Contact: Dr. Betsy Holloway, Assistant Professor of Marketing, 205-726-4109, bbhollow@samford.edu

Consumer experiences matter for "e-tailers"

Unlike the offline marketplace, consumers enter the world of e-tailing with a wide range of experience with both the Internet and computer technology. As consumers gain more knowledge about and experience with the online environment, their perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors will evolve.

Recent research conducted by Samford marketing professor Dr. Betsy Holloway examines the influence of the consumer's online purchasing experience in the context of online retailing encounters. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing.

"While consumer experience has been studied in other exchange contexts, this study is the first to provide an empirical examination of the role of consumer online experience in the context of the online service exchange, specifically in an online service failure/recovery encounter," explains Holloway. "Unlike the offline marketplace, online firms must learn to serve consumers with a wide range of experience in the online setting."

The study includes a sample of 421 consumers with varying levels of online purchasing experience. "The results clearly indicate significant differences between consumers with low and high levels of online purchasing experience across the attitudes and behaviors examined," concludes Holloway. "Our results suggest a number of meaningful implications for researchers and managers alike."