Changes in consumer spending behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic across product categories

We examine changes in online consumer spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we compare consumer spending on various product categories before the pandemic started to after. Unlike previous work, we not only look at the different consumer demographic profiles but also different product categories, providing a better understanding of spending behavior. E-commerce has been a favorite way of shopping for consumers before the pandemic, while some demographic groups were reluctant to use e-commerce. However, as pandemic-related restrictions on physical shopping were put in place, consumers found e-commerce the only way to shop for many essential products. As such, consumer online spending changed. We employ freshly released Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS) data on consumer spending by Statistics Canada. We examine the association between various demographic factors and the change in online spending empirically. Our findings indicate that, compared to their counterparts, younger consumers are more likely to have increased online spending on product categories related to internet connectivity and streaming services. Female consumers exhibit increased online spending on similar products, in addition to online learning services and home exercise equipment. Consumers living in urban areas exhibit a higher probability of increased online spending on computers, smartphone devices, internet connectivity, and food delivery services. Consumers with at least one child exhibit a similar trend. Larger households exhibit a considerable increase in the probability of increased online spending on food delivery services. Lastly, consumers with higher education exhibit a higher probability of increased online spending on products related to online learning and streaming services.

Attempts to Attract Eyesight in E-Commerce May Have Negative Effects

E-commerce shop owners often want to attract user attention to a specific product to enhance the chances of sales, to cross-sell, or up-sell. The way of presenting a recommended item is as important as the recommendation algorithms are to gain that attention. In this study, we examined the following types of highlights: background, shadow, animation, and border, as well as the position of the item in a 5 × 2 grid in a furniture online store, and their relationships with user fixations and user interest. We wanted to verify the effects highlighting had on attracting user attention. Various levels of intensity were considered for each highlight: low, medium, and strong. Methods used for data collection were both implicit and explicit: eye tracking, tracking cart's contents, and a supplementary survey. Experimental results showed that a low-intensity background highlight should be the first-choice solution to best attract user attention in the presented shopping scenario, resulting in the best fixation times and most users' selections. However, in the case of the highest-intensity animations, highlighting seemed to have negative effects; despite successful attempts to attract eyesight and a long fixation time, users did not add the highlighted products to cart.

Cyber security threats: A never-ending challenge for e-commerce

This study explores the challenge of cyber security threats that e-commerce technology and business are facing. Technology applications for e-commerce are attracting attention from both academia and industry. It has made what was not possible before for the business community and consumers. But it did not come all alone but has brought some challenges, and cyber security challenge is one of them. Cyber security concerns have many forms, but this study focuses on social engineering, denial of services, malware, and attacks on personal data. Firms worldwide spend a lot on addressing cybersecurity issues, which grow each year. However, it seems complicated to overcome the challenge because the attackers continuously search for new vulnerabilities in humans, organizations, and technology. This paper is based on the conceptual analysis of social engineering, denial of services, malware, and attacks on personal data. We argue that implementing modern technology for e-commerce and cybersecurity issues is a never-ending game of cat and mouse. To reduce risks, reliable technology is needed, training of employees and consumer is necessary for using the technology, and a strong policy and regulation is needed at the firm and governmental level.

Fish, Seafood, and Fish Products Purchasing Habits in the Spanish Population during COVID-19 Lockdown

The Mediterranean diet is a healthy dietary pattern in which fish consumption is an important key element. In Spain, fish intake is the second highest in Europe. Dietary guidelines recommend an intake of 1-3 portions a week of fish. However, Spanish fish sales have been decreasing since 2008. The unexpected pandemic spread of the SARS-CoV-2 in 2020 led the Spanish Government to take restrictive measures that had an impact on people's behavior, including food purchases and consumption. The aim of the study was to analyze purchase data of fish, seafood, and fish products during the lockdown in Spain, using data from loyalty card holders (>5,000,000 participants) from a hypermarket chain in Spain. The results show a 45% increase in the purchase of all types of fish, seafood, and fish products, with the highest increment observed in the retiree (+65 years) as compared to the younger populations. Moreover, the retiree, in spite of the digital divide, were also the ones that most increased online shopping. These data should be considered since events like COVID-19 confinement can have a permanent impact on people's dietary habits, a possibility that should be monitored in the future.

Underlying Mechanisms of Brand Feedback's Mixed Effects in E-Commerce: Roles of Perceived Controllability, Stability, and Brand Trust

The study (N = 879) investigated underlying mechanisms of the effects of brand feedback (a business' written response) to negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM) messages (e.g., online product reviews) using the theoretical framework of the attribution theory. Findings suggest that brand feedback can positively (via an indirect route) as well as negatively (via a direct route) affect prospective consumers' purchase intentions. Brand feedback positively affects purchase intentions in part through a reduction in consumers' perceptions of the brand's volitional control over the problem (controllability) and long-lasting nature (stability) of the cause of the problem described in a negative eWOM. Brand trust also partially mediates these indirect positive effects.

Analysis Model of Consumer Sentiment Tendency of Commodities in E-Commerce

Users are increasingly turning to the internet to acquire and consume goods. Online purchasing builds demand between customers in modern years. E-commerce (e-commerce) is a business strategy that allows individuals and businesses to buy and sell goods and services through the Internet. Ecommerce can be used on computers, tablets, cellphones, and other smart devices, and it operates in four key market categories. The way individuals buy and consume goods and services has changed as a result of e-commerce. People are increasingly using their computers and smart devices to place orders for things that can be delivered quickly to their homes. In the 1960s, ecommerce made use of an electronic system called electronic data interchange to help in document conversion. In the world of e-commerce, Amazon is a monster. It is, in reality, the world's largest online store, and it is still growing. As a result, it has become a significant roadblock in the retail industry, prompting some major merchants to rethink their plans and adjust their focus. This article is based on literary reviews. Developing a research framework for consumer trends, particularly in terms of purchasing behavior, is very much necessary. The sample size for this investigation was determined using a simple rule of thumb for successful partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) estimation. Consumer sentiment tendencies play a major role in this research. This research's most valuable factors include a promotion, price, brand loyalty, product review, and product quality. We looked into how these aspects analyzed a customer's tendency. These are the primary topics of discussion in this study.

Consumer Online Knowledge-Sharing: Motivations and Outcome

As a new form of online reviews, Q&A reviews have been recently used by many e-commerce platforms to compensate for the weaknesses and problems related to trust and helpfulness found in traditional online reviews. This research documents what motivates people to share products or purchasing knowledge with others through Q&A reviews and why e-commerce platforms should place an emphasis on Q&A reviews. Importantly, our results provide evidence that, when receiving feedback (i.e., comments and likes), people are more likely willing to share knowledge with others and will have a higher level of loyalty. We believe that this study contributes to knowledge sharing and the e-commerce literature, and also has practical implications.

Development and Influencing Factors of International Trade in Digitally Deliverable Services

Introduction

International trade in digitally deliverable services has been developing rapidly in recent years, especially during pandemics. However, the growth rate and scale differ among regions and countries. To promote the growth and bridge the divide of global trade in digitally deliverable services, we provide feasible policy suggestions in this paper.

Methods

Based on panel data of 33 countries' digitally deliverable service trade from 2005 to 2020, this study analyzes the development trends and influencing factors of international trade in digital-global service trade.

Results

The development of digitally deliverable services in developed countries is far ahead, while in emerging economies such as China and India, it is growing at a high speed. Digital infrastructure; human capital; and science, technology, and innovation capacity have a significant impact on the digitally deliverable trade of countries with the level of STI playing the most important influence. Further, heterogeneity analysis shows that human capital and STI capacity are more sensitive to the digitally deliverable trade of middle-income countries than to the impact of high-income countries, and the contribution of population in middle-income countries is more pronounced.

Conclusion

As the proportion of digital trade in global trade continues to increase, the role of digital service trade in countries' sustainable development is becoming more prominent. To cope with such opportunities and challenges, countries, especially developing countries, should actively increase digital infrastructure construction, improve talent training, vigorously develop digital technology, and enhance their innovation capacity.

The impact of anthropomorphism on customer satisfaction in chatbot commerce: an experimental study in the food sector

Food retailers are lagging behind other industries in implementing innovative mobile solutions offering their services and purchasing processes on their online platforms. Chatbots can be leveraged as an application to provide customer-centric services while retailers benefit from collecting consumer data. Previous literature on chatbot technology provides evidence that human characteristics enhance the customer experience. This is the first experimental study to investigate consumer attitudes and satisfaction with anthropomorphic chatbots in food e-commerce. A sample of 401 participants was tested to verify the proposed hypotheses. The test group interacted with a standard chatbot without human-like characteristics, while the control group communicated with the anthropomorphically designed agent. The results confirm the vast potential of anthropomorphic cues in chatbot applications and show that they are positively associated with customer satisfaction and mediated by the variables enjoyment, attitude, and trust. The findings suggest that to remain competitive, food retailers should immediately adopt innovative technologies for their omnichannel strategy and incorporate anthropomorphic design cues.

Can e-commerce platforms build the resilience of brick-and-mortar businesses to the COVID-19 shock? An empirical analysis in the Chinese retail industry

We proposed a research model that examined the differences between the contributions of large, third-party e-commerce platforms and self-operated e-commerce platforms to businesses’ resilience to the COVID-19 shock. The difference-in-differences approach was employed to analyze a substantial sample of Chinese retailers. The study found that (1) under the baseline condition, the large, third-party e-commerce platforms built significant resilience for the brick-and-mortar businesses, (2) resource constraints induced by factor immobility weakened the contribution of large, third-party e-commerce platforms to the businesses’ resilience in regions of severe shock, and (3) the physical retailers’ self-operated EC platforms built resilience in regions of severe shock.

Artificial intelligence in E-Commerce: a bibliometric study and literature review

This paper synthesises research on artificial intelligence (AI) in e-commerce and proposes guidelines on how information systems (IS) research could contribute to this research stream. To this end, the innovative approach of combining bibliometric analysis with an extensive literature review was used. Bibliometric data from 4335 documents were analysed, and 229 articles published in leading IS journals were reviewed. The bibliometric analysis revealed that research on AI in e-commerce focuses primarily on recommender systems. Sentiment analysis, trust, personalisation, and optimisation were identified as the core research themes. It also places China-based institutions as leaders in this researcher area. Also, most research papers on AI in e-commerce were published in computer science, AI, business, and management outlets. The literature review reveals the main research topics, styles and themes that have been of interest to IS scholars. Proposals for future research are made based on these findings. This paper presents the first study that attempts to synthesise research on AI in e-commerce. For researchers, it contributes ideas to the way forward in this research area. To practitioners, it provides an organised source of information on how AI can support their e-commerce endeavours.

Approaches Toward Building the Digital Enterprise and Sustainable Economic Development: The Moderating Role of Sustainability

Achieving enduring economic development is the biggest challenge of today's humanity. However, at present, there is a consensus that the digital economy plays a significant role in achieving sustainable economic development. The advancement of the digital enterprise is critical for obtaining socioeconomic stability and growth. In explanation, this study focuses on gaining economic progression through deploying the modern concept of digitalization. The study analyzes the mediating relationship of digital enterprise among e-commerce, digitalization, and digital marketing and their effect on China's economic development while considering sustainability as a moderating variable. The study has used primary data collection techniques, and the study sample size is 400 respondents. The research has used SmartPLS software to measure the relationship through bootstrapping and algorithms. The study has found significant positive mediation of digital enterprise and moderation of sustainability between digital enterprise and economic development. This study suggests the theoretical and practical implications toward political stability, policymakers, and researcher perspective.

Accessibility challenges of e-commerce websites

Today, there are many e-commerce websites, but not all of them are accessible. Accessibility is a crucial element that can make a difference and determine the success or failure of a digital business. The study was applied to 50 e-commerce sites in the top rankings according to the classification proposed by ecommerceDB. In evaluating the web accessibility of e-commerce sites, we applied an automatic review method based on a modification of Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) 1.0. To evaluate accessibility, we used Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE) with the extension for Google Chrome, which helps verify password-protected, locally stored, or highly dynamic pages. The study found that the correlation between the ranking of e-commerce websites and accessibility barriers is 0.329, indicating that the correlation is low positive according to Spearman's Rho. According to the WAVE analysis, the research results reveal that the top 10 most accessible websites are Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Walmart, Target Corporation, Macy's, IKEA, H&M Hennes, Chewy, Kroger, QVC, and Nike. The most significant number of accessibility barriers relate to contrast errors that must be corrected for e-commerce websites to reach an acceptable level of accessibility. The most neglected accessibility principle is perceivable, representing 83.1%, followed by operable with 13.7%, in third place is robust with 1.7% and finally understandable with 1.5%. Future work suggests constructing a software tool that includes artificial intelligence algorithms that help the software identify accessibility barriers.

Agroecological producers shortening food chains during Covid-19: opportunities and challenges in Costa Rica

The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the global food insecurity crisis, disproportionately affecting the consumers, farmers, and food workers (UN in Policy brief: impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, 2020, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_food_security.pdf). The significant disruptions caused by Covid-19 have called international attention to food security and sparked conversations about how to better support food production and trade. Our paper contributes to a small but growing literature on the impacts and responses of agroecological farmers to Covid-19 in Costa Rica. Specifically, we interviewed 30 agroecological farmers about (1) livelihood disruptions during Covid-19, (2) the areas of food production and sales most affected during this pandemic, and (3) how farmers and consumers are adapting during this crisis. Our findings reveal multiple impacts on agroecological farmers including: economic hardships of lower incomes and inability to pay loans, changes in purchasing and consumption patterns, market disruptions, changes in sales, a decrease in agrotourism, and a shortage of farmworkers. Furthermore, we also report the following farmer adaptation strategies: (1) minimizing distance with consumers to facilitate direct delivery, (2) establishing e-commerce platforms. Based on our findings, we recommend the following: (1) building farmer networks for knowledge sharing, (2) increasing technological support for farmers, and (3) providing government support to ensure that such crises do not increase unemployment among farmers and exacerbate food insecurity.

A Role of Production on E-Commerce and Foreign Policy Influencing One Belt One Road: Mediating Effects of International Relations and International Trade

One Road One Belt has made a drastic change not only to the lives of people but also to their minds and future prospective. This initiative has connected not only countries but has consolidated trading patterns. It has not only impacted physical trade but has also boosted the e-commerce of China. Therefore, this study has tried to find the major patterns of trading across the globe and digital commerce considering the factors of production. China, being the cheapest country for manufacturing, has excelled in the e-commerce as well. The targeted population for this study was contractors, marketers, logistic service providers, and engineers. The sample size in this study was 329. Data collection was done through a survey developed on the Likert scale. The software used for the data analysis was Smart-PLS for structural equation modeling. Findings of the study show that factors of production and international trade have an impact on e-commerce. Moreover, the foreign policy and international relations have also been found to have a significant role in e-commerce (digital entrepreneurship).

Trends in alcohol consumption in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-country analysis

During the first sequence of lockdowns implemented in many countries around the world in early 2020 as a result of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, there was widespread concern amongst many health professionals regarding a predicted rise in alcohol consumption. However, studies have reported diverse findings, with some consumer groups exhibiting an increase and others a decrease in their alcohol purchase and consumption patterns. Although the long-lasting changes in alcohol consumption, if any, are still unknown, the current situation has effectively accelerated a number of pre-existing trends which will likely continue in the future. E-commerce is growing steadily, mainly because of the restrictions within the on-trade channel and concerns around catching COVID-19 amongst consumers, thus lifting traditional barriers to the adoption of digital channels. Premiumization has also grown significantly during the pandemic, especially in the spirits category, due, in part, to the fact that consumers have been increasingly trying to recreate bar and restaurant quality gastronomic experiences in the privacy of their own homes. The trend toward homemade experiences is multi-stakeholder as consumers, retailers, restaurateurs, bar owners, and brands all try to help facilitate at-home consumption experiences. Larger size purchases seem to reflect not only the stockpiling phenomena that occurred during the initial phases of the pandemic but also convenience for consumers (e.g., avoiding queues). Additionally, the growing home mixology movement has been observed to result in consumers buying larger amounts of alcohol in order to facilitate cocktail making experimentation at home. It is important to stress, though, that this review was specially focused on available data from the first three quarters of 2020, as an effort to identify and understand the initial impacts the COVID-19 was creating amongst alcohol consumers. It currently remains uncertain how these trends will evolve, and whether or not they will continue post COVID-19 (whenever that might be). Key similarities and differences across national markets are highlighted.

Role of e-commerce and resource utilization for sustainable business development: goal of economic recovery after Covid-19

This study seeks to granularly document the fundamental aspects of the pandemic and its effect on the global scale and environmental steadiness. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is therefore utilized to analyze these constructs. The study results show that the pathway coefficient for the parameters, such as health awareness, naturalism, mediation, personal development, sustainability, sociability, empathy, and cooperation, illustrates that the parameters directly impact pandemic control and management. At the same time, the lockdown and social distance rules attain dire consequences on the “conventional” retail property sector. It might speed up the evolution procedure of different conduits retail plus the channel coupling performance of physical stores and, hence, cause changes in urban areas–retail sector. The pandemic isn’t necessarily leading to the shutdown of retail stores. Nonetheless, it might have a meaningful effect on the retail estate enterprise business. The results show a requirement for the rapid physical shop repositioning performance of different channels firms. The study presents a meaningful understanding and demonstrates many consequences for the retailers, Landlords, and equally policy crafting components tackling urban regeneration plus local economic advancement within the post-covid phase.

Overstocked Agricultural Produce and Emergency Supply System in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses from China

The spread of COVID-19 has affected not only public health but also agriculture, raising global concerns regarding the food system. As an immediate impact of COVID-19, farmers around the globe have had difficulties with sales, resulting in large amounts of overstocked agricultural products and food loss. This further threatens the livelihood of rural, poor farmers and impacts sustainable production. To provide a better understanding of the overstocking situation after the outbreak of the pandemic, this study depicts the distribution characteristics of overstocked agricultural products in China. After analyzing a nationwide data set collected from 3482 individuals/organizations by the Chinese Agri-products Marketing Association after the outbreak of the pandemic, we found that some of the initial prevention and control measures disrupted sales channels, and in turn, caused the farmers to suffer losses. The impact was more severe in perishable products and their production areas, as well as in poverty-stricken regions. Then, we identified China's quick and effective actions to match the supply and demand. These findings suggest that emergency responses should coordinate the relationship between emergency actions and the necessary logistics of agricultural production. To prepare for the possibility of such shock in the future, the government should take actions to clear logistics obstacles for necessary transportation, keep enhancing the fundamental infrastructure and effective mechanism of the food supply chain, and actively include innovative techniques to build a more resilient food system.

Sustainable Digital Economy Through Good Governance: Mediating Roles of Social Reforms and Economic Policies

The most powerful and crucial concept today is a sustainable digital economy. This research is aimed to investigate the predictors of a sustainable digital economy in China. In addition, the mediating roles of social reforms and economic policies were investigated between good governance and a sustainable digital economy. This cross-sectional research considered partial least square-structural equational modeling (PLS-SEM) as an analysis technique. The data were collected from 317 managerial staff of the e-commerce industry in China via a self-structured questionnaire. A random sampling technique was applied in the data collection process. Results showed that good governance positively impacts the sustainable digital economy, social reforms, and economic policies. Additionally, an increase in social reforms and economic policies led to a sustainable digital economy in China. Social reforms and economic policies partially mediated the relationship between good governance and a sustainable digital economy. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying components of a sustainable digital economy and examining whether good governance may aid in attaining a sustainable digital economy. Nowadays, research on the sustainable digital economy has got attention from policymakers and researchers around the globe. These outcomes suggest several ways to improve the sustainable digital economy in China. This research is not without limitations, such as cross-sectional and based on responses of the respondents. Several research avenues were discussed and can be influenced by many factors for future perspectives.

How Culture and Trustworthiness Interact in Different E-Commerce Contexts: A Comparative Analysis of Consumers' Intention to Purchase on Platforms of Different Origins

The outgrowth of e-commerce has advanced the development of countries' economies. Today, online marketplaces are targeting not only their local customers but are also spreading their interests overseas, expanding cross-border e-commerce. The current study aims to analyze the interaction of customer's personal traits, such as national culture, disposition to trust, and perceived trustworthiness, and their effect on the purchase intention within different e-commerce contexts. The contexts are chosen based on the country-of-origin parameter and serve as the moderator in the research model. Both direct and indirect effects of cultural dimensions on trustworthiness and purchase intention are analyzed within the research framework. The data for the analysis are randomly collected among the Russian population and assessed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The analysis results prove the marketplace context moderates the interaction of customers' personal traits among each other and their effect on the purchase intention. The study shows that dimensions of national culture have a more substantial effect on perceived trustworthiness and purchase intention in the Chinese marketplace context. The current study contributes to the analysis of customer behavior patterns within context, expanding context-related research direction. It increases the specificity of the culture and trustworthiness research and deepens the understanding of country-of-origin moderating effect in e-commerce. Moreover, addressing a high-level uncertainty avoidance culture within the research framework, the study diversifies the existing set of analyzed cultures in the e-commerce environment. The current study is applicable both in domestic and in cross-border e-commerce practice, broadening the understanding of consumer behavior patterns. The research model is relevant for the analysis of trust-effected behavioral outcomes.

Category Congruence of Display-Only Products Influences Attention and Purchase Decisions

In e-commerce settings, shoppers can navigate to product-specific pages on which they are asked to make yes-or-no decisions about buying a particular item. Beyond that target, there are often other products displayed on the page, such as those suggested by the retailers' recommendation systems, that can influence consumers' buying behavior. We propose that display items that come from the same category as the target product (matched) may enhance target purchase by increasing the attractiveness of the presented opportunity. Contrasting this, mismatched display items may reduce purchase by raising awareness of opportunity costs. Eye-tracking was used to explore this framework by examining how different types of displays influenced visual attention. Although target purchase rates were higher for products with matched vs. mismatched displays, there was no difference in fixation time for the target images. However, participants attended to mismatched display items for more time than they did for matched ones consistent with the hypothesized processes. In addition, increases in display attractiveness increased target purchase, but only for matched items, in line with supporting the target category. Given the importance of relative attention and information in determining the impact of display items, we replicated the overall purchase effect across varying amounts of available display information in a second behavioral study. This demonstration of robustness supports the translational relevance of these findings for application in industry.

Influencing Factors of the Continuous Usage Intention of Consumers of Online Food Delivery Platform Based on an Information System Success Model

Online food delivery (OFD) has gradually become a development trend in the catering industry. However, the homogenization of the principal OFD platforms is becoming increasingly obvious, and there is an urgent need to explore the continuous usage intentions of consumers of the OFD platform. Unlike previous studies, this study employs DeLone and McLean's information system (IS) success model as the theoretical framework and constructs the influencing factors model of the continued usage intentions of users of the OFD platform from three aspects, namely, service, system, and information quality. Participants (N = 361) completed a questionnaire assessing their continuous usage intentions of the OFD platform, and the results were analyzed using a structural equation model (SEM). Service worker, platform quality, and content consistency have significant positive effects on the trust in the platform and satisfaction of consumers. Both the trust in the platform and satisfaction of consumers have a positive impact on their continuous usage intentions. We also explored the mediating effect of the trust in the platform and satisfaction of consumers. This study adds to the academic literature and practical implications for the continuous usage intention of consumers. This study discusses the influencing factors and formation mechanism of the continuous usage intention of consumers and proposes a model of the continuous usage intention of consumers of OFD platforms. Moreover, OFD platforms can make differentiation strategies more targeted and eliminate the dilemma of homogenization competition of OFD platforms.

Promoting Healthier Drinking Habits: Using Sound to Encourage the Choice for Non-Alcoholic Beers in E-Commerce

Important institutions, such as the World Health Organization, recommend reducing alcohol consumption by encouraging healthier drinking habits. This could be achieved, for example, by employing more effective promotion of non-alcoholic beverages. For such purposes, in this study, we assessed the role of experiential beer packaging sounds during the e-commerce experience of a non-alcoholic beer (NAB). Here, we designed two experiments. Experiment 1 evaluated the influence of different experiential beer packaging sounds on consumers' general emotions and sensory expectations. Experiment 2 assessed how the sounds that evoked more positive results in Experiment 1 would influence emotions and sensory expectations related to a NAB digital image. The obtained results revealed that a beer bottle pouring sound helped suppress some of the negativity that is commonly associated with the experience of a NAB. Based on such findings, brands and organizations interested in more effectively promoting NAB may feel encouraged to involve beer packaging sounds as part of their virtual shopping environments.

Neural Correlates of Garment Fit and Purchase Intention in the Consumer Decision-Making Process and the Influence of Product Presentation

In today’s competitive e-commerce markets, it is crucial to promote product satisfaction and to quickly identify purchase intention in decision-making consumers. The present investigation examined the relationship between perceived garment fit and purchase intention, together with how product presentation methods (mannequin versus self-model) contribute to decision-making processes of clothing. Thirty-nine female volunteers were scanned using fMRI while performing an online shopping task. In Part 1, univariate analysis was conducted between garment fit and product presentation factors to assess their effects on purchase deliberation. In Part 2, univariate, multivariate pattern, and psychophysiological interaction analyses were carried out to examine the predictive ability of fit evaluation and product presentation on purchase intention. First, garment fit × product presentation interaction effects on purchase deliberation were observed in the frontopolar cortex, superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. Part 2 demonstrated neural signals of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, and insula to distinguish subsequent purchase intentions. Overall, the findings denote directed exploration, visual and action processing as key neural processes in decision-making that uniquely reflect garment fit and product presentation type during purchase deliberation. Additionally, with respect to the effects of purchase intention on product evaluation, the evidence conveys that mental interactions with products and social cognition are fundamental processes that capture subsequent purchase intention at the product evaluation stage.