Abstract

The appearance of Internet does not only bring changes to consumption patterns, but also to the business modes of companies, as a result of which Internet has become a perfect sales channel. When a consumer shops online, s/he might be influenced by a huge variety of factors. In this study, ABC model of attitude was adopted to investigate empirically the influences of website characteristics and external stimulus on consumers’ online shopping behavior. A relationship model was also established to compare the differences of consumer groups with different online shopping experiences.

Using convenience sampling, a total of 818 valid questionnaires were collected for the purpose of this study. Based on their online shopping experiences, consumers were divided into high frequency and low frequency groups in order to compare their consumption patterns as a group. According to the results, the two groups with different online shopping experiences were significantly different in three relational paths. To be specific: (1) Compared to the low frequency group, consumers in the high frequency group is more significantly positively influenced by website characteristics along the affection path during their online shopping. (2) Compared to the high frequency group, consumers in the low frequency group are more significantly positively influenced by website characteristics along the attitude path during their online shopping. (3) Compared with the low frequency group, a more significant positive influence is found among consumers in the high frequency group between consumer affection and consumer behavior path. These differences in the consumer behavior patterns of groups with different online shopping experiences according to the research results, therefore, could be used as references for online shopping business owners in their formulation of strategies.

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