Customers as Volunteers? E-Customer Citizenship Behavior and Its Antecedents

The low barriers to enter into the e-marketplace have inevitably intensified the competition among e-retailers. Online retailers are struggling to build a sustainable business model that ensures customers’ continuing commitment to their businesses. This study addresses the challenges faced by eretailers in terms of examining website services and functionalities that would consequently lead to eloyalty among customers. Empirical findings, based on 385 online apparel shoppers, have shown that extending customers’ voluntary behavior (customer citizenship behavior) that can be cultivated upon gaining customers’ satisfaction and loyalty provide leads to a better future for e-retailer’s sustainability. This study examines the applicability of expectancy-disconfirmation theory and social exchange theory in the virtual world

Portuguese online searching and buying behavior for personal lifestyle products and services

The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate and relate with each other. E-commerce, has emerged as a naturally consequence of a new and exciting reality where everything can be accessed within the distance of a click. From products to services, or even ideas, all sorts of things can now be exchanged online. This online world, much different from the “real world” encompasses its specific characteristics, opportunities and challenges that represent an interesting, and at the same time complex, object of study. In the past few years, e-Commerce sales have been growing considerably, and Portugal has not distanced itself from this trend. However, despite the growing adoption of online commerce, very few studies have approached this subject taking into consideration the specificities of the Portuguese reality. Additionally, not only e-Commerce has its own determinants and defining elements, but also these elements change regarding the specific product category we are considering. Personal Lifestyle products, in this case, are directly associated with individual taste and preferences, in sum, with their lifestyle, and therefore represent a bigger challenge for online vendors, when satisfying its customer’s needs. This research consisted of an exploratory and quantitative study, combined with literature review on the topic online search and buying behavior, which allowed setting the ground for further statistical investigation.A Internet revolucionou a forma como os indivíduos comunicam e interagem. O e-Commerce surgiu como uma consequência natural desta nova e estimulante realidade onde tudo está à distância de um click. Desde produtos a serviços, passando por ideias, tudo pode ser trocado online. Este novo mundo online, bastante diferente do mundo real, possui as suas próprias características, oportunidades e desafios, que representam um objecto de estudo interessante e complexo. Nos últimos anos, as vendas online têm vindo a crescer consideravelmente, e Portugal tem acompanhado esta tendência. No entanto, apesar do crescimento significativo, a verdade é que muito poucos estudos têm abordado este tema, considerando as características específicas do país. A juntar aos elementos determinantes do e-Commerce, é necessário, ainda, considerar os elementos específicos da categoria de produtos considerada. Os produtos de estilo de vida pessoal, neste caso, estão diretamente associados ao gosto e preferências individuais, em suma, ao estilo de vida de cada individuo, representando um desafio acrescido para os vendedores online, que procuram satisfazer as necessidades de cada consumidor. Este estudo consiste num estudo exploratório e num estudo quantitativo, aliado à revisão de literatura e sobre o tópico que ajudou a preparar o caminho para a consequente análise estatística

Apparel recommendation system evolution: an empirical review

Purpose: With the developments of e-commerce markets, novel recommendation technologies are becoming an essential part of many online retailers' economic models to help drive online sales. Initially, the purpose of this paper is to undertake an investigation of apparel recommendations in the commercial market in order to verify the research value and significance. Then, this paper reviews apparel recommendation techniques and systems through academic research, aiming to acquaint apparel recommendation context, summarize the pros and cons of various research methods, identify research gaps and eventually propose new research solutions to benefit apparel retailing market. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilizes empirical research drawing on 130 academic publications indexed from online databases. The authors introduce a three-layer descriptor for searching articles, and analyse retrieval results via distribution graphics of years, publications and keywords. Findings: This study classified high-tech integrated apparel systems into 3D CAD systems, personalised design systems and recommendation systems. The authors' research interest is focussed on recommendation system. Four types of models were found, namely clothes searching/retrieval, wardrobe recommendation, fashion coordination and intelligent recommendation systems. The forth type, smart systems, has raised more awareness in apparel research as it is equipped with advanced functions and application scenarios to satisfy customers. Despite various computational algorithms tested in system modelling, existing research is lacking in terms of apparel and users profiles research. Thus, from the review, the authors have identified and proposed a more complete set of key features for describing both apparel and users profiles in a recommendation system. Originality/value: Based on previous studies, this is the first review paper on this topic in this subject field. The summarised work and the proposed new research will inspire future researchers with various knowledge backgrounds, especially, from a design perspective