Consumer Search Behavior in Online Shopping Environments

This paper explores search behavior of online shoppers. Information economics literature suggests that search cost in electronic markets has essentially been reduced to zero as consumers are able to use powerful search tools free of charge to easily find and compare product and shopping information...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kumar, N., Lang, K.R., Qian Peng
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Consumer electronics
Costs
Educational institutions
Environmental economics
Explosions
Internet
Power generation economics
Search engines
Web search
Web sites
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Summary:This paper explores search behavior of online shoppers. Information economics literature suggests that search cost in electronic markets has essentially been reduced to zero as consumers are able to use powerful search tools free of charge to easily find and compare product and shopping information on the Internet. In the present research, however, we present a research model proposing that users need to spend time and effort when completing search tasks resulting in significant search cost and a trade-off between search cost and search performance. Preliminary findings from an Internet experiment indicate that search task complexity, search engine capability, search strategy and user experience are important factors determining search cost and performance.
ISSN:1530-1605
2572-6862
DOI:10.1109/HICSS.2005.163