Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar e analisar os elementos associados às experiências de compra online que influenciam a satisfação dos e-consumidores em compras de alto e baixo envolvimento no comércio eletrônico. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, foi realizado um levantamento de campo, cuja amostra foi composta por 720 e-consumidores. Adotou-se o processo de amostragem por cotas, utilizando-se como critério para composição dos estratos da amostra a distribuição etária da população do estudo. Para análise dos dados referentes a compras de alto envolvimento, utilizou-se a Modelagem de Equações Estruturais. Por outro lado, para análise dos dados referentes a compras de baixo envolvimento, utilizaram-se a Análise Fatorial Exploratória e a Análise de Regressão Múltipla. A partir da análise estatística dos dados referentes a compras de alto envolvimento, constatou-se que existem alguns atributos das experiências de compra online que influenciam diretamente a esatisfação (conveniência associada ao website, políticas de trocas e devoluções da empresa e qualidade do serviço de entrega), enquanto outros influenciam o estado de fluxo online (inovação percebida no website, preços e estética do website), que, por sua vez, influencia a esatisfação. Adicionalmente, foram identificados dois atributos que influenciam tanto o fluxo online quanto a e-satisfação (confiabilidade atribuída ao website e variedade de produtos disponíveis para venda no website). Complementarmente, a partir da análise estatística dos dados referentes a compras de baixo envolvimento, constatou-se que três atributos das experiências de compra online influenciam positivamente a e-satisfação, sendo eles a qualidade do serviço de entrega, as informações disponíveis no website e a estrutura de atendimento ao cliente do website. Constatou-se também que a inovação associada ao website influencia negativamente a e-satisfação em compras de baixo envolvimento. / This research aims to identify and analyze the factors associated with online shopping experiences that influence e-satisfaction in high and low involvement purchases. To reach that goal, we conducted a field survey, whose sample consisted of 720 e- consumers. We adopted quotas sampling, using as criteria for the composition of the sample strata age distribution of the study population. To analyze the data for high-involvement purchases, we used the Structural Equation Modeling. On the other hand, for the analysis of data for purchases of low involvement, we used the Exploratory Factor Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis. From the statistical analysis of the data for high-involvement purchases, it was found that there are some attributes of online shopping experiences that directly influence the satisfaction (convenience associated with the website, exchanges and returns policies of the company and quality of service delivery), while others influence the state of flow online (perceived innovation on the website, price and aesthetics of the website), which, in turn, influences e-satisfaction. Additionally, we identified two attributes that influence both flow online and e-satisfaction (reliability attributed to the website and variety of products available for sale on the website). In addition, from the statistical analysis of data for purchases of low involvement, it was found that three attributes of online shopping experiences positively influence e-satisfaction: quality of service delivery, information available on the website and website structure of customer attendance. It was also found that innovation associated with the website negatively influences e-satisfaction in purchases of low involvement.

Abstract Key words:E-commerce, women, online purchasing behavior, online shopping, Internet shopping Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to map out the present behavior of women between 40-55 years concerning Internet shopping. Fur-thermore, the research aims at finding and analyzing factors that might help marketers when persuading the target group to increase their usage of Internet as a purchasing channel for home textile and decorations. Background: Along with the increasing usage of computers, E-commerce has emerged as a sales channel, and grows rapidly in Sweden. Due to the high growth rate many companies start up web sites for E-commerce. Hemtex AB followed this trend and started their web shop in October 2008 (S. Lindström, personal communication, 2008-10-30). Studies have shown younger consumers to be more frequent online shoppers than older consumers (HUI, 2006) and men to make more online purchases than women (Belanger et al, 2002). This might imply some difficulties for Hemtex concerning their start up of a web shop, since their main target group conists of women in the age 40-55 years. This demographic group is however large and has a high purchasing power (SCB, 2008), which mean it is a profitable group to target for marketers in various industries. One major difficulty with online shopping is the inability to touch the product before purchasing it, which can be a difficulty to overcome when selling textiles on the Internet (Forsythe & Shi, 2003). There-fore it is interesting to conduct research of the online purchasing behavior and habits of women age 40-55 years concerning the home textile industry. Method: The purpose of this thesis was achieved by using customers of Hemtex AB as a critical case to take part in a survey as well as in a focus group. Two models concerning consumers‟ intention to make purchases in an online environment were used to analyse the out-come of the survey and the focus group. Conclusion: The thesis determined computer experience and age of women to have an impact on whether they make online purchases or not. The largest obstacle for online shopping was payment discomfort and the largest benefit of shopping online was the conveniece factor. Several factors that could increase the probability for women of making online purchases age 40-55 was discovered, and specific rec-ommendations for marketers which target women in this age group were developed. Furthermore, one of the models concerning con-sumers‟ intention to make purchases‟ in an online environment was modified to focus the intentions of women to shop online. / Sammanfattning Sökord: E-handel, kvinnor, Internet köpbeteende, Internet handel Syfte: Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att kartlägga det nuvarande köpbe-teendet bland kvinnor i åldern 40-55 år beträffande Internet shop-ping. Vidare ämnar forskningen att hitta och analysera faktorer som kan hjälpa marknadsförare att få målgruppen att öka sitt användan-de av Internet som ett medium för att handla hemtextilier och in-redning. Bakgrund: Samtidigt som användandet av datorer ökar så har E-handeln ut-vecklats som säljkanal och ökar snabbt i Sverige. På grund av den höga tillväxten väljer många företag att starta webbsidor för E-handel. Hemtex AB har följt trenden och startade sin Webbutik i Oktober 2008 (S. Lindström, personlig kommunikation, 2008-10-30). Studier har visat att yngre konsumenter tenderar att handla mer på Internet än äldre konsumenter (HUI, 2006) och att män handlar mer än kvinnor (Belanger et al, 2002). Detta skulle kunna innebära svårigheter för Hemtex när de startar upp en Webbutik eftersom deras huvudmålgrupp består av kvinnor i åldern 40-55 år. Denna demografiska grupp är stor och har stark köpkraft (SCB, 2008), vil-ket betyder att det är en lönsam grupp att rikta sig mot för mark-nadsförare i olika branscher. En stor svårighet med E-handel är att man inte kan undersöka varan före köp, detta kan vara en svårighet att överkomma när man ska sälja särskilt textiler över Internet (For-sythe & Shi, 2003). Därför är det intressant att forska i köpbeteen-det på Internet bland kvinnor i åldern 40-55 år beträffande hemtex-tilbranschen. Metod: Syftet med uppsatsen uppfylldes genom att ett urval av Hemtex kunder fick delta i en enkätundersökning samt i en fokusgrupp. Två modeller om konsumenters avsikt att göra köp i på Internet använ-des för att analysera resultatet av enkäten och fokusgruppen. Slutsats: Uppsatsens resultat var att datavana och ålder hade en effekt på om kvinnorna genomförde ett köp på internet eller inte. Det största hindret för köp på Internet var osäkerhet kring betalning och den största fördelen med Internet köp var bekvämlighet. Flera faktorer som kunde öka sannolikheten för kvinnor i åldern 40-55 att göra In-ternet köp var identifierade, och specifika rekommendationer fast-ställdes för marknadsförare som riktar sig till den här åldersgruppen. Vidare utvecklades en av de teoretiska modellerna om 'konsumenters avsikt att göra köp i en Internet miljö' för att fokusera på kvinnors avsikter att handla på Internet.

Empowered by information technology, modern consumers increasingly rely upon online word-of-mouth (WOM--e.g., product reviews) to guide their purchase decisions. This dissertation investigates how WOM information is processed by consumers and its downstream consequences. First, the value of specific types of word-of-mouth information (e.g., numeric ratings, text commentary, or both) was explored for making forecast. After proposing an anchoring-and-adjustment framework for the utilization of WOM to inform consumer forecasts, I support this framework with a series of experiments. Results demonstrate that the relative forecasting advantage of different information types is a function of the extent to which consumer and reviewer have similar product-level preferences ('source-receiver similarity'). Second, I investigate the process by which dispersion--the degree to which opinions are divided for a product or service--in WOM is interpreted. Using an attribution-based approach, I argue that the effect of WOM dispersion is dependent on the perceived cause of that dispersion, which is systematically related to perceptions of preference heterogeneity in a product category. For products for which preferences are expected to vary, dispersion is likely to be attributed to the reviewers rather than the product itself, and therefore tolerated. I provide evidence for my hypotheses in a series of experiments where WOM dispersion is manipulated and respondents make choices and indicate purchase intentions.

In the field of consumer goods the ecommerce industry has been growing rapidly. This rapid growth has created significant pressure on traditional retailers forcing them to institute change or risk being removed from the market. The primary objective of this study was to examine the shopping behavior of Umeå inhabitants in the Retail vs. Online Channels of the clothing sector. The goal was to identify key decision factors that cause consumers to choose a specific purchasing channel and use this information to create and test a conceptual model. The model focused on five decision factors including: (1) Loyalty (online, retail), (2) Physical Product, (3) Price, (4) Promotion, and (5) Convenience. We were also were interested in whether IT affinity (level of Internet browsing experience) had a direct relationship to the decision factors. To satisfy our research objective a deductive quantitative method was chosen. Information was tested in the form of a self-completion survey using a sample taken from 113 Umeå, Sweden residents between the ages of 18-29. This age group was specifically chosen, as almost 90% made purchases within a 4-month period (HUI, 2012 p.6). In the final analysis we concluded that all five decision factors in the Online Channel correlated whether positively or negatively, i.e., in some manner affected the final purchasing decision. The decision factors Loyalty Online, Promotion, and Physical Product were the strongest factors influencing the decision to purchase online. Price and IT Affinity correlated with Convenience, which in turn, correlated with Promotion, a decision factor contributing to online purchasing. Physical Product negatively correlated. Regarding the Retail Channel, the Physical Product was the strongest and only significant decision factor correlating positively to retail purchasing. With this understanding we conclude to a certain extent that consumers with a strong desire to try a physical product need other motivational factors to change channels toward online purchasing. Research on a larger scale would provide additional insight in this rapidly growing and interesting market.

In recent years, the growth of Internet¡¦s popularity and prosperity not only brings about people¡¦s intention to utilize Internet service, but also enhances the attractiveness of e-commerce. Many entrepreneurs spot how usages of Internet can benefit their business due to its main advantages, such as low cost and fast reaction. As the result, besides the traditional retail sales and leaguers, many other businesses gradually started to adopt Internet as a mean to interact with their customers, including online shopping and other services. On the other hand, for customers, it is extremely convenient to simply sit in front of their desktops, look through catalogs, and buy what they like with several simple clicks on their computer screens. Because of the convenience of online store, more and more people started trying this modern way of shopping. The purpose of this study is to investigate what external factors would affect online shoppers¡¦ intention to purchase items online, and how various available items influence shoppers¡¦ intention to buy things through Internet. The result of the study shows that internet shoppers¡¦ intention to purchase items online is directly proportional to the products¡¦ digitalized degree, network readiness index, and geographical factors; inverse related to the information richness and technology acceptance. Moreover, there are also significant differences in ratios of online shopping among various countries and products.

With increasing merging of the Internet in our daily lives, online shopping becomes a new consumption model. The study subject was female customers who did shopping online. By means of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence in terms of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as well as involvement degree, the study explored if those variations had influenced female customers¡¦ intentions and behaviors on online shopping. We issued 240 questionnaires by purposive sampling and analyzed by quantitative statistics. The result shows that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence originating from UTAUT significantly influenced female customers¡¦ intentions. Moreover, their intentions also significantly influenced their behavior online.

<h2><strong>Abstract</strong></h2><p><strong>Key words</strong>:E-commerce, women, online purchasing behavior, online shopping, Internet shopping</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong>: The purpose of this thesis is to map out the present behavior of women between 40-55 years concerning Internet shopping. Fur-thermore, the research aims at finding and analyzing factors that might help marketers when persuading the target group to increase their usage of Internet as a purchasing channel for home textile and decorations.</p><p><strong>Background</strong>: Along with the increasing usage of computers, E-commerce has emerged as a sales channel, and grows rapidly in Sweden. Due to the high growth rate many companies start up web sites for E-commerce. Hemtex AB followed this trend and started their web shop in October 2008 (S. Lindström, personal communication, 2008-10-30). Studies have shown younger consumers to be more frequent online shoppers than older consumers (HUI, 2006) and men to make more online purchases than women (Belanger et al, 2002). This might imply some difficulties for Hemtex concerning their start up of a web shop, since their main target group conists of women in the age 40-55 years. This demographic group is however large and has a high purchasing power (SCB, 2008), which mean it is a profitable group to target for marketers in various industries. One major difficulty with online shopping is the inability to touch the product before purchasing it, which can be a difficulty to overcome when selling textiles on the Internet (Forsythe & Shi, 2003). There-fore it is interesting to conduct research of the online purchasing behavior and habits of women age 40-55 years concerning the home textile industry.</p><p><strong>Method</strong>: The purpose of this thesis was achieved by using customers of Hemtex AB as a critical case to take part in a survey as well as in a focus group. Two models concerning consumers‟ intention to make purchases in an online environment were used to analyse the out-come of the survey and the focus group.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: The thesis determined computer experience and age of women to have an impact on whether they make online purchases or not. The largest obstacle for online shopping was payment discomfort and the largest benefit of shopping online was the conveniece factor. Several factors that could increase the probability for women of making online purchases age 40-55 was discovered, and specific rec-ommendations for marketers which target women in this age group were developed. Furthermore, one of the models concerning con-sumers‟ intention to make purchases‟ in an online environment was modified to focus the intentions of women to shop online.</p> / <h2>Sammanfattning</h2><p><strong>Sökord</strong>: E-handel, kvinnor, Internet köpbeteende, Internet handel</p><p><strong>Syfte</strong>: Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att kartlägga det nuvarande köpbe-teendet bland kvinnor i åldern 40-55 år beträffande Internet shop-ping. Vidare ämnar forskningen att hitta och analysera faktorer som kan hjälpa marknadsförare att få målgruppen att öka sitt användan-de av Internet som ett medium för att handla hemtextilier och in-redning.</p><p><strong>Bakgrund</strong>: Samtidigt som användandet av datorer ökar så har E-handeln ut-vecklats som säljkanal och ökar snabbt i Sverige. På grund av den höga tillväxten väljer många företag att starta webbsidor för E-handel. Hemtex AB har följt trenden och startade sin Webbutik i Oktober 2008 (S. Lindström, personlig kommunikation, 2008-10-30). Studier har visat att yngre konsumenter tenderar att handla mer på Internet än äldre konsumenter (HUI, 2006) och att män handlar mer än kvinnor (Belanger et al, 2002). Detta skulle kunna innebära svårigheter för Hemtex när de startar upp en Webbutik eftersom deras huvudmålgrupp består av kvinnor i åldern 40-55 år. Denna demografiska grupp är stor och har stark köpkraft (SCB, 2008), vil-ket betyder att det är en lönsam grupp att rikta sig mot för mark-nadsförare i olika branscher. En stor svårighet med E-handel är att man inte kan undersöka varan före köp, detta kan vara en svårighet att överkomma när man ska sälja särskilt textiler över Internet (For-sythe & Shi, 2003). Därför är det intressant att forska i köpbeteen-det på Internet bland kvinnor i åldern 40-55 år beträffande hemtex-tilbranschen.</p><p><strong>Metod</strong>: Syftet med uppsatsen uppfylldes genom att ett urval av Hemtex kunder fick delta i en enkätundersökning samt i en fokusgrupp. Två modeller om konsumenters avsikt att göra köp i på Internet använ-des för att analysera resultatet av enkäten och fokusgruppen.</p><p><strong>Slutsats</strong>: Uppsatsens resultat var att datavana och ålder hade en effekt på om kvinnorna genomförde ett köp på internet eller inte. Det största hindret för köp på Internet var osäkerhet kring betalning och den största fördelen med Internet köp var bekvämlighet. Flera faktorer som kunde öka sannolikheten för kvinnor i åldern 40-55 att göra In-ternet köp var identifierade, och specifika rekommendationer fast-ställdes för marknadsförare som riktar sig till den här åldersgruppen. Vidare utvecklades en av de teoretiska modellerna om 'konsumenters avsikt att göra köp i en Internet miljö' för att fokusera på kvinnors avsikter att handla på Internet.</p><p> </p>

The goal of this research is to better understand the gap between the consumer's actual self image versus their perceived ideal image; in which, could help an online retail company to respond more effectively and provide a better service to its target customer with an added goal of reducing the rate of returns. A two-phased mixed methods approach was applied to this research to test for participants perceived and actual ideas of themselves, as well as their attitudes towards ideals. The first phase consisted of manual measurements taken and recorded, following a semi-structured interviewed. The second phase consisted of a 3D scan (digital measurements) taken and recorded followed by a four question survey comprising of three Likert questions, and one open ended question, concluding with researcher observations noted. The results showed that while the participants were mostly congruent with regards to size, they were mostly incongruent with regards to shape, and had zero congruence between the actual and the ideal self. All participants also experienced varying levels of fit issues with several areas mentioned, though pants/bottoms being the number one fit struggle. All participants expressed interested in the 3D scanning technology, felt it was easy to use, but there was a lack of continuity between participant self-reported survey answers, and their verbal answers as well as research observations.

During recent years, technology has played a crucial role in shaping the retail industry. Digitalisation and e-commerce are seen as the future of retailing. However, big online retailers have shown increasing interest in offline shopping by heavily investing in brick and mortar stores. The strategy of a retailer making use of both offline and online channels is called omnichannel strategy. This study investigates why online retailers are investing in physical stores and what is the impact of this decision on their customer base. The study uses a two-step research. First, a case study on the Swedish retailer NetOnNet is conducted to confirm the theoretical framework and build the research model. Then, a quantitative research with questionnaire is used to investigate the impact of an omni-channel strategy on the consumers’ attitudes towards the retailer. The results show that awareness and control are the factors most affected by an omni-channel strategy. Instead, having both an online and offline presence does not have a relevant impact on the factors trust, perceived risk and personalisation.

This work studies factors of e-shops credibility on the field B2C. The aim of the work was to work out a summary of recommendations for businessmen, who deal with or consider internet marketing, and to introduce particular suggestions for a specific e-shop.