购物网站上的中英网上消费者体验的对比研究——基于文化视角的分析

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

The  emergence  of  the  Internet  has  fundamentally  changed  people’s  mindsets,  views on  the  world  and accordingly changed  their  lifestyles.  Thanks  to  social  media, smart-phones, tablets and tech-savvy customers (Charlie, 2013), online shopping has become  a  dominant  trends  and  will  become  more  popular  with  a  deeper  degree  of adoption and  penetration  of  internet  technology  (Rose,  Hair  and  Clark,  2011).  At present,  more  and  more  bricks-and-mortar  stores  have  opened  their  online  retailing websites  to  access  to  more  customers  from  home  and  abroad, and  provided  better services; on the other hand, online-only shops like Amazon, Base Formula, compete against traditional retailing with the advantages of low operating cost (Pearson, 2012). At  the  end  of  the  day,  even  though  the  role  of online  website  in  the  market  cannot completely take the place of traditional stores, there is no denying the fact that online purchasing  will  continue  to  grow  with  updated  standards,  more  diversified  offers, more competitive price and better quality of services (Pearson, 2012). Therefore, for companies,  more  attention  should  be  shifted  to  online stores development  for customer retention, brand recognition, loyalty and so on. 

When  it  comes  to  online  shop  development,  many  companies  nowadays  agree that creating superior customer experience is an effective way to sustain competitive advantage (Shaw and Ivens, 2005) and will be an important part that companies try to focus on (Schmitt, 2011), because emotional links between companies and customers are  difficult and  costly  for  competitors  to  duplicate  (Berry,  Carbone  and  Haekel, 2002).  Customer  experience,  as  an internal and  subjective  impression  on  the  direct and indirect contact with a company (Meyer and Schwader, 2007), should reflect the offering  of  a  company  (Zomerdijk  and  Voss,  2009).  More  importantly,  customer experience on online websites has a significant impact on the long-term online store prosperity and reshaping of company strategies (Nambisan and Watt, 2010). 

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1.2 Rationale of the Present Study

With  the  development  of  the  Internet,  online  purchasing  has  become  increasingly popular  in  contemporary society.  Online  shopping,  however,  is  no  longer  a  simple shopping  behaviour  based  on  the  Internet  since  online consumers  perception  is developing as well. Accordingly, more and more consumers prefer online shopping as a means of relaxation and entertainment. As a result, online customer experience has aroused  interest  within  the  fields  of electronic  business  operators  and  marketing researchers.  Creating  a  unique  customer  experience  on  purchasing websites  is  of significant importance for customer retention of companies.

When reviewing the literature on this topic, it has been found out that the extant literature  either  focused  on  the analysis  of  traditional  customer  experience  (Gentile, Spiller  an  Noci  2007;  Holbrook  and  Hirschman,  1982,  Pine and  Gilmore,  1999),  or concentrated  on  online  flow,  which  describes  the  optimal  state  of  a  person  online (Csikszentmihalyi,  1975;  Novak,  Hoffman and  Yung,  2000;  Rose  et  al,  2000;  Yung, 2000),  but  there  is  a  lack of  traditional  customer  experience  concept  adapted  in  the online customer experience concepts.

However,  the  analysis  of  online  customer  experience  should  integrate  both traditional customer experience theory and flow-related theories to build up a better understanding of online customer experience.

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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Previous Studies on Online Customer Experience

2.1.1 Previous Studies on Online Customer Experience Abroad

Early in 1982, the concept of customer experience was firstly introduced (Holbrook and  Hirschman,  1982)  and  not until the  1990s  customer  experience  were  frequently discussed  in  many  marketing-related  papers,  because  the experience  economy  has become  a  follow-up  stage  of  commodities  economy,  goods  economy  and  services economy  (Pine  and  Gilmore,  1999).  In  experience  economy,  companies  should  try every effort to create memorable and distinct experience for customers as added value of products and services (LaSalle and Britton, 2003; Caru and Cova, 2003; Caru and Cova, 2007). So from then on, researches focusing on customer experience emerged and subsequently various perspectives of customer experience appeared (Gentile et al, 2007).

So far there are no systematic definitions of experience marketing, and there is a wide  range  of  understandings  of customer  experience  in  available  papers.  Most researchers  acknowledged  that  customer  experience  is  an affective,  emotional, subjective, personal and memorable event which can affect customers’ response to the encounter with the companies at different levels (Brakus, 2001; Kim and Choi, 2013; Pine and Gilmore, 1999; Pitkanen and Tuohino, 2006; Tarssanen and Kylanen, 2007; Schmitt,  1999).  Therefore,  a  product  or  service  should  have  both  functional and Kansei (a word representing feeling, taste and emotion, etc.) elements, which interact complementarily  for  adding value  and  customer  experience  serving  (Amasaka  and Nagasawa, 2000; Nagasawa, 2008). Similarly, some researchers contended that both the  utilitarian  and  hedonic  value  of  a  product  or  service  should  be  conveyed during the  shopping  process  for  the  purpose  of  re-patronage  by  customers  (Babin,  Darden and Griffin, 1994; Babin and Darden, 1995; Jones, Reynolds and Arnold, 2006; Sheth, 1983).  Later  on,  the  multidimensionality  of customer  experience  was  recognised  by psychologist, behaviorist and later marketing researchers. 

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2.2 Previous Studies on Cultural Research on Marketing

2.2.1 Previous Studies of Cultural Research on Marketing Abroad

If  globalisation  is  an  inevitable  process,  then  cross-culturalisation  will  also  be inevitable.  On  the  one  hand,  the world  is  becoming  more  homogeneous,  and distinctions between national markets are fading and, for some products, disappearing altogether.  This  means  that  business  communication  is  now  a  world-encompassing discipline. One the other hand, the cultural differences between nations, regions and ethnic  groups,  far  from  being  extinguished,  are becoming  stronger  (Lillis  and  Tian, 2010). This means that a cross-cultural process requires managers to be well informed about cultural differences nationally, locally, and ethnically in order to win in global market.  Cross-cultural solutions  to  international  business  therefore,  are  increasingly being  suggested  as  a  valid  and  necessary  method in  enhancing  communication  and interaction in and between business partners, between companies and customers, and between coworkers. 

In  the  1950s,  anthropologist  Edward  Hall  began  a  career  that  would  be  highly influential  in  business  in  terms of cross-cultural  communication.  Hall’s  practice  and influence in the fields of cross-cultural communication and intercultural training has been monumental. He clearly understood that errors in cross-cultural communication could  destroy  a business  deal  or  a  peace  agreement.  In  his  first  book,  The  Silent Language, Hall explained culture as communication and communication as involving much more than just language. Communication included nonverbal characteristics and had to be understood in cultural context (Hall, 1981). In his later books, Hall explored the culturally different ways of conceiving space and time, as well as the implications in  business  practice.  Hall’s  practice  and theoretical  contributions  to  the  business communication  generated  great  impact  and  international  value  in  terms of cross-cultural factors.

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CHAPTER THREE?THERETICAL FRAMEWORK ......................16

3.1 Schmitt’s Experiential Marketing Framework.................16

3.2Gentile et al’s Six Primary Experiential Components ........17

CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ....................33

4.1 Research Philosophy..............33

4.2 Research Approach .........................34

CHAPTER FIVE?SURVEY REASULTS ...................43

5.1 Respondents’ Profile and General Summary of Survey Results.....................43

5.1.1 Respondents’ Profile..............43

CHAPTER SIX ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

6.1 Brief Conclusion of Research Results

According to t-test, it has been found out that British and Chinese groups have significant difference in terms of cognitive, pragmatic, relational and online customer dimensions.

More  importantly,  the  result  of  British  multiple  regression  analysis  in  Chapter Five shows that only H3 and H5 are supported in this research, in other words, only the  cognitive  and  lifestyle  dimensions  are  positively  related  to  online consumer behaviour. At the same time, H1, H2, H4 and H6 are rejected so there are no positive relationship  between sensorial,  emotional,  pragmatic,  relational  components  and consumer behaviour under British online purchasing context.

While for the Chinese multiple regression analysis, it is clearly demonstrated in Chapter Five as well that, H2, H3 and H4 are supported so the emotional, cognitive and pragmatic dimensions have positive links with customer behaviour. Therefore, the rest  of  the  other  three  dimensions  are  not  positively  related  to  online  consumer behaviour.

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CHAPTER SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

7.1 Recommendations for British and Chinese E-marketers and Web-designers

It  is  commonly  acknowledged  that  enabling  customers  to  have  excellent  and unexpected  experience  from  the companies’  websites  is  increasingly  important (LaSalle  and  Britton,  2003).  Websites  of  companies  should  create the  unique experience to customers, which can have significant impact on customer behaviour on the websites continuously (Caru and Cova, 2003; Caru and Cova, 2007; Prahalad and Ramaswamy,  2004).  To  conclude,  a marketer  or  a  web  designer  should  create  the appropriate environmental setting to appeal to distinctive customer experience desires (Schmitt,  1999).  Since  British  and  Chinese  online  customers  demonstrate  differing online customer  experience  desires  and  differing  cultural  implications, recommendations  for  e-marketers  and  web designers  from  both  countries  should  be discussed separately.

From  the  results  and  discussion  above,  the  cognitive  dimension,  comprising  of sub-components  like telepresence, transformation  of  time,  has  positive  impact  on British  online  consumer  behaviour  (Discussed  in  Chapter  5.4.2). And  the  two sub-components  belong  to  Hofstede’s  individual  dimension  (Discussed  in  Chapter 6.2). As a country with high individualism index, people value themselves as a unique being in the world and they reflect their self-image in terms of “I” rather than “We” (Hofstede Centre, 2014). Within the online shopping context, individualists have high valuation on the images of youth and energy, which can represent their unique being and preferences. Therefore, for British companies’ e-marketers and web designers, the marketing  slogan  and  strategies  of  the  company  should appeal  to  the  taste  of individualism and uniqueness and they should consistently convey the organization’s unique value and underlying vision to online customers. The webpage design should be eye-catching and energising, so that the flow of online customers can be generated, they  enjoy  surfing  in  the  digital  world  and  even  forget  the  existence of  time. Furthermore,  companies  can  personalize  and  segment  the  e-mail  message  with customers’  names  and sending  personalised  birthday  or  anniversary  sales  offers  to online  customers  and  website  programmers  can make  good  use  of  cookies  to personalise the product list on the on the front page of websites.

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