Online Consumer Behavior

ANELINA YASENOVA BAEVA
ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

WEB EXPERIENCE ELEMENTS IN ONLINE CLOTHING MARKET
September 2011
MASTER THESIS IN MARKETING
ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Web Experience Elements in Online Clothing Market
Student: Anelina Yasenova Baeva

Supervisor: Professor Doctor Arnaldo Fernandes Matos Coelho
September, 2011
ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – Web Experience Elements in Online Clothing Market
Abstract
Online shopping in EU has been shown to be a good potential market. Clothing represents a
high percent of the individuals shopping. Buying clothes online gives customers the
opportunity to find a great variety of products, customers can review a wide selection of
products and find special offers with the best deals online. However, the tangible and intangible
problems of clothing online shopping still exist and the online store retailers lack the customer
knowledge in some extent. Therefore, the intention of the thesis is to explore customer behavior
when purchasing clothing online through investigating the factors that can affect online
consumer`s attitudes, intention and actual consumers` behavior.
The study investigates the main web - experience factors that customer takes into consideration
when purchasing clothes online. Yet, the most important online elements are categorized in two
main groups: customer - oriented factors and technology - oriented factors. The autor used
quantitave research in term of survey to analyze the consumer`s attitutes towards the web
experience elements, moreover the autor figured out the relationship between the web factors
and the customer`s attitudes, intentions and actual buying behavior. The results will lead to the
understanding of the most important web experience elements that influence the purchase
decision of the consumers.
The final findings show that web elements web content and trust are considered to be the most
influencial for the consumer`s online behavior towards online shopping of clothing. The study
would help retailers to understand better the customer attitudes and the web factors that
influence the purchase intentions. The study can contribute with valuable information e-
commerce, especially focused on the sales of clothing online retail. The research suggests and
foresees the need of the realization of new investigatigation in this field.
Key Words: e-commerce, web experience factors, online consumer behavior, online shopping
i
Resumo
As compras online na UE têm mostrado ser um bom mercado potencial. O vestuário tem uma
elevada percentagem das compras individuais. Comprar vestuário online oferece aos clientes a
oportunidade de escolher uma ampla seleção de produtos e encontrar ofertas especiais. No
entanto, os problemas tangíveis e intangíveis de compras de vestuário online ainda existem e os
retalhistas de lojas online não têm o conhecimento do cliente em certa medida. Portanto, a
intenção é explorar o comportamento do cliente, quando compra vestuário online através da
investigação dos fatores que podem afetar as atitudes do consumidor online, a sua intenção e o
seu comportamento real.
O presente estudo investiga os principais factores da web que o cliente leva em consideração ao
comprar vestuário online. No entanto, os elementos mais importantes online são classificados
em dois grupos principais: fatores orientados para o cliente e fatores orientados para a
tecnologia. O autor utilizou a pesquisa quantitativa, recorrendo a um questionário para analisar
as atitudes do consumidor perante quando ele efectua compras na web. Além disso o autor
comprova a relação entre os fatores da web e as atitudes dos clientes, as suas intenções e
comportamentos de compra atual. Os resultados vão levar à compreensão de quais são os
elementos da web mais importantes que influenciam a decisão de compra dos consumidores.
Os resultados finais mostram que os elementos - web content e confiança, são considerados os
mais importantes para o comportamento online do consumidor na compra de vestuário online.
O estudo deverá ajudar os retalhistas a entender melhor as atitudes dos clientes e os fatores que
influenciam as suas intenções de compra na web. Este mesmo estudo pode igualmente
contribuir com informação valiosa para o e-commerce, especialmente focado na venda de
vestuário a retalho online. Esta pesquisa sugere e abre portas para a necessidade de realização
de novas investigaões neste domínio.
Palavras-chave: e-commerce, fatores de experiência na web, comportamento de consumidor

online, compras online.
ii
Acknowledgements
Several people have guided and inspired me during my work on this thesis.
Firstly, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my professor and supervisor Doctor
Arnaldo Coelho for guiding and supporting me throughout the research. He provided me
with valuable suggestions and feedbacks during the whole process.
Therefore, I would like to gratefully acknowledge the kind cooperation and support
of the MBA`s secretary attendance of Isabel Roque.
This thesis, however, would never have been accomplished without the respondents – my
dearest friends.
I also would like to thank all my wonderful colleagues from MBA/Master Marketing at
Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, for your encouragement during this process.
Last, but certainly not least, my warmest thanks are directed to my family and my sister.
Your love and support have made these years of study a very enjoyable and unforgettable
experience.
Thank you for filling my life with happiness and joy!
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Table of Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………… i
Resumo………………………………………………………………………………… ii
Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………….. iii
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………… iv
Tables…………………………………………………………………………………... viii
Figures…………………………………………………………………………………. ix
Graphs………………………………………………………………………………….. ix
Legend…………………………………………………………………………………. x
Chapter One: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………… 1
1.1 Research Focus ….……………………………………………………………....... 1
1.2 Problem Discussion……………………………………………………………....... 4
1.3 Research Objective………………………………………………………………… 6
1.4 Chapter Outline……………………………………………………………………. 7
1.5 Definitions…………………………………………………………………………. 8
Chapter Two: THEORICAL FRAMEWORK……………………………………... 10
2.1 The Internet Era and Online Shopping Benefits…………………………………… 10
2.1.1 E-business……………………………………………………………………. 10
2.1.2 E-commerce………………………………………………………………….. 10
2.1.3 Internet and Online Shopping ……………………………………………….. 12
2.2 Web Experience Factors …………………………………………………………... 13
2.2.1 Technology - Oriented Factors ……………………………………………... 14
2.2.1.1 Usability………………………………………………………………. 14
2.2.1.2 Interactivity …………………………………………………………... 16
2.2.3.4 Web design …………………………………………………………… 18
2.2.2 Consumer - Oriented Factors ……………………………………………….. 20
2.2.2.1 Shopping Experience ………………………………………………… 20
2.2.2.2 Trust ………………………………………………………………….. 22
iv
2.2.2.3 Product Perception…………………………………………………… 23

2.3 Decision making process in online environment …………………………………. 25
2.4 Online consumer behavior ……………………………………………………….. 26
2.4.1 Theory of Reasoned Action …………………………………………………. 27
2.4.2 Theory of Planned Behavior ………………………………………………… 28
2.4.3 Technology Acceptance Model ……………………………………………... 29
2.4.4 Applying a theorical model …………………………………………………. 31
Chapter Three: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK………………………………… 33
3.1 Theorical paradigm ……………………………………………………………….. 33
3.2 Reserch model and hypotheses …………………………………………………... 34
3.3 Attitude towards online shopping …………………………………………………. 36
3.4 Online shopping intention ………………………………………………………… 37
3.5. Research hypotheses ……………………………………………………………… 39
3.6 Variables processing ………………………………………………………………. 41
3.6.1 Web experience technology - oriented factor Usability …………………….. 42
3.6.2 Web experience technology - oriented factor Interactivity …………………. 42
3.6.3 Web experience technology - oriented factor Web Design…………………. 43
3.6.4 Web experience customer - oriented factor Trust …………………………... 43
3.6.5 Web experience customer - oriented factor Product Perception ……………. 44
3.6.6 Web experience customer - oriented factor Shopping Experience ………….. 44
3.6.7 Attitudes towards shopping clothes online ………………………………….. 45
3.6.8 Intention to purchase ……………………..…………………………………. 46
3.6.9 Control variables ……………………………………………………………. 46
3.7 Characteristics of online clothing market …………………………………………. 46
3.7.1 Advantages and disadvantages of online clothing market ………………….. 47
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Chapter Four: RESEARCH METHOD ……………………………………………. 51

4.1 Research Approach ………………………………………………………………... 51
4.2 Research Design …………………………………………………………………... 52
4.3 Research Strategy …………………………………………………………………. 53
4.4 Sample Selection ………………………………………………………………….. 54
4.5 Sample Size ……………………………………………………………………….. 56
4.6 Data Collection ……………………………………………………………………. 56
4.6.1 Primary Data Collection …………………………………………………….. 57
4.6.2 Secondary Data Collection ………………………………………………….. 59
Chapter Five: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION …………………………………… 61
5.1 Data analysis ……………………………………………………………………… 61
5.1.1 Method of variable processing ……………………………………………… 61
5.2 Demografic profile of respondents………………………………………………… 64
5.3 Empirical findings ………………………………………………………………... 67
5.3.1 Independent groups variables ……………………………………………… 70
5.4 Models for attitudes towards online shopping …………………………………… 73
5.4.1 Attitudes towards online shopping influencing intentions to purchase online. 73
5.4.2 Technology - oriented factors influencing attitudes ………………………. 75
5.4.3 Consumer - oriented factors influencing attitudes ………………………… 78
5.4.4 Attitude towards online shopping of experienced and inexperienced
shoppers…………………………………………………………………….. 81
5.5 Models for intentions towards online shopping ………………………………....... 82
5.5.1 Technology-oriented factors influencing intentions to purchase …………… 82
5.5.2 Consumer-oriented factors influencing intentions to purchase …………….. 86
5.5.3 Intentions to spend more time at the online store, intentions to buy products
online and intentions to recommend the online store influencing intentions
to purchase …………………………………………………………… …… 88
5.5.4 Online shopping intentions and actual consumer behavior ……………….. 90
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5.5.5 Intention to purchase of experienced and inexperienced shoppers …………. 92

5.6 Discussion of the results …………………………………………………………... 94
Chapter Six: CONCLUSIONS ……………………………………………………… 98
6.1 Final conclusions ………………………………………………………………….. 98
6.2 Limitations of the thesis ………………………………………………………....... 99
6.3 Recommendations for future studies ……………………………………………... 100
Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………... 102
Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………… 110
Appendix A: Figures and Tables ……………………………………………………… 110
Appendix B: Online Survey …………………………………………………………... 114
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Tables
Table 1 Factors influencing online shopping purchase of clothes ………………… 36
Table 2 Attributes related to Usability ……………………………………………. 42

Table 3 Attributes related to Interactivity ………………………………………… 43
Table 4 Attributes related to Web design …………………………………………. 43
Table 5 Attributes related to Trust ………………………………………………… 44
Table 6 Attributes related to Product perceptions ………………………………… 44
Table 7 Attributes for Attitudes towards shopping clothes online ………………... 45
Table 8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Shopping ……………………... 50
Table 9 KMO Values …………………………………………………………….... 62
Table 10 Cronbach`s alpha Values ………………………………………………... 63
Table 11 Frequency of using internet ……………………………………………... 66
Table 12 Results from Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis …………………. 67
Table 13 Web Design Dimentionality …………………………………………….. 68
Table 14 Mean variable values…………………………………………………….. 69
Table 15 T-test For Independent Groups ………………………………………………... 70
Table 16 Group differences between variables …………………………………………. 72
Table 17 Linear Regression Attitudes/Intention to purchase ……………………… 73
Table 18 Pearson Correlation Attitudes/ Intention to purchase …………………… 74
Table 19 Linear Regression Technology-Oriented Factors /Attitudes ……………. 75
Table 20 Pierson Correlation Web Technology-Oriented Factors/Attitudes ……… 77
Table 21 Linear Regression Consumer-Oriented Factors /Attitudes ……………… 79
Table 22 Pierson Correlation Attitudes/Customer-Oriented Factors………………. 80
Table 23 Linear Regression Technology-Oriented Factors/Intentions to
purchase………………………………………………………………….. 83
Table 24 Pierson Correlation Technology-Oriented Factors/Intentions to purchase 84
Table 25 Linear Regression Consumer-Oriented Factors/ Intentions to purchase… 86
Table 26 Pierson Correlation Consumer-Oriented Factors /Intentions to purchase ….. 87
viii
Table 27 Linear Regression for Intentions to purchase and its determinants……… 89

Table 28 Linear Regression Actual Consumer Behavior / Intentions to purchase.... 90
Table 29 Results for the hypotheses of the investigation………………………….. 94
Figures
Figure 1 The Interactivity …………………………………………………………. 16
Figure 2 Consumer Making Process ………………………………………………. 26
Figure 3 The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) …………………………………. 27
Figure 4 The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) ………………………………… 28
Figure 5 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) …………………………………. 31
Figure 6 Research Model ………………………………………………………….. 35
Figure 7 Demografic of Respondents ……………………………………………... 65
Graphics
Graph 1 Online Retail Values in UE …………………………………………….. 110
Graph 2 Experienced and Inexperienced Shoppers and their attitudes towards
online shopping…………………………………………………………… 81
Graph 3 Intentions of purchasing by type of shopper…………………………….. 93
ix
Legend
A Attitude
BIU Behavioral intention to use
B2B Business to business
B2C Business to consumer
C2C Consumer to consumer
e-CRM Electronic Customer Relationship Management
P2P Peer to peer
M-commerce Mobile commerce
DMP Decision-making process
IMRWorld Interactive Media in Retail World Accosiation
IS Informational system
IT Informational technology
PBC Perceived behavioral control
PEOU Perceived ease of usage
PU Perceived usefulness
TAM Technology Acceptance Model
TRA Theory of Reasoned Action
TPB Theory of Planned Behavior
WE Web experience
WOM Word of mouth
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The introduction chapter provides clear summary about the evolution of Internet and the
future of e-commerce. Here are explained the purpose and the specific objectives of the
research. The research background, research problem, research outline, definitions of
relevant academic words of the research will be presented as well.
1.1 Research Focus
Today Internet is considered as an essencial parameter of economic and social life as well
as one of the main constructs of the future commercial landscape.
Internet mediated commerce, commonly described as E-commerce is increasingly regarded
as a mainstream commercial activity (Drew, 2003) and as a valuable marketing. The term
e-commere has been used to describe the process of “electronically mediated information
exchanges between an organization and its external stakeholders” (Chaffey, 2007).
From governments to multinational companies to one-person start-ups, e-commerce is

increasingly viewed as a key business modality of the future. Ease of transaction, widening
markets, and decreased overheads are factors that make e-commerce solutions more and
more attractive, as evident with the growth of online sales.
From business perspective, Internet was visualized as unique linkage between consumers
and supplier using proprietary technology. For the consumer, Internet can be a valuable
communication medium to facilitate controlled search for up-to-date information and
assistance with comparison shopping and decision making. (Hoffman, Novak & Chatterjee,
1996, p. 2)
1
Young people become more interested in online shopping and they spend more time and
money on online shopping. They select and use the media to best fulfill their individual
needs (Arnett, 1995). With the increasing use of the internet as shopping medium, young
consumers, particularly college students aged 20-29, are becoming the internet`s “hottest”
market and a prime source of current and future growth in online sales.
A recent study of Forrester Research (2004)1 shows that the turnover of online retail sales
in Europe in 2010 was 172 billion euros, which is equal to 19.6 per cent growth compared
to last year. Only in Western Europe B2C sales are projected to grow to 114.5 billion euros
by 2014, thus the European online retail market will increase at a growth rate of 11% over
the five-year forecast period. The study also predicts that online sales U.S. will keep
growing at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate through 2014, and online retail sales
in the U.S. will be nearly $250 billion, compared with $155 billion in 2009.
Between 2006 and 2008 the proportion of EU consumers buying at least one item over the
internet increased from 27% to 33%. These average figures mask the huge popularity of
online shopping in countries like UK, France and Germany where more than 50% of
internet users have made online purchases in the last year. In the Nordic countries
(Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland) the proportion of internet users who
bought products and services online was 91% in 2008. Countries like Italy and Spain are
also fast growing markets. Against this pattern of fast growing national markets, the extent
of online purchasing cross border remains small, at only 7% in 2008 compared to 6% in
2006.2
1
Forrester`s Western European Online Retail Forecast 2009-2014 (March 5, 2010) predicts a compound annual growth
rate of 11% over the five-year forecast period. http://www.forrester.com/FirstLook/Vertical/Issue/0,6454,83,00.html
2
European Comission Report on Cross-border e-commerce in EU
2
As online competition increases, it becomes vital for e-store to attract and fully satisfy
consumers to ensure their success. With more choice than ever before, power has moved
from suppliers to consumers (Pitt, Berthon,Watson & Zikhan 2002, p.7-14), giving
consumers the ability to easily switch the retailers if they are not satisfied with their online
experience. Research has found that almost half of consumers who abandoned transactions
did so because of poor website performance (Boston Consulting Group, cited by Madu &
Madu, 2002). This not only results in loss of sales, but negative experiences can also efect
consumers` ongoing brand perceptions (Dieringer Research Group, cited by Constantines
2004).
Web sites founded on solid fundamentals and extensive customer research can make the
difference between success and failure. A clear, easy-to-use and customer-centered web site
can help garner better reviews and ratings, reduce the number of mistakes made by
customers, trim the time it takes to find needed information, and increase overall customer
satisfaction. Furthermore, customers who really like a web site's content and quality of
service are more likely to tell their family, friends, and coworkers, thereby increasing the
number of potential customers. A great example of this result is Google, which has become
the dominant search site with little or no advertising. It simply works better than most other
search sites.3
The clothes and sports goods are occupying an important part of customers’ online life.
Buying clothes online takes a very high percentage in the online shopping ratings.
According to report of commission of the European Communities, travel and holiday
accommodation ranks the first with 42% of individuals shopping online, followed by
clothes and sport goods with 41% (Commission of the European Communities, 2009).
Compared with other goods, online shopping of clothes and sport goods adds great
3
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/design/customer_centered/2.html
3
convenience to the life of the people. On one side, purchasing clothing online gives
customers an opportunity to review and compare a wide variety of goods selecting between
various online vendors and thus find the best deals online. On the other side, customers can
buy items from branded online vendors which doesn`t have brick and mortal stores and in
this sense save time and diferenciate themselves. Hence, buying apparel items online is
always a beneficial deal than visiting retail stores in terms of more various options and time
efficiency (EzineArticles, 2010)4.
In conclusion, the customers` demand to be different in their clothing style is increasing

day by day, thus online shopping offers an effective and convenient channel to reach the
customers and satisfy their needs. In the last years, the development of online retailer is
improving and promises a bright future. Fashion online retailers should catch the
commercial opportunity and develop consistently their products and service to gain more
market.
1.2 Problem discussion
At present time, the popularity and the advantages of the mass medium Internet, have
created huge online competition. In front of this, the firms have to find a competitive
advantage in order to stay visible, to continue attracting customers and to survive among all
these websites. The customer experience from visiting a website has been recognized as
one of the most important factors for online success. According to Novak et al. (2000, p.22-
42), “creating a compelling online experience for cyber customers is critical for creating
competitive advantage on the Internet”. The same authors argue that relatively little is
known about the factors that contribute to a superb online experience, noticing that “online
4
Ezine@rticles. (2010). Tips for buying products online from < http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-For-Buying-Electronics-
Online&id=3098975>
4
executive marketers need to develop a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior

in commercial online environments”.
In other words, the online retailers should understand the the effects of different marketing
factors on the online consumers` behavior. It is also essencial to recognise the nature,
power and function of web factors know how to use them efficiently in order to positively
influence the consumer`s intentions for purchasing online.
Butler and Peppard (1998), cited by Limayem et al. (2000, p.421-432), for example explain
the failure of IBM`s sponsored web shopping mall by the wrong interpretation of the true
online consumer behavior specifics. There are many factors influencing the consumer
behavior in cyber space, as well as in the physical world, affecting purchase decision. If
marketers know how consumers make these decisions, they can adjust their marketing
strategies to fit this new way of selling in order to convert their potential consumers to real
ones and retain them.
Thus, online vendors need to deliver unique, differentiated experience to their customers.
The success factor is not only understanding the needs of their online customers, but also
being familiar with the main influencial WE factors, depending on the focus of their
business and trying to professionalize them in a way to stay highly competitive in the cyber
space and increase their sales. Similarly, web site designers, who are faced with the
difficult question of how to design pages to make them more popular and attractive but also
effective in increasing sales, can beneficit from such an understanding.
However, there is a lack of research concerning the purchasing of clothes online and some
desagreements concerning the online buyer`s behavior still exist.
5
The research problem of this thesis is to identify which are the specific factors that affect
customers’ behavior to buy clothing online and also to answer to what extent the
relationship between the customers’ attitudes and online buying intention impacts on their
actual behavior. Therefore, the autor’s intention is to explore the main WE factors that
affect online shoppers when buying clothes and how customers` attitude influence their
intention for online shopping apparel items, through developing an investigation model. It
is impossible to cover all the potential elements, but it is intented to figure out the most
important and relevant ones which highly affect the consumer` online shopping towards
apparel items.
1.3. Research Objective
Based on the above research problem the research objective is formulated as follows:
Get insight into the main web - experience factors that customer takes into
consideration when purchasing clothes online
In order to understand the main web experience factors influencing the online consumers
behavior is constructed a research model, besed on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
developed by Ajzen (1991), which was applied in the context of online shopping of clothes.
To cover the thesis research objective, the following research specific objectives have been
developped:
♦ Categorize the main WE factors that affect online customer`s behavior;

♦ Evaluate the relationship between attitudes and intentions in order to understand
consumer actual behavior towards online shopping of clothes;
6
♦ Understand to what extent WE factors influence consumers` attitudes towards

online shopping and purchase intent;
♦ Understand to what extent WE factors and attitudes are related;
♦ Understand to what extent WE factors and intentions to purchase are related;
♦ How does customers` attitude towards online shopping of clothes influence their
intention to start/continue to buy clothes online?
♦ Evaluate the customer`s attitudes towards online shopping of clothes;
♦ Understand the consumers` intentions to purchase online clothing and their behavior
by analysing them from two perspectives - of experienced and of inexperienced
shopper.
1.4. Chapter Outline
This thesis is divided into 6 parts.
Chapter One: Introduction
This is the introductory chapter which presents the background of the research, the research
problem, research objectives, research outline, definitions of relevant academic words and
limitation of the research.
Chapter Two: Literature Review
Critically examines relevant literature, highlights the theories which are applicable and
closely connected to the subject.
7
Chapter Three: Conceptual Framework
Provides conceptual framework associated with theorical overview by explaining the key
factors, variables and relationships among theories and models, essential for the discussion
and critical thinking in order to provide contributions in this area.
Chapter Four: Research Methodology
In the Research Methodology chapter will be found the foundation of the research. In this
chapter the autor explains and justifies the research approach, strategy and technique
choices, along with the data collection and data analysis method.
Chapter Five: Analysis and Discussion
Chapter five presents the data analysis and interpretation of outcomes. It represents deep
statistical analysis and discussion which is the basis for the results and conclusion of the study.
Chapter Six: Conclusion
Finally in chapter six, the most important issues are highlighted in order to reach the research
purpose and the specific objectives. A deepened reasoning is presented. Based on the findings,
the analysis, discussions and conclusions, further research recommendations are also presented.
1.6. Definitions
Electronic Shopping/Internet Shopping/Online Shopping – “The buying of goods and

services over the Internet, using either a computer or an Internet television” (Laudon and
Traver, 2008, p.56)
E-commerce consists of the buying and selling products or services over electronic
systems such as the Internet or other computer networks (Laudon and Traver, 2008, p.156)
8
E-business – “The digital enabling of transactions and processes within a firm, involving
information systems under the control of the firm (Laudon and Traver, 2008, p.11)
Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce – “Online business selling to other business”

(Laudon and Traver, 2008, p.15)
Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-comerce – “Online business selling to individual

consumers” (Laudon and Traver, 2008, p.15)
Consumer behavior – “Consumer Behavior is the study of when, why, how and where
people do or do not buy products. It blends elements from psycology, sociology, social
anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process,
both individually and in groups” (Sandhusen, 2000, p.218)
Attitude – “Attitude towards a behavior is referred as an individual`s positive or negative

evaluation of a relevant behavior and is composed of an individual salient beliefs regarding
the perceived consequences of performing behavior” (Ajzen, 1991, p.207)
Intention – “Intentions represent motivational components of behavior, that is the degree if

conscious effort that a person will exert in order to perform a behavior” (Ajzen, 1991,
p.201)
Experienced shoppers - Based on the survey, we refer “shoppers” to people who do have
conducted an online purchase.
Inexperienced shoppers - Based on the survey, we refer to people who have never
conducted an online purchase, as “non-shoppers”.
9
CHAPTER TWO: THEORICAL FRAMEWORK
In this chapter, the author reviewed and utilized a large amount of previous researches
which are concerned within the research fields of e-commerce, online shopping, online
buying behavior. Additionally, the author attempts to mainly concentrate on identifying the
factors which affect the consumers’ buying behavior for clothing in internet shopping.
2.1 The Internet Era and Online Shopping Benefits
2.1.1 E-business
The term e-business is defined as the use of Internet in order to connect customers,
suppliers, employees and other stakeholders with the organization via a website in order to
exchange information about its products and policies (Rodgers et al., 2002, p.186). An
e-business website can have many good consequences for a company. For example, it gives
the possibility to provide a superior customer service that increases customers’ satisfaction
and their loyalty (Melewar et al., 2003, p. 363). It also improves the relationship between a
company and its suppliers that permits to increase the speed of an order and to enhance
business performances (Rodgers et al., 2002, p. 186).
2.1.2 E-commerce
In E-commerce theory five broad models are known:

♦ B 2 C – business to consumer
♦ B 2 B – business to business
♦ C 2 C – consumer to consumer
♦ P 2 P – peer to peer
♦ M – commerce – mobile commerce
10
In the present study the author focuses on e-retail which is synonymous with business-to-
consumer (B2C) transaction, defined by Harris and Dennis (2002, cited by Dennis, Fenech
and Merrilees, 2004) as the “sales of services and goods via the Internet or other electronic
channels, for personal or household consumption”. The most popular B2C activities are
online shopping, online banking and eletronic learning. B2C represents fewer turnovers
compared to B2B but somehow is in very fast growth. However, for the reasearch purposes
online shopping is the main analysed e-retail activity.
E-commerce refers to online selling and purchasing activities including money transaction
like online payment and tracking delivery (Rodgers et al., 2002, p.186). Thus, e-commerce
uses the Internet in order to connect customers with a firm in order to distribute products
and services online. A company can choose to sell directly a part or the totality of its
products or services online to its final customers. The Internet can be used as a unique or as
a complementary distribution channel. It permits to decrease distribution costs like
salesperson salary (Melewar et al., 2003, p. 364).
E-commerce is the second most commonly used retail channel. According to report of
commission of European Communities in the EU27 in 2008, 51% of retailers use
e-comerce to sell their products.
It is possible that an e-commerce website both provides information and sells

products/services to customers. In short, the term e-business includes the term of e-
commerce. Thus, an e-commerce site is also an e-business site but an e-business site is not
necessarily an e-commerce site. The distinction between e-business and e-commerce and
their characteristics show pretty well that the Internet could be used either as a distribution
channel or a communication medium according to the brand’s online strategy. Some
clothing brands have chosen to be present online through an e-business website in order to
only provide important information to online customers and suppliers. Others made the
11
choice to sell online. The principal is to be in adequacy to the identity of the clothing brand.
In the continuation of the thesis, the autor has chosen to only concentrate on the brands that
sell online part or their entire collection.
2.1.3 Internet and online shopping
The growth of using internet offers consumers a wide and effective platform to gain
information, it is worthy to mention that more and more customers are changing their
shopping way from traditional store to online shop. Thus, the study of e-commerce for
consumers is becoming a valuable topic to discuss among the researchers.
Over the past decade the Internet has changed the way that we live, from communication
and information sharing to browsing and purchasing products. The Internet has made a new
generation of consumers who like to shop online.
Internet has been a key factor for changing culture in this century. It has the capacity to
improve the quality of live for people over the planet, giving them access to essential
services, information and resources. The online market is also a greener alternative of
traditional retailing, allowing retailer to sell into foreign markets that were formerly
difficult to reach.
Around 1,596 million of people in the world use the Internet (Internet World Stats, March
2009)5. It represents in average 23.8% of the worldwide population and this number of
Internet users should increase again during the next years. 74.4% of the North American,
60.4% of the Australian, 48.9% of the European are connected to the Internet. Moreover,
children, teenagers as well as seniors learn how to use the Internet. Through these figures it
is easy to understand the huge power that represents the Internet media in the entire world.
5
Internet World Stats, Usage and Population Statistics: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
12
More and more people use the Internet, more and more powerful and attractive is this
communication and distribution channel for companies.
Internet is the most influental factor affecting retail industry today. In report of IMRWorld6
it was estimated that total B2C e-commerce sales in 2010 have grown to €591bn, an
increase of close to 25%. IMRWorld estimates that growth will continue in the coming
years, passing the trillion-euro mark in 2013 and between 2009 and 2013 sales in billion
euro will double7.
Graph 1 (appendix A) displays the growth rates in EU of the leading sectors in online retail
from 2002 to 2007. The top three product categories in 2007 were media products
facturating 13.2 billion euros, followed by clothing and footwear 7.3 billion euros and
consumer electronics – 6.8 billion euros.
2.2 Web Experience Factors influencing Online Consumer Behavior
“Online shopping experience” or “virtual experience” is defined as crucial e-commerce

marketing issue by many academics and practitioners because it results from the
consumer`s exposure to a combination of virtual marketing tools “under the marketer’s
direct control, likely to influence the buying behavior of the online consumer”
(Constantinides, 2002, p. 60).
The Web experience can be defined as the consumer’s total impression about the online
company as the result of their exposure to a combination of notions, emotions and impulses
6
Interactive Media in Retail World Accosiation:“A primary source in e-Business Intelligence”
7
National Retail Federation- http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=1240#Growth visited on 11/06/2011
13
caused by the design and other marketing elements of the online presentation
(Constantines, 2004).
The Web experience embraces elements like searching, browsing, finding, selecting,
comparing and evaluating information as well as interacting and transacting with the online
firm. The virtual customer’s total impression and actions are influenced by design, events,
emotions, atmosphere and other elements experienced during interaction with a given web
site, elements meant to induce customer goodwill and affect the final outcome of the online
interaction.
The medium for delivering the WE is the corporate web site. Sites delivering high quality
WE are designed and structured in ways not only adressing the consumers needs,
expectations and emotions but also evoking credibility, providing the right products and
services, helping the customer through the steps of the buying process while offering
fulfillment services, cutomer assistance and after sales services (O`Kneefe and Mc Eachern,
1998, p.71-78)
2.2.1 Technology- Oriented Factors
2.2.1.1 Usability
Usability is defined as “the extent to which a product can be used by specific users to
achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context
of use” (International Organization for Standartization (ISO) 9241 norm, cited by Guerrero,
Egea & González, 2007, p.102-113)
Websites need to give consumers a sense of control and freedom (Neilsen et al. 2001),
allowing them to move freely around the site without getting lost (Dennis, Fenech &
Merrilees, 2004). If consumers experience usability problems on a website it can prevent
14
them from finding and so purchasing products, resulting in loss of sale and disappointment
(Guerrero, Egea & González 2007). Therefore, usabilitity element should be a fundamental
consideration (Dennis, Fenech & Merrilees, 2004), particularly when consumers
increasingly come to take it for granted (Tan & Wei, 2006, p.261-271).
Constantinides (2004) summarised the key usability components as convenience, site

navigation, information architecture, ordering and paying process, search process, site
speed and accessibility.
Website structure can influence usability, ensuring that customers can move around quickly
with as few clicks as possible (Kim & Eom, 2002). This can include the use of meaningful
product categories with appropriate headings and subheadings, allowing consumers to
identify pages of value (Madu & Madu, 2002). Categories, however, need to be carefully
considered, as too many choices can lead to confusion (Shubin & Meehan, 1997, cited by
Madu & Madu, 2002).
Using regression analyses, Loshe and Spiller (1999) found that product list navigation
features that reduced purchase time accounted for 61% of variance in monthly sales for an
e-retail store. Navigation aids and site presentation needs to be consistent across all pages
to increase usability (Tam & Wai, 2006). Madu and Madu (2002) also recommend placing
an overview of the whole website on the front page.
The way online vendors follow up orders and deliver products has an immediate impact on
the willingness of customers to order and more importantly, to return to the Web site for
shopping in the future. Alternative payment methods, fast delivery, flexible delivery
options and order tracking are frequently mentioned web technology factors.
After reviewing the literature usability elements, the author decided to categorise the most
important ones for online clothes shopping sites and examine four of the above described
15
elements as follows: site navigation, accessibility, payment process and delivery

procedures.
2.2.1.2 Interactivity
To be successful e-stores need to facilitate interaction with the consumer which is on a

particular importance when building brands online (Merylees and Fry, 2002) and can
significally affect consumer satisfaction (Ballantine, 2005). As in the case of usability,
good knowledge of customer profiles and needs are of vital importance for the designers of
these online services. Constantinides (2004) summarised the key interactivity elements as
customer service, interaction with company personnel, customization and network effects.
The Interactivity components are devided in two groups:
1) Interactivity with the online vendor

2) Interactivity with other web users
Figure 1 The Interactivity
Interactivity: dialogue, not monologue

Company Consumer
Two way feedbacks
Building up a two-way relationship through communication and problem solving assistance

is important in online reality and can be equivalent of personal service in traditional
organization (Merrilees & Fry, 2002).
Research has found that access to key reference groups and desirable communities online
can encourage consumers to shop online (Parsons, 2002). Allred, Smith and Swinyard
(2006) suggest that elements such as user forums and message boards not only satisfy
16
consumers` need for social interaction but build up a community bond, which can give
consumers more information and confidence to progress to the checkout.
So, the Internet encourages and permits the communication between the brand and the
customers but also between online consumers. Nowadays, online vendors use also web 2.0
applications like blogs, RSS, social networking, YouTube, User`s Forums, Bulletin Boards,
Chatrooms in order to give the possibility to their customers to establish contact with other
Internet users and give them opportunities to reinforce their identification to the brands, to
decrease their feelings of uncertainty and so to lead them to purchase online
(Constantinides, 2004, p. 118)
However, other research (Song & Zahedi, 2005) found that while external personal sources,
such as comments, ratings, testemonials had a highly significant influence on social
interaction aspect of e-retail, this only had a slight impact on purchase intention.
Another element of online interactivity is the ability to personalise or customise the site and
control communications received (Dennis, Fenech & Merrilees, 2004). Consumers can
benefit from product recommendations, editoral content, consumer feedback on specific
products and recommendations based on product knowledge or customer profiles which
actively anticipate consumers` desires (Schafer, Konstan & Riedl, 2001). Specifically for
clothing e-stores, retailers can offer suggestions on matching items and ideas to complete
the outfit, which may encourage trial (Allen, 2000) and increase purchase intention (Then
& DeLong, 1999,p.65-68).
17
e – CRM
The term e-CRM derives from the CRM but in the field of e-commerce. Customer
Relationship Management software permits web sites to collect and then to use those
demographic and previous interaction data in order to obtain the best profiles of its
customers. After that, it permits to provide them the best experience and develop a more
positive and trusting relationship (Smith et al., 2005, p.21) by offering better customer
service and customized offerings (Melewar et al., 2003, p.363). And because for the online
clothes business, service levels and relationship are the most important elements, to get this
type of information, understand it and use it in order to get a clear image of their customers,
increase interaction with them, to provide them a perfect online experience (Melewar et al.,
2003, p.365) is the best strategy.
2.2.1.3 Web design
According to (Dennis, Fenech & Merrilees, 2004) the visual presentation of the e-store is
vital to shape perceptions. Web design is consisted of various parts, but most impotrant are
presentation quality, style, atmosphere (Constantinides, 2004) including colour
combinations, type and size of fonts, animation, sounds effects and clarity and readability
of the text (Madu & Madu, 2002).
The retailer has the ability through this elements to create an aesthetically stimulating
environment, which increases hedonic value (Childers, Carr, Peck & Carson, 2001) and
enhances consumer `s experience encouragating them to stay longer in the website (Dennis,
Fenech & Merrilees, 2004)
As mentioned above, one of the key hurdles that clothing e-retail has to overcome is the
consumer`s to handle items before purchase. Due to the perceived risk, product presentation
18
must be carefully considered to give consumers a sense of fit (Park, Lennon & Stoel, 2005)
and increase tangibility of products (Kim & Eom, 2002).
High quality images with realistic products colours are particularly important for sensual
products such as clothing (Dennis, Fenech & Merrilees, 2004). Ha, Know and Lennon
(2007) suggest that clothing e-stores should provide more visual product information and a
wider range of product presentations, for example larger views, close ups, back and side
views to increase the purchase intent.
In a laboratory experiment with e-retail consumers, Lee and Benbasat (2003) found that
higher clarity images and motion resulted in higher level of attention, while image size had
an impact on memory. A recent experiment (Park, Stoel & Lennon, 2008) supported their
findings, concluding that movement, such as product rotation, created a positive mood and
increase purchase intent. However, they found that product size did not have a significant
effect, suggesting that small but clear images could convey enough information.
Then and DeLong (1999) emphasized the importance of using a human model online to
show the natural drape of clothes and also presented in the closest representation to its end
use. Other research of Mintel 20068 has highlighed the benefits of including video clips of
clothes being modelled, which can help consumers evaluate products and reduce risk.
Retailers are increasingly adopting state of the art technologies on their web sites to attract
consumers and compensate for the lack of physical presence. Elements such as 3D
presentation and virtual reality can provide increased perceived product knowledge,
positive product attitudes and increased purchase intention (Suh & Chang, 2006, p.100).
Other technologies such as virtual dressing rooms and online fit predictors are increasingly
being adopted to aid consumer decision – making (Abend, 2001).
8
Global Consumer, Product and Market Research Mintel 2006 http://www.mintel.com/
19
In a recent study Fiore and Kelly (2007) found that sound had not been adopted as readily
as other web design. So, they highlight the wide scope it has, not only to enhance the visual
display of products, but also to provide audio descriptions and allow consumers to submit
verbal feedback as well as provide general background atmospheric sound. Coyle and
Thorson (2001) found that the use of audio and animation on websites increased levels of
vividness, which resulted in increased telepresence and stronger, more enduring attitudes
towards the e-stores.
However, despite the increasing support of Web design elements, their use need to be
carefully considered. Overuse can frustrate consumers who are looking to access product
information quickly (Dennis, Fenech & Merrilees, 2004) and increase page loading times –
a key reason why e-stores are abandoned prior to purchase (Weinberg, 2000). Elements
such as animation also need to be used with care to ensure that consumers remain in control
and are not for example, forced to watch extended introductions before reaching the
homepage (Madu & Madu, 2002)
Overall Demangeot and Broderick (2007) found that a combination of interactivity and web
design results in hedonic value mediated by involvment and utilitarian value, both
impacting on attitude towards the web site and purchase intent.
2.2.2 Consumer - Oriented Factors
2.2.2.1 Shopping Experience
Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001) states that “ higher Internet experience and the use of other
remote purchasing methods are related to lower levels of perceived risk towards online
shopping, which in turns results in higher online purchase rates.
20
Consumers online activities are very easy to be affected by their online experience. If
previous online experience had left positive or negative impression in customers` memory
in some extent, this impression highly influence consumers` actual buying behavior, thus
customers` emotional feeling could lead a conversion from product navigation to
purchasing (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001, p.44). Wolfinbarger and Gilly`s research (2001)
indicated that impulsive buying seldom happen on the goal-oriented consumers, but they
enjoy the freedom and control, while the experiential online shoppers enjoy the surprise and
excitement of the shopping experience. Positive affect make task-oriented online shopping
consumers have less time to browse and search related information online before their
actual buying behavior, however, negative affect make task- oriented online shopping
consumers focus on pure entertainment more than really purpose of actual shopping online.
According to the brief description of these studies, it is not difficult to see that the shopping
experience could affect the consumers`s emotion which decides if the consumers can
convert the emotion into purchasing behavior. Most of the online experience refers to the
service aspect of online shopping; furthermore, a bad shopping experience could be
harmful for the image of the online store and affect the ongoing buying behavior in the
same website.
Ahmad`s (2002) research presents certain aspects of online shopping experience from
consumers` perspective, specifically, concentrates on the consumers` reactions to service
failures and initiative to enhance the online service recovery. Through the responses of the
shopper who had bad experience when they shopped online, the researcher presented that
the factors are involved in such as late deliver, defective product, and partial order;
meanwhile, the shoppers also have bad experience that the online shop`s customer service
representative made no efforts to fix problems. In addition, the survey also presents that the
respondents who had problems with online shopping, they choose to contact the online
shops by using telephone, and emails to communicate, however, the results indicates that
customers prefer to use the telephone to communicate.
21
2.2.2.2 Trust
Due to the impersonal and anonymous nature of online transactions, e-retailers have the
vital role to build consumer trust to be successful in their e-business (Chen & Barnes, 2007,
p. 21-36). To build trust several things have to be safe for an Internet user. Indeed,
according to Karakaya (2001, p.44), the principal online anxieties is about privacy and
security of operation.
Vijayasarathy and Jones (2000) identified five risk dimentions. In addition to traditional
economic, social and performance risk, a further two were identified as new to e-retail:
personal risk such as theft and abuse of credit card information, and privacy risk, including
compromising personal information.
To reduce risk and build up trust e-retailers need to ensure their site is secure, trustworthy
and respects consumers` privacy (Chen and Barnes, 2007).
Salomon (2004) agrees it telling that “security is one important concern” (p.338). So, the
online payment must be secure. Grewal et al. (2003) emphase the need for a well written
and prominently displayed security ecryption assurance. Other elements that can increase
trust are comprehensive and locatable company information, fair pricing, balanced product
information, professional site design and access to help (Kim & Eom, 2002; Nielsen et al.,
2001; Smith and Rupp, 2003).
Other research (Kim & Kim, 2004) concludes that consumers nowadays feel more secure as
technology and security systems improve and for online clothes shopping specifically may
see security issues as less of risk that product unsuitability due to the lack of physical
examination (Cho, 2004).
Lastly, in the case of any dissatisfaction with the product, online customers, as in traditional
shops, can return the product (Karakaya, 2001, p.45) without any extra fees. Indeed,
secured payment, choices between many transaction possibilities, clear conditions of
22
payment and delivery, possibility to contact vendors for advices and information and after
sales services are many factors that can dispel online customers’ fears, and develop and
strengthen their trust towards the brand. This trust, once implemented, permits online
customers to make their e-shopping without any risks in mind.
2.2.2.3 Product Perception
Several researchers have been focused on the impact of marketing mix elements on the
behavior of web users searching through Internet or buying products and services online.
Researchers agree that the marketing mix’s 4Ps – are essential contributors to the Web
experience. Nielsen et al (2001) found factors such as fair prices, product quality, product
range and product availability which greatly impacted on a consumer`s perception of an e-
store.
Customers online shopping behavior is impacted by the product features which are variety
of goods, product quality/performance/product uncertainty, product availability, social
presence requirement, product presence requirement, dependability of product, possibility
of customized product and brand” (Liang & Huang 1998, p.33; Lowengart & Tractinskky,
2001, p. 20; Muthitacharoen, 1999, p.533).
Firstly, the product can be characterized by using the distinction between search-goods
versus experience-quality goods (Nelson, 1974, p.732-735). This distinction concerned
with how product quality can be determined. Quality can be determined in advance before
the consumers buy or use (e.g., thickness of cloth), which is search goods. The quality of
some other products cannot be determined prior to purchase and use (e.g. the way the
material feels or drapes). Thus, the researcher defined that search goods are products whose
physical characteristics are known prior to purchase (e.g., book), while experience goods
have some uncertainty with respect to their quality of higher likelihood of physical
malfunctioning (e.g., a computer). For this research, clothing belongs to the experience
23
goods, since customer cannot tell the product quality, function and performance until
purchasing and using. (Lowengart & Tractinsky, 2001, p.142).
Hu, Smith and Brynjolfsson (2003) poited out that increased product variety made products
available through e-markets can be a larger source of consumer surplus gains, logically
increasing their purchase intention.
For this research, online clothing shopping is also highly concerned with product
perception, the focus is on the product perception in term of 4 aspects: product quality,
product variety, product availability and product price. We would like to examine the four
aspects through our survey in order to see how these aspects affect the consumers` buying
behavior when they make decision for purchasing clothes online.
The rest of the elements of Marketing Mix is briefly explained but those are not included in
our research.
Song and Zahedi (2005) found that perceived presence of promotions and service also had a
significant impact on beliefs and purchase intentions, with incentive programs having a
highly significant impact on online purchase behavior (Kim & Kim, 2004).
Corporate image and consumer familiarity are vital elements to increase consumers`
confidence and purchase intention (Chen & Barnes, 2007). Grewal, Munger, Lyer and Levy
(2003) found that a favourable reputation and well-known brand name reduced consumers`
perceived online risk and reduced the need for other assurances, such as security encryption
and money back guarantees. The amount of the information available online has also been
found to affect purchase intention (Song & Zahedi, 2005) and also affect consumer
satisfaction (Lynch & Ariely, 2000). Consumers can benefit when retailers supply a large
range of products and regularly update their website to give consumers access to up-to-date
information and enable them to identify new trends (Parsons, 2002).
24
2.3 Decision Making Process in online environment
Engel, Kollat e Blackwell (1892) who developped the model of decision-making process
considers four steps of the process:
- problem recognition
- search
- alternatives evaluation and choice
- post-evaluation phase
But according to Salomon (2004, p.292) the decision-making process is composed of five
steps. After the problem recognition step, in which a desire of a need is identified, a
customer has to search for information. The customer surveys his environment for
appropriate data to make a reasonable decision among several choices in order to fulfill his
desire or need. This step is more or less long and costly depending of the nature of the
product, the perceived risk of the purchase and the free time of the customer.
Constantinides (2004) pointed out the fact that this purchase can be made online adds a
fifth step to his decision-making process, “building trust and confidence” between him and
the online brands (p.112). After this step, the customer has to evaluate each alternative
making a comparison between several products according to some attributes like price,
brand, quality, size etc. This evaluation leads to purchase decision that is the choice of the
best product according to the customer criterion. Then a post purchase evaluation starts. If
the product fulfills the consumer’s expectation, he will be satisfied of his purchase. But if it
is below his primary expectation, the consumer will have a negative opinion about the
product. During his next purchase acts, he will use this experience in order to not make this
same error again (Salomon, 2004, p.292). See figure (2.1 in appendix A).
25
Figure 2 Consumer Decision Making Process
Problem Recognition
Search information
Trust Building
Evaluation of
alternatives
Choice
Post Purchase Behavior
2.4 Online consumer behavior
Purchasing is considered as humans` socio-psycological behavior. Understanding the

psycological background of human behavior is essencial for marketers better achieve their
strategic marketing goals. There are many theorical models developed for human behavior
that have been used in Marketing, E-commerce and IT studies. The most widely used
theories are Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB),
Technology Aceptance Model (TAM) and Triandis Model. Empirical study developped by
Limayem, 2003 shows that TRA, TPB and TAM are the most popular theories used to
study online consumer behavior.
26
2.4.1 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
According to the Theory Reasoned Action developped by Fishbein et al. (1975), the
determinant of a person`s behavior is its intention to either perform or not perform the
specific behavior. In this model two independent factors are framed, which are interacting
together and determine intention.
1) Attitude towards the behavior: a factor that considers the degree to which
a person has about positively or negatively evaluating a specific behavior.
Attitude is therefore determined by behavioral beliefs and evaluation of
behavioral outcomes. Thus, a person who strongly beleives that positive
outcomes will result from performing a particular behavior will have
positive attitudes towards the behavior. The opposite statement about the
negative behavior and attitude is also valid.
2) Subjective norm is determined by the person`s normative beliefs – if
certain influencial individuals approve or disapprove of a particular
behavior and the persons motivation to comply with the
approvals/disapprovals of the important individuals.
Figure 3 The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
Beliefs and Attitude

Evaluation
Behavioral Actual
Intention Behavior
Normative Subjective
Beliefs Norm
27
Since the TRA works successfully to perform only behaviors under volitional control, the
question about the behaviors which are not under volitional control had arosed. However,
there was a need to introduce a concept that takes into consideraion the ability of the
subject to perform the behavior. This concept was introduced as perceived behavioral
control to the TRA making this theory known as Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB).
2.4.2 Theory of Planned Behavior Model (TPB)
The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) developed by Ajzen (1991) is an extension of TRA
and it is adressed to show the inability of TRA in conditions when individuals do not have
total volitional control over their behavior. Symbolically, the TPB model is presented in
figure 4 where it is illustrated that each of the determinants of intention like in TRA but
with one additional determinant to attitude to behavior and the subjective norm which is the
perceived control (PBC), in turn, determined by underlying belief structures.
Figure 4 The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991)
Behavioral Attitude
Beliefs
Behavioral Actual
Intention Behavior
Normative Subjective
Beliefs Norm
Control Perceived
Beliefs Behavioral
Control
28
The PBC is an individual`s perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular

behavior. It is assumed that PBC is informed by beliefs about the individual`s possession of
the opportunities and resources needed to engage in the behavior (Azjen, 1991, p.185). It
accentuates both internal control (e.g. a person`s skills and abilities of self efficacy) and
external constraints (e.g. opportunities and facilities) need to perform behavior. According
to TPB, attitude towards the target behavior and subjective norms about engaging in the
behavior are thought to influence intention, and perceived behavioral control over engaging in
the behavior is a factor influencing intention and both are being function of actual berhavior
(Azjen, 1991, p.180).
Furthermore, TPB also includes a direct link between perceived behavioral control and
behavioral achievement. Given two individuals with the same level of intention to engage
in a behavior, the one with more confidence in his or her abilities is more likely to succeed
than the one who has doubts (Azjen, 1991).
2.4.3 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
One of the most significant purposes of TAM is to provide a foundation for outlining the
impact of specific external factors on the internal beliefs, intentions and attitudes. The model
proposed by Davis (Davis, 1989) was derived from the TRA. While TRA was created to
explain general human behavior, TAM is specific to IS usage.
The aim of the TAM is “[…] to provide an explanation of the determinants of computer
acceptance that is general, capable of explaining user behavior across a broad range of end user
computing technologies and user populations, while at the same time being both par-simonious
and theoretically justified” (Davis et al, 1989, p. 985). In 1989, Davis developed scales for two
specific variables that were hypothesized to be basic determinants of user acceptance of
29
computers. These two variables were referred to as „perceived usefulness‟ and „perceived ease
of use‟. According to Davis (1989):
♦ Perceived Usefullness (PU) “[...] the people tend to use or not use an application to
the extent they believe it will help them perform their job better” (Davis, 1989, p.
320).
♦ Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) is “ the degree to which people beleive that using a
particular system would be free of efforts”
PU and PEOU reflect the beleifs about the task value and user-friendliness of new
information systems respectively.
This Technology Acceptance Model has been cited in various research since it was
introduced by Davis in 1989. With the emerging of the e-commerce marketing, Internet and
World Wide Web (www), some researches have tried to apply the technology acceptance
model in the e-commerce field (Li and Qiu, 2008; Dellaert, Monsuwé and Ruyter, 2004,
Cho and Iris Cheung, 2003).
As shown in Figure 5, the model refers that actual usage is determined by user`s behavioral
intention to use (BIU) which in turn is influenced by their attitude (A) and the belief of
perceived usefullness (PU). User`s attitudes, which reflects favourable or unfavorable
feelings towards using the IS system, is determined jointly by perceived usefullness (PU)
and perceived ease of use (PEOU). PU, alternatively, is influenced by extenal variables and
PEOU. The logical understanging of the Technology Acceptance Model is that the easier
exploitation of certain technology the more useful it is perceived to be.
30
Figure 5 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989)
Perceived
Usefulness
(PU)
External Attitude Behavioral Actual
Variables toward using Intention to System Use
(A) use (BIU)
Perceived
Ease of Use
(PEOU)
2.4.4 Applying a theorical model
The three models represent different determinants to explain the consumer behavior in
technology adoption or in e-commerce reality, nevertheless, they share lots of similarities.
TRA, TPB and TAM assume an attitude – intention – behavior relationship, that is,
cognitive, normative or affective beliefs form attitude, which successively has influence on
behavioral intention and actual usage of behavior. TAM in its turn, explain most of the
technology driven – systems in previous studies, however, this model is unsufficient to
explain the prediction of online shopping that entails a greater degree of uncertainty as
compared to physical product transactions. Actually, trust and risk are integrated in the
structures of TPB as control belief, acting on behavioral control and risk of security issues
and privacy violation influencing attitude through perceived consequences (Pavlou, 2002).
Although, TAM and TRA both assume volitional control over behavior and that no
constraints would prevent an indivudual from commitment of behavior out, the PBC
construct in TPB (absent in TAM) has been tested and used in IS research.
31
The author chose to base her research model on TPB because is a model that following
models are an extension of the original TPB, and it is applying better to the research about
the web experience factors which are influencing consumer behavior. Moreover, TPB is
well known and acknowledged model in Marketing. In conclusion, in their reasearch Kallol
K. Baghichi et al. (2002), refer that the explanatory power of TPB is somewhat better than
TAM for most marketing studies.
32
CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
In the following chapter is elaborated the conceptual framework associated with literature
review to explain the consumer online attitudes towards online shopping and their
intentions to purchase, to spend more time in the online store and to recommend it.
Hereafter is presented the Research Model and the Hypotheses of the study paper. The
processing of the variables and the constructing of the scales are defined, together with the
measures used to test the variables in the research. Lastly, the caracterististis of the
clothing online market are clarifyed.
3.1 Theorical Paradigm
With the blooming of online shopping, more relevant researches are increasing and intent to
investigate how to gain more new potential consumers and maintain the existing ones. For
such, web elements to create an attractve web design of online store are very important
consideration involved in many researches. Six web experience elements are detected as
most influencial in the process of forming online behavior. Considered technology -
oriented factors usability, interactivity and web design elements are those that need high
technological development for improving shopping functions and service. Trust, shopping
experience and product perception are those elements related to the consumer reactions and
perceptions about attitudes and intentions. Yet, all of the web experience factors may
change consumer`s attitude and behavior towards online shopping. Understanding how
online consumers are affected by the exposure of the web site elements help marketers to
predict consumers buying behavior.
33
3.2 Research Model and Hypotheses
TPB model provides the theorical foundation of this reasearch. The developed reasearch
model by the author presented in figure 6 was measures the impact of WE elements on
consumer behavior. The Reasearch Model explains the way that the web site elements may
influence the behavior of potential consumers. It is supposed that the web elements
influence their salient beliefs towards online shopping, which in turn change their attitudes,
leading to changes in their intentions and behavior.
In order to check the applicability and appropriateness of the research model a structural
equation model will be applied. The conceptual model will be studied through sub-models
with multiple correlations and linear regressions of independent variables on the dependent
variables. Thus, the research hypotheses are devided in two sub - models: attitudes towards
online shopping and intentions to purchase.
Each construct of the research model will be further explained and the relations with the
customer attitutes and intentions to use online shopping when purchasing clothing will be
justified.
34
Figure 6 Research Model
Actual Consumer
Behavior
Technology - Consumer -
Intention towards Online
Oriented Shopping Oriented
- intention to purchase Factors
Factors
- intention to spend time
Usability - intention to recommend Shopping
Experience
Interactivity Trust
Web Design Attitudes towards Product

Online Shopping Perception
35
Table 1 Factors influencing online shopping purchase of clothes
Customer - oriented factors Technology-oriented factors
Shopping Experience Usability
♦ Satisfaction ♦ Accessibility
♦ Site navigation
♦ Payment Process
♦ Delivery Process
Trust Interactivity
♦ Transaction Security ♦ Customer Ratings and Testemunials

♦ Customer Privacy ♦ Customization
♦ Vendor`s Reputation and capability ♦ Recommendations
♦ Good Customer Service
Product Perception Web design
♦ Product Variety ♦ Colour

♦ Product Price ♦ Fonts
♦ Product Quality ♦ Animation
♦ Product Availability ♦ Sound
♦ Text clarity
♦ Product presentation
3.3 Attitute towards online shopping
Attitude is an immediate determinant of intention to perform a behavior (Ajzen, 1991, p.

201). Previous researches demonstrate that attitudinal factors have been tested and shown
to be significant predictors of retail patronage intentions. For example, in the research of
Shim, Eastlick, Lotz and Warrington (2001), in the context of internet shopping,
consumers` attitudes towards clothes shopping affected their intentions to purchase via the
internet. The positive attitude towards the internet shopping significantly increased
intention to use the internet for purchasing. In other words, the more positive attitude of
36
consumers towards a brand or store, higher are the intentions to buy the brand. So, attitude
towards internet shopping will positively predict intention to use the internet for product or
information search.
Online attitude is defined as a kind of individual`s overall impression and evaluation for
online shopping, which could be expressed in positive or negative way, or even more
emotional feeling like favorable or unfavorable. There are three ways to measure
consumers` attitude, firstly, “regarding the hedonic aspect that could be measured by items
of fun/frustrating, enjoyable/not enjoyable and, interesting/boring, while for the utilitarian
aspect could be measured by items such as safe/risk, ordered/chaotic, wise/foolish, and
reliable/unreliable and the overall aspect could be measured by items such as useful/
useless, pleasant/unpleasant, entertaining/weary, and nice/awful” (Huang, 2005,p.841-847).
Therefore, based on many previous researches, the author avoids overlapping factors, and
picked up the most representative ones applying into the research (see table 7 “Attributes
for attitudes towards shopping clothes online”).
3.4 Online shopping intention
Purchase intention measures have been used frequently to identify buying likelihood for
products within defined time periods (Whitlark, Geurts & Swenson, 1993, p. 19). At the
beginning, the consumers` good attitude of online shopping positively decides the
consumers` buying intention. Furthermore, the buying intention will affect the consumers`
final buying decision and actual buying behavior. Apart from that, the evidence also proves
that online buying intention and customer satisfaction interact to each other. In general,
consumers` intention can be expressed in terms of intention to purchase, intention to spend
more time at the online store and intention to recommend the online store to others (Kim &
Kim, 2008, p.131).
37
Intention to purchase
The relationship between intention to use the internet for information search and intention
to use the internet for purchasing was found in the online pre-purchase intentions model
developed by Shim et al. (2001, p. 411). Intent to search via the internet contributed a
substantial portion of the variance explained in internet purchase intention. Consumers who
report intentions to search a product possess higher actual buying rates than consumers who
report that they have no intention of searching (Whitlark et al., 1993, p. 21). In addition,
consumers tend to search more information from the internet when purchasing products
online (Kim & Park, 2005, p.111; Lohse, Bellman & Johson, 2000, p. 21).
Previous studies (Kim & Park, 2005; Lohse et al., 2000) also suggested that an intention to
search the internet for product information leads to an intention to purchase through the
same medium. Therefore, information search and its selected channel should be considered
extremely crucial elements leading to a choice in purchase format.
Intention to spend more time at the online store
There are substantial differences between shoppers and non shoppers in the time spent with
their computers and online. Shoppers use computers more, are online more, and are more
comfortable with both computer and Internet use. This may indicate that the amount of the
internet use for information search influences purchasing behavior online. (Lohse et al.,
2000, p.21).
Online shoppers express that they could fully examine various options for product
purchases through online shopping, compared to the offline shopping context
(Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001, p. 40). On the hand, information is an important resource for
consumers, so they search information to reduce uncertainty about sources, product
features, prices and brand before making decision. Customers also actively look out for
promotional offers. Therefore, they may spend more time at the online retailer to explore
38
alternatives or to examine the detailed product information to fulfill their utilitarian needs
(i.e. making right decisions) and/or intrinsic motivations (i.e. enjoy searching for more
product info for itself) (Kim & Kim, 2008, p.131).
Intention to recommend the online store to others
One facet of the research conceptualization of behavioral intention towards the online store
is the willingness to recommend the online store to others. Positive word-of-mouth (WOM)
for online retailers has been one of the most effective formats of advertising. It has been
demonstrated that WOM has a significant effect on online behavioral intentions. Kim and
Kim (2008) found out that the more consumers feel confident with shopping at the online
store, the higher behavioral intention will be towards the online store, indicating that
consumers are more willing to recommend the online store to others. Stone (1954) also
revealed that WOM of the retailer`s online operations had the dominant effect on online
trust and the effect was found to be much stronger than that of offline trust. In contrast,
consumers with a low level of online purchasing experience were more likely to engage in
higher levels of negative word of mouth, if they felt dissatisfied after a service failure
incident. In general, online WOM is becoming an important marketing tool for retailers
these days, and it is much more powerful than offline WOM because it affects many people
over a short period of time (Kim & Kim, 2008, p.137).
3.5 Hypoteses of the research
After reviewing a large amount of literature and during the process of consolidation of the
proposed research model, which sought to reconcile inputs supplemental to the
comprehension of the topic of this study (this include the Theory of Planned Behavior of
Ajzen, 1991), were constructed hypotheses to explain the relationships between variables.
39
H1: There is positive relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and intentions
to purchase. It is supposed that positive and good attitudes of online shopping are leading to
higher intention to buy clothing online.
H2: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and technology-
oriented factors, supposing that favourable perception about the technology-oriented factors
is leading to good attitudes towards online shopping.
H2a: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and usability
H2b: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and interactivity
H2c: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and web design
H3: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and consumer-oriented
factors, supposing that favourable perception about the consumer-oriented factors is leading
to good attitudes towards online shopping.
H3a: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and shopping
experience
H3b: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and trust
H3c: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and product
perceptions
H4: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and technology-oriented factors,

supposing that favourable perception about the technology-oriented factors is leading to
profound intentions to purchase online.
H4a: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and usability

H4b: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and interactivity
H4c: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and web design
40
H5: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and consumer-oriented factors,

supposing that favourable perception about the consumer -oriented factors is leading to
profound intentions to purchase online.
H5a: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and shopping experience

H5b: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and trust
H5c: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and product perceptions
H6: Intentions to spend more time in the online strore has impact on intentions to purchase
online. It is supposed that if consumers spend more time in the online store their intentions
to purchase will be higher.
H7: Buying frequently products online has impact on intentions to purchase online,
supposing that higher frequency of buying products online lead to intentions to purchase
online.
H8: Intentions to recommend the online store has impact on intentions to purchase online,
supposing that when an online store is recommended, the consumers` intentions to purchase
online increase.
H9: Online consumer behavior is related to intentions to purchase online clothing

It is supposed that the buying intention to purchase clothes online will affect the consumer
final buying decision and actual buying behavior.
3.6 Variables Processing
Variables processing is being done by defining the attributes and the scales according to the
research objectives and literature review. In order to facilitate the respondents of the
survey, the items used were simplified in order to be more easily perceived. The processing
of the scales is made by using the respective means after checking the unidimentionality of
41
each component (through exploratory factor analysis) and consistency check (through the
analysis of reliability). Hereafter the used scales for the survey are presented.
3.6.1 Web experience technology - oriented factor Usability
Table 2 Attributes related to Usability

Attributes related to Usability
Easily accessible information
Simple site navigation
Quick and easy transaction
Delivery process
The scale for measuring the variable usability tries to give explanation about the most
influencial of the four attributes by categorisizing them in order of importance. These
measures are used in studies of autors Dennis, Fenech & Merrilees, 2004, Kim et al., 2003.
For the following research the measures were refined. For the scale`s operationalization it
was used the Likert 5 point scale, where 1 correspond to unimportant and 5 to important.
3.6.2 Web experience technology - oriented factor Interactivity
Table 3 Attributes related to Interactivity

Attributes for Interactivity
Customer Rating and Testemunials
Site Customization
Recommendations
Good Customer Service/After Sales
42
In their studies Merrilees & Fry, Nah & Davis, 2002 use the described items for
Interactivity. For the scale`s operationalization it was used 5 point Likert scale in order to
understand the level of relevance of the items.1 correspond to very irrelevant 5 to very
relevant.
3.6.3 Web experience technology - oriented factor Web Design
Table 4 Attributes related to Web design

Attributes for Web design
Colour
Fonts
Animation
Sound
Text clarity
Quality of Product presentation (image clarity, motion,size, presentation style)
Colour, fonts, animation, sound, text clarity and quality of product are the main influencing
items according to Madu and Madu, 2002 and Wilkstrom et al., 2002 for online clothing
site. For the processing of the scale was used 5 point Likert scale – 1 correspond of
unimportant and 5 to important.
3.6.4 Web experience customer - oriented factor Trust
Table 5 Attributes related to Trust

Attributes for Trust
Transaction Security
Customer Privacy
Vendor`s reputation and capability
43
Trust towards websites may be reflective of the reliability and credibility of e-vendor. The
proposed scale is used by Kim, Song, Braynov and Rao, 2002. For the proceeding of the
scale is used 5 point Likert scale, where 1 is completely desagree and 5 is completely agree.
3.6.5 Web experience customer - oriented factor Product Perception
Table 6 Attributes related to Product perceptions

Attributes for Product perceptions
Product variety
Product price
Product quality
Product availability
Product perceptions are part of online marketing mix elements finding this items in the
scale of Liang & Huang 1998; Lowengart & Tractinskky, 2001 and Muthitacharoen, 1999,
we are elaborating the scale through the 5 Likert point scale, ranging from 1 completely
desagree to 5 completely agree.
In order to measure each of the WE factors were used 5 point Likert scales, which allows
the respondents to express the level of agreement or desagreement with the particular
statements about the WE factors.
3.6.6 Web experience customer - oriented factor Online Experience
Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001) defined Shopping Experience by measuring the item
Satisfaction towards previous experience. By using Direct Question about the level of
satisfaction the respondents had before in their previous online experience, the autor
44
analyses the relationship between intention to continue/start purchase and shopping

expirience.
3.6.7 Attitudes towards shopping clothes online
A scale validaded by Ellen, Mohr, Webb (2000) cited by Bruner and Hensel (1996) was
presented in order to understand the customer attitude towards online shopping of clothing.
Table 7 Attributes for Attitudes towards shopping clothes online

Attributes for Attitudes towards shopping clothes online
Enjoyable
Fun
Exciting
Positive
Entertaining
Undifferent
3.6.8 Intention to purchase
For measuring the variable Intention towards online shopping and respectively its
relationship with customer attitudes the respondents were divided into two groups-
experienced and inexperienced shoppers. Question 8 is filter question: “Have you bought
clothes online” from which the author can understand the respondents’ previous experience
in buying clothes online. The following two questions measure the intentions to
start/continue purchasing clothes online. Being used Likert 5 point scale for Question 10 in
order to measure the influence of the intention to recommend the online store and the
intention to purchase. Further this statement will be confirmed to be positive by using the
testing the linear regression models.
45
3.6.9 Control Variables
In order to receive consistency of the results and validate the answers the respondents were
surveyed to answer to 5 variables assessing their demographic profile:
- gender
- age
- educational level
- working conditions
- monthly net income
3.7 Characteristics of Online Clothing Market
The Internet as a virtual medium has the inability to appeal to all the senses (Kim & Kim,
2004) which is related with the detail about certain products to be less suitable for e-retail
when they appeal to touch, taste and/or smell, which de Kare-Silver (2001, p.103) describes
as “prima facie”.
Clothing is a category that appeals not only to sight, the product`s appearance, but also
touch, the way the material feels and drapes. This presents barriers to e-retail as consumers
expect to be physically involved in the purchase decision (de Kare-Silver, 2001). Buying
clothes on internet lacks two main features – touch and try. The newest technology
improvements in the area nurses the online apparel sales growth, moreover it reduces the
number of returns, diminish costs and thus increase the reputation of the site (58% inrease
in sales, and 28% reduces turns). Examples for this are the sites: www.fits.me9, which
9
Virtual Fitting Room - http://fits.me/
46
developed a virtual room for online clothing retailers, www.couturious.com10, which

provides with sales assistance for what clothes to match and www.newgistics.com11 gives
return services informations and all for the convinience for the customer.
Clothing sector has been an e-commerce success. In the early days of online shopping
purchases were limited to low cost, and easily despatched items like books, CDs and
DVDs. Clothing shopping was considered to be an impossible product category to sell
online primarily because of the perceived need to try-on garments purchase which turned to
be very wrong statement. Nowadays, apparel is the the biggest selling category on internet.
The following statitistics is showing something surprising: yet, computers sold on internet
represent $30bn and take 50% of the selling items online, while 9% of apparel equals to
$31bn12. As online clothing marking continues growing and gaining share, some estimates
have put the online clothing at 35% share by 2018, which means that every third brick-and-
mortar store will be closed.
Changes in return policies and rules about purchasing also influenced the online buying
behavior. Similiar to US, in Europe the online shopper have not to pay return shipping
anymore which is a beneficial policy for shoppers to return or change purchased item
without any cost.
3.6.1 Advantages and disadvantages of online clothing market
As a phenomena, online shopping became popular in the mid 1990s with the popularization
of the World Wide Web (www). Correspondingly, the subsequent years saw the appearance
10
Online styling studio for creating looks on real models http://www.couturious.com/
11
Provider of small parcel delivery, intelligent returns management and freight management services
http://www.newgistics.com/
12
Online Apparel Retail http://fits.me/news/online-apparel-retail-and-what-future-brings
47
of research studies conducted to develop an understanding of online behavior and the

perceived advantages or desadvantages.
The most important advantage of online shopping is that it allows the business companies
or individuals to reach the global market without any restriction of geographical
boundaries. Without any time limit and non existing boundaries while conducting
businesses, e-commerce authorizes to execute business transactions 24 hours a day and
even during holidays and weekends. (see table 8)
Turban et al. (2008) identify the key benefits of online shopping for consumers, which
include the ability to shop at any time from any place; access to a large selection of
vendors, products and styles; increased possibility of customised products and services and
the ability to easily compare and shop for the lowest prices. Additionally, Hirst and Omar
2007 found that online clothes shoppers rated usefulness, ease of use and enjoyment as
benefits.
Parsons (2002) found that online shopping can also satisfy personal motivations, such as
diversion and self-gratification, and satisfy the need for social interaction and membership
of peer or aspirational groups online.
Despite the advantages of e-retail, research has found that security concerns and the
complexity of online shopping are the key barriers that prevent some consumers from
purchasing online (Allred, Smith & Seinyard, 2006). In a recent study, (Fransi and Viadiu,
2007) found that security worries were common to all segments of online shoppers. Studies
have found that uncertainty and high-perceived risk reduce consumer`s willingness to
disclose personal information (Madu & Madu, 2002) and buy online.
48
However, other research (Cho, 2004) suggest that consumers are becoming less concerned
with security issues online and that it doesn `t have a statistically significant influence on
the likelihood to abord transaction. Mintel reported that the number of internet users citing
security as a consideration fell from 55% in April 2004 to just 22% in July 2006.
Consumers often express concern about buying without physically evaluating product and
the difuculties if it does not meet their expectations (Bhatnagar, Misra & Rao, 2000). The
internet has also limited success in satisfying other traditional shopping motivations such as
physical activity and role-playing (Parsons, 2002).
Hirst and Omar 2007 highlighted that the negative aspects of e-retail can be outweighed by
emphasising the positive features of shopping online.
Table 8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Shopping
Advantages for Online buyer Disadvantages for Online buyer

Wider product availability Concern with transaction security and
privacy
Customized and personalized information and Lack of trust for unfamiliar sites/non branded
buying options products
Ability to shop 24/7 Inability to touch and feel protucts before

purchase
Easy comparison shopping Unfamiliar buying process using electronic
money
Quick delivery of digital products Complicated legal environment
One-to-one reletionship with seller Return policies that are difficult to
understand
The blooming of online shopping has led to deeper investigations how to gain more
potential consumers and still keep the existing ones, avoiding desadvantages of shopping
online. On this basis the web experience elements are important considerations involved in
many researches.
49
Online retailers should get to know more about how to utilize these factors in order to better
understand the consumer shopping behavior and to increase the consumers` online buying
intention. It is crucial to know how to create effective business and marketing strategy to
reach the goal of retaining old consumers, and attract more potential new consumers.
In the next chapters the actual customer behavior towards online shopping is analysed and
later are given some suggestions for future improvements and considerations.
50
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD
In this chapter the author describes the adopted methodology and the way the research will
be conducted. Furthermore, the methods and the techniques which will be used for the
research purposes are justified. In the research method section the research approach,
research design and strategy, sample selection methods, data collection methods and data
analysis methods used in the thesis are included.
4.1 Research Approach
According to Creswell, 2003 research approaches tend to be qualitative, quantitative or

mixed. But Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) claimed that there are two overall
approaches to conduct research: induction and deduction. Whether research is deductive or
inductive depends on how the study will involve the use of theories. If the researcher starts
with developing a theory and hypotheses and later designs a research strategy to test the
hypotheses, a deductive approach is applied. The nature of the quantitative methodology is
deductive, contributing to the scientific knowledge base by theory testing. Because of true
experimental testings require tightly controlled conditions, the richness and depth of
measuring the participant may be partially foregone. As a validity concern, this may be a
limitation of quantitative designs (Newman and Benz, 1998).
Quantitative research is used to answer questions about relationships among measured

variables with the purpose of explaining, predicting, and controlling phenomena. In
contrast, qualitative research is typically used to answer questions about the complex nature
of phenomena, often with the purpose of describing and understanding the phenomena from
the participants` point of view (Leedy & Ormrod, 2001, p.101-103).
In the thesis, when mapping out the customer online shopping of clothes, quantitative
approach was used. Being used the quantitative approach, a larger portion of the population
51
can be investigated, than could have been by only using a qualitative research. This kind of
approach enables the results to be conceptually generalized, which means that the findings
could be applicable in the sense of the critical case.
Choosing a research approach technically depends on the definition of the research

problems and data needed for solving them. In this study the purpose is to get insight into
the main web-experience factors that customer takes into consideration when purchasing
clothes online and to understand which web site elements drive users` attitudes and
intentions towards buying from the web site clothing store. For this reason it was decided to
apply the quantitative research.
4.2 Research Design
There are various forms of designing the research. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil (2003)
stated that they are most often classified as exploratory, decriptive or explanatory. On the
other hand, Cooper and Shindler (2003) categorized the research design as descriptive and
causal.
Kent (2007, p.18) explains that descriptive research is concerned with measuring or
estimating the sizes, quantities or frequencies of characteristics. The objective of
descriptive research is to portray an accurate profile of persons and situations. Hypotheses
derived from the theory usually serve to guide the process and provide a list of what needs
to be measured (Hair et al. 2003). For descriptive and exploratory research, the objective
may simply be to collect the information that has been specified at the research design
stage. Exploratory research is about the discovery of ideas and insights. However, causal
research analyses the degree of influence of one or more independent variables upon one or
more dependent variables. In turn, explanatory research has the objective to test if one
event is causing another (Hair et al. 2003). Like the causal research, explanatory research is
52
establishing causal relationship between variables and it is used when a situation or a

problem is studied in order to explain the ratio between variables.
The purpose of the research is mainly to use descriptive and explanatory analysis. It is
descriptive because it describes how the online clothing market works and how the
evaluating variables behave. It is explanatory since the relationships between the web
experience factors and attitudes, intentions and consumer behavior are explained.
4.3 Research Strategy
Research strategy is a general plan how the researcher will reach the research objectives
that have been set. It contains the sources from which the author intends to collect data,
considering the constraints such as information access, time, location, money, ethical issues
(Thronhill et al., 2003). Yin (1994) stated that the research strategies in social science
consist of – experiments, surveys, archival analysis, histories and case studies.
Survey being considered one of the most appropriate tools for quantitative studies was
chosen, because it is found to be most effective instrument in order to get better
understanding of the actual theme. The elaborated survey of consumer bahavior aimes to
measure attitudes and intentions of online shoppping and the most influencial web
experience factors customer takes into consideration when purchasing online. A structured
– survey was designed and distributed online among 350 young university people selected
to be from Europe and at age of maximum 30 years old. The reason for choosing this target
group was the growing number of the young customer of online clothing (see paragraph
1.1).
53
4.4 Sample Selection
Sampling method needs to be designed after defining the nature and the objectives of the
study and the availability of time and budget. Sample techniques can be divided into two
broad categories – probability and non-probability sample (Samuel et al, 2003). Probability
sample called also random samples is commonly related to survey based research, where
the researcher needs to make inferences from the sample about a population in order to
meet research objective. In probability sample, the selected elements are made randomly
and the probability of being selected is necessarily determined by the researcher. Non-
probability sampling provides alternative techniques based on researcher subjective
judgment. In this category the selection of elements for the sample is not ensuring that the
sample is statistically representative of the population. In our study we employed non-
probability sampling since the sampling framework is unknown – we don `t dispose with
complete list of population who has previous online shopping experience.
The two broad categories of non-probability sampling are accidential or purposive. Most of
the samplings are purposive in nature because the approach is made usually with specific
plan or purposes.
According to Samuel et al, 2003, most common non-probability sampling methods are:
Convenience sampling, Judgment Sampling and Quota Sampling.
Convenience sampling involves selection of sample members who can provide required
information and who are more available to participate in a study. It is cost effective and
quick sampling, but because of the differences of the target population, the conveniene
sampling suffers bias.
Judgement sampling researcher `s judgment is is used to select sample and specific purpose
is involved. Sample elements as group of people are chosen according to their knowledge
about specific problem. It is very convinient and low cost sampling (Hair et al, 2003)
54
Quota sampling`s objective is to have proportional representation of the strata of target

population for the total sample and certain characteristics describe the dimentions of the
population (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). Strata of the target population, determination of
the total size and setting of the quota for the sample elements from each stratum are defined
by the researcher.
Apply to the present reasearch it was conducted convenience and personal judgement
sampling. The decision for using these sampling methods was taken considering the
purpose of the study which understands the most influencial web factors for the consumer
when buying clothes online.
Target and Online Survey
First of all, the consumer sector of online clothing market was determined. According to
reasearch of Mintel13 the younger end of the fashion online retail market is growing with
very fast speed and become more competitive than the older sector of the fashion retail
market. Then, considering the time and financial constaints online survey was distributed
through Facebook and mailing list of students in MSc in Marketing from Faculty of
Economics, University of Coimbra was used as well. To reach the target group which was
already defined to be people up to age of 30 years old, with computer literacy, knowledges
in English language and living in Europe, the author employed the sampling method by
using online survey as it provides greater reach than the traditional paper method, has high
response rates and instantaneous collection of the results. Additionally, online survey
allows to easily surveying consumers worldwide and it is very cost effective.
13
Mintel 2006 http://www.sensored.co.uk/2.html
55
4.5 Sample size
Determining the size of sample that is needed for a particular piece of research is a complex
issue. Kent (2007) suggests that for any kind of quantitative analysis, a minimum sample
size of 100 is needed even to be able to calculate simple percentages for each variable. In
thinking about sample size it is helpful to draw a distinction between:
- The size of sample attempted or drawn from a list
- The number of questionnaire returned
- The number of usable returns
Considering the large number of factors above, the author decided to distribute
questionnaire to 350 young people up to age of 30, living in Europe, considered potential
consumers of online clothes and the total number of returned responses was 115. So, 115 is
our sample size, and the returned rate is less than the expected (around 35 %) but still in
normal limits. In order to control the number of usable return, the survey was designed in a
easy way to answer, and extra explanation was provided to the respondents who
experienced difficulties to answer the online survey. In turn, this would also allow
achieving a minimum sampling error and a maximum of accuracy in this research.
4.6 Data Collection
To reach the data necessary to accomplish the purpose of this thesis are being used both
primary and secondary data collection. Primary data is collected especially to answer the
purpose and research specific objectives of the current study. Secondary data is data that
has been collected earlier, to fulfill the purpose of some other study. (Saunders et al., 2007,
246). The following subparagraphs explain in details how the primary and the secondary
data were collected.
56
4.6.1 Primary data collection
Primary data can be collected through observation, interviews and surveys (Saunders et al.
2007, p. 282). Survey can be distinguished by several methods, such as interview,
telephone, post and online. For this data collection the decision was to use an online survey,
distributed on the web using Facebook as main channel to send the survey and collect the
responses.
Pilot Study
To design a survey, certain information is needed about the specific target group. Although
many articles and reports were read, the information found was not enough dealt with Internet
shopping of young consumers, up to age of 30 and living in Europe. In order to construct the
survey a pre-study was needed for collecting basic information. To find the respondents,
convenience sampling was used. The pre-study included five respondents from the age 20 to 30
in Portugal, and the interviews were conducted with open questions since the goal of the study
was to uncover factors, feelings attitudes and intentions relevant for this specific age group.
The pre-study helped to great extent and facilitated the completion of the survey.
Survey design
It was decided to collect data by using online survey for the following reasons: first,
because of reaching great scope of the segmented population difficult to reach through
traditional methods, secondly due to its cost effective nature, the data was obtained with
minumum costs. Last, but not least, is the speed of the obtained results and the ease of data
processing. The survey was opened on the web on 22nd August and closed on 6th
September. The used online survey software was esurveyspro.com.
57
When collecting primary data the difficult part is to reach every target group. For us, it is
impossible to find all the people to be involved in this research. The answers received were
115, from which 10 were not completed because of the nature of the survey to separate the
respondents into two groups (experienced and non experienced shoppers).
The total number of the research questions is nineteen, which were mainly divided into two
sections. The first section starts with personal background information; the second section
including fourteen questions is related to consumer behavior online shopping, which were
designed based on “the research model of online shopping behavior”, in other words, every
question of the questionnaire derived from corresponding theoretical support and the
research hypoteses. The second section is the most important in our research. The attributes
were built upon the different web site experience factors influencing consumer online
shopping behavior towards online clothes.
When designing a survey, there are two kinds of question formats that can be used, one is
fixed choice questions and the other is open-ended questions. In our survey, the author was
employed fixed-choice questions which give respondents a list of possible answers from
which to choose.
Filter questions were used in our research in order to minimize the time taken to complete
the survey and reduce the potential frustration that respondents may feel when reading
through a number of questions that do not apply to them. (Grattion & Jones, 2005, p. 124).
In our research, question 9 is this type of question to divide the respondents into two groups
– experienced and inexperienced shoppers, so that the researchers can analyze the response
more logically.
Likert scales generally are used to assess attitudes. It also can be used to measure the extent
to which participants agree or disagree with a particular statement, and are useful for
58
questions where there may be no clear responses, such as “yes” or “no”. The scale could
offer a five-item or seven-item scale to make the respondents to tick the appropriate point
on the scale that matches most closely their feelings or attitudes. (Grattion & Jones, 2005,
p. 123). In our survey, we have used 9 questions with Likert scales. However, Likert scale
has its possible shortage. For example, scores on 5-point Likert scales are affected by some
dogmatic respondents. Those people tend to choose extreme values or their favorable
responses, such as strongly agree and neutral. Therefore, we tried to avoid this situation by
designing more types of questions like multiple questions and ranking questions. (Grattion
& Jones, 2005, p. 143).
4.6.2 Secondary data collection
For many research questions and objectives the main advantage of using secondary data is
the enormous saving in resources, in particular time and money. Secondary data also
provide more time to think about theorical aims and substantive issues. However, the
disadvantage is that the data may not fit the problem perfectly and that accuracy may be
more difficult to verify for secondary data than for primary data. (Saunders et al., 2007,
257-259.)
When searching for secondary data, usually several sources are adopted. For example,
before she started writing the theoretical framework, the autor wanted to gain deeper
understanding of the research problem and research background. For thus, different online
web sites with reporting information about online shopping and trends in fashion retail
market as Mintel and the Comission of European Communities were consulted.
In order to form the conceptual framework of this study, an extensive search of literature
and articles was conducted through the library of Faculty of Economics, University of
Coimbra, using online search system – B-on and ProQuest. Several Marketing and
Management Journals, for example, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Journal
59
of Fashion Marketing and Management, International Journal of Retail & Distribution

Management etc, were also searched using the full-text online database Emerald. These
data bases supplied the author with a great amount of secondary sources, which is later
developed into the foundation of the literature review.
In conclusion, it was decided to use quantitative research approach in order to quantify the
relationship between the variables explaining customer online behavior when shopping
clothes online. For this thesis the most appropriate research analysis was descriptive and
explanatory analysis. It is descriptive because it describes how the online clothing market
works and how the evaluating variables behave. It is explanatory since the relationships
between the web experience factors and attitudes, intentions and consumer behavior are
explained, moreover it explaines the behavior of the variables. Apply to the reasearch it was
conducted convenience and personal judgement sampling, employing online survey with
sampling size 115 respondents. All the study was based on primary and secondary sources,
but for the analysis of the final results of the investigations were used mainly the primary
data sources from the employed online survey.
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CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The following chapter presents all the empirical findings of the study. It mainly includes the
findings from primary data. The results obtained form the statistical analysis of Linear
Regression and Pierson Correlations are conferred and the proposed hypotheses are
discussed
5.1 Data analysis
5.1.1 Method of Variable Processing
Data analysis is the process whereby researchers take the raw data that have been entered
into the data matrix and create information that can be used to tackle the objectives for
undertaken in the research (Kent, 2007, p. 296-297).
In this thesis, the researcher input the raw responses into computer through a survey
analysis package SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science). The stages of
processing of the variables were:
♦ Encode each variable and introduce into SPSS Variable Base File. For example the
question “How frequent do you use Internet?” was coded as “freq”, showing the
variable frequency of using internet. Codes were made up also for each possibility
of the direct questions (What is your gender? 1was men; 2 was women)
♦ Detect variables with frequences out of scales, which were checked to be inexistent.
♦ Apply factor analysis - for setting the variables and to test the feasibility of the
conceptual model was used analysis of the dimentionality of the variables, through
explanatory factor analysis.
61
Factor analysis is multivariate statistical technique transforming a set of inicial correlated

variables in other set of uncorrelated variables, called principal components or factors. This
simplifies data analysis, since it allows reducing of variables, grouping the items strongly
correlated. The analysis is based on the transformation of an inicial set of correlated
variables in other set of factors that result from linear combinations of the inicial set of
variables (Hair et al. Marques, 2003). The method that was used is Varimax rotation that
aims to maximize the variation of the weights of each principal component, in order to
better interpret the factors, the rotations increase the higher loadings and decrease the lower
loadings of each variable.
To check the degree of adjustment of the factor analysis, was proceeded to test the
feasibility of applying factor analysis, using the Bartlett`s test and KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-
Olkin). KMO allows evaluating the suitability of the application of factor analysis and it
aims to compare the simple correlations between variables and partial vary between 0 and
1. KMO has the following values:
Table 9 KMO Values
KMO Factor Analysis

1-0.9 Very Good
0.8-0.9 Good
0.7-0.8 Medium
0.6-0.7 Reasonable
0.5-0.6 Bad
< 0.5 Inacceptable
For Bartlett`s test the significance accepted levels are up to 0, 05 which shows that the data
is adequate for performing Factor Analysis.
62
♦ Cronbach`s alpha analysis was sequently elaborated for testing the internal
consistency of each attribute.
Hill and Hill, 2005 proposed a scale to analyse the value of a measure of internal
consistency when examing the coefficient of reliability - alpha (α)
Table 10 Cronbach`s alpha Values
Alpha ( α ) > 0.9 Excelent

0.8-0.9 Good
0.7-0.8 Reasonable
0.6-0.7 Weak
< 0.6 Inacceptable
♦ Total Explained Variance in percentage was also estimated
The total variance for the obtained components which is recommended that is more than
60%. In the present research any of the variables have explained variance less than 60%.
♦ For validating the research hypotheses was used Linear Multiple Regression in
order to identify and explain the impact of each independent variable that are linked
to on the dependent variables.
Methods of using Multiple Linear Regression
Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used for determinating the correlation between
different variables estimating the direct effect of a set of independent variables (attitudes
and intentions) on the dependent variables. Stepwise process is being used to avoid effects
of multicolinearity. The method first determines the most important variables, which are
63
most useful for the model, including afterwards the other variables in order of importance.
The partial regression coefficients (β) resulting from the estimation indicate the nature of
these effects. To identify the partial regression coefficients is used technique called the least
squares method that minimizes waste (e). In was also used the coefficient of determination
R² for measuring the proportion of latent variables attributable to independent variables.
According to Maroco, 2007 if R² = 1, so the model is considered perfect, if this value is
greater than 10, the model presents problems, according to Pestana and Gageiro, 2000. In
the light of this indicator no multicolinearity problems were detected in our models.
The adjusted R² gives the explanatory power of the models, measuring the percentage of
the variations of the dependent variable (relative to its mean) by multiple regressions.
Yi = b0 +b1X1i +b2 X2i +......+bk Xki +ei
♦ Pearson Correlation Analysis was conducted in order to understand to extent to

which the variables are associated between each other.
Pearson's correlation measures the strength of the association between two variables. Its
coefficients range from -1 to +1.
5.2 Demografic profile of respondents
The total number of the respondents is 115. However, the survey was designed in a way to
give the option to stop it after question 9, thus 10 respondents answered the first 9
questions. This supplied the author with information about the reasons why the respondents
don`t intent to buy clothes online. Two reasons were found – lack of experience and low
level of satisfaction from the previous experience.
Figure 7 presents the demografic profile of the respondents. It shows that the percentage of
male and female is almost similar; the age mainly centralized in the age 20 – 25, but
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representative percentage of 33.98% of respondents were in the range of 26-30 and almost
60% are employees with university degree (bachelor degree - 47.83% and master degree
44.35 %), the majority of the respondents are having net monthly income less that 500
euros, but satisfactory percentage of 33% of the respondent earn between 500 and 999
euros per month.
Figure 7 Demografic profile of the respondents
1. GENDER 2. WORKING CONDITION
54 %
30 %
60 %
46%
3. AGE 4. EDUCATION
5. INCOME
65
38%
33%
18%
Very significant percentage of the respondents (99.1%) answered that they use internet
every day. Only one person answered that he uses internet seldom or never. It is not
surprisingly that the answers are very homogenious, considering the target group of young
people. Moreover, nobody chose the options - use Internet 2-3 times per week and use
Internet 2-3 times per month (see table 11).
Table 11 Frequency of using internet
Item Frequency of using Frequency Valid Percent

Internet
Every day 114 99.1%
2-3 times per week 0 0%
2-3 times per month 0 0%
Seldom or never 1 0.9%
Total 115 100%
66
5.3. Empirical Findings
Each variable was studied through explanatory Factor Analysis and Reliablity Analysis
(Cronbach`s alpha and Barlett`s tests). The next table shows the obtained results:
Table 12 Results from Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis
Bartlett`s Chronbach` %Expl.

Variables KMO № Component
test s Alpha Variance
Usability 0.861 0.000 0.932 83 % 1/Usability
Interactivity 0.789 0.000 0.865 71.27 % 1/Interactivity
Trust 0.734 0.000 0.853 77.72 % 1/Trust

2/Web
Atmospherics
Web Design 0.719 0.000 0.805 75.22 % and Web
Content
Product 1/Product
0.825 0.000 0.909 78.72 %
Perception Perception
Attitude* 0.845 0.000 0.915 74.78 % 1/Attitude
* item undifferent was eliminated
Table 12 shows that 3 of the variables are having excellent Chronbach`s alpha levels –
usability - 0.932; product perception – 0.909 and attitude towards online shopping – 0.915.
In our case there is no existance of bad consistency of the variables, the rest of the variables
represent good levels of intern consistency.
In terms of KMO test and the quality of the factor analysis good results were received,
having obtained good levels for usability, product perception and attitude and reasonable
levels for interactivity, trust and web design variable. Therefore, Bartlett`s tests confirm
this statement, representing 0.000 levels for each variable.
67
Moreover, we can conclude that five of the variables are unidimentional or they are
composed by one component after the extraction process. The method applied is Varimax
rotation and Principal Component Analysis. Only one of the variables web design is not
unidimentional which encompasses two components (see table 13).
Table 13 Web Design Dimentionality
Item Component
1 2
1 .657
2 .806
3 .904
4 .769
5 .838
6 .880
Extraction of % Variance 67.27 79.07
Alpha Chronbach 0.830 0.726
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis
Rotation Method: Varimax and Kaiser Normalization
Rotation converged in 3 iterations
The table above shows that they were extracted two components composing the web design
scale. The author labeled them as:
♦ Web atmospherics (encompasses items 1,2,3,4)

♦ Web Content (encompasses items 5,6)
Chronbach`s alpha for the first component web atmospherics is 0.830 which is good level
and for the second component web content is lower with 0.726 which presents reasonable
level of reliability. The loadings obtained or the explained variance in percentage are
showing very good levels for each variable, which means that they have high explanatory
power. In contarst the only variable with low level of the loadings is the web design which
68
encompasses 2 components as discussed before. After conducting new extractions of the

sums of squared loadings by component separately it is observed that the total variance
explained of web atmospherics and web content is 72, 55 %.
As result form the explanatory factor analysis, it was removed only one item - undifferent
from the scale elaborated for attitudes towards online shopping of clothes, because it was
verified that this item had unsignificance and the scale has equally better results without
this item. Web design was factored into two main components “web atmospherics “and
“web content”. When separed they represent higher levels of the consistency test and total
explained variance levels. The rest of the variables and the scale items used are maintained,
due to the very satisfactory results from the tests of consistency.
Table 14 Mean variable values
Variables Mean Std. Deviation №

usability – Usability 4,2616 ,88360 105
interactivity – Interactivity 3,9709 ,86127 105
webdesign– Web Design 4,1221 ,85384 105
Shopexp –Shopping experience 3.5233 1.02586 105
trust – Trust 4.3992 .83677 105
prodperception – Product perception 4,2824 ,82627 105
attitude – Attitude toward online shopping 3,1931 ,86881 105
continueex – Intention to purchase 2,9540 1,19015 105
startinex – Start purchasing clothes online 1,1478 ,85063 105
(intention to purchase)
freq – Frequency of using Internet 1,0261 ,27975 105
buyprod – Buying products over Internet 3.000 2,06899 105
boughtexinex – Bought clothes online 1,6435 ,48107 105
(experience / nonexperience shoppers)
intrecommend – Intention to recommend 3,5529 1,18025 105
the online store
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The table above represents the average values of the variables. As it was referred in sub-
paragraph 4.5.1 the possible answers from the direct questions were codifed with finite
cardinal numbers (1 to 6). Likert scale was ordinated as 1-very unimportant to 5-very
important. Thus, it was concluded that, in average, the surveyed people considered web
technology – oriented factors - usability, interactivity and web design as important for
online clothing site with means values: (4.26; 3.97; 4.12) and the customer web oriented –
factors - shopping experience, trust and product perception were also considered, in
average, as important and relevant for online clothing site (3.52; 4.39; 4.28).
5.3.1 Independent Groups Variables
Table 15 T-test For Independent Groups
T – test for equality of means

Gender Age Education Work Income Exp/
Sig. Sig. Sig. Sig. Sig. Unexp
Variable (2-tailed) (2-tailed) (2-tailed) (2-tailed) (2-tailed) shoppers
Usability ev/NA ,831 ,720 ,531 ,024 ,703 ,750
Interactivity ev/NA ,562 ,614 ,206 ,045 ,446 ,584
Trust ev/NA ,408 ,337 ,558 ,243 ,173 ,380
Product ev/NA ,745 ,967 ,318 ,069 ,086 ,604

Perception
Web ev/NA ,823 ,595 ,229 ,694 ,879 ,825

Atmospherics
Web Content ev/NA ,688 ,975 ,538 ,226 ,885 ,681
Shopping ev/NA ,008 ,528 ,237 ,368 ,844 ,018

Experience
Attitude ev/NA ,566 ,476 ,191 ,362 ,420 ,086
Legend: ev/NA - Equal variance not assumed
70
T-test For Independent Groups on SPSS
T-test for independent groups is used to compare the difference between means of two
groups on the same variable (Ex. compare to what extent the factor usability is influencial
for gender – male and female).
The outputs provided from the t-test are in two formats – equal and unequal variance. To
analyse the difference between the groups of independent variables, we used unequal
variance results, because it is considered to provide more accurate results even when the
homogeneity assumption has been violated (indicated by the Levene test – the first column
of the independent samples t-test). As in all statistical tests, the basic criterion for statistical
significance is a "2-tailed significance" less than 0.05.
It can be observed from table 15 that the probability for the independent group”gender” is
.008 < .05 which means that the difference between males and females for the factor
shopping experience is satistically significant, or that gender influences this WE element.
For the groups “work” on the variable usability it is verified that the differences into the
groups are also statistically significant, with probability levels .024 in other words the
controllable variable working status is influencing the WE element usability. Lastly, the
difference into the groups of work with probability .045 for the variable interactivity is
verified to be also statistically significant.
Moreover, it was tested the difference into the independent groups – experienced and non
experienced shoppers. The ouput shows that the difference into this group is statistically
significant with probability level .018 for the variable shopping experience, measured by
the variable satisfaction, meaning that the level of shopping experience influences to a great
extent the type of shopper, which is evident.
71
Table 16 Group differences between variables
WORK MEAN STD.DEVIATION
Usability students 3.91 1.075
employess 4.41 .7727
INCOME MEAN STD.DEVIATION
less than 1000 euros 4.20 .99527
more than 1000 euros 4.28 .83539
Interactivity WORK MEAN STD.DEVIATION
students 3.69 .96900
employess 4.08 .81367
Online Experience GENDER MEAN STD.DEVIATION
female 3.28 1.17260
male 3.83 .68773
Privious Online MEAN STD.DEVIATION

Experience
Non experience shopper 3.28 1.02552
Experience shopper 3.80 .96609
From table 16 is concluded that groups of males obtained better results for their online
shopping experience – mean 3.83 versus female mean 3.28, or shopping experience is
important, in average, for the man than for the women in our study. It is verified for the
group work – employees who received higher means for the factor usability 4.41 versus
mean for students 3.91, so usability factor is important, in average, more for the employees
than for the students. Also, employees considered web factor interactivity to be more
72
important, in average, than student did. The first received higher mean results than students:
4.08 versus mean for students 3.69. Lastly it is observed than from our sampling, people
with higher income (more than 1000 euros) considered web experience factor usability
more influencial when buying clothing online that the people with lower income (less than
1000 euros). This was verified through the comparison of the means (4.28 versus 4.20).
5.4 Models for Attitudes towards online shopping
The models for attitudes towards online shopping require testing of multiple linear
regressions. For each model was used Stepwise method, so as to maximizing the number of
the explanatory variables. The results from the models are presented in the next sub
paragraphs.
5.4.1 Attitudes towards online shopping influencing Intentions to

purchase online
The first model considering the hypothesis proposed will test to what extent the attitudes
towards online shopping influence intentions to purchase online. Therefore, it was used
bivariate linear regression, because in this model only two variables are tested.
Table 17 Linear Regression Attitudes/Intention to purchase
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Beta T sig VIF
Error
1 Constant 1.420 .456 3.114 .003
.486 .138 .360 3.535 .001 1,000

attitude
Dependent Variable: intention to purchase
Adjusted R²: 0.119 df =105 F = 12.493
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The model was tested at level of its statistical significance, by examing the F statistic with
105 degrees of freedom and critical value 3.92 which is lower than the value of F = 12.493,
implying the rejection of null hypothesis.
The p - value has to assume values less than 5%, i.e the hypothesis that the predictor
variable attitude is not explanatory is zero. In our case p - value is 0.001, assisting by the
standardized coefficient Beta (β = 0.360) which is positive, meaning that the positive
attitudes lead to higher intention to purchase.
Adjusted R2 is 11.9%, standing for the variation of the independent variable attitude,
explains 11.9% of the variation of the dependent variable intentions to purchase. It shows
that the model has good, but not very satisfactory explanatory capacity.
The value of VIF is 1,000, which value according to Marocos, 2007 means that the model
is perfect, or there is no multicolinearity between the variables.
Table 18 Pearson Correlation Attitudes/Intention to purchase
Correlations
attitude intpurchase
Pearson Correlation 1 ,360**
attitude Sig. (2-tailed) ,001
N 105 105
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
In order to reinforce and confirm the results obtained from Linear Regression Model 1, it
was tested Pearson Correlation Analysis. The ouput shown in table 18 means than at
significance level of 1% the relationship between the variables is a positive and on medium
74
level, and p - value is less than 0.001, in other words there is evidence for associations
between the two variables.
The proposed hypothesis was:
H1: There is positive relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and intentions
to purchase online. Hence, more positive attitudes are leading to higher intention to buy
clothing online. This hypothesis is validated, but partially confirmed because of the lower
value of R2 = 11.9%.
5.4.2 Technology - Oriented Factors influencing Attitudes
The second model tests the extent to which the technology - oriented factors influence the
consumers` attitudes towards online shopping.
Linear Regression was used to understand if the dependent variable attitude is influenced
by the independent variables: usability, interactivity and web design. Stepwise method was
applied for excluding variables which don`t present statistical significance for the model.
Table 19 Linear Regression Technology-Oriented Factors /Attitudes
Standardized
Coefficients
Model Beta T Sig
2 Constant 3.114 .080
Usability .069 .634 .528
Interactivity -.117 1.080 .283
Webatm .136 1.440 .154
Webcontent .603 3.535 .000
Dependent Variable: attitude
Adjusted R²: 0.356 df =105 F = 47.394 VIF = 1.000
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The regression was elaborated for two more web factors, owning to the fact that after the
factor analysis, the variable web design showed to be constructed by two components - web
atmospherics and web content.
The table above, which was personally elaborated, using Linear Regression and analyzing
the results from Anova Model, adjusted R2 and F statistics values, shows that for this model
only 1 variable from technology-oriented factors (webcontent) is passing the t - test of
significance (.000) and it is the one that possesses explanatory power over attitudes towards
online shopping. The standardized coefficient Beta is β = 0. 603, meaning that the factor
“webcontent” has positive impact on attitudes towards online shopping. Critical value for
105 degrees of freedom and 95% level of significance is 2.45, which is lower than F =
47.394. The p-value is .000, implying the rejection of the null hypothesis.
The adjusted R² is 35.6 %, meaning that the variation of the most influencial independent
variable webcontent, explains 35.6 % of the variation of the dependent variable attitude.
Thus, it is concluded that the model is significant.
The variables usability and web atmospherics have positive β coefficients, in difference to
the variable interactivity that has β = - 0.117, but any of this variables show significance for
this model.
Owning to the results obtained for the indicator VIF = 1,000, it is estimated that there is no
multicolinearity between the variables.
To test the extent to which the variables are related we used Pierson Correlation. After the
interpretation of table 20 we concluded that the relationship between attitude towards
online shopping and the web elements usability, web atmopsherics and web content is
positive and on medium level, with significance at .000, .001 and .000 level. The WE
element interactivity has p-value > 0.01, there is evidence of lack of association between
the variables interactivity and attitudes towards online shopping, in spite of the positive
76
(.277) relation. However, any of the last mentioned variables show enough explanatory
capacity that is significant for the dependent variable attitude.
Table 20 Pierson Correlation Technology-Oriented Factors/Attitudes
Correlations
attitude usability interactivity webatmosp webcontent

Pearson
Correlation 1 ,396** ,277** ,346** ,601**
attitude Sig.(2-tailed) ,000 ,010 ,001 ,000
N 103 103 103 103 103
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
The proposed hypoteses were:
H2: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and technology-
oriented factors.
H2a: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and usability
H2b: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and interactivity
H2c: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and web design
H2 afirming that the attitudes towards online are related to technology-oriented factors is
partially confirmed, due to the fact that one of the elements was estimated to be very
significant - webcontent (H2e), which hypothesis is equally confirmed. Thus, the well
perceived web element web content is leading to good attitudes towards online shopping.
Relatively to H2a and H2b - they were rejected, because the variables usability and
interactivity don`t show significance for the model. Even more, interactivity presents
negative β coefficient, which can be analysed that negative interactitvity (bad service
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quality, negative recommendations about the online store or brand) influences negatively
customers` attitudes.
About H2c – there is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and web
design, the last variable was divided into two components – web atmospherics and web
content.
Therefore, two new hypotheses derived from the regression analysis which were not
previously included in the designed research hypotheses:
H2d: There is relationship between customer`s attitudes and web atmopsherics

H2e: There is relationship between customer`s attitudes and web content
Concluding from Linear regression model 2, H2d was rejected, because of the low
explanatory capacity of web atmospherics for the variation of the dependent variable
attitude. However, H2e is confirmed, as the strongest hypothesis for this model. The results
show that web content is the most influencial factor for attitudes towards online shopping.
Though, H2c is partially confirmed.
5.4.3 Consumer - Oriented Factors influencing Attitudes
The third model tests to what extent the consumer - oriented factors influence the
consumers` attitudes towards online shopping.
Linear Regression was used to analyse if the dependent variable attitude is influenced by
the variables: shopping experience, trust and product perception. Stepwise method was
applied.
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Table 21. Linear Regression Consumer-Oriented Factors /Attitudes
Standardized
Coefficients
Model Beta T sig
3 Constant 1.460 .147
shopexp .167 1.756 .083
trust .565 6.270 .000
prodpercep .181 1.195 .253
Total Model: Dependent Variable: attitude
Adjusted R²: 0,311 df =103 F = 39. 315 VIF = 1.000
Table 21 shows that from three WE elements composing the customer - oriented factors
(online experience, trust and product perception) only trust is representing significance for
the model (.000). The rest of the variables are not fitting at the p-value < 5% level (.083 and
.253), consequently they were excluded from the model as they didn`t show enough
explanatory capacity for the variation of the dependent variable attitudes.
103 degrees of freedom and critical value 2.68 which is lower than the value of
F = 39.315, implying the rejection of null hypothesis.
Adjusted R2 is 31.1%, meaning that the variation of the independent variable trust, explains
31.1% of the variation of the dependent variable attitude. Thus, it is concluded that the
model is significant.
Owning to the results obtained for the indicator VIF = 1,000, it is estimated that there is no
After the interpretation of table 22 was concluded that the relationship between attitude
towards online shopping and the factors shopping experience, trust and product perception
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is positive and on medium level . The relationships are significant at .000, .000 and .001
level. Hence, there is evidence of association between the variables. However, as it was
referred before, the variables shopping experience and product perception don`t show
enough explanatory capacity for the model.
Table 22 Pierson Correlation Customer-Oriented Factors/Attitudes
Correlations
attitude shopexp trust prodperce
** **
Pearson Correlation 1 ,347 ,565 ,519**
attitude Sig. (2-tailed) ,001 ,000 ,000
N 103 103 103 103
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
The proposed hypotheses were:
H3: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and consumer
oriented-factors
H3a: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and shopping
experience
H3b: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and trust
H3c: There is relationship between attitudes towards online shopping and product
perception
Regarding to H3 - attitudes towards online is related to customer-oriented factors is

partially confirmed.
Hypotheses H3a and H3c are rejected, since the variables shopping experience and product
perception online don`t pass the t-tests of significance. And H3b is confirmed, due to the
fact that the web element trust shown to be the most important for shaping attitudes towards
online shopping. Thus, trust as favourable perceived WE element is leading to good
attitudes towards online shopping.
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5.4.4 Attitude towards online shopping of Experienced and Inexperienced

Shoppers
This graphic was developed in order to understand the attitudes towards online shopping of
clothes of experienced and inexperienced buyers of online clothing.
Graph 2 Experienced and Inexperienced Shoppers and their attitudes towards online shopping
Attitudes towards experience
60
50
50
41.8
38.5
40
32
% 30
Experienced Shoppers
Non experienced Shoppers
20
13.4
9.2
10 7.4
2.1 1.9 1
0
1 2 3 4 5
Likert Scale for positive attitudes
The graphic above shows that the majority of the experienced shoppers - 50% have positive
attitude towards online shopping of clothes (see level 4 of Likert Scale measuring "agree”
level), at the same time we can observe that 32% of the respondents without previous
online experience have shown also positive attitude. Level 3 is the neutral opinion of the
respondents.
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The T-test for Group Statistics results presented that 50 of the respondents have previous
online experience with mean value 3.5250, in contrast to 55 of non experienced having
mean value 3.1702 (see table 22.1 in appendix A)
Therefore, more experienced the shoppers are, more positive is to be their attitudes towards
the shopping of online clothing. Confirming the H1 of our research that attitudes influence
intentions to purchase it can be concluded that more experience yelds for higher intention to
purchase, as will be confirmed in sub paragraph 5.5.5. Contrary, for the non experienced
shoppers even we confirmed to have positive attitudes towards online shopping of clothing,
we cannot affirm that this will lead to higher intentions to purchase clothing online.
5.5 Models for Intentions towards online shopping
In order to test the models for intentions to purchase were used multiple linear regressions.
For each model was applied Stepwise method, so as to maximizing the number of the
explanatory variables. The results are presented in the next sub paragraphs.
5.5.1 Technology - Oriented Factors influencing Intentions to purchase
The following model tests the extent to which the technology - oriented factors influence
the consumers` intentions to purchase clothing online.
Linear Regression was used to examine if the dependent variable intention is influenced by
the variables: usability, interactivity and web design. Stepwise method was applied for
excluding variables which don`t present statistical significance for the model.
As it was verified after the factor analysis, the variable web design showed to be
constructed by two components - web atmospherics and web content, so the regression was
elaborated for the both of the components.
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Table 23 Linear Regression Technology – Oriented Factors/Intentions to purchase
Standardized
Coefficients
Model Beta t sig
4 Constant
1.758 .082
usability
.102 .797 .428
interactivity
.026 .201 .841
webatm
.-181 .-1635 .106
webcontent
.342 .3.320 .001
Dependent Variable: intentions to purchase
Adjusted R²: 0,107 df =103 F = 11.022 VIF= 1.000
After the regression only one WE element from technology-oriented factors (webcontent)
passed the t - test of significance with 0.001 level of significance and it is the one that
possesses explanatory power over attitudes towards online shopping, meaning that the
hypothesis that the predictor variable “web content” is not explanatory is zero. The
variables “usability” and “interactivity” have positive β coefficients, in difference to
“webatm” which has negative β = - 0.181, but any of this variables show significance for
this model.
implying the rejection of null hypothesis. The standardized coefficient Beta is β = 0.342,
meaning that “webcontent” factor has positive impact on intentions.
Adjusted R2 of the total model is 10.7%, meaning that the variation of the regressor variable
“webcontent”, explains 10.7% of the variation of the dependent variable “intentions to
purchase”. It shows that the model has good, but not very satisfactory explanatory
capacity.
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From the results obtained for the indicator VIF = 1,000, it is estimated that there is no
To test the extent to which the variables are related we used Pierson Correlation. It was
observed that variables usability and interactivity have positive and on medium level of
correlation with intentions to purchase. The correlation is significant at 0.05 level. The web
content has positive and medium strong relation with p < 0.01, here the correlation is
significant at 0.01 level. Lastly, the variable web atmopherics shows p-value 0.835 > 0.05,
and shows negative relationship with intentions to purchase. From here it is concluded that
the last variable doesn`t have any assotiations with intentions to purchase
Table 24 Pierson Correlation Technology-Oriented Factors/Intentions to purchase
Correlations
attitude usability interactivity webatmosp Webcontent
Pearson
Correlation 1 ,263* ,217* -,023 ,336**
intpurchase Sig. (2-tailed) ,014 ,045 ,832 ,002
N 103 103 103 103 103
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The proposed hypoteses were:
H4: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and technology-oriented factors

H4a: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and usability
H4b: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and interactivity
H4c: There is relationship between intentions to purchase and web design
Thus, H4 afirming that intentions to purchase are related to technology-oriented factors is

partially confirmed, because three of the technology-oriented factors (usability, interactivity
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and webatm) shown do not have enough explanatory capacity for the dependent variable
“intentions to purchase”.
Relatively to H4a and H4b - they are rejected, because in Linear Regression they were
excluded from the overall model, considered non significant.
About the H4c – there is relationship between intentions to purchase and web design, the
last was divided into its two components – web atmospherics and web content.
Therefore, two new hypotheses derived from the regression analysis, which were not
included previously in the design of the research hypotheses:
H4d: There is relationship between customer`s intentions to purchase and web

atmopsherics
H4e: There is relationship between customer`s intentions and web content
Concluding from Linear regression, H4d was rejected, because of the insignificance of web
atmospherics and its low explanatory power over the “intentions to purchase”. It is
observed that “webatm” coefficient β is negative which can be explained in the following
way: the bad web atmospherics of an online store are influencing negatively intentions to
purchase. As the results show, the web content is the most influencial element for intentions
to purchase online clothing, consequently H4e is confirmed, or favourable perception about
the WE element web content is leading to profound intentions to purchase online.
Though, it can be concluded that H4c is partially confirmed.
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5.5.2 Consumer-Oriented Factors influencing Intentions to purchase
Table 25 Linear Regression Consumer – Oriented Factors/ Intentions to purchase
Standardized
Coefficients
Model Beta T sig
5 Constant 3.618 .001
shopexp .351 3.435 .001
trust .104 .955 .342
prodpercep .139 1.298 .198
Adjusted R²: 0,113 df =103 F = 11.797 VIF=1.000
Table 25 shows that from three variables composing the customer - oriented factors
(shopping experience, trust and product perception) only “shopexp” is representing
significance for the model (.001), meaning that the hypothesis that the predictor variable
“shopex” is not explanatory is zero. The rest of the variables don`t show enough
explanatory capacity for the model having significance levels - .342 and .198 greater than
0.05.
103 degrees of freedom and critical value 2.68 which is lower than the value of
F = 11.797, implying the rejection of null hypothesis.
Adjusted R2 is 11.3%, meaning that the variation of the independent variable shopping
experience, explains 11.3% of the variation of the dependent variable intention to purchase.
Thus, it is concluded that the model is significant, but doesn`t possess big explanatory
power.
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The results obtained for the indicator VIF = 1,000, show that there is no multicolinearity
between the variables.
After the interpretation of table 26 was concluded that the relationship between intentions
to purchase and the WE factors shopping experience, trust and product perception is
positive and on medium level. The correlation between intention to purchase with trust and
product perception is significant at 0.05 level, where the p - values are .045 and .030.
“Shopexp” has relatively strong relation with “intpurch” with p (0.001) < 0.01. So, each
variable is associated with customers` intentions to purchase online clothes. However, as it
was referred in the regression analysis, the variables “trust” and “prodperception” don`t
show enough explanatory capacity for the model.
Table 26 Pierson Correlation Consumer-Oriented Factors/Intentions to purchase
Correlations
intpurch shopexp trust prodperception
** *
Pearson Correlation 1 ,351 ,216 ,235*
intpurchase Sig. (2-tailed) ,001 ,045 ,030
N 103 103 103 103
***. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
H5: There is relationship between intentions to purchase online and customer-oriented

factors
H5a: There is relationship between intentions to purchase online and shopping experience
H5b: There is relationship between intentions to purchase online and trust
H5c: There is relationship between intentions to purchase online and product perception
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To conclude, H5 is partially confirmed and H5a is validated and confirmed too, showing
positive β coefficient of “shopex” = 0.351 and relatively strong relationship with intentions
to purchase. So, the well perceived WE element shopping experience lead to higher
intentions to purchase online.
In relation to H5b and H5c, they are rejected, because in the model of linear regression they
were excluded from the overall model, considered non significant and not enough
explanatory for the variation of the dependent variable – intentions to purchase.
5.5.3 Intentions to spend more time at the online store, intentions to buy
products online and intentions to recommend the online store influencing
intentions to purchase
In this section, we examine if intention to spend more time at the online store “spendtime” ,
frequency of buying general products “ buyprod” and intention recommend the online store
“intrecommend” impact the “intention to purchase online clothing”.
Linear Regression Model 6 shows that only “intrecommend” has strong explanatory
capacity over the predicted variable intention to purchase (.000), i.e the hypothesis that the
predictor variable “intrecommend” is not explanatory is zero. The other two variables don`t
show enough significance (.440 and .615), so there were excluded from the model (see
table 27).
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Table 27 Linear Regression for Intentions to purchase and its determinants
Standardized
Coefficients
Model Beta t sig
6 Constant 3.618 .001
spendtime .078 .776 .440
buyprod .050 .505 .615
intrecommend .506 5.379 .000
103 degrees of freedom and critical value 2.45 lower than F = 28.937, implying the
rejection of null hypothesis.
Adjusted R2 is 24.7%, meaning that the variation of the independent variable intrecommend,
explains 24.7% of the variation of the dependent variable intentions to purchase. Thus, it is
concluded that the model is significant. Accordingly to the results, more recommendations
the consumers make about the online store, the intentions to purchase are increasing.
It is observed that don`t exist problems with the multicolinearity between the variables
(VIF=1.000)
H6: Intentions to spend more time in the online strore has impact on intentions to purchase
online
H7: Buying frequently products online has impact on intentions to purchase online
H8: Intentions to recommend the online store has impact on intentions to purchase online
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After the analysis, H6 and H7 are rejected, since “spendtime” and “buyprod” don`t have
significance for the model, they don`t show explanatory capacity over the dependent
variable “intentions to purchase”. Thus, spend time in the online store and buying products
online frequently were not well perceived by the respondents because of that they don`t
provoke provoke higher intentions to purchase clothing online.
Only H8 is confirmed, owning to the fact that the beta coefficient of “intrecommend” is (β)
= 0.506 showing good explanatory power over intentions to purchase online. More
recommended is an online store, higher are the intentions to purchase from the store.
5.5.4 Online Shopping Intentions and Actual Consumer Behavior
Our investigation model based on the model of TPB suggests that attitudes towards online
shopping bring about intentions; and intentions towards online shopping results in actual
consumer behavior (see figure 6 Research Model). The next assessment aims to figure out
if exists any relation between the last two variables. The results are presented in the
following table.
Table 28 Linear Regression Actual Consumer Behavior / Intentions to purchase
Standardized
Coefficients
Model Beta t Sig
7 Constant 3.618 .001
Continuepurch .351 3.435 .001
Start .050 .505 .615
Intrecommend .506 5.379 .000
Dependent Variable: boughtprod
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The consumers’ actual behavior, expressed through specific actions of buying, was
measured in the research through questions about previous behaviors towards online
shopping. These were basicaly questions 8, 9 and 11. Multiple linear regressions were used
to maximaze the understanding of the implicit relationship between the variable
“boughtprod” measuring actual behavior and each of the shown intentions towards online
shopping – continue purchase, start purchasing and intention to recommend the online
store.
implying the rejection of null hypothesis.
Two of the independent variables “continuepurch” and “intrecommend” passed the t - test
of significance with 0.001 and 0.000 level of significance, or the hypothesis that the
independent variables “continuepurch” and “intrecommend” are not explanatory is zero.
Their Βeta coefficients are positive (.351 and .506), from where it is estimated that higher
intentions cause positive actual online behavior.
Adjusted R2 is 12.3%, meaning that the variation of the independent variables

“continuepurch” and “intrecommend”, explains 12.3% of the variation of the dependent
variable “boughtprod”. It shows that the model has good, but not very satisfactory
explanatory capacity.
The value of VIF = 1.000 prove that there is not multicolinearity between the variables.
The proposed hypothesis was:
H9: Online consumer behavior is related to intentions to purchase online clothing.
91
It is partially confirmed, since one of the constructs of the intentions to purchase (“start”)
shows small explanatory capacity for the overall bahavioral model. But it can be concluded
that the higher buying intention to purchase clothes online affects positively to consumer`s
final buying decision and actual buying behavior.
5.5.5 Intention to purchase of Experienced and Inexperienced Shoppers
The participants were divided into two groups from Question 8 “Have you bought
electronic clothes online ”. The first group includes 41 respondents who have experience
of buying clothes online, and the other group includes 74 respondents who have no online
shopping experience of this kind of product. Respondents who have no experience of
shopping clothes online were asked to answer Question 9 which is concerned with how
their willingness is to start purchasing in the future. There were three options: “Yes,
definitely”; “May be”, and “No”. In this way the author tested the intentions of experienced
and inexperienced.
The following graphic derived from the previous linear regression illustrates that the 79%
of experienced shoppers intent to continue purchasing clothing online (“yes, definitely”)
which differ significantly from inexperienced shoppers, 83% of whom affirmed that will
not start purchasing clothing online. But at the same time 70% of the inexperienced
shoppers voted intensively for “may be” start purchasing clothing online (see graph 3).
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Graph 3 Intentions of purchasing by type of shopper
Intentions and actual behavior
100
90 83
79
80 70
70
No / Don`t intent to
60 purchase
% 50 Yes,definetely
37
40
30 23
May be
20
10 4
0
Experienced Shoppers Non Experienced
Shoppers
It is concluded that more experience (which can be translated in actual behavior) yields for
higher and definitive intention to continue purchasing clothing online. In difference to, less
experience in online shopping the individuals have weaker intentions to start buying online
clothing they have.
To conclude, for inexperienced shoppers, their attitudes cannot decide their buying
intention and to bring out the final actual buying behavior (see graph 2 and 3). Even though
the inexperienced shoppers have very strong online buying intention for clothing, they
could still only have neutral or even negative attitudes to it, in turn, even if the
inexperienced shoppers have weak buying intention, they could have positive attitude for
buying clothing online. In contrast, the experienced shoppers` attitudes towards online
shopping significantly affect the buying intention and final actual buying behavior,
furthermore, a positive attitude lead to a strong willingness to continue to buy clothing
online.
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5.6 Discussion of the results
Table 29 shows the results from the statistical tests, be conditional upon the results of the
proposed hypotheses which were confirmed, partially confirmed or rejected.
Table 29 Results for the hypotheses of the investigation
H1 There is positive relationship between attitudes Partially confirmed

towards online shopping and intentions to purchase
H2 There is relationship between customer`s attitudes Partially confirmed
and technology-oriented factors
H2a There is relationship between attitudes towards Rejected
online shopping and usability
H2b There is relationship between attitudes towards Rejected
online shopping and interactivity
H2c There is relationship between attitudes towards Partially confirmed
online shopping and web design
H2d There is relationship between customer`s attitudes Rejected
and web atmospherics
H2e There is relationship between customer`s attitudes Confirmed
and web content
H3 There is relationship between attitudes towards Partially confirmed
online shopping and consumer-oriented factors
H3a There is relationship between attitudes towards Rejected
online shopping and shopping experience
H3b There is relationship between attitudes towards Confirmed
online shopping and trust
H3c There is relationship between attitudes towards Rejected
online shopping and product perceptions
H4 There is relationship between intentions to purchase Partially confirmed
and technology-oriented factors
H4a There is relationship between intentions to purchase Rejected
and usability
H4b There is relationship between intentions to purchase Rejected
and interactivity
H4c There is relationship between intentions to purchase Partially Confirmed
and web design
H4d There is relationship between intentions to purchase Rejected
and web atmospherics
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H4e There is relationship between intentions to purchase Confirmed

and web content
H5 There is relationship between intentions to purchase Partially Confirmed
and consumer-oriented factors
H5a There is relationship between intentions to purchase Confirmed
and shopping experience
H5b There is relationship between intentions to purchase Rejected
and trust
H5c There is relationship between intentions to purchase Rejected
and product perceptions
H6 Intentions to spend more time in the online strore Rejected
has impact on intentions to purchase online
H7 Buying frequently products online has impact on Rejected
intentions to purchase online
H8 Intentions to recommend the online store has impact Confirmed
on intentions to purchase online
H9 Online consumer behavior is related to intentions to Partially Confirmed
purchase online clothing
In the present study it was pretended to assess web experience factors that affect
consumer`s attitude towards online shopping and his intentions to purchase through
Internet, specifically clothing. Thus, it contributes to get insight into the main web factors
that consumers take into consideration when purchasing clothes online.
Having surveyed various relevant factors for understanding the effect of this phenomena,
the study found partial explication about the influencing power that web experience
elements have upon the consumer online behavior. This was achieved by firstly grouping
them into two main categories – consumer – oriented and technology - oriented factors and
then relatating them to the formation of positive attitudes and higher intentions to purchase
online.
According to our research only some of the variables presented significance in forming the
attitudes towards online shopping. There were all tested in order to understand the impact
they have and the extent to which they are related to attitudes towards online shopping and
intentions to purchase clothing online. Regarding to the intentions to purchase and the web
95
factors, it was also verified that for our research there are variables that are not considered
to be influencial for the customers purchase intents. Using Pierson Correlations it was
possible to verify that all the variables are associated between each other.
From the first tested model of Linear Regression titled Attitudes towards online shopping
influencing Intentions to purchase online (based on the TPB model of Ajzen, 1991) , it was
estimated that the attitudes and intentions have relationship and attitudes towards the target
behavior, in the present case shopping online, influences intention. Hence, more positive
attitudes are leading to higher intention to buy clothing online. For the present research, this
hypothesis is validated, but partially confirmed because of attitudes towards online
shopping to explain the variation of intentions to purchase 11.9% only.
In the research consumers` attitudes were proven to be influenced by both - technology and
consumer oriented factors to great extent. More impact was shown by the WE elements
web content, measured by text clarity and product presentation, and trust. The explanatory
capacity of the two variables web content and trust is strong and represent high percentage
the variation of the attitudes towards online shopping (35.6% for web content and 31.1%
for trust)
In turn, intentions to purchase were proven to be also influenced by both - technology and
consumer oriented factors to great extent, but more weight was shown from the WE
elements web content, measured by text clarity and product presentation and shopping
experience, however, in the research, the hypotheses that the rest of the WE elements
(usability,interactivity, trust, product perception) influence the intentions to purchase
clothing online were rejected since the last variables didn`t show enough explanatory
capacity for intentions to purchase. In other words the web elements usability, interactivity,
product perception, trust don`t provoke high intentions of consumer to purchase clothing
online.
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Additionally, the attitudes towards online shopping were tested through two perspectives –
of the experienced shoppers and inexperienced shoppers. So, the findings show that the
inexperienced shoppers` attitudes to buy clothing online have nothing to do with their
buying intention and final actual buying behavior. In other words, even though the
inexperienced shoppers have very strong online buying intention for clothing, they could
still only have neutral or even negative attitudes to it, in turn, even if the inexperienced
shoppers have weak buying intention, they could have positive attitude for buying clothing
online. Therefore, for inexperienced shoppers, their attitudes cannot decide their buying
intention and to bring out the final actual buying behavior (see graph 2 and 3). In contrast,
the experienced shoppers` attitudes towards online shopping significantly affect the buying
intention and final actual buying behavior, furthermore, a positive attitude lead to a strong
willingness to continue to buy clothing online, this finding corresponds with the theory of
planned behavior model (TPB).
Secondly, the results indicated that the buying intentions of experienced shoppers are quite
strong, because the willingness of continuing to buying clothing online highly reflect their
buying intention, more than half of the respondents said that they definitely would like to
continue to purchase clothing online in the future. Besides, they greatly would like to
recommend the commerce sites to other people. In addition, in the study it was found that
no matter the type of shopper - experienced or inexperienced, their buying intention has no
relationship with the time spending on the internet, neither with the frequency of buying
general products online. Compared with the theoretical part refers to Whitlark, Geurts &
Swenson`s research (1993), they claimed that spending more time at online store, intention
to purchase online and intention to recommend the online store to friends can be use to
express high buying intention. However, the presented research reject that spending more
time online and buying general products online can lead to high online buying intention,
while the finding supports with other theoretical point that recommend the online stores to
others can lead to high intention to buy clothing online.
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CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS
In this chapter, the author will try to answer the general and the specific objectives of the
thesis. He will begin with presenting general conclusion and methodology limitations.
Furthermore, some suggestions are given in order to help the online retailers to overcome
the drawbacks of online shopping and increase the potential sales of online stores.
6.1 General Conclusions
With the blooming of online shopping activities, it is essencial to understand the customers`
online shopping behavior. Improving the important specific factors influencing the online
shopping and overcoming the potential drawbacks will help the online retailers become
more competitive. Therefore, the intention of this study is to investigate the specific factors
affecting customers` online shopping attitude towards clothing and figure out the
relationship between the buying attitude and intention among the experienced and
inexperienced shoppers. The research findings can offer the online fashion retailers an
understanding about how to make effective efforts on specific factors to lead the customers
to have positive attitudes towards clothing online shopping and form strong buying
intention towards purchasing online clothes.
This research was undertaken with the purpose of identifying and getting insight into what
main specific factors influence customers` attitudes towards online shopping of clothing,
and how the customers` attitude affect their online buying intention towards purchasing
clothing online. Through the test of the research model that was created, it was found that
in the technology-oriented factors “web content” is the main specific web element that
influences customers` attitudes towards online shopping of clothing and shape higher
intentions to purchase online clothing; while in the customer - oriented factors “trust” is the
main specific WE element that influences customers` attitudes towards online shopping of
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clothing and “shopping experience” influences positively the consumers` intentions to

purchase online clothing.
According to the study and the nature of the investigated market – online clothes shopping,
e-store design (web content) is the most influencial for the customers` attitudes and
intentions to purchase, which corresponds to the finding of Lohse & Spiller, 1999 that web
design is the most direct tool that a marketer can use to shape to consumer`s experience
online and increase sales. It is also considered to be the most important part of online
marketing.
Concerning with the relationship between attitude and buying intention, firstly, the findings
showed that for inexperienced shoppers, their attitudes cannot decide their buying intention
and to bring out the final actual buying behavior. In contrast, the experienced shoppers`
attitudes towards online shopping of clothing significantly affect the buying intention and
final actual buying behavior, furthermore, a positive attitude lead to a strong willingness to
continue to buy clothing online. Secondly, the result indicates that the buying intention of
experienced shoppers are quite strong, because the willingness of continuing to buying
clothing online and highly reflect their buying intention, more than half of the respondents
said they definitely would like to continue to purchase clothing online in the future.
6.2 Limitations
The research faces several limitations that could affect its scientific contribution. Firstly,
the theoretical sources from scientific articles mainly focused on the general online
shopping consumer behavior without a specific field. The study was concentrated on online
shopping behavior, but narrowed down to a specific field of buying clothes online. Thus,
limited sources were used to support the research, meanwhile, through reviewing a large
amount of previous relevant researches, it was figured out the similarity and difference of
the sources, and collected the valuable ones to serve the present research.
99
Secondly, the existence of time constraints had influenced the collection and the sample
size. It was aimed to collect data using simple random sampling throughout surveying
online young people living in Europe. The results are resumed for this random sampling
which does not give the possibility to generalize what is the consumer actual behavior
towards online clothing shopping at large.
Another limitation has to do with the fact that the dependent and independent variables are
taken simultaneously. This increases the risk of common method variance, where the
statistical relationships found are inflated (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). Other studies could
eliminate this problem. Through a collection of more independent variables – different web
experience elements that can better explain the actual consumer behavior in order to turn
the study more consistent and weith better explanatory capacity.
Finally, studying consumer “attitudes”,”intentions” and “behavior”, the subject may

perceive a reality substantially different from objective reality, it is possible to provide
respondent`s incorrect or incomplete information, and so the investigator was obliged to
work in a diffuse reality and not on facts.
6.3 Recommendations for future studies
The outcomes of the research offer information about the influencing factors that highly
affect online consumer behavior when buying clothing online. It is suggested that further
research should take wider places and more general samples. Additionally, even though the
present research also consider the demographic factors, the sample is limited to similar
demographic profile of the respondents which is a kind of biases and not convincible to
completely explain the effect of demographics towards the online shopping of clothing.
100
A further research should take diversity population sample into account. This research is
related to online shopping, but it specified to the field of clothing, even if further research
will be focused on other fields, it also can take our research as a basis. Final suggestion to
future studies in the area of online shopping and web experience factors influencing online
consumer behavior is the selection of more independent explanatory variables to explain
the variation of the attitudes and intentions. Greater selection of explanatory variables could
give advantage to understand better the consumer`s attitudes and intentions towards online
shopping of clothing and his actual buying behavior.
101
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Appendix
Appendix A
Graph 1: Online Retail values in UE
Market Sizes - online retail values in UE
14
13.2
12
10.3
10
8.5
8
7.3
Billion Euros 6.9 6.8
6 5.8 5.6
5.1 5
4.1 3.9 4.1 4
4 3.8
3.2 2.93.1 3
2.3 2.3
2 1.9 1.9
1.1
0
Media Products Clothing and Electronic Products Food and Drink
Footw ear
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
110
Table 2.1. Online Decision Making Process
Other Stimuli
Uncontrollable Factors:
demografic, personal,
cultural, sociologic,
economic, legal,
environmental etc.
Online Decision-Making Buyer`s Decision:

Marketing Process: Product choice,
Stimuli: Problem Identification, Search, Brand choice
(Marketing Mix) Trust Building, Evaluation of Dealer choice
Alternatives, Choice, Post Purchase timing
Purchase Behavior
Web Experience:
Online Controllable Marketing
Factors
Source: Based on the P. Kotler`s framework (2003)
111
Table 30 Measures and Items of Online Shopping
Factor Variable Measures and Items of Source

Online Shopping
/ Intention Intention to purchase Lymaem et al, 2002
Intention to stay more time in the
site
Intention to recommend
/ Attitude Online shopping is enjoyable Ellen, Mohr e Webb
Online shopping is fun (2000)
Online shopping is exciting
Online shopping is positive
Online shopping is entertaining
Online shopping is undifferent
Technology Usability Accessibility Dennis, Fenech &
- Oriented Site navigation payment process Merrilees, 2004
Factors Delivery process Kim et al., 2003
Wikstrom et al.,
2002
Koufaris et al., 2002
Lee, 2002
Interactivity Customer rating and testemunials Merrilees & Fry

Customization Nah and Davis,
Recommendations 2002
Good customer service/after sales
Web design Colour Wilkstrom et al.,

Fonts 2002
Animation Madu and Madu,
Sound 2002
Text clarity
Product presentation
Customer- Trust Transaction security Kim, Song,Braynow
oriented Customer privacy and Rao, 2002
Factors Vendor`s reputation and capability
Product Product variety Liang & Huang

perception Product price 1998, p.33;
Product quality Lowengart &
Product availability Tractinskky, 2001,
p. 20;
Muthitacharoen,
1999, p.533
112
Shopping Satisfaction Miyazaki and

Experience Fernandez (2001)
Table 22.1 Attitudes towards online shopping of clothes of experienced and inexperienced shoppers
Group Statistics
boughtexinex N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
positive 1,00 50 3,5250 ,93336 ,14758
2,00 55 3,1702 1,02828 ,14999
113
Appendix B : Online Survey
The purpose of the following survey is to assess the web experience factors that affect
consumer`s attitude towards online shopping and his intentions to purchase through
Internet, specifically clothing. Thus, I twill contributes to get insight into the main web
factors that consumers take into consideration when purchasing clothes online.
Dear friends and colleagues,
I am graduating Masters in Marketing and I need help for collecting answers from the
following servey. It will only take you 5 minutes and your responses will be kept strictly
confidential and will only be used for research purposes.
Thank You a lot!
Personal Information
1.What is your gender?
□ Male □ Female
2.How old are you?
□ Under 20 □ 21-25 □ 26-30
□ 30-35 □ 36-40 □ 41-45 □ 45 or above
3.What is your educational level?
114
□ Elementary School □ High School □ Professional course
□ University/Master Degree □ University/Bacholor Degree
4. Working conditions
□ Student □ Housewife □ Employee
□ Retired □ Employer □ Unemployed
5.What is the net monthly income of your household?
□ Less than 500E □ 1500-2499 □ 500 – 999
□ 1000-1499 □ 2500-4999 □ 5000 or over
Online Shopping
6. How frequent do you use Internet?
□ Every day □ 2-3 times per month
□ 2-3 times per week □ seldom or never
7. How often do you buy products through Internet?
□ Once a week □ Once a month □ Once a year
□ 2-3 times per year □ 4-5 times per year □ 6-7 times per year
□ never
115
8. Have you bought clothes online?
□ Yes
□ No
9. Do you want to start puchasing clothes online?
□ Yes, definitely
□ May be
□ No (You may stop here. Thanks for your time)
10. How likely you are continue to purchase clothing online?
(1=Definitely not continue 5=definitely continue)
1 2 3 4 5
□ □ □ □ □
11.How satisfied are you with your previous online shopping experience?
□ Very Unsatisfied
□ Unsatisfied
□ Neutral
□ Satisfied
□ Very satisfied
116
12. How likely are you to recommend an online shop to your friends?
(1=Definitely not recommend 5=Definitely will recommend)
1 2 3 4 5
□ □ □ □ □
13. According to you what level of importance have the following factors for online
clothing site?
Very Unimportant Neutral Important Very

Unimportant Important
Easily □ □ □ □ □
accessible
information
Simple site □ □ □ □ □
navigation
Quick and easy □ □ □ □ □
transaction
Delivery □ □ □ □ □
process
117
14. To what extent do you think the following factors are relevant when purchasing
online clothes?
Very Irrelevant Neutral Relevant Very

Irrelevant Relevant
Customer ratings □ □ □ □ □
and testemunials
Site □ □ □ □ □
Customization
Recommendations □ □ □ □ □
Good customer □ □ □ □ □
service
15. Please rank the following trust factors according to the importance

Transaction □ □ □ □ □
Security
Customer □ □ □ □ □
Privacy
Vendor`s □ □ □ □ □
Reputation and
Capability
118
16. To what extent will the following factors influence you when buying online
clothes?
Very Irrelevant Neutral Relevant Very

Irrelevant Relevant
Colour □ □ □ □ □
Font □ □ □ □ □
Animation □ □ □ □ □
Sound □ □ □ □ □
Text Clarity □ □ □ □ □
Quality of □ □ □ □ □
presentation
17.How will you rank the product perception factors?

Product Variety □ □ □ □ □
Product Price □ □ □ □ □
Product Quality □ □ □ □ □
Product availability
18. Shopping clothes online is:
119
Completely Desagree Neutral Agree Completely

Desagree Agree
Enjoyable □ □ □ □ □
Fun □ □ □ □ □
Exciting □ □ □ □ □
Positive □ □ □ □ □
Entertaining
Undifferent
19. Which site will you go to if purchasing apparel items online?
□ Amazon
□ Ebay
□ Branded Clothing Web Sites ( Zara, Replay, Nike,GAP)
□ LaRedoute
□ Web store which are selling clothes online only
□ Other
120

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ANELINA YASENOVA BAEVA

ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Web Experience Elements in Online Clothing Market

Student: Anelina Yasenova Baeva

Palavras-chave: e-commerce, fatores de experiência na web, comportamento de consumidor

Thank you for filling my life with happiness and joy!

2.2.2.3 Product Perception…………………………………………………… 23

Chapter Four: RESEARCH METHOD ……………………………………………. 51

5.5.5 Intention to purchase of experienced and inexperienced shoppers …………. 92

Table 2 Attributes related to Usability ……………………………………………. 42

Table 27 Linear Regression for Intentions to purchase and its determinants……… 89

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Focus

From governments to multinational companies to one-person start-ups, e-commerce is

In conclusion, the customers` demand to be different in their clothing style is increasing

1.2 Problem discussion

executive marketers need to develop a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior

1.3. Research Objective

♦ Categorize the main WE factors that affect online customer`s behavior;

♦ Understand to what extent WE factors influence consumers` attitudes towards

1.4. Chapter Outline

This thesis is divided into 6 parts.

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Literature Review

Chapter Three: Conceptual Framework

Chapter Four: Research Methodology

Chapter Five: Analysis and Discussion

Chapter Six: Conclusion

Electronic Shopping/Internet Shopping/Online Shopping – “The buying of goods and

Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce – “Online business selling to other business”

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-comerce – “Online business selling to individual

Attitude – “Attitude towards a behavior is referred as an individual`s positive or negative

Intention – “Intentions represent motivational components of behavior, that is the degree if

CHAPTER TWO: THEORICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 The Internet Era and Online Shopping Benefits

In E-commerce theory five broad models are known:

It is possible that an e-commerce website both provides information and sells

2.1.3 Internet and online shopping

2.2 Web Experience Factors influencing Online Consumer Behavior

“Online shopping experience” or “virtual experience” is defined as crucial e-commerce

2.2.1 Technology- Oriented Factors

Constantinides (2004) summarised the key usability components as convenience, site

elements as follows: site navigation, accessibility, payment process and delivery

To be successful e-stores need to facilitate interaction with the consumer which is on a

1) Interactivity with the online vendor

Figure 1 The Interactivity

Interactivity: dialogue, not monologue

Building up a two-way relationship through communication and problem solving assistance

2.2.1.3 Web design

2.2.2 Consumer - Oriented Factors

2.2.2.1 Shopping Experience

2.2.2.3 Product Perception

2.3 Decision Making Process in online environment

Figure 2 Consumer Decision Making Process

Post Purchase Behavior

2.4 Online consumer behavior

Purchasing is considered as humans` socio-psycological behavior. Understanding the

2.4.1 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)

Figure 3 The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)