THE CONSUMER ONLINE PURCHASE DECISION: A MODELOF CONSIDERATION SET FORMATION AND BUYERCONVERSION RATE ACROSS MARKETLEADERS AND MARKET FOLLOWERS

摘要

The ease of customer search and therefore comparison shopping online has received a lot of attention. Whilethere is sufficient empirical evidence that the expected result of bertrand price competition does not necessarilyoccur, firms have still attempted to minimize search across other sites. For example, firms have tried toprohibit information gathering “spiders” from scanning their web pages. On the other hand, some firms havetaken the opposite strategy, and have chosen to show competing firm options on their site as a directcomparison. In this study, we examine the formation and effect of consumser search sets, or “considerationsets” on the consumer purchase decision. In addition, we contrast the differing effects of consideration setson market leaders and market followers. In so doing, we find that while searching across market leaders isnot detrimental for market followers, searching across market followers is somewhat detrimental for marketleaders. This result suggests that strong market leaders should increasingly employ online service, such aspersonalization, in an attempt to increase loyalty and decrease search.