The online shopping experience : factors influencing the consumer's behaviour in the online software industry

Abstract

The online phenomenon has significantly developed over the past decade and is now regarded as one of the major distribution channels around the globe. The shift from traditional retailing to online buying attracted considerable interest from organisations in studying the behavioural characteristics for consumers opting to acquiring goods and services through the Internet. This study was intended to delve deeper into the web experience factors that shape online consumer behaviour. This study will specifically focus on the analysis of the consumer software industry in its on-going shift towards distributing products solely through the web. The dynamics identified as influencers the functionality factors, psychological factors and content factors. These were discussed in detail as to what comprises such factors, which will finally be employed by organisations as marketing tools aimed to stimulate consumer behaviour. Following analysis of the existing literature, this document moves on to assess customer response through a quantitative approach. The objective was to measure customer satisfaction in relation to the web experience factors identified earlier on. The analysis on the data gathered concluded that the usability factor is proposed to be divided in two segments, namely technical usability and personal usability. More importantly, this study also confirmed that the marketing mix, trust and commitment, perceived risk, and technical usability factors were significant predictors of online consumer satisfaction in the software industry. On the contrary the analysis concluded that the aesthetics factors, personal usability, and interactivity were not directly related to customer satisfaction online. Interestingly to note was that the country of origin of the consumer and internet usage were identified to have different satisfaction levels when compared to the overall satisfaction. This confirmed the findings researched in the literature examined.