The Effect of Product Presentation and Website Trust Features on the Perception of Counterfeit Deception

The Internet has provided a new advantage for counterfeiters - the opportunity to sell goods without prior consumer inspection. Leveraging this opportunity, deceitful purveyors of imitation goods use product presentation and website trust features to sell counterfeit goods as genuine. Based on trust and deception theories we propose that there are two categories of counterfeit deception mechanisms online: product level information and seller level information. Counterfeiters conceal the signals that identify the product as a fake using product presentation, and present themselves as legitimate business entities using website trust features. We find that advanced product presentation has a positive influence on consumers’ perception of the authenticity of products. The results of this study are informative and might be effective in further exploration of deception mechanisms in online counterfeit markets

Deception Tactics and Counterfeit Deception in Online Environments

With widespread globalization happening at an alarming speed, the manufacturing and copying of goods has become a matter of routine for counterfeiters. The Internet has provided a new advantage for counterfeiters - the opportunity to sell goods without prior consumer inspection. Leveraging this opportunity, deceitful purveyors of imitation goods engage in unethical practices such as selling counterfeit goods presenting them as genuine. We propose that there are two categories of counterfeit deception mechanisms online: product level information and seller level information. In order to successfully deceive prospective buyers, sellers conceal the signals that identify the offering as a fake, and present themselves as legitimate business entities. In this research-in-progress paper, we outline several propositions to guide future research in this area. We are currently conducting an empirical study to test these propositions

Understanding the beliefs and intentions in search and purchase functions in an e-commerce web site

10.1109/TEM.2008.922641IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management561106-114IEEM

Social Media Marketing Strategy and Marketing Performance: Evidence from E-Commerce Firms in Thailand

Undeniably, social media has come to a higher degree of popularity in the online world. Currently, most businesses have been utilizing any social media platforms for social media marketing in their strategy. Yet, in this sense it still has to be explored concerning how social media marketing strategy affects marketing performance. Therefore, this paper aims at investigates the relationship between dimension of social media marketing strategy (SMMS) and marketing outcomes. The questionnaires of 298 e-commerce firms in Thailand were collected. Regression analysis was employed to verify the hypotheses. The evidence highlights that market response timeliness orientation has the strongest positive significance for all marketing outcomes. Both product diversity presentation awareness and proactive competitor learning capability are significantly positive to marketing operation excellence. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that each dimension of SMMS required either marketing operation excellence or increased customer satisfaction as a mediator variable effect on marketing performance. The finding not only provides contributions but also recommendation for future research

Online Retailer vs. Click and Mortar Retailer: Who Performs Better?

Retail business is characterized by different business models: pure-play model and dual channel approach, which uses both physical and online channels to reach customers. There is conflicting evidence regarding the relative value of these business models to the consumers. We take a market valuation approach to evaluate the relative merits of both business models. We consider a panel of publicly traded US retailers and evaluate how their sales performance impacts their Tobin’s q. We find that the dual channel retailers receive a market premium for their sales revenue as compared to the pure-play retailers. This higher valuation can be associated with higher customer satisfaction with dual channel firms leading to a higher intangible value as compared to the pure-play firms. Our results have important implications for retailers as we demonstrate the value of different channels. Our work also contributes to the existing literature on online consumer retailing and multichannel research

Website speed testing analysis using speedtesting model

Page load speed reflects the website´s performance. It has a significant influence on user experience and satisfaction. In this work we study and analyze the reasons cause the slowness of webpages load speed. By the deep investigation of the related literature and the review of websites speed testing services from different perspectives such as functions, interface and additional settings. We present a detailed recommendations that can be followed to optimize site's performance. Our hypotheses about reliability of website speed testing has been tested and conformed experimentally. 378 individual speed tests with various combinations of settings experiments have been performed to confirm out hypotheses, and recommendations have been provided based on our results. We believe that following these rules would ensure significantly more reliable website speed testing in comparison with a common practic

A Meta-analytic investigation of consumer response to anthropomorphic appeals: The roles of product type and uncertainty avoidance

We aim to resolve the mixed findings on the effectiveness of anthropomorphic appeals in generating positive product evaluations from consumers. In a meta-analysis of 47 papers that explores the persuasive impact of anthropomorphic versus non-anthropomorphic appeals, we show that when the salience of uncertainty is high (e.g., when consumers purchase experience products, when consumers come from countries with high uncertainty avoidance), anthropomorphic appeals are more influential than non-anthropomorphic appeals. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, and how to improve persuasive messaging by considering the contextual effectiveness of anthropomorphism

THE CONSUMER CHOICE OF E-CHANNELS AS A PURCHASING AVENUE: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COMMUNICATIVE ASPECTS OF INFORMATION QUALTIY

A conspicuous paradox is evident in the statistics concerning purchases over the internet. While a majority of the US population uses the internet to seek product information for purchasing decisions, less than two percent of actual retail sales occur on the Internet. To explain this small ratio of e-channel choice for purchase, a comprehensive model that extends DeLone and McLean\u27s (2004) e-commerce success model was developed. The model centers on the importance of perceived information quality and its relationship to e-channel choice as a purchasing channel. Using the overarching theoretical frame of motivation, two questions were examined: (a) what influences consumers\u27 perception of the quality of information in e-channels, and (b) how information quality influences the consumers\u27 choice of e-channels in purchasing products. Four constructs, based on dimensions of communication theories, are put forward to be important determinants in consumers\u27 perception of information quality in e-channels, which ultimately shape their decision to purchase over the internet. Telepresence and screening capability in the message dimension, and channel trust in receiver dimension are theorized to positively affect perceived information quality. It is also hypothesized that as consumers experience higher levels of cognitive overhead as they use the internet, this will negatively impact perceived information quality in e-channels. Since telepresence is potentially the most manipulative among these factors through current web technologies, this study further investigates its antecedents. Based on human information processing styles, standardization of specification, sensory descriptiveness, feedback quality, and interactivity are presented as technological design elements to increase telepresence. The methodology used combined survey and a quasi-experiment, where several important parameters of the experiment were controlled to measure the research model. Several pilot studies were conducted to validate the quasi-experimental design and construct measurement. Analysis using structured equation modeling on a useable sample frame of 309 students provided support that perceived information quality has a positive effect on consumers\u27 choice of e-channels over physical channels for product purchase. Support was found for all factors to information quality and telepresence except feedback quality\u27s effect on telepresence. Overall, this study presents a framework of e-channel choice that combines motivation theory with the e-commerce success model, and enables better understanding of online consumer behavior. A common belief about the inadequacy of experience goods for electronic transaction is challenged. The results of this study provide insight into the pivotal role of information quality in addressing performance risk, thereby shedding a light on what makes consumers to use e-channels mostly as an information source rather than a purchasing point. Information quality is revealed as a key link between the evaluation aspects of the information search stage and the purchasing aspects of the choice stage. Four effective levers to increase information quality are identified, and telepresence is identified as the most promising tool to increase perceived information quality