Internet Consumer Behaviour

There are many reasons why a customer may or may not decide to purchase a product online; reasons that are often related to the product features themselves, but, in some circumstances the decision to purchase has little to do with the actual product or the price people are prepared to pay. Key issues surrounding trust, privacy and security of personal information[1] have an enormous effect on the relationship between a potential customer, a website, and the business operating it. The value of ‘word of mouth’ communications in the decision making process is being taken a step forward as websites encourage customers to communicate with each other. Auction sites such as Ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk) as well as Price Comparison sites such as PriceRunner (http://www.pricerunner.co.uk) and Kelkoo (http://www.kelkoo.co.uk) encourage users to leave feedback about their transactions and experiences to enable potential customers to make a more informed decision about the person or company there may do business with. These facilities that enable customers to communicate with each other help to build trust[2]. The promotion of these elements such as trust help to remove possible objections to using the service[3].

The provision of a feedback system such as this is by no means foolproof. A certain number of more unscrupulous Ebay members have in the past auctioned feedback for other users enabling them to essentially create a false impression of positive trade. This has resulted in some negative publicity for Ebay in the media and Television such as the BBC ‘Watchdog’[4] series. Although this is clearly against the Membership Policies of Ebay[5] and Ebay is doing much to stop these instances from happening there is still a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable online behaviour. According to the Ebay Membership Policies, the sale of a membership ID is prohibited however a recent search of Ebay resulted in a listing of a seller selling their password (not their ID), giving access to over 1000 positive ratings.

Ultimately, Ebay is not responsible for the actions of its members although it arguably has an interest in ensuring good behaviour. It is an auction site although not an auctioneer; it is a market like any other so the notion of ‘caveat emptor’ or ‘buyer beware’ still applies.

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[1] Hoffman, D. L., Novak, T. P., & Peralta, M. A. (1999). Building Consumer Trust Online. Communications of the ACM, 42(4), 80-85.

[2] Zwick, D., & Dholakia, N. (2004). Consumer Subjectivity in the Age of Internet: The Radical Concept of Marketing Control through Customer Relationship Management. Information and Organization, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 211-236

[3] George, J. F. (2004). The theory of planned behavior and Internet purchasing. Internet Research Volume 14 · Number 3 · 2004 · pp. 198–212

[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/reports/consumer/consumer_20051206_2.shtml

[5] http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-solicitation.html