A Look at the New Online Consumer Behavior on Social Media Platforms

Technological advances have caused great business changes. In this new business environment, the internet has become an indispensable technology tool in the creation of new business models, based on the exchange relations between customers/suppliers/distributors/partners, with a significant increase in online purchasing transactions. This virtual environment has provided the development of e-commerce and efficiency gains and influences changes in consumer habits, thus changing consumer behavior. The online purchase presents an important change in consumer behavior; thus, the understanding of online consumer behavior is essential to understand the impact of this behavior on business. This chapter follows a systematic analysis of the literature with a qualitative approach to online consumer behavior in the last 5 years (2015-2020) in order to verify research topics and development patterns. The aim is to identify trends in online consumer behavior and recognize research gaps by providing avenues for further research into online consumer behavior.

Online Consumer Behavior in Buying Samsung Smartphones

Purchasing decision is the culmination of consumer behavior, in which finally, the consumers will do purchase having passed through some stages of consumer behavior. In this research, consumer behaviors being the variable of research are price, brandtrust, and online service, while the variable affected is purchasing decision. Purchasing decision implemented online is, of course, more complex than the one implemented directly, in which buyers interact face to face with the sellers. The objective of research is to analyze the effect of price, brandtrust, and online service on purchasing decision made in online purchase in the students of Faculty of Economics and Business, Sebelas Maret University (Universitas Sebelas Maret). Questionnaire was used as an instrument of collecting data in this research and SPSS version 24 software was used to analyze data. Data analysis was carried out using a multiple linear regression. The result of research shows that price, brandtrust and online service quality affect the decision of purchasing Samsung smartphone positively and significantly, either partially or simultaneously.

Frontiers: The Impact of Ad-Blockers on Online Consumer Behavior

This paper investigates the impact of ad-blockers on online search and purchasing behaviors by empirically analyzing a consumer-level panel data set.

Subtle Signals of Status on Social Network Sites: Evidence From China

Social network sites (SNS) have been indispensable channels for people to access information, present themselves, and conduct commercial activities. Existing literature on online consumer behavior mainly focus on Western consumers and on explicit conspicuous signals. However, reports have shown that SNS users in China have exceeded 370 million, ranking the first in the world. Meanwhile, more and more consumers display status in more implicit ways nowadays. To fill these gaps, the present research was conducted to investigate the subtle signals of status for Chinese consumers on SNS. We proposed that frequent SNS posting leads to higher status perception among Chinese consumers. The psychological process of this effect is perceived busyness. These hypotheses received convergent support in a set of three studies. Study 1 used secondary data to preliminarily verify the positive correlation between SNS posting frequency and perceived social status. Studies 2A and 2B adopted the causal chain method to test the underlying mechanism of the effect, and to provide causal evidence for the entire relationship chain. Specifically, Study 2A examined how SNS posting frequency affects perceived busyness. Furthermore, Study 2B explored whether the differences in perceived busyness will affect social status perceptions. Implications of these findings and potential extensions in future are discussed.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Consumer Purchasing Behavior

With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing importance of e-commerce, the study of online consumer behavior is of particular relevance. The purpose of this study was to form a methodological approach to assess the relationships and the level of influence of the factors activating the purchasing behavior of online consumers against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research methodology was based on the transformation of Cattell’s questionnaire and the implementation of correlation analysis. To determine the predisposition of online consumer behavior at the time of making a purchase decision, this study used the questionnaire method. The survey was conducted among online shoppers in the top 10 countries in terms of e-commerce market growth. The scientific contribution is the proposed methodological toolkit to assess the purchasing behavior of online consumers, which identifies the most influential factors in their purchasing behavior and provides an opportunity to assess the dynamics of their activity during the study period, to identify key trends and determine changes in their behavior. The research revealed what changes in online consumer buying behavior are typical in the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of consumer awareness and experience has increased. Online consumers have become more experienced, which has influenced the activity of their buying behavior. This study proved the shifting influence of online consumer purchasing behavior factors during the pandemic. The increasing importance of the speed of decision making by consumers when purchasing goods and services online was determined.

Seeing is Believing

Images are frequently used in online reviews, yet little research explores the effects that images have on online consumer behavior. This two-study investigation examines the effects of images in electronic word of mouth (eWOM) for both hedonic and utilitarian products. Results show that images affect the relationship between review text and purchase intention as well as trust for both product categories. However, images were shown to be more effective for hedonic than utilitarian products. Interestingly, it was found that congruence between the image and text is not a significant predictor of trust or purchase intention in some conditions (i.e., the images may not have to perfectly reflect the text to facilitate these outcomes for utilitarian products).

Research Jungle on Online Consumer Behaviour in the Context of Web 2.0: Traceability, Frontiers and Perspectives in the Post-Pandemic Era

In recent years, the study of online consumption behavior has gradually formed its research system and analysis model based on the inheritance of traditional research paradigms, focusing on the inner mechanism of consumption models explained by consumption activities. Online consumption is based on the research scenario of social e-commerce and forms a broad research network through the extension of consumer objects, consumer psychology, and consumer concepts. Although the theoretical constructs of online consumer behavior continue to improve, the relevant studies still do not fully grasp the research frontiers due to the lagging research nature. In the context of Web 2.0, it is impossible to run through the latest developments in online consumption research. Moreover, the study of online consumer behavior has shown a trend of diversification and multiple schools of thought, and a research jungle has emerged, which in essence is the perfection and new height of the study of consumerism. This paper analyses the origins, frontiers, and prospects of online consumer behavior research to clarify the formation principles, development paths, and future directions of the online consumer behavior research jungle. Ultimately based on the economic changes in the post-pandemic context, this paper integrates and proposes an evolving mechanism for studying online consumption behavior, intending to achieve a peek into and reveal the jungle of online consumption research.

Metrics Gone Wrong: What Managers Can Learn from the 2016 US Presidential Election

In the 2016 presidential election, the vast majority of available polls showed a comfortable lead for Hillary Clinton throughout the whole race, but in the end, she lost. Campaign managers could have known better, if they had had a closer look at other data sources and variables that – like polls – show voter engagement and preferences. In the political arena, donations, media coverage, social media followership, engagement and sentiment may similarly indicate how well a candidate is doing, and most of these variables are available for free. Validating the bigger picture with alternative data sources is not limited to politics. The latest marketing research shows that online-consumer-behavior metrics can enrich, and sometimes replace, traditional funnel metrics. Trusting a single ‘silver bullet’ metric does not just lead to surprises, it can also mislead managerial decision-making. Econometric models can help disentangle a complex web of dynamic interactions and show immediate and lagged effects of marketing or political events.