customers’ increasing demands, needs and expectations in order to attract and retain them. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a greater understanding of how different ages of consumers respond to retailers’ holistic website designs through the use of eye tracking technology. Insights gained from this research will enable retailers to enhance their website design in accordance with their target market’s behaviour, habits and expectations. Eye tracking is a key tool for analysing and understanding human-computer interaction and can be used alongside qualitative in-depth interviews to provide a detailed understanding of users’ responses to the website design. This study uses the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) paradigm to investigate how the fashion retailer’s holistic website design influences users’ visual, cognitive and behavioural responses, which leads to their approach or avoidance behaviour. The study also examines whether the shopper’s motivation or age will have an influence on their responses to the website design. It is important to analyse the differences in behaviour between age groups because more mature consumers are now shopping online, and academic research on this topic is limited. A sample of 50 participants, spanning ages 20 to 70 and consisting of regular users of the website, participated in the study. The study was conducted on the fashion retailer’s live website and results were recorded in real time, making the findings more valid. The study found that users were very focused on looking for products when shopping online and that the product listings page is arguably the most important page on the website as users visit it the most and spend the most time on it. Furthermore, the study found that navigation and customisation design stimuli were the most important to users and that they did not to pay much attention to the lower sections of the web pages. The study also found that users’ responses to the website can change according to their motivation as users spent less time on the website if they were goal-directed shopping and had more focused viewing patterns than if they were browsing. Moreover, the study also found that different age groups had different responses to the website design, as older users took longer to navigate the website and had slower viewing times than younger users, and also looked at the thumbnail images that were further down the page a lot less. This research has filled a gap in the academic literature and provided a detailed understanding of eye fixations, and how they can be interpreted in website design studies. Future academic studies on retailers’ website design can assume that long fixation durations indicate positive attention. Also, the findings enable retailers to understand how the design stimuli affect different ages of users’ shopping experiences and, as a result, can design their website according to their target markets’ behaviour. Furthermore, this study highlights the areas that are not capturing users’ attention on the website, and that need to be improved by retailers. Overall, the findings suggest that retailers should focus on providing an easy, efficient and quick shopping experience for users when designing their website.

Electronic commerce sales continue rising due to Internet growth. However, online retailers may not be doing enough to promote their products causing them to forego potential profits. Stimulating impulse purchase behavior, online retailing environments have the capability to increase profits. Research has not conclusively identified how Web site aesthetics impact perceived ease of use (PE) and perceived usefulness (PU) as antecedents of intention to purchase in impulse purchase behavior. Understanding this impact of Web site aesthetics will enable online retailers to design Web sites that engage users, leading to additional purchases. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a framework frequently referenced and studied within information systems research, this study adapted the TAM to identify a model conceptualizing the effects of Web site color (CA), images (IA), and typography (TA) aesthetics on PE and PU for individuals among those exhibiting a higher than average impulse buying tendency (IBT). The TAM posits PE and PU contribute to an individual's behavioral intention. Research has shown Web site aesthetics have the ability to influence PE and PU. This descriptive study developed and executed a Web-based experiment using a fictitious purchase scenario and post-experiment survey with a 32-item instrument measuring: CA, IA, TA, PE, PU, and IBT. A total of 301 responses were gathered. Data analysis using various statistical tests and simple path analysis was performed to propose a modified TAM. Consumer demographics, age and gender, were also considered. The results demonstrated CA, IA, and TA correlated significantly with PE and PU. TA was found to be the largest contributor to PE and PU, followed by IA. CA was not found to contribute to PE or PU. Age was found to significantly affect PU only for 25-34 year olds, indicating the age group may be influenced easier by Web site aesthetics than other age groups. No significant differences were found in PU and gender, PE and age groups, or PE and gender despite prior literature concluding relationships existed. Research implications include recommendations for Web site design and the identification of an adapted TAM displaying the influence of Web site aesthetics on PE and PU.

Background  In the context of booming e-commerce, logistics service is an opportunity as well as a challenge for fresh products e-retailers and their logistics service providers (LSPs). In fact, they offered various fancy logistics services, like evening home delivery, same-day delivery and recyclable packaging. However, it will lead to a high cost. So, it is necessary for them to understand consumer preferences for logistics services to obtain their satisfaction and loyalty as well as to decrease the logistics costs.  Purpose  The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer preferences for logistics services within online retailing of fresh products in Sweden.  Method  To fulfill the research purpose, a quantitative research is conducted by employing the full-profile conjoint analysis. The quantitative data in a raw form were collected from the questionnaire, which has investigated 161 respondents in Sweden for rating nine logistics service profiles. To reduce the respondents’ evaluation task, the profiles are generated by orthogonal design in SPSS 24.0. The data analysis is conducted by conjoint analysis module in the software.  Conclusion  The results show that free home delivery is the preferred choice and green packaging material is much more attractive than ordinary one. Delivery speed does not appear to be so important comparing with the other attributes, which means the respondents could accept the delivery within one week. To extent, the respondents are very cost conscious, but they are still willing to make trade off for the premium logistics services. For example, they could accept 1-50 kronor delivery fee when they select home delivery with green package marticals. Therefore, e-retailers and their LSPs can focus on how to balance free shipping and certain delivery costs in different contexts.

The development of e-commerce has seen a considerable rise in the last decade, with many companies starting online stores. While there is research regarding e-commerce, the concept of dynamic pricing within the e-commerce ecosystem still has a gap. This study seeks to explore and present how a dynamic pricing system can be delivered within an e-commerce setting. With insights from DynamicX, an intelligent dynamic pricing system organization, and through thematic analysis, the result is presented through four themes regarding e-commerce and dynamic pricing. The findings presented in the discussion related to the past, the present, and the future of dynamic pricing systems in e-commerce with a focus on context, technologies, and practices.

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It is important for fashion companies to be active in e-commerce landscape as it is growing rapidly especially in the apparel sector. As shopping is considered being an experience, it is important for companies to make the shopping experience pleasant for consumers and create positive emotions that lead to positive response behaviors. In online environments, this can be created through using low and high task-relevant atmospheric cues on the website. The purpose of this study is to describe how low task-relevant atmospheric cues affect consumers' emotions and responses in the online retail environment. Furthermore the aim is to analyze which of the examined low task-relevant cues have the strongest impact on consumers’ emotions and responses. To fulfill the purpose, a qualitative research approach has been chosen. The qualitative data was collected through ten semi-structured interviews with fashion interested new or experienced female online consumers in the age between 20-30 years old. This research shows that emotions and response behaviors are strongly connected and influenced by low task-relevant atmospheric cues. A connection within the response categories was also found. Furthermore, when designing a website, certain elements such as layout, color, images together with sales and promotional signage can be designed to achieve desired emotions as these are have the strongest impact on consumers' emotions and responses. / Program: Master programme in Fashion Management

Electronic commerce (EC) has radically revolutionizedtraditional business practices across the globe. It is alsobelieved that EC offers considerable benefits andopportunities for enterprises.Despite the benefits, however, several scholars have shownthat Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have beenlagging in EC adoption. In this regard, this study aimed toexplore the factors that influence EC adoption among SMEsin developing countries, in the context of Kenyan retailSMEs.The study employed a qualitative approach through whichempirical data was collected by semi-structured interviews.The target population consisted of managers/owners of retailSMEs that use some form of EC technology in their businessoperations. The study identified several motivating factors forthe adoption and implementation of EC. Moreover, theresearch used (TOE) framework, the technological,organizational, and environmental (TOE) framework withan added national factor, to study and understand the factorsaffecting EC adoption among SMEs. The study identifiedsome factors ranging from, but not limited to the cost of IT,the benefits offered by EC, compatibility, lack of cleargovernment regulations, the role of managers, lack ofinfrastructure. The study further identified a national factorassociated with the social and cultural context in Kenya suchas the resistance to adopt a culture of purchasing online, lackof trust, lack of IT awareness, national address system, etc.

The purpose of this study is to explore online consumers' experiential response towards visual user-generated content in online shopping environments for fashion online shopping. The Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework has been widely used in online shopping environment studies to examine the effect of website attributes on online shoppers' internal affective and cognitive states, and shopping behaviour (Kawaf and Tagg, 2012). Recent literature in the field proposes a more holistic approach towards online experiences (e.g., Pentina, Amialchuk, and Taylor, 2011) which is conceptualise to mediate the relationship between website attributes and behavioural responses. Consumer experiences are considered to be a critical concept in consumer behaviour and marketing for understanding consumers and to create competitive advantage in online retailing (Schmitt, 2010). Building on existing online shopping environment research, the study conceptualises online experiences for fashion online. This study seeks to investigate online consumers' experiential responses (aesthetics, relational, emotional, Flow experience and interactivity) towards two visual user-generated stimulus: (1) Looks - photographs of individuals modelling their own fashion, and (2) Outfits - digital collages displaying an assortment of products centred around a theme. They are both features which have been created by community members in an online social shopping community, ASOS Fashion Finder. The context of this study was exploratory and utilised a mixed methods approach where 13 photo-elicited interviews (PEI) with female online shoppers of ASOS, aged 18-34, were conducted to identify and understand consumers' online experiential responses and online shopping intentions towards the two visual stimulus. Using the same sample criteria, an online survey with 555 responses was also conducted to measure and test relationships between consumers' experiential responses and shopping intentions. The results of this study provides insight to the experiential states of fashion online consumers for online retail marketing, and contributes knowledge to research literature and theory on online shopping environments and customer experiences.