-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Goutaland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: vrijdag 19 maart 1999 15:57
Subject: Re: Intangible goods and EC
First of all, it is a difficult thesis. Mixing psychology with sales and the
relation with the internet...
I have no answer, but it occurs to me that e-bay.com is successfully
selling all sorts of goods. Using guidelines for consumers to offer their
product online, with a review of experienced buys from former customers.
Their guidelines are quite strict. The success of it is 'the economical
equilibrium, if any..' of demand and supply. The tangibility of the goods
are in the description of the offer. Sometimes there's a picture of the
article, and reduces thereby the uncertainty which comes with online buying.
>I am currently writing my thesis on the consumer perception of
>intangibility and its
>consequences, without and then within a specific context, the context
>chosen being the Internet via electronic commerce (as a mode of purchase).
Secondly, your question got me to Kotler, and there were some pages about
intangibility (using Kotler as a reference since you're studying marketing),
not of goods but of services. p.456-p.462, 7th edition. old but useful.
It handles uncertainty, but also expectancy.
>I study various products and services, and try to determine to which extent
>the degree of (in)tangibility of some products make them easier or more
>difficult to be sold via EC.
Mapping goods and services on a expectancy scale implies having information
of the product in question. How is it handled in the offline world? Lots of
information will be required to get that product sold to the customer. I
would select the goods that are
affection based and high interest convenience goods to be sold online.
Convenience shopping, high interest
goods? I think high attention products.
>I have not empirically tested my hypotheses
>yet, but I think that books is an exception (which would explain the rapid
>adoption of EC as a purchase mode for such products), as an evident example
>of a very tangible product BUT that does NOT need to be touched or
>evaluated physically before purchase (vs clothing, some groceries, etc.)
Books about this subject will probably be available in 2002 or so.
Trust will reduce uncertainty before a buy. Quality labels will garantee
you certain benefits.
>A case in which giving the consumer the opportunity of physical inspection
>will offer no more concrete benefits,
It certainly will grant the consumer a check.
>except to the most skeptical
>consumers (those who systematically need some tangibilization of offers)
>and to the ones who are not familiar with the Internet environment
>(proportion of the population which is already decreasing a lot).
>Thus, the case of music is different, and that is my starting point
>example, as a very intangible product (I will verify empirically if that is
>the perception of the consumers), which can be sold through EC and will be
>easily bought by the consumer who perceives it as so, whereas it will
>possibly not be bought by the ones who think it is tangible because of its
>supports (CD, booklet with words, etc.), if they think they need these when
>they buy music.
..
Ebay sells nearly everything with consumer rating.
>I will stop there, although I study some other products. If you have any
>comment, question or suggestion to make, I would be very happy to read and
>answer them, especially since not many people have showed interest in my
>study so far, although I think it is an extremely important issue for
>people who want to understand the actual consumer behavior with respect to
>tangibility and to the Internet as a purchase environment.
>Of course if you have any information related to intangibility and the
>Internet, I would be very happy to know it too.
Intangible information goods: intellectual property, financials,
time-content price fast information, weather information, banking.
About electronic grocery stores and virtual selling environments, check..
www.hkkk.fi/~tuunaine, researcer electronic grocery stores, a bit academic
though. a good starting point for electronic grocery stores.
www.hkkk.fi/ltt/eki/index.html
Online selling: www.e-bay.com
product expectations. intangibility. services.
the usual marketing books.
***
Matthias wrote
>Maybe its similar to consumers who buy cars online: according to
>a study (unfort. can't remember the title) nearly all consumers, who
>buy a car online, have made up their decision on what car they
>want to buy and just the Internet "just" for the final purchase.
These consumers are called 'run'shoppers. They need x, find the information
on the internet, or offline, then make the purchase. Probably locally, but
when it can be bought via the internet they probably will. Interesting side
effect: the number of car-dealers decreases and the consumer is more
informed to make a 'better' choice.
www.smart.com
Huub
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