An Empirical Study on the Consumer Acceptance of Digital and Physical Products in E-Commerce

Although E-Commerce has marketability as well as usefulness, there are few empirical research on consumer acceptance, explained by economic theory. This paper suggests that the consumer product acceptance is determined by the difference of transaction cost and some other factors, such as uncertainty and asset specificity. In addition, it suggests that the characteristics of digital products may also play an important role in electronic markets. We find that (1)consumers prefer electronic purchase in buying digital products and (2)transaction costs, uncertainty, and asset specificity have a significant effect on consumer product acceptance. Especially, there is a positive correlation between asset specificity and consumer acceptance in digital products that would be strategic items, paid attention in ECommerce. Finally, we provide guidelines for a company that wants to deal with their products in E-Commerce.