eCommerce B2C Research in Context: Policy Capturing, Channel Choice and Customer Value

Central in this paper is the question what choices customers make for specific channels (physical channel, mobile or Internet) in an eCommerce transaction processes and by what variables their choice is influenced. We are especially interested in the use of channels to collect specific information, initiate transactions, conclude actual fulfilment and offer after sales services. We argue that channel choice in the transaction process depends on a set of variables related to the availability of the technology to the user, his or her context (mobile or not), the type of product he or she wants to buy (information good, service or product; fast moving or durable), the degree to which the quality of the product can be assessed in advance (experience), the degree of personalization and the level of trust. To test these assumptions we used policy capturing as research methodology. Data was collected among a homogenous group of students knowledgeable and experienced with new mobile and Internet technologies and then analysed using logistic regression. Results show that respondents switch between channels, making use of the Internet in the information phase but for the initiation of transactions, as well as the fulfilment and after-sales stages, physical channels are preferred by a majority. Mobile channels appear to play hardly any role in eCommerce transaction processes. Only the mobile context has a clear relation to the choice in favour of mobile channels.