رفتار مشتری در تجارت الکترونیک : اثر تعدیل کننده تجربه خرید الکترونیکی

This study analyzes the perceptions which induce customers to purchase over the Internet, testing the moderating effect of e-purchasing experience. We distinguish between two groups: (1) potential e-customers, who are considering making their first e-purchase, and (2) experienced e-customers, who have made at least one e-purchase and are thinking about continuing to do so. The perceptions that induce individuals to purchase online for the first time may not be the same as those that produce repurchasing behavior. Our findings demonstrate that customer behavior does not remain stable because the experience acquired from past e-purchases means that perceptions evolve. The relationships between perceptions of e-commerce change with purchasing experience, whilst the influence of Internet experience is stable for all users. The implications are especially interesting for e-commerce providers whose business models depend on e-customer behavior.

The analysis of consumer behavior is a key aspect for the success of an e-business. However, the behavior of consumers in the Internet market changes as they acquire e-purchasing experience (Gefen et al., 2003 and Yu et al., 2005). The perceptions which induce them to make an initial e-purchase may have different effects on their subsequent decisions or repurchasing behavior because the use of the information technology (IT) may modify certain perceptions and attitudes (Thompson et al., 1994, Taylor and Todd, 1995 and Gefen et al., 2003). Despite these differences, very little research carried out in the e-commerce field has conducted a separate analysis of the perceptions related to the adoption and to the “post-adoption” decisions (Karahanna et al., 1999 and Vijayasarathy, 2004). Moreover, hardly any researchers have analyzed the behavior of e-customers as they gain experience (as Taylor and Todd, 1995 and Vijayasarathy, 2004 state). Most studies have considered that the low level of development of this new channel meant that the differences between the two decisions were not yet significant, and their principal objective was, therefore, to determine the perceptions which led consumers to adopt the Internet as an alternative shopping channel to the offline market (Chen et al., 2002 and Verhagen et al., 2006). Nevertheless, the growth of e-commerce has made it clear that customer behavior has evolved. As in other types of purchase situations (Sheth, 1968 and Heilman et al., 2000), customer behavior does not necessarily remain stable over time since the experience acquired from past purchases means that perceptions change (Taylor and Todd, 1995 and Yu et al., 2005). When customers repeat their behavior several times, they feel more and more in control and form favorable intentions about purchasing (Liao et al., 2006). Likewise, e-purchases allow the customers to become more familiar with the Internet as a shopping channel, to value some aspects of the shopping process more highly and to ignore certain characteristics that may have been important in the early stages. The principal objective of this paper is to analyze the perceptions which lead customers to purchase over the Internet, testing the moderating effect of e-purchasing experience. We distinguish between two types of behavior: the adoption of e-commerce (initial behavior or first purchase) and repurchase or subsequent behavior. We carried out this analysis in Spain and distinguished two groups in the sample; (1) potential e-customers, who are considering making their first e-purchase, and (2) experienced e-customers, who have made at least one e-purchase and are thinking about continuing to purchase through this channel. As Yu et al. (2005) affirm, potential users of an IT are different from experienced users, since they show different determinants for acceptance, intentions and usage. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989 and Davis et al., 1989), we try to test whether the perceptions of this model – ease of use and usefulness – and other variables, such as Internet experience, self-efficacy and attitude, influence the two behaviors mentioned above in the same way.

The conclusions obtained have important implications for the business sector and for academic research, derived principally from the analysis of two types of e-customers. This research has important contributions for e-commerce providers whose business models and revenue streams depend on e-customer behavior. However, it is important to remember that Spanish culture may have influenced the results. Regarding the academic implications, our results contribute to the study of technological acceptance and, more specifically, to the field of e-commerce. This is one of the few studies which includes purchasing experience as a variable moderating e-customer behavior and formulates ad hoc hypotheses to test it. Purchasing experience influences the evolution of e-customers' perceptions, attitude and behavior. Consequently, research on e-commerce must distinguish between customers who have no previous experience of e-shopping and those who base their perceptions on their experiences, establishing behavior patterns for each sample. Companies that wish to compete in the e-market must understand the type of customers they are addressing and develop their strategy according to whether they want to capture new e-customers or retain their existing ones. Policies aimed at encouraging e-shopping must be tailor-made for the needs of each type of e-customer, affecting different perceptions depending on the target clients. E-commerce providers cannot control the level of experience of e-customers but they can develop sites that include options for their customization and, then, guide e-customers through a shopping experience that is confidence-building. E-business must provide information about the properties, advantages and convenience of e-commerce, to potential e-customers (Otim and Grover, 2006). Thus, the initial stages of customer capture must concentrate on making individuals feel efficient and capable of correctly performing all types of e-transactions (self-efficacy and control). This sensation of self-efficacy will increase PU and, finally, the rate of adoption. After adoption, behavior does not remain static; purchasing experience verifies or refutes initial perceptions, so they undergo changes. So, having captured a new customer, companies should focus even more on aspects of self-efficacy and usefulness, as these factors will increase intentions to make further purchases. For experienced e-customers, interaction with a complex website will probably not cause them to abandon the purchasing process, since they are fully acquainted with the medium employed. PEOU is a factor which does not condition the success of e-commerce because experienced e-customers take it for granted. This conclusion implies that companies must concentrate on the PU of their commercial websites by offering an effectiveness which sets them apart from their competitors. E-customers will obtain added value if they find valuable information as well as services which are not available in any other channel. From a user retention perspective, this will cause greater satisfaction for experienced e-customers and lead to their retention in the e-market and, even, on a particular website. With respect to limitations and future lines of research, our study analyzes purchasing behavior without specifying the type of product exchanged (tangible or intangible) (Peterson et al., 1997). One weakness of the Internet is that it can only reproduce two of our five senses realistically (sight and sound). This limitation hinders the sale of some products on this channel and makes the Internet well suited to certain types of intangible or service-related goods (Phau and Poon, 2000 and Brown et al., 2003). We consider that the experience acquired by a customer from the e-purchase of certain products, may not affect the purchase of other, more tangible ones. In this case, e-shopping experience might not exert a moderating effect on behavior because the shopper may not consider the products previously acquired and the new acquisitions to be similar. This limitation argues for the need to introduce, in future research, the effect exerted by the type of product upon e-purchasing behavior. Finally, we think that the employment of a range of tools (described in Table 1) may affect users' perceptions and behavior because they provide different aspects of knowledge about the Internet. Therefore, we would also like to test the influence of the different tools available on the Internet and employed by the users. In future work, we will include a new factor that captures this variety and that will act as an antecedent of self-efficacy.