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>

The research addressed the factors contributing to the success or failure of an Internet-based communication web site in assisting business-to-business companies to create, establish and/or enhance sustainable customer relationships. To achieve the outcome, a web site was designed, developed, delivered and evaluated to assist a business-to-business company to create, establish and enhance a sustainable corporate image as perceived by their primary clients. The design, development and evaluation of the web site consisted of the following sub-processes:  A review of relevant literature: firstly to reflect upon communication through the wired world, and secondly to determine how the information revolution influences the way people think, work and live.  A survey of the literature dealing specifically with new strategic marketing perspectives, in order to identify the demands placed on a company's business strategy by the new strategic marketing perspectives, and to determine what these strategies are.  A survey of the literature dealing with information design and the web usability of Internet-¬based programmes with a view to designing and developing a web site for a business-to¬ business company which complied with various design specifications that influence the effectiveness and accessibility thereof.  Finally, designing and evaluating the web site to identify potential usability problems. The three evaluation methods used were paper prototyping, machine prototyping and usability testing. The rationale being to identify major usability problems and to obtain measure from intended users and a usability expert on the effectiveness, efficiency and user-interface satisfaction of the web site. The web site was used as basis for compiling a survey questionnaire to test the degree to which respondents strongly agreed or disagreed with statements on the following features of the web site:  Communication  Relationship building  Customer service  Design  Usability The questionnaire also covered aspects on computer and Internet usage experience, access and literacy of the respondents. The survey questionnaire was sent to the target population of primary clients of the participating company, the group of intended end users. The empirical results obtained indicated that employing good information architecture that is based on customers' needs, as well as the iterative development of a web site could assist a business-to-business company to create, establish and enhance a sustainable corporate image as perceived by their primary clients. / Thesis (DPhil (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Information Science / unrestricted