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The lack of sociability and warmth of human interaction on the Internet sales platforms has been pointed out has one of the main obstacles to its widespread adoption. Several studies have shown that the inclusion of social stimuli increases the perceived trust and credibility of online stores. These factors have a decisive impact on the adoption of purchase behaviors and consumer loyalty. This paper addresses the theme of the introduction of avatars as stimuli of sociability and human warmth in sites of electronic commerce and its implications for digital marketing. Simultaneously it attempts to rise new perspectives on how traditional commerce can use the immense knowledge on personalized relationship it already possess, and on how to apply it to this technology. The combination of avatar technology and these companies’ expertise, applied to an online store, can definitely become a competitive advantage to them. The empirical study carried out consisted of an experiment performed online, where three independent groups of subjects were exposed each to one of three electronic stores corresponding to three distinct levels of sociability: images and text only online shop, online shop with naturalistic avatar and online shop with photo-realistic avatar. The study allows us to conclude that the inclusion of avatars, in particular the photo-realistic avatars, in sites of electronic commerce have positive effects on the perceptions of sociability and human warmth, such as in the trust towards the merchant and in the credibility of the online store.
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THE INTRODUCTION OF AVATARS AS A FACTOR OF SOCIABILITY IN E- COMMERCE WEBSITES:
PERSPECTIVES FOR SMALL RETAILERS
António Alves
Ana Soares
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Journée de recherche sur la consommation digitale29 Novembre 2012
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The lack of sociability and human warmth on the Internet sale platforms has been identified as a major obstacle to its widespread adoption.Several studies show that the introduction of social stimuli increases credibility and perceived trust of online stores. These factors have a major impact on the adoption of buying behaviors and loyalty among consumers.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Journée de recherche sur la consommation digitale29 Novembre 2012
Contextualization
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A significant number of small and medium size traditional retailers hold intangible assets of great strategic value:- a brand recognized by consumers; - significant experience in personal service;- prestige accumulated over decades.
In turn, e-commerce operators have already realized that human contact
is important in order to establish meaningful relationships with their customers (Qiu & Benbasat, 2005).
Journée de recherche sur la consommation digitale29 Novembre 2012
Contextualization
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Contextualization
The literature suggests that the use of avatars can increase the persuasiveness of online sales channels (Wang, Baker, Wagner, & Wakefield, 2007).
Avatars are responsible for increasing credibility, perceived trust, and allowing for social stimuli and human warmth in online stores interactions;Avatars lead to greater consumer satisfaction with the seller, a better attitude toward the product and increased purchase intent (Holzwarth et al, 2006).
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Avatar - virtual character with human characteristics created by technology.
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Contextualization
The technology now available allows equipping a website with animated 3D avatars with high
level of interactivity and multiple graphic options.
Avatars can be built from real human beings images and endowed with - synthesized voice through text to speech technology (TTS);- real human voice; - Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can be tailored to the specific online store characteristics.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Contextualization/Functions and Representation of Avatars
In an online store avatars should be used to act as a commercial assistant. (Salem & Earl, 2000 apud Qiu & Benbasat, 2005; McGoldrick, Keeling, & Beatty, 2008)
Avatares can be:
Abstract/Cartoons
Naturalistic Realistic
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Objectives of this study
Contribute to increase the knowledge about the effects of the use of avatars endowed with TTS or real human voice on online consumer behavior;
Particularly avatars based on images of real humans at sites of E-Commerce operated by traditional retailers.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Conceptual Model
The proposed conceptual model includes two distinct stages of analysis:
Step 1) to assess the effects of three different levels of sociability on the latent variables "Trust" "Credibility" and "Sociability and Human Warmth";
Step 2) to assess the importance of these three constructs as enhancers and predictors of consumers purchase and repurchase intention in the online store .
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Methodology
An experimental plan organized in the form of three groups with control group and post-test. Why?
1) Avatar technology is still unknown among firms that operate online shops;
2) Only an experiment can ensure the maximum possible control of external variables such as the influence of design and degree of sophistication of the website, the influence of the type of product, price and the always important factor that is the brand.
3) This experimental design, although simple, is robust both in terms of internal and external validity.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Methodology
Experimental Plan
Distribution Treatment Post-Test (Questionnaire)
R X1 O
R X2 O
R X3 O
X1 – Online Shop only with photos and text, traditional treatment, control group;X2 – Online Shop with naturalistic avatar using TTS voice;X3 – Online Shop with realistic avatar using human voice.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Methodology
The chosen products for sale were sports shoes since these are
shopping goods which in general do not require a very complex
decision making process.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Online Shops
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Shop 1 – experimental group I
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Online Shops
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Shop 2 – experimental group II
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Online Shops
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Shop 3 – experimental group III
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Used Avatars
Female avatars were chosen to appear in Online Shops because they are perceived by consumers as more attractive (Nowak and Rauth, 2005).
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
Built with SitePalTM Technology
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To test hypotheses H1, H2, H3 we performed an analysis of variance (one factor ANOVA).
Data Analysis
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Data Analysis
Not reject H0: if Reject H0 (accept Ha) if
Based on these results of the ANOVA, we reject the null hypothesis. Consequently, there is a significant difference of means at least between two groups.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Data Analysis
In order to identify the groups which are different we analyzed the table generated by Scheffé post-hoc test.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Data Analysis
Group II- More Credibility
- More Sociability and Human Warmth
Group III- More Credibility
- More Trust- More Sociability and
Human Warmth
Group I (control)
Shop without Avatar
+
+
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
The differences between avatars with TTS voice and the photo-realistic avatars with real voice were not statistically significant.
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Data Analisys/Partial Correlations
The analysis of scatter charts between the variable "Purchase and Repurchase Intention" and the variables "Trust", "Credibility" and "Sociability and Human Warmth"
reveal that there was a linear relationship between these variables.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
The correlations between all the pairs of variables are positive and very strong ( | r |≥ 0,75) when none of the other variables are controlled.
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Data Analisys/Partial Correlations
In order to verify the strength of these linear relationships and their individualized predictive capacity,
an analysis of partial correlations was run between “Trust”, “Credibility”, “Sociability and Human Warmth”
and the dependent variable “Purchase and Repurchase Intention”.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Data Analisys/Partial Correlations
Purchase and repurchase intention
Trust ,412
Credibility ,070
Sociability and Human warmth ,533
Second order partial correlation coefficient
• “Sociability and Human Warmth” and “Trust” are predictive variables of “Purchase and Repurchase Intention”.
• “Sociability and Human Warmth” is the most important inducer of “Purchase and repurchase intention”.
• “Credibility” has a null predictive effect. Its prior simple correlation (Pearson’s r) with the “Purchase and Repurchase Intention” is exclusively due to the fact of being associated with the other variables.
However a word of caution is in order stressing that this cause-and-effect relationship is merely an assumption of our model for the purposes of this research and not an inferential property of the statistical technique used.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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Conclusion
Underpinned on this study, as also on the findings of Wang and Fodness (2010) and Qiu and Benbasat (2009), we can say that animated avatars exert an influence on online consumers similar to real salespeople. This affordable technology may constitute a lever for small retail companies to enter the E.C. world and thus extend their market, add value to their business, control costs and promote their financial sustainability.
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
The introduction of avatars as a factor of sociability in e – commerce websites: perspectives for small retailers
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End.
