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CHAPTER 2
THEORITICAL FOUNDATION
2.1 Non-Store Retailing Formats
Innovations in non-store formats have increased competitive pressures on store retailing
(Alba et al., 1997; Burke, 1997; May and Greyser, 1989). Electronic store retailing is the
newest concept of non store retail format in millennium ages which become threats for
both traditional stores and traditional catalog selling like “door-to door” sales.
The research in the past, concerning the evolution of retail industry has focused primarily
on “brick and mortar” store which has been described and explained by various different
theories. McNair developed the theory in 1958, which known as the wheel of retailing
theory. The theory explain that “new type of retailers usually enter the market as low-
status, low-margin, low price operators”. However, the other researchers, such as
Hollander wondered low cost as a necessary requirement to begin a new retail format like
shopping malls and convenience stores, as the example of retail formats that was
introduced with higher prices rather than lower prices.
Regarding the evolution in the retail industry, there are shift from physical stores to non-
store formats which may be analyzed at two levels. The first stage level is the shift
between physical stores to catalog sales. It indicates major shift in retail evolution for
both consumers and retailers. Catalog shopping is particularly appealing to time-
compressed consumers and consumers with relatively high disposable incomes as well as
those with a high need for labor saving goods and services (Gehrt et al., 1996; May and
Greyser, 1989). The purchasing method for catalog shopping is different with in-store
shopping based on perspective of consumers. As for personality, consumers using non
store retailing are likely to be characterized by higher level of confidence in their ability
to make purchases without physical inspection of the product (Dholakia and Uusitalo,
2002).
The second level stage, there are also shifts within various methods of in-home shopping.
The behavior of consumer in shopping is change form catalog shopping to electronic
shopping using internet as the media. From the benefit points, both of electronic shopping
and catalog shopping offer the similar benefits which are time saving and the
convenience of shopping without directly go to the stores and the location and the store
hours are not become the obstacles or problem. However, as the information technology
grow rapidly especially in today’s era (Digital Era), the continuous improvement may be
seen in electronic shopping and brought the new type of in-home shopping methods
which is the innovation building on past changes of non-store retailing format like
catalog and direct mailing shopping method.
2.2 Future of Electronic Shopping
Since the 1960s, rosy predictions have been presented regarding electronic shopping
(May and Greyser, 1989). However, it may become discontinuous improvement if it only
a few of customers’ interests, even though the computer skills and the technological
resources requirement are met. Besides the resources, managers and the organizations
have to learn the new consumers’ behavior in electronic shopping. In every organization,
human resources is the most important to met the customer satisfaction including the
electronic shopping stores. One of the electronic shopping companies gave brief
description about the positive results for the holiday shopping season in 1999:
“It was the result of an extraordinary human effort within most online retail
organizations rather than through highly automated and integrated processes” (The
Standard, 2000).
That is why not the entire electronic retail stores are successful or survive in the market.
Many of the electronic retail store even failed and maybe going bankrupt and we never
hear their names again such as Petstore.com, Toysmart.com, Boo.com, and
Craftshop.com (Motta, 2000). Reluctance by traditional retailers to invest more actively
in electronic store formats (Clemons and Bradley, 1998; Doherty et al., 1999) can be
partly attributed to the higher cost in selling goods electronically than selling through the
physical store (Burke 1997).
2.3 Cost of Electronic Shopping
Brown’s suggestion (1988), the cost of a retail format is based on the consumers’ costs.
The cost that incur from the consumers costs are non-monetary cost which are time
effort, and psychological costs and monetary costs also included. The application of the
wheel of retailing theory can be broadened as introductory of high price concepts. In
other words, there are compensations for the customers for saving in time and labor by
charging higher prices at shopping mall and convenience stores. Shopping mall and other
convenience store offer further additional benefits such as comfortable enjoyment, and
social interaction.
Non-store formats mush highlight consumer’s saving in non- monetary cost. The
attraction of the customers is the easiness and the convenience shopping which are not
limited by the location and other constraints. When the catalog sales introduces, they
satisfy consumers who considered the travelling cost is high or unable to visit the stores
because of the distances. In, particular, rural families adopted this shopping method
(May, 1989).
2.4 Consumer Behavior
The theory of consumers behavior can be describe as “the study of the processes involved
when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas,
or experiences to satisfy need and desires” (Solomon, 2007,p.7). Basically, it is the study
of how, when, what, and the frequencies of the consumer purchase the products.
According to Solomon (2007), consumer behavior theory is viewed as playing in a stage
from the perspective theory. Like in a play, people have many different roles and each
customer has their own lines, props, and costumes which are necessary in order to put a
good performance. Since, many different people’s roles, sometimes they change their
consumption decision depending the situation of the “play” at the time. Their criteria
when evaluating the products may be different from other ones.
The application of consumer’s behavior can be seen in the marketing strategies. Many
organizations are focus on consumer’s orientation, which is based on their behavioral in
the organization. Decisions are based on explicit assumptions and sound theory and
research are more likely to be successful than are decisions based solely on hunches or
institutions (Hawkins et al., 2006, p.9). The company must provide the more value to the
customers than the other competitors in order to survive in the market. Customer value is
the difference between all the benefits derived from a total product and all the costs of
acquiring those benefits (Hawkins et al., 2006, p.11). So, the successful key to survive in
the market is “providing superior customer value requires the organization to do a better
job of anticipating and reacting to customer needs than the competition does” (Hawkins
et al., 2006). The essence concept of marketing strategy can be described in the figure
below.
Figure 1.1 Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, Best,
2006, p.12).
Market analysis is referring to analysis of the consumers which is the basic foundation of
marketing strategy. Consumer behavior must be fully understood in order to anticipate
and react on their needs. According to Hawkins et al (2006), it is complex discovering the
needs of the consumers, however through the marketing research the consumer needs can
be often the accomplished. The company must fully measures and understands its ability
to meet the needs of customers which involve the evaluation of all aspect. All of firm’s
aspects must be evaluated, including financial condition, general managerial skills,
production capabilities, technological sophisticated, reputation, and marketing skills.
Competitors and the condition are also important for market analysis which involves the
other competitors’ capabilities and the strategies which possible do a better job of satisfy
consumers as well as the state of economy, physical environment, government laws and
regulations, and technology development that will affect the needs and expectation of the
customers.
A market segment is a portion of a larger market whose needs differ somewhat from the
larger market (Hawkins et al., 2006). The company must carefully select the target
segment in order to develop a total product that meets the customers’ expectations in the
segment better than the company who put all the products or services in all segments.
Market segments involves four steps, which are; identifying product-related need sets,
grouping customers with similar need sets, describing each group, selecting attractive
segment(s) to serve. The term need set is used to reflect the fact that most products in
developed economies satisfy more than one need (Hawkins et al., 2006). The need sets
can be various not only limited to the features of a product, but also the type, sources of
information about the products, the availability of the 'products, price of the products,
services regarding the products, the product’s brand, and even the originality place of the
product was produced. To identify the various set needs that the product will met or
satisfy the consumers, consumer research, focus groups and depth interview are needed to
discover the similarities and differences in consumption preferences across the groups.
Once the company sure it has a thorough understanding of each segment, the company
must select the target market – that segment(s) of the larger market on which we will
focus our marketing effort (Hawkins et al, 2006). In order to generate revenue, the
company must make the decision that based on its ability to provide the segment(s) that
are selected with high value of customers.
Hawkins et al (2006) explain that marketing strategy basically is answer of how the
company will provide superior customer value to its target market which requires the
formulation of a consistent marketing mix. The marketing mix is the product, price,
communications, distribution, and services provided to the target market (Hawkins et al.,
2006, p.19).Price is the amount of money one must pay to obtain the right to use the
product (Hawkins et al., 2007, p.21). The customer must pay the amount of the money in
order to buy the ownership of the products and obtain the right of the products. Price
often related with the quality of the products. Economists often assume that lower prices
for the same product will result in more sales than higher prices (Hawkins et al., 2006,
p.21). Sometimes, customer perceived value of the products can be reflected through the
prices. A product is anything a consumer acquires or might acquire to meet a perceived
need (Hawkins et al., 2006, p.19). So, if the price of the product is too low, the customer
perceived value of the product is low quality. The cost of product to the consumer is
different with the price of the products. Consumer cost is everything the consumer must
surrender in order to receive the benefits of owning/using the products (Hawkins et al.,
2006, p.21). For example, the cost of having notebook or laptop include the products
warranty, maintenance, finance charges, time, and efforts while shopping the laptop or
notebook to the store plus the purchase price of the product for additional cost of
consumers. In order to decrease the consumers cost, it is important for the company to
reduce the non-monetary cost of owning the product or operational cost. By reducing the
total cost of consumer, it is possible that the revenue and the market share increase. The
concept of total consumer cost is the key that explain why the non-store retail formats
grow rapidly, especially the electronic store retailing. The company can reduce the
monetary cost by increase the distribution and the services. Distribution is having the
product available where target customers can buy it (Hawkins et al., 2006,p.21).By
having many distribution points, it will reduce the consumer cost by the distance of going
shopping and also improve the efficiency of the supply chain of the products. Services
refer to auxiliary or peripheral activities that are performed to enhance the primary
products or services (Hawkins et al., 2006, p.22). Distribution and services work
synergic. For example, if the company has good distribution points that near at the
customers’ area; they are possible to increase the services by providing good delivery
services to their home directly. The electronics retail stores which are good in distribution
and services area will have the competitive advantage in the retail industry and can
increase the customer value.
The outcome is based on the consumer decision process which developed from the
marketing mix strategy. According to Hawkins et al. (2006), the outcomes can be divided
into four categories perspectives which are firm outcomes, society outcomes, and
individual outcomes. For the firm outcomes, product position is the most basic outcome
of marketing strategy. Products position is an image of the product or brand in the
consumer’s mind relative to competing product and brands (Hawkins et al., 2006, p.22).
It is important that the firm should has image positioning which is create set of belief,
representation and feelings about the product or brand. The image can be developed
through good communications through advertising, word-of-mouth (WOM), and maybe
sponsorship of the events. The company can generate the sales if the image or the brand
if the position match with the target market that desired. Many companies are customer
oriented since most of them know that the customer satisfaction is the major concern of
the firms.
Hawkins et al. (2006) describe about the how creating satisfied customers in the figure
below.
Figure 1.2 Creating Satisfied Customers (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, Best, 2006, p.24).
The nature of consumer behavior can be described in the conceptual models. Hawkins et
al. (2006) gave the simple model of consumer behavior as follow.
Figure 1.3 Overall Model of Consumer Behavior (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, Best, 2006,
p.26).
It might be not giving the sufficient detail about the specific behavior, but it provides the
general picture of nature consumer behavior. Individuals develop self-concepts and
subsequent lifestyles based on a variety of internal (mainly psychological and physical)
and external (mainly sociological and demographic) influences (Hawkins et al., 2006,
p.26). The consumer decision requirement is the satisfaction of needs and desires which
are produced by the self concept and lifestyle. The decision process is activated when the
individuals encounter the situation that is relevant. The experiences and acquisitions
affect the consumers’ lifestyles and concept and it is the major influence in consumer
decision process.
2.5 Framework
In Indonesia, there were 88.4% of the correspondent (majority are private employees and
a quarter of students as the respondents and 63.5% have their own Personal Computer or
PC.) acknowledge that they are able to do Internet transaction from the past survey
research by Indonesian Internet Business Community (2002) based on age that divided in
three groups (14-25, 26-35, 36-45 years-old), income, educational background (39.3%
bachelor degree, 34.5% high school degree, 5.7% Graduate/master/doctorate degrees),
occupation and spending level (70.4% spends Rp 1 to 2 million for regular monthly
expense) that conducted in ten major cities in Indonesia with total 1500 respondent. More
than 16% have performed online transactions for various reasons such as time-cost
efficiency, item availability (not available locally), and ease of access (use of credit card)
(Indonesia Internet Business Community, 2002). According the Indonesia Internet
Business Community (2002), There big opportunity for electronic retailer companies in
Indonesia if the security issue are resolved. Once convinced that the issues are resolved,
83% of the respondents who did not like online transaction are willing to participate in
ecommerce activities (Indonesia Internet Business Community, 2002). However in
Indonesia the culture in the community still affect the usage of Internet. That is why
socio-demographic variables and the past experiences became the important variables to
determine the behavior in electronic shopping in Indonesia.
Socio-demographic variables are associated with shopping behavior as well as consumer
innovativeness (Dholakia, Uusitalo, 2002, p. 461). There is evidence suggesting that the
higher consumers’ socio-economic status, measured by education, income, and
occupational status, the more positive the consumers’ perceptions of mail and phone
order buying relative to in-store shopping (In Schiffman and Kanuk, 1997, p.385).
The finding of the right demographic variables can be indicated from some of the latest e-
retailers, efforts in attracting and maintain their customers. Walace (2000) notes the
emphasis on woman “as the salvation for some dot-companies” (Dholakia, Uusitalo,
2002, p. 461). The use of internet has increased by women. Their economic power and
their dominant influence on household shopping behaviors are positive reasons for this
emphasis:
“For many e-retailers in the bloody summer of ’00, that’s reason enough.” (Wallace,
2000; Dholakia, Uusitalo, 2002, p. 461).
The orientation of men and women are different in shopping. Shopping behavior is still
gendered activity especially in household marriage, even though today sex roles already
have blurred. Men, for example, most of them are shopping because they have particular
need purposes. On the other hand, women, most of the may considered shopping as the
recreational activity, which generate positive feelings.
The age also the consideration of the customers’ needs, interests, and resources.
Teenagers, middle age people and, old age have different needs. Older consumers are
tending to use the shopping in traditional way, but most of them are not satisfied with the
non-format shopping such as electronic shopping. However, based on the Darian (1987),
the result of the research indicates the mixed evidence regarding the role of age on
consumers’ tendency toward non-store shopping. The younger generations have high
curiosity in learning something new and they are more adopted the technologies like
computer and other electronic devices faster than the old generations. Meanwhile, the old
generations are enjoying the shopping that associated with malls or physical store, since
their familiarity about technology and computers are low.
Education is also the factors of the behavior of electronic shopping. It is influence the
consumers on how they react with the innovations of new type of shopping, in this case
electronic shopping. There are positive relationship between in-home shopping and
educations from the previous study. Most of the internets users are have above-average
educational background.
Previous study supports the positive relationship between in-home shopping and
consumer income (Dholakia, Uusitalo, 2002, p. 462). Result from the previous study that
in the middle income groups were prefers in-home shopping to traditional shopping.
Income also determine the consumer whether Hedonic or Utilitarian consumers. Hedonic
consumers is the consumers who usually making the purchase decision of the product
based on their perception of the image of the product or product’s brand that match with
their own perceived value even the product has limited function. For example, a person
who buy and expensive Prada handbag may be feel stylish, frivolous, and/or indulgent at
the same time (Khan et al., 2004). On the opposite, the utilitarian customers are preferred
to see the product functionality over the image or brand as the priority. For example, the
consumer buy the notebook from ASUS because of the capabilities in running the
program and the high specification that met, even though the brand image are lower in
term of style and design such as VAIO and ACER. Although the hedonic and influence
is also influence by the customer’s perception, there are possibilities the customer shift
from utilitarian to hedonic goods because of the income.
The family composition also influences the consumptions that affect the behavior of the
consumers. The presence/absence of children as well as the age of the youngest child has
a significant influence on households’ needs, resources and expenditures (Solomon,
1999). Darian found housewives and part-time female workers with pre-school children
to be one group of potential in-home shopper (Dholakia, Uusitalo, 2002, p. 462).
Past experiences also the major variable which considered as the variable in determining
the future behavior. These sets of variables were considered: past in-shopping behaviors,
satisfaction with past store shopping and ownership of computers (Dholakia, Uusitalo,
2002, p. 462). The past experiences are affecting the behavior. It could generate the
behavior if the customers have positive past experience. Satisfaction of the consumers is
the goal of the companies in order to have the profits and generate the revenue, if the
consumers’ satisfaction increase, the wiliness of consumers switch the other store also
decrease. Computers are the resources of the consumers in order to do the electronic
shopping which require skills using the computers in order to access the electronic stores.
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