Who Seeks a Surprise Box? Predictors of Consumers\u27 Fashion and Beauty Subscription-Based Online Services (SOS)

Subscription-based online services (SOS) refers to an e-business that provides periodic delivery of a customized box of merchandise directly to the consumer\u27s home for a weekly/monthly subscription fee. What makes consumers use SOSs? As an initial attempt, this study investigated American consumers\u27 current usage of fashion and beauty SOS, and examined the relationships between five predictors—consumers\u27 age, gender, e-trust, fashion consciousness, exploratory product acquisition—and their usage of those SOSs

Factors Influencing Consumers\u27 Intention to Engage in International Online Outshopping: A Comparison of US and Indian Consumers\u27 Outshopping Intention at Chinese e-tailers

An unprecedented access to consumer goods online has further impacted this phenomenon giving rise to International Online Outshopping (IOO). In 2013, 34.1 million consumers in the US (Paypal, 2013) and a third of the 20 million online shoppers in India engaged in IOO (DHL, 2013). Clothing and apparel constituted the most purchased items with China being the most popular IOO destination. With this trend expected to grow exponentially, the need to understand consumers’ IOO intention is critical for US apparel retailers to retain domestic customers as well as target foreign consumers. This exploratory study examines the factors that affect US and Indian consumers’ intention to engage in IOO at Chinese e-tailers and examines the moderating effect of country on the influence of these factors on IOO intention

The effect of trust, transaction utility, and product uniqueness on International Online Outshopping (IOO) intention and customer delight: the role of e-tailer’s country image

International Online Outshopping (IOO) is the virtual movement of consumers from one electronic marketplace to another across the globe with the intention of purchasing goods from the convenience of their homes, at the click of a button. With an increasing number of U.S. consumers looking to shop for apparel-related products at foreign websites, this recent IOO phenomenon has raised questions among e-tailers and academicians as to the characteristics of this new-age, international online outshopper and the nature of an IOO purchase. Though there have been significant efforts to understand the characteristics of an outshopper in prior research, the process of an IOO purchase is yet to be understood comprehensively, especially in identifying the antecedents and consequences of an IOO purchase. Moreover, understanding of the influence of consumers’ perception of the e-tailer’s country image on their IOO intention is limited. Filling these research gaps, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a comprehensive framework consisting of both the antecedents of initial IOO intention and emotional consequences of an IOO purchase. Built on Commitment-Trust Theory, Mental Accounting Theory, Commodity Theory, and The Model of Customer Delight. The research framework consisted of two phases. Phase I manipulated and tested the effect of three antecedents (i.e., trust in e-tailer, transaction utility and product uniqueness) on IOO intention and included country image (U.K. image and China image) as the moderator of these effects (H1a-c to H3a-c). Phase II manipulated and tested the effect of the above three antecedents on the Model of Customer Delight which includes the emotions of surprise, arousal, positive affect, and customer delight (H4a-b to H11a-b). Both phases were tested on U.S. consumers’ IOO purchase at Chinese and U.K. e-tailers, the top two IOO destinations for U.S. consumers as well as leading developing and developed country e-tailers, respectively. An experiment was conducted by developing 16 IOO scenarios consisting of all possible combinations of high and low levels of trust (2) x transaction utility (2) x product uniqueness (2) at both Chinese (8 scenarios) and U.K. (8 scenarios) e-tailer settings. Using Qualtrics to conduct the experiment, 539 usable responses (275 Chinese and 264 U.K. e-tailer setting) were collected from college students. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 16 scenarios at either Chinese or U.K. e-tailer setting. Pre-tests were conducted to validate and refine the manipulation of high and low levels of trust, transaction utility and product uniqueness prior to data collection. Upon manipulation of the scenarios, participants’ IOO intention and their emotions in the Model of Customer Delight were captured using items on Likert-type scales. The hypotheses in the causal model (research framework) were tested using multiple-sample Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings of this study showed that, in Phase I, trust in an e-tailer positively influenced IOO intention at both Chinese and U.K. e-tailers (H1 a & b supported), transaction utility positively influenced IOO intention at U.K. e-tailers but not at Chinese e-tailers (H2a unsupported, H2b supported) and product uniqueness did not influence IOO intention at both Chinese and U.K. e-tailers (H3 a & b unsupported). Country image moderated only the relationship between transaction utility and IOO intention such that it was stronger in the U.K. than Chinese e-tailer settings; however, this effect was opposite to the strength that was hypothesized (H2c unsupported). There was no moderating effect of country image on the relationship between trust and IOO intention, and product uniqueness and IOO intention (H1c and H3c unsupported). The findings of Phase II revealed that trust was the only manipulated factor that influenced surprise while transaction utility and product uniqueness did not influence surprise. However, contrary to the hypothesis, this effect of trust on surprise was negative (H4 – H6 unsupported). Further analysis into this anomaly revealed that trust increased the level of surprise among consumers with no prior experience shopping at foreign websites, whereas it decreased the level of surprise among those with prior IOO experience. Finally, the relationships in the Model of Customer Delight were significant (H7 – H11 supported). This study extended the research in outshopping literature to understand the phenomenon of IOO by conducting an experimental study, thereby advancing the theoretical understanding of country image, online trust, transaction utility and customer delight. The findings of this study suggest to managers in the e-tailing industry that, developing a trustworthy website is the most important step towards generating purchase intention at that e-tailer’s website, regardless of the e-tailer’s country image. The limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are also provided

How does Price and Familiarity of a Smartwatch Brand Affect Consumers’ Perception of Quality, Risk, Value for Money, Brand Image and Purchase Intention? A Value-Based View

In a world where infusion of technology into everyday life is no more a fantasy, but a reality, smartwatches are becoming a ubiquitous part of consumers’ attire serving different functions for different aspects of life from work to workout. Since smartwatches have been identified by prior research as being both a technology and fashion related product, research in this arena of consumption has garnered increasing attention. This study tests the impact of price (low, medium and high) and familiarity of brand (well-known and unknown) on consumer perception of risk, quality, value for money, brand image and purchase intention of these smartwatches. The findings suggest that perception of quality, value for money and purchase intention changed with change in price points for both well-known and unknown brands. Price affects each of the five variables differently when comparing their effects in well-known and unknown brands. Discussion and implication of results are provided.</p

The Effect of Trust, Transaction Utility, and Product Uniqueness on International Online Outshopping (IOO) Intention and Customer Delight: The Role of E-tailer's Country Image

International online outshopping (IOO) is the act of shopping for products from foreign websites (e.g., Asos, Alibaba). Though U.S. consumers are among the top international online outshoppers, their initial IOO intention and post-IOO emotions are yet to be understood. Moreover, an understanding of the role of e-tailer's country image in forming initial IOO intention is also lacking. The purpose of this study is to test a research framework consisting of antecedents of initial IOO intention and emotional consequences of an IOO purchase of U.S. consumers at Chinese and U.K. e-tailers, the top IOO destinations for U.S. consumers. The findings revealed that trust was one of the most important antecedents of initial IOO intention at Chinese and U.K. e-tailers, and transaction utility influenced initial IOO intention at U.K. but not Chinese e-tailers. In addition, by engaging in IOO, U.S. consumers are surprised, aroused, positively affected, and delighted. Implications are discussed.</p

Who Seeks a Surprise Box? Predictors of Consumers' Fashion and Beauty Subscription-Based Online Services (SOS)

Subscription-based online services (SOS) refers to an e-business that provides periodic delivery of a customized box of merchandise directly to the consumer's home for a weekly/monthly subscription fee. What makes consumers use SOSs? As an initial attempt, this study investigated American consumers' current usage of fashion and beauty SOS, and examined the relationships between five predictors—consumers' age, gender, e-trust, fashion consciousness, exploratory product acquisition—and their usage of those SOSs.</p

Modeling consumers’ intention to use fashion and beauty subscription-based online services (SOS)

Abstract This study examined one of the new consumption styles of modern consumers, subscription-based online services (SOS), which is often called as box retailing. The purpose of this study was to empirically test six antecedents—utilitarian motivations, hedonic motivations, fashion consciousness, consumer innovativeness, desire for unique products, and online transaction self-efficacy—as predictors of consumers’ attitude toward and intention to use fashion/beauty SOS. The theory of reasoned action was used as a theoretical foundation. With responses from 385 American consumers on an online survey, the theoretical model was tested in the fashion/beauty SOS context using structural equation modeling on LISREL. Results indicated that utilitarian and hedonic motivations, fashion consciousness, and online transaction self-efficacy indirectly influence intention to use fashion/beauty SOS, mediated by attitude towards fashion/beauty SOS. Instead of being mediated by attitude towards fashion/beauty SOS, consumer innovativeness and desire for unique products directly influence intention to use fashion/beauty SOS. Subjective norm positively influences intention to use fashion/beauty SOS. By identifying the factors that can predict consumers’ attitude towards and intention to use this new type of fashion/beauty consumption, this study addresses an evolving trend in home-based shopping behavior. Theoretically, as one of the earliest studies in this phenomenon, this study lays the theoretical groundwork paving way for further exploration in this area. Managers of fashion and beauty SOSs also can utilize these findings to more accurately target the appropriate consumer segment and streamline their marketing messages in accordance