Retail restructuring and consumer choice 1:long term local changes in consumer behaviour : Portsmouth 1980-2002

Over the last two decades fundamental changes have taken place in the global supply and local structure of provision of British food retailing. Consumer lifestyles have also changed markedly. Despite some important studies of local interactions between new retail developments and consumers, we argue in this paper that there is a critical need to gauge the cumulative effects of these changes on consumer behaviour over longer periods. In this, the first of two papers, we present the main findings of a study of the effects of long-term retail change on consumers at the local level. We provide in this paper an overview of the changing geography of retail provision and patterns of consumption at the local level. We contextualise the Portsmouth study area as a locality that typifies national changes in retail provision and consumer lifestyles; outline the main findings of two large-scale surveys of food shopping behaviour carried out in 1980 and 2002; and reveal the impacts of retail restructuring on consumer behaviour. We focus in particular on choice between stores at the local level and end by problematising our understanding of how consumers experience choice, emphasising the need for qualitative research. This issue is then dealt with in our complementary second paper, which explores choice within stores and how this relates to the broader spatial context.

Personal privacy as a positive experience of shopping:an illustration through the case of online grocery shopping

Purpose - This paper aims to demonstrate the need for an improved understanding of the opportunities offered by privacy online. This is contextualized in the case of supermarket purchases of food in particular, often described as an intimate and personal choice. In the case of grocery shopping, the "intimacy" may be at the household level between members or/and between e-grocers' food offerings, and their other "non-food" related services Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws upon social practice theory research, retailing and consumer behaviour in order to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the value of positive privacy. The research uses 39 in-depth interviews of e-grocery shoppers in the area of Portsmouth (UK). Findings - This paper suggests a framework for embedded elements of positive privacy into retailing strategy as a driver for growth in the e-grocery sector. Three meta-themes requiring different approaches to privacy are uncovered. Positive privacy is dynamic and contextual at the consumer/household levels as well as for product/e-grocery brands. Research limitations/implications - This paper advocates the building of long-term sustainable relationship through sharing, offering, and exchange of information rather than pure technological chasing of data. Originality/value - A consumer centred bottom-up approach is employed demonstrating the value of two-way dialogues with consumers on sensitive issues. E-grocery is used as an illustration that involves regular re-purchase of a basket of staple goods over a long period of time where privacy becomes a latent long-term concern. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Does online information drive offline revenues? Only for specific products and consumer segments!

While many offline retailers have developed informational websites that offer information on products and prices, the key question for such informational websites is whether they can increase revenues via web-to-store shopping. The current paper draws on the information search literature to specify and test hypotheses regarding the offline revenue impact of adding an informational website. Explicitly considering marketing efforts, a latent class model distinguishes consumer segments with different short-term revenue effects, while a Vector Autoregressive model on these segments reveals different long-term marketing response. We find that the offline revenue impact of the informational website critically depends on the product category and customer segment. The lower online search costs are especially beneficial for sensory products and for customers distant from the store. Moreover, offline revenues increase most for customers with high web visit frequency. We find that customers in some segments buy more and more expensive products, suggesting that online search and offline purchases are complements. In contrast, customers in a particular segment reduce their shopping trips, suggesting their online activities partially substitute for experiential shopping in the physical store. Hence, offline retailers should use specific online activities to target specific product categories and customer segments.

Household pre-purchase practices and online grocery shopping

This paper explores household pre-purchase practices and their mediation by information and communications technologies (ICTs), specifically online grocery shopping. Drawing on practice theory, the impacts of ICTs on household grocery shopping behavior are conceptualized, and the concept of "front-loading" is introduced. Emerging themes generated from 31 semi-structured interviews conducted via Skype with Turkish consumers focusing on their experiences of online grocery practices are presented. To this end, the contribution of this paper is twofold. First, an understanding of the domestication of online grocery shopping and its affect on the dynamics of household decision making, information sharing, and responsibilities of tasks before the actual act of online shopping is developed. Second, how such pre-purchase practices undertaken by consumers act as a catalyst of change at the industry level is appraised.

An online study combining the constructs from the theory of planned behaviour and protection motivation theory in predicting intention to test for chlamydia in two testing contexts

Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted infection that has potentially serious consequences unless detected and treated early. The health service in the UK offers clinic-based testing for chlamydia but uptake is low. Identifying the predictors of testing behaviours may inform interventions to increase uptake. Self-tests for chlamydia may facilitate testing and treatment in people who avoid clinic-based testing. Self-testing and being tested by a health care professional (HCP) involve two contrasting contexts that may influence testing behaviour. However, little is known about how predictors of behaviour differ as a function of context. In this study, theoretical models of behaviour were used to assess factors that may predict intention to test in two different contexts: self-testing and being tested by a HCP. Individuals searching for or reading about chlamydia testing online were recruited using Google Adwords. Participants completed an online questionnaire that addressed previous testing behaviour and measured constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Protection Motivation Theory, which propose a total of eight possible predictors of intention. The questionnaire was completed by 310 participants. Sufficient data for multiple regression were provided by 102 and 118 respondents for self-testing and testing by a HCP respectively. Intention to self-test was predicted by vulnerability and self-efficacy, with a trend-level effect for response efficacy. Intention to be tested by a HCP was predicted by vulnerability, attitude and subjective norm. Thus, intentions to carry out two testing behaviours with very similar goals can have different predictors depending on test context. We conclude that interventions to increase self-testing should be based on evidence specifically related to test context.

Predicting answering behaviour in online question answering communities

The value of Question Answering (Q&A) communities is dependent on members of the community finding the questions they are most willing and able to answer. This can be difficult in communities with a high volume of questions. Much previous has work attempted to address this problem by recommending questions similar to those already answered. However, this approach disregards the question selection behaviour of the answers and how it is affected by factors such as question recency and reputation. In this paper, we identify the parameters that correlate with such a behaviour by analysing the users' answering patterns in a Q&A community. We then generate a model to predict which question a user is most likely to answer next. We train Learning to Rank (LTR) models to predict question selections using various user, question and thread feature sets. We show that answering behaviour can be predicted with a high level of success, and highlight the particular features that inuence users' question selections.

Modelling question selection behaviour in online communities

Value of online Question Answering (QandA) communities is driven by the question-answering behaviour of its members. Finding the questions that members are willing to answer is therefore vital to the effcient operation of such communities. In this paper, we aim to identify the parameters that cor- relate with such behaviours. We train different models and construct effective predictions using various user, question and thread feature sets. We show that answering behaviour can be predicted with a high level of success.

The discourse of online consumer reviews

Review: The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews, Camilla Vásquez. Bloomsbury, London and New York (2014), 210 pp., £75, Hardback, ISBN: 978-1-4411-9628-6

Consumer behaviour and lifestyle patterns of Hungarian students in view of environmental awareness

The aim of this paper is to describe the consumer behaviour and everyday lifestyle patterns of Hungarian university and college students. The results are gained from an international survey, carried out by the Department of Environmental Economics and Technology at the Corvinus University of Budapest, supported by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. As background literature, characteristics of the consumer society and the development of sustainable consumption as a concept are interpreted in the paper. The empirical analysis aims to describe the most important clusters of students, based on the factors of their consumer behaviour, environmental activism and pro-environmental everyday habits. Our results identify two extreme clusters which most significantly differ from each other: the environmental activists and the indifferent group. However, a third cluster has the most modest consumer behaviour, namely the group which considers product features, energy consumption and the behaviour of producers. They spend the least on consumer goods. The three other clusters show quite mixed lifestyle patterns.

Fogyasztói magatartás a hazai utazási szolgáltatások piacán - a hibrid vásárlói magatartás vizsgálata (Consumer behaviour on market of the Hungarian travel services – Examination of hybrid consumption)

A szerzők kutatási projektjükben a hazai lakosság utazással kapcsolatos fogyasztási, vásárlási magatartását vizsgálták, különös tekintettel a hibrid fogyasztói viselkedés alakulására. A kutatás a rendszeresen utazó vagy az utazás iránt érdeklődő csoportra terjedt ki. Az első, kvalitatív fázisban a nyaralás értelmezését, a keresés és döntés kritériumait tárták fel, majd következő lépésben statisztikai elemzésekkel vizsgálták a fogyasztói magatartás jellemzőit. Indexszámítás alapján besorolták a válaszadókat a hibrid fogyasztás kategóriáiba. Besorolásuk szerint a megtakarításorientált olcsón vásárlók és a komfortorientált márkavásárlók jelentik a legnagyobb csoportokat, az előbbi 31,9%-ot, az utóbbi 29,6%-ot képviselve a mintában. A megtakarítás-orientált márkavásárlók 21%-ot, a komfortorientált olcsón vásárlók 17,5%-ot tesznek ki. Elemzésük igazolta, hogy a hibrid vásárlói magatartás elméleti megközelítése jól használható a hazai utazási piac elemzésekor. ________ Recent study examines travelling behaviour in Hungary with special emphasis on hybrid consumption. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis the study explore the decision making process related to hybrid consumption in travel services. Based on indexes the authors classified respondents into categories of hybrid consumption. According to their classification the main groups are savings-oriented budget shoppersand comfort-oriented brand shoppers, representing 31,9% and 29,6% share in the total sample, accordingly. Based on their analysis the approach of hybrid consumption proved to be useful to analyse consumer behaviour in travel services.

Navigating health sources on the Internet: A mixed-methods examination of online consumer reviews and expert text on psychotropic drugs

Purpose. The Internet has provided an unprecedented opportunity for psychotropic medication consumers, a traditionally silenced group in clinical trial research, to have voice by contributing to the construction of drug knowledge in an immediate, direct manner. Currently, there are no systematic appraisals of the potential of online consumer drug reviews to contribute to drug knowledge. The purpose of this research was to explore the content of drug information on various websites representing themselves as consumer- and expert-constructed, and as a practical consideration, to examine how each source may help and hinder treatment decision-making.^ Methodology. A mixed-methods research strategy utilizing a grounded theory approach was used to analyze drug information on 5 exemplar websites (3 consumer- and 2 expertconstructed) for 2 popularly prescribed psychotropic drugs (escitalopram and quetiapine). A stratified simple random sample was used to select 1,080 consumer reviews from the websites (N=7,114) through February 2009. Text was coded using QDA Miner 3.2 software by Provalis Research. A combination of frequency tables, descriptive excerpts from text, and chi-square tests for association were used throughout analyses.^ Findings. The most frequently mentioned effects by consumers taking either drug were related to psychological/behavioral symptoms and sleep. Consumers reported many of the same effects as found on expert health sites, but provided more descriptive language and situational examples. Expert labels of less serious on certain effects were not congruent with the sometimes tremendous burden described by consumers. Consumers mentioned more than double the themes mentioned in expert text, and demonstrated a diversity and range of discourses around those themes.^ Conclusions. Drug effects from each source were complete relative to the information provided in the other, but each also offered distinct advantages. Expert health sites provided concise summaries of medications’ effects, while consumer reviews had the added advantage of concrete descriptions and greater context. In short, consumer reviews better prepared potential consumers for what it’s like to take psychotropic drugs. Both sources of information benefit clinicians and consumers in making informed treatment-related decisions. Social work practitioners are encouraged to thoughtfully utilize online consumer drug reviews as a legitimate additional source for assisting clients in learning about treatment options.^

Consumer perceived risk, risk reduction strategies and transaction intentions in online marketplaces

Even though online commerce has garnered vast academic interest during the recent years, theoretical grounds for consumer behavior online still remains ambiguous. Despite the globally rapid growth of online commerce, only a fraction of Internet browsers end up purchasing goods online. This is argued to be caused by the intangible and distant nature of the Internet, causing overwhelming perceived risks for consumers and negatively affecting transaction intentions. To combat perceived risks, consumers may actively or passively seek to relieve those risks to tolerable level. These risk reduction strategies refer to both institutional mechanisms as well as consumer risk reduction strategies. The objective of this thesis is to provide further understanding upon the relationships between consumer perceived risk, risk reduction strategies and transaction intentions in online marketplaces. To serve the objectives of the present thesis, a quantitative approach was chosen as the method for conducting empirical research. The data was collected with an online survey through discussion board, using a random sample approach. The proposed research model was examined with a set of hierarchical regression analyses. Results revealed several direct relationships as well as moderating interaction effects. The key finding of this thesis is that institutional risk reduction mechanisms significantly contribute to consumer perceived risks. These mechanisms have the potential to reduce perceived risks, and therefore may stimulate transaction intentions. Additionally, it was observed that risk reduction strategies moderate the relationship between intermediary provided risk relievers, consumer perceived risks and transaction intentions. Retailer related risk reduction strategies were also shown to enforce the effectiveness of payment methods; however feedback and monitoring mechanism was shown to have a diminishing effect of perceived risk only when consumers did not rely on product related risk reduction strategies. The present thesis also illustrates the importance of effective information search, as those consumers are more willing to transact as the perceived risks become less significant. For managerial purposes, the importance of well-functioning institutional mechanisms cannot be emphasized enough.

Social support in cyberspace: A content analysis of communication within a Huntington’s Disease online support group

Objective: Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an inherited disorder, characterised by a progressive degeneration of the brain. Due to the nature of the symptoms, the genetic element of the disease and the fact that there is no cure, HD patients and those in their support network often experience considerable stress and anxiety. With an expansion in Internet access, individuals affected by HD have new opportunities for information retrieval and social support. The aim of this study is to examine the provision of social support in messages posted to a HD online support group bulletin board. Methods: In total, 1313 messages were content analysed using a modified version of the Social Support Behaviour Code developed by Cutrona & Suhr (1992). Results: The analysis indicates that group members most frequently offered informational (56.2%) and emotional support (51.9%) followed by network support (48.4%) with esteem support (21.7%) and tangible assistance (9.8%) least frequently offered. Conclusion: This study suggests that exchanging informational and emotional support represents a key function of this online group. Practice implications: Online support groups provide a unique opportunity for health professionals to learn about the experiences and views of individuals affected by HD and explore where and why gaps may exist between evidence-based medicine and consumer behaviour and expectations.

Travellers’ intention to purchase travel online: integrating trust and risk to the theory of planned behaviour

This study aims to determine which factors influence travellers’ intentions to purchase travel online by proposing and empirically testing a new model grounded on the theory of planned behaviour. In order to validate the model, a web-based questionnaire was applied and a total of 1732 valid responses were obtained. The findings show that attitudes, perceived risk, and perceived behavioural control have significant effects on intentions to purchase travel online. However, contrary to what was expected, neither trust nor the influence of others seems to directly affect intentions to purchase travel online. Finally, the paper discusses the findings with the implicationsfor theory and practice and makes several suggestions for future research.