What Women and Men Want in Online Product Reviews: Gender Effects on Review Helpfulness Perceptions

While academic researchers have studied online product reviews extensively, gender differences have received little attention in the context of online product reviews. This paper identifies important message features in online product reviews and examines which message features female and male consumers value more in evaluating the helpfulness of online product reviews. We collected data from real-world product reviews on Amazon.com and analyzed the data to test the proposed hypotheses. Based on the data analysis results, we find that, in determining helpfulness of online product reviews, female consumers consider more heavily average paragraph length, negative viewpoints, and inclusion of pictures. However, male consumers value positive viewpoints and usage of point format more in evaluating online product reviews. Based on the findings, important contributions to the literature are discussed

Lead Products, Marketing Profits, and Retail Store Choice

205 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.Based on the data collected at two supermarkets, it is found that lead products do exist, and they can influence consumers' store choice decisions. Consumers form associations between product categories and the most preferred stores for those product categories, and these associations are stronger in frequently purchased product categories than in infrequently purchased ones. These associations help consumers choose a store once lead products are identified. Lead products in perishable and frequently purchased product categories do not influence store choice. As a group, however, lead products in all product categories influence consumers' store choice. Specifically, meat/seafood, grocery, and liquor were found to significantly influence store choice decisions. The number of stores patronized, shopping trip type, age type, and distance to the store do not moderate the influence of lead products on store choice. Lastly, marketing profits provide quite different, yet more useful information about stores' profitability than the information that accounting profits provide. Different product categories draw consumers to different supermarkets. Overall, these findings suggest strong evidence for lead products as a viable store choice factor.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Lead Products, Marketing Profits, and Retail Store Choice

205 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005.Based on the data collected at two supermarkets, it is found that lead products do exist, and they can influence consumers' store choice decisions. Consumers form associations between product categories and the most preferred stores for those product categories, and these associations are stronger in frequently purchased product categories than in infrequently purchased ones. These associations help consumers choose a store once lead products are identified. Lead products in perishable and frequently purchased product categories do not influence store choice. As a group, however, lead products in all product categories influence consumers' store choice. Specifically, meat/seafood, grocery, and liquor were found to significantly influence store choice decisions. The number of stores patronized, shopping trip type, age type, and distance to the store do not moderate the influence of lead products on store choice. Lastly, marketing profits provide quite different, yet more useful information about stores' profitability than the information that accounting profits provide. Different product categories draw consumers to different supermarkets. Overall, these findings suggest strong evidence for lead products as a viable store choice factor.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

How Online Descriptions of Used Goods Affect Quality Assessment and Product Preferences: A Conjoint Study

Online sellers need to provide information about used products. This study answers two important related questions: (1) what kinds of product information should online sellers provide, and (2) how do different kinds of used product information affect online buyers’ preference and perception of quality? We find that when a used product is a high-involvement one, buyers’ preference of the product is more influenced by its physical condition than by price; however, when the product is a low-involvement product, its price is more important than the physical condition. Other information cues have a less significant impact on buyers’ preference