Drei Arten von Kapital

1
E-Consumption Potentials and Pitfalls
Contribution to the Workshop How to Serve
Consumers Better in the Information Age at the
Conference Sustainable Ties in the Information
Society Tilburg University, 26th March
2003 Lucia A. Reisch University of Hohenheim,
Stuttgart
2
Outline

• Who is the E-Consumer ?
• Why do they click? Promises
• Concerns and Pitfalls
• Policy Implications

3
1. Who is the E-Consumer ?
4
Online Population
Source CyberAtlas staff (2003)
5
Internet Connection at Home
Base all respondents (n16,078)
Source Eurobarometer (2000), pp. 13
6
Places of Access to the Internet outside Home
Base Internet users (n3,069)
Cyber café
Source Eurobarometer (2000), p. 56
7
Shrinking Gender Gap
Base all respondents (n16,078)
Source Eurobarometer (2000), p. 13
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Type of Internet Activities
E-mail
News/information
Travel information
Advanced training
Health information
Male
Help-wanted ads
Female
Online banking
Ticket reservation
Discussion forums
Other private purp.
Source Graumann, S., Köhne, B. (2002), p. 29
9
Online shopping of users
Source Graumann, S., Köhne, B. (2002), p. 40
10
Browse-to-purchase ratios
Source eRatings (2000)
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3. Why do they click ? - Motives and Promises

• Functional / goal oriented motives
• Non-functional / experiental

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Functional /goal oriented motives

• Convenience
• Time savings, effort savings, accessibility
• Freedom and control
• no social pressure, lack of commitment/ easy to
  leave
• Lack of sociality
• No salespeople, no lines, no crowds, no
  kids/spouses
• Transparent price and brand selection
• Time efficiency

13
Non-functional / experiential personal motives

• diversion, escape, camouflage
• self-gratification, retail therapy, fun
• learning about new trends
• coping with role conflicts
• mental activity
• sensory stimulation

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Non-functional / experiential social motives

• social experience outside the home
• communications with similar others
• peer group attraction
• status and authority
• Friends and peers
• Online community
• pleasure for bargaining
• Auction bidding

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Promises general

• reduces transaction costs time, money,
  psychological barriers, bottom-up technology
• both global knowledge and local situated
  knowledge - supports self-help development
• attractive side-benefits of interactiveness
  learning by doing, edutainment / ecotainment
• huge individualization potentials individualized
  information, one-to-one marketing
• Consumer empowerment changed power structure
  (exit, voice, organization)

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Promises consumer empowerment

• consumer organization actors networks
  (horizontal) and strategic alliances (vertical)
  NGOs, virtual consumer organizations,
  public-private-partnerships
• consumer voice boycotts, buycotts,
  proto-typing (the prosumer as co-designer)
• consumer education transparency, information
  storage, shrinking knowledge gap
• buying decision support power shopping, consumer
  platforms, price agents etc.

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Promises products services

• E-substitution built-to-order, printed-on-demand
  
• E-support easy-access information (product
  passes) mass customization
• E-services improved access to product related
  (repair, maintenance, modernization, recycling)
  and use related services (leasing, sharing etc.)
• E-networking networks, neighborhood sharing and
  lending high-tech secondary markets, (auctions,
  virtual garbage sales, C2C barter)

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Promises social uses

• social learning
• recreation
• communication facilitation
• affiliation / avoidance / escape
• community building
• V Communities, V Settlements

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4. Concerns and Pitfalls

• Privacy
• Private info as uncontrollable commodity
  profiling, tracking, targeting, data mining
• Security
• credit card security
• Overspending
• Loss of control due to digitalization of money
• Pathological Internet Use (PIU)
• Specific
• Generalized

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A Model of PIU
Situational cues (reinforcement)
Specific Pathological Internet Use (SPIU)
Maladaptive cognitions
Behavioral Symptoms of PIU
Social isolation and/or lack of social support
Generalized Pathological Internet Use (GPIU)
Source Davis, R. A. (2001), pp. 2
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5. Policy Implications
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The E-consumer is

• more active, better informed
• the new prosumer
• more powerful
• e-democracy consumer-citizen (C2A, C2B)
• market e-commerce as a reverse market
• more manipulated
• polished marketing strategies (cross-selling,
  profiling, one-to-one marketing...)
• less in control
• illusion of control, indebtedness, PIU
• ubiquitous possibilities
• Janus face possibilities create expectations
  everything, any time, anywhere

23
Internet Asymmetric Power Gains

• Both, consumers and companies have gained from
  technological power of ICT yet,
• ? economies-of-scale
• ? economies-of-sharing
• tilt the power relations in favor of the
  interest of companies

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Policy Implications

• governmental enforcement, new laws and regulation
  
• consumer education (safer shopping)
• self regulation and voluntary guidelines
• third party verification systems
• technological improvements
• guarantees, seals of approval

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Thank you !