Modeling Consumer Adoption of the Internet as a Shopping Medium: ...

First, most of the previous research on Internet shopping takes a marketing or consumer behavior perspective, simply extending the existing theories and frameworks developed from traditional retail medium (e.g., store retailing and catalogue retailing) to the new and innovative virtual marketplace. These approaches may lead to limited or ineffective marketing strategies in Internet retailing, thereby inhibiting adoption of the Internet as a shopping medium by consumers. For example, e-business was once viewed simply as buying and selling products or services over the Internet. This limited conceptualization may lead Internet retailers to use the Internet only as a transaction medium and thus leave other commercial opportunities such as marketing and advertising underdeveloped. To be successful, an e-business must do more than reproduce traditional business models in cyberspace. Understanding the new commercial medium and online consumer behavior from an innovation perspective is clearly necessary for Internet retailers to expand their view of the Internet as a potential marketing tool and improve their strategic operations to facilitate adoption of the Internet for shopping purposes.

Second, the multidimensional feature of consumers’ adoption of the Internet as a shopping medium has not been adequately addressed. There are a variety of ways in which consumers leverage the Internet for shopping purposes. Internet shopping behavior includes a variety of shopping-related activities, such as gathering information, comparing brands, making a choice, and purchasing a product. Consumers’ adoption of the Internet as a shopping medium involves more than simply purchasing (Freiden, Goldsmith, Hofacker, Takacs, 1998). Indeed, the Internet has the potential to be used by a consumer for shopping purposes throughout the decision-making process.