TY - GEN
T1 - The relative advantage of collaborative virtual environments and two-dimensional websites in multichannel retail
AU - Zarifis, Alex
AU - Kokkinaki, Angelika
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) have been with us for some years however their potential is unclear. This research attempts to achieve a better understanding of retail in CVEs from the consumer viewpoint by comparing this channel with the competing retail channels of ‘bricks and mortar’, or offline, and two dimensional navigation websites (2D websites), in order to identify their respective Relative Advantages (RA). Five categories of RA between retail channels were identified and explored using focus groups and interviews. These five categories explore distinct characteristics of each channel, consumer preferences over three stages of a purchase, differences between simple and complex products and lastly the role of trust. Participants showed a preference for offline and 2D in most situations however there was evidence that enjoyment, entertainment, sociable shopping, the ability to reinvent yourself, convenience and institutional trust were RA of CVEs in comparison to one of the other two channels.
AB - Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE) have been with us for some years however their potential is unclear. This research attempts to achieve a better understanding of retail in CVEs from the consumer viewpoint by comparing this channel with the competing retail channels of ‘bricks and mortar’, or offline, and two dimensional navigation websites (2D websites), in order to identify their respective Relative Advantages (RA). Five categories of RA between retail channels were identified and explored using focus groups and interviews. These five categories explore distinct characteristics of each channel, consumer preferences over three stages of a purchase, differences between simple and complex products and lastly the role of trust. Participants showed a preference for offline and 2D in most situations however there was evidence that enjoyment, entertainment, sociable shopping, the ability to reinvent yourself, convenience and institutional trust were RA of CVEs in comparison to one of the other two channels.
KW - Collaborative virtual environments
KW - E-commerce
KW - Multichannel retail
KW - Trust
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84946408901&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-19027-3_19
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-19027-3_19
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84946408901
SN - 9783319190266
VL - 208
T3 - Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
SP - 233
EP - 244
BT - Business Information Systems - 18th International Conference, BIS 2015, Proceedings
PB - Springer Verlag
T2 - 18th International Conference on Business Information Systems, BIS 2015
Y2 - 24 June 2015 through 26 June 2015
ER -