Women Sample Project

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J N K P I N G I N T E R N A T I O N A L B U S I N E S S S C H O O L J NK PI NG UNI VERS IT Y

E-commerceA study of womens online purchasing behavior

Thesis within Business Administration

Author: Eliasson, Malin

Holkko Lafourcade, Johanna

Smajovic, Senida

Tutor: Sasinovskaya, Olga

Jnkping January, 2009


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Acknowledgements

The authors of this thesis would like to thank our tutor Olga Sasinovskaya for her guidanceand commitment during the process of writing this thesis. We would also like to thank ourfellow students for their valuable feedback during seminar sessions.

To Hemtex AB, all respondents of the survey and focus group members- a big thank you!This thesis would not have been possible without your involvement.

Malin Eliasson Johanna Holkko Lafourcade Senida Smajovic

Jnkping International Business School

2009-01-06


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Sammanfattning

Skord: E-handel,kvinnor, Internet kpbeteende,Internet handel

Syfte: Syftet med den hr uppsatsen r att kartlgga det nuvarande kpbe-teendet bland kvinnor i ldern 40-55 r betrffande Internet shop-ping. Vidare mnar forskningen att hitta och analysera faktorer somkan hjlpa marknadsfrare att f mlgruppen att ka sitt anvndan-de av Internet som ett medium fr att handla hemtextilier och in-redning.

Bakgrund: Samtidigt som anvndandet av datorer kar s har E-handeln ut-vecklats som sljkanal och kar snabbt i Sverige. P grund av denhga tillvxten vljer mnga fretag att starta webbsidor fr E-handel. Hemtex AB har fljt trenden och startade sin Webbutik iOktober 2008 (S. Lindstrm, personlig kommunikation, 2008-10-30). Studier har visat att yngre konsumenter tenderar att handla mer

p Internet n ldre konsumenter (HUI, 2006) och att mn handlarmer n kvinnor (Belanger et al, 2002). Detta skulle kunna innebrasvrigheter fr Hemtex nr de startar upp en Webbutik eftersomderas huvudmlgrupp bestr av kvinnor i ldern 40-55 r. Dennademografiska grupp r stor och har stark kpkraft (SCB, 2008), vil-ket betyder att det r en lnsam grupp att rikta sig mot fr mark-nadsfrare i olika branscher. En stor svrighet med E-handel r attman inte kan underska varan fre kp, detta kan vara en svrighetatt verkomma nr man ska slja srskilt textiler ver Internet (For-sythe & Shi, 2003). Drfr r det intressant att forska i kpbeteen-det p Internet bland kvinnor i ldern 40-55 r betrffande hemtex-

tilbranschen.

Metod: Syftet med uppsatsen uppfylldes genom att ett urval av Hemtexkunder fick delta i en enktunderskning samt i en fokusgrupp. Tvmodeller om konsumenters avsikt att gra kp i p Internet anvn-des fr att analysera resultatet av enkten och fokusgruppen.

Slutsats: Uppsatsens resultat var att datavana och lder hade en effekt p omkvinnorna genomfrde ett kp p internet eller inte. Det strstahindret fr kp p Internet var oskerhet kring betalning och denstrsta frdelen med Internet kp var bekvmlighet. Flera faktorersom kunde ka sannolikheten fr kvinnor i ldern 40-55 att gra In-ternet kp var identifierade, och specifika rekommendationer fast-stlldes fr marknadsfrare som riktar sig till den hr ldersgruppen.

Vidare utvecklades en av de teoretiska modellerna om konsumen-ters avsikt att gra kp i en Internet milj fr att fokusera p kvin-nors avsikter att handla p Internet.


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Table of Contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................... 11.1 Definitions ............................................................................................... 21.2 Background ............................................................................................ 3

1.3 Hemtex information ................................................................................ 51.4 Problem .................................................................................................. 61.5 Purpose .................................................................................................. 71.6 Research questions ................................................................................ 7

2 Frame of reference .................................................................... 82.1 Previous research................................................................................... 82.2 Technology Acceptance Model, (TAM) ................................................... 92.2.1 Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use ................................ 102.3 Applying TAM in B2C E-commerce ...................................................... 112.3.1 Trust ..................................................................................................... 11

2.3.2 Social Presence ................................................................................... 122.3.3 Perceived Enjoyment............................................................................ 122.4 Framework for consumers intention to shop online ............................. 122.4.1 Usefulness ............................................................................................ 132.4.2 Ease of Use .......................................................................................... 142.4.3 Enjoyment ............................................................................................ 142.4.4 Consumer traits .................................................................................... 142.4.5 Situational factors ................................................................................. 152.4.6 Previous online shopping experiences ................................................. 152.4.7 Product characteristics ......................................................................... 162.4.8 Trust in online shopping ....................................................................... 16

3 Method ..................................................................................... 173.1 Research approach .............................................................................. 173.2 Choice of data collection ...................................................................... 183.2.1 Primary Data Collection ........................................................................ 183.2.2 Secondary Data Collection ................................................................... 193.3 Sampling .............................................................................................. 193.3.1 Critical case sampling ........................................................................... 193.4 Pre study .............................................................................................. 213.5 Questionnaire design............................................................................ 213.5.1 How the empirical material of the survey was derived .......................... 22

3.6 The focus group ................................................................................... 233.6.1 How the empirical material of the focus group was derived .................. 243.6.2 Limitations of a focus group as a qualitative sampling method ............. 253.7 Data analysis ........................................................................................ 253.8 Generalizability ..................................................................................... 263.9 Validity .................................................................................................. 263.10 Reliability .............................................................................................. 273.11 Trustworthiness and dependability ....................................................... 283.12 Limitations ............................................................................................ 29

4 Empirical findings ................................................................... 31

4.1 Empirical findings of survey .................................................................. 31


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4.1.1 Computer and Internet experience ....................................................... 314.1.2 Difficulties concerning online purchases ............................................... 354.1.3 Advantages concerning Internet shopping ........................................... 384.2 Empirical findings of focus group .......................................................... 41

5 Analysis ................................................................................... 465.1 Research question 1 ............................................................................. 465.2 Research question 2 ............................................................................. 505.3 Research question 3 ............................................................................. 555.4 Research question 4 ............................................................................. 585.5 Concluding analysis with a focus on the modified TAMs ..................... 615.6 Recommendations for marketers ......................................................... 63

6 Conclusion .............................................................................. 66

References ................................................................................... 67

Appendix ...................................................................................... 71Pre study: .......................................................................................................... 71Empirical findings appendix............................................................................... 75

Table of figures

Figure 1 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) ................................................ 10Figure 2 Extended TAM for online shopping ..................................................... 11Figure 3 Framework of consumers' intentions to shop online .......................... 13Figure 4 Computer experience level of shoppers and non-shoppers ................ 32Figure 5 Main use of Internet ............................................................................ 33Figure 6 Shoppers and non-shoppers ............................................................... 33Figure 7 Main reason for not shopping online ................................................... 34Figure 8 Shoppers and non-shoppers divided in age group .............................. 35Figure 9 Extent of payment discomfort for shopper and non-shoppers ............. 36Figure 10 Difficulties of Internet shopping ......................................................... 38Figure 11 Main advantage of online shopping................................................... 39Figure 12 Importance of various factors for online shopping ............................. 40Figure 13 The framework for women's intention to shop online ........................ 63

Table 1 Previous research and the main findings ............................................... 9

Table 2 Schedule for gathering of questionnaires ............................................. 20
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1 Introduction

During the last 30 years the access of personal computers has increased all over the world.Along with the development of new technology and computers, the ability to connect

computers all over the world emerged in the 1970s. This worldwide computer network wascalled the Internet (Laudon & Traver, 2008). Along with the Internet an opportunity hasemerged; the possibility to make purchases online (Joines, Scherer & Scheufele, 2003),

which is called Electronic commerce (E-commerce), and is defined as;

Maintaining business relationships and selling information, services and commodities by means of computertelecommunications networks. (Encyclopedia of Britannica, 2008).

In Sweden the annual growth rate of E-commerce is 30 percent, which add up to 4 percentof total retail sales in 2008 (Handelns utredningsinstitut, HUI, 2008). Although E-commerce only makes up a fraction of total retail sales in Sweden, it is still an interestingfield for research due to its fast growth rate. E-commerce is developing into an important

sales channel for companies in diverse industries, and it is essential for marketers to gainincreased knowledge of their target groups behavior on the Internet. With better knowl-edge of how and why consumers shop online, marketers will be able to plan their market-ing efforts in a better and more efficient manner.

More than 80 percent of the Swedish population between 16 and 74 years have access toInternet from their home (Statistiska Centralbyrn, SCB, 2007) and 62 percent use it everyday (HUI, 2006). Over 70 percent of the Internet access is accessible through broadband(SCB, 2007), reliable and fast Internet access is essential for rapid growth of E-commerce(HUI, 2006). This argument is supported of Lian & Ling (2008), who state the growth ofE-commerce is dependent of the increasing popularity of the Internet.

Generally, men make purchases online more frequently than women do (Belanger,Comunale & Slyke, 2002), and younger consumers purchase online products more oftenthan older consumers (HUI, 2006). Based on this, older women should be the least prob-able consumers in an online environment. What does older womens Internet purchasingbehavior actually look like, and how can it be increased?

The recent rapid growth of E-commerce has resulted in that many companies have decidedto start up web sites for E-commerce (S. Lindstrm, personal communication, 2008-10-30).For companies targeting a younger audience, the start up of a web site for E-commerce isprobably a good strategic move, since young adults are frequent Internet users. But forcompanies targeting an older group, the success of the web site depend of the ability and

willingness of middle aged consumers to shop online.

The focus of this study is the online shopping behavior of women between the age of 40-55 years in Sweden, as well as factors that would influence an increase of their online pur-chasing. The study is conducted on Hemtex ABs customers as a critical case, and includesa questionnaire to map out the target groups online purchasing behavior and a focus groupto collect more in-depth information about how to increase their level of online purchas-ing. The report is a bachelor thesis within marketing, at Jnkping International BusinessSchool, Sweden.


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1.1 Definitions

Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce - Online businesses selling to other busi-nesses (Laudon & Traver, 2008, p.15)

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce - Online businesses selling to individualconsumers (Laudon & Traver, 2008, p.15)

Electronic business (E-business) - The digital enabling of transactions and processeswithin a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm (Laudon &Traver, 2008, p.11)

Electronic commerce (E-commerce) - Maintaining business relationships and sellinginformation, services, and commodities by means of computer telecommunications net-

works (Encyclopedia of Britannica, 2008)

Electronic shopping / Internet shopping/ Online shopping - The buying of goodsor services over the Internet, using either a computer or an Internet television (OxfordReference Online, 2008).

Mail-order - Retailers offering all kinds of products that can be ordered over the phone.The goods are often delivered within forty-eight hours (Kalakota & Whinston, 1997,p.221).

Non-shoppers - Based on the survey, the authors of this thesis refer to people who havenever conducted an online purchase, as non-shoppers

Shoppers -Based on the survey, the authors refer shoppers to people who do have con-

ducted an online purchase.

Web shop - A web site that offers the ability to purchase goods or services to consu m-ers (S. Lindstrm, personal communication, 2008-10-30)

Web site - A set of texts and/or images usually sharing a common theme, accessible viathe Internet by keying in the address of the site, known as a uniform (or universal) resourcelocator ( URL ), or by using a hyperlink from another site (Oxford Reference Online,2008)
http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?entry=t18.e2158&srn=2&ssid=746840422#FIRSTHIThttp://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?entry=t235.e4783&srn=1&ssid=42739233#FIRSTHIThttp://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?entry=t235.e4783&srn=1&ssid=42739233#FIRSTHIThttp://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?entry=t18.e2158&srn=2&ssid=746840422#FIRSTHIT


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1.2 Background

In 2006, nearly 2000 Swedish companies used E-business, although only 200-300 of thecompanies had any substantial turnover. The most successful companies when it comes toE-commerce is pure E-businesses, that is; they only operate on the web and has no physi-cal store, and mail order companies (HUI, 2006). The average purchase ranges between201-500 SEK and the total retail sales added up to 18 billion SEK in 2007. The rate of in-crease in turnover was from 2003 to 2005 30 percent annually (HUI, 2008).

There are many advantages for a firm to conduct business on the Internet, for example; thepossibility to reach a broader customer group, potential for rapid growth, and that thecompany can obtain more information about the customer than they could in a normal re-tail environment. Another benefit is the fact that consumers consider E-commerce to haveseveral advantages. In order of importance; low price, simple, convenient, broad supply,not available close to consumer and to save time. The most successful online products areclothing, books, CDs, trips, and movies (HUI, 2006). One reason for why for examplebooks are popular to purchase online is that consumers know what they get (Lian & Ling,

2008). Important aspects for successful E-commerce is the credibility of the company, theweb site, fast delivery, build up customer loyalty, supply, safety concerning payments andthe price (HUI, 2006).

Naturally there are disadvantages of shopping online; according to Gefen & Straub (2002)trust is very important in E-commerce and the lack of it is the major factor for consumersto avoid online purchases (Emurian & Wang, 2005; Gefen & Straub, 2002). Humans mustdecrease their social uncertainty, that is, to try to control their environment and behavior ofother people. This is usually done by rules and customs. As Internet is a new sales channel,there are few established customs and rules, which is why trust is so important in E-commerce (Gefen & Straub, 2002).

For companies considering to enter the E-commerce market, knowledge about the onlineconsumer behavior is crucial. The demographic group most positive towards shoppingonline is the consumers in the range 20 to 29 years, where 74 percent made an online pur-chase in 2006. Older consumers do not make purchases as frequently as the younger ones;60 percent between age 40 to 49, and 41 percent between age 50 to 59 had made at leastone Internet purchase in 2006. The consumer group that increases their level of purchasingon the Internet the most from one year to another is the age group 40 to 49 years (HUI,2006). One interpretation of these facts could be that older consumers generally shop lessthan younger consumers in online stores.

Men purchase products through the Internet more often than women do, 55 percent of

men bought a product online in 2006 versus 46 percent of women. The reason for this dif-ference might be the focus of most Internet business, which mostly has men as their targetgroup (HUI, 2006). The research of Belanger et al (2002), support the notion of men asmore frequent online buyers than women. Their research also concluded computer use,email use, prior web use and access to a credit card as significant determinants of onlinepurchasing (Belanger et al, 2002). The gender issue is also supported by study which re-

vealed women to be less content with online shopping than men, which according to Har-ris and Rodgers (2003) was the main factor to why fewer women than men shop online.

The common finding in all these studies made by various authors and HUI, is that womenmake online purchases more seldom than men.


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If interpreted together, the two paragraphs above imply that older women are the leastprobable consumers in the online environment. Therefore, it would be interesting to con-duct research on this particular group. Further, a recent study show, that the older a con-sumer is, the larger is his or her purchasing power. The reasons for the high purchasingpower are high income and assets, combined with low level of debts (HUI, 2008). SCB

(2008) show nearly a 100 percent increase in net fortune between the age range 30-49 and50-64. The age range 40-49 is the one that increases their online purchasing the most formone year to another (HUI, 2006). Due to the assumption of women being the least prob-able online consumers, combined with high purchasing power, it would be interesting toinvestigate the behavior of older women, concerning Internet and Internet shopping. Thisdemographic group, which conduct a relatively small amount of online shopping and hashigh purchasing power, would be an interesting group to target for marketers, since it

would have a potential to generate large turnover for a company. To conduct a study, theage group need to be further narrowed down, and for this purpose the researchers havechosen to investigate women between 40-55, since they represent a demographic group

with high purchasing power, and low level of Internet purchases combined with a trend of

increasing their purchasing online.The last ten years Sweden has experienced an increasing trend in the interest of home de-cor, home furnishing, and home textiles. This can be seen for example by the increase of

TV programmes concerning home design, such as ntligen hemma, Room service,and Design Simon and Thomas. The competition in the market for home textiles andhome decor has increased during the past years, and more companies in the retail tradehave started to broaden their range of products to also include home textiles (Hemtex,2008). Recently Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), a worldwide fashion store with Headquarters inStockholm recently announced that they were also going to enter the market of interior de-sign by offering home textiles as a complement to their regular range of products, whichare clothing (Elmblad, 2008). According to the New Wave Group (2008), the market forhome textiles in Sweden has an annual turnover around 6,8 billion SEK, and the markethas increased during the past years and this trend seems to be continuing (New WaveGroup, 2008). That the market for home textiles and home decor is one of the fastestgrowing retail trade markets is also confirmed by Hemtex (2008). The past five years thismarket has increased by 3-4 percent in Sweden and the other Nordic countries (Hemtex,2008).

Textiles and clothing have since long been sold through mail-order in Sweden, by the useof a catalog sent to the customers. Today many mail-order companies use both a catalogand the Internet as the purchasing medium for their customers. The existence of mail-ordering could imply that it exists an interest from consumers to purchase clothing and tex-

tiles using distance purchasing (Sanna Lindstrm, Head of the project group launchingHemtex web shop, personal communication, 2008-10-30). Therefore, it should be equallypossible to successfully sell clothing and textiles using the Internet, as it would be to sell itby using mail-ordering. Moreover, the competition increases from the mail-ordering indus-try as well, who are using Internet as a more common tool for customers to shop from(Hemtex, 2008).

Forsythe and Shi (2003), claim the transcendently most common reason for not purchasingproducts on the Internet, is the inability of the consumer to be able to touch the productbefore the purchase (Forsythe & Shi, 2003). If the inability to touch the good before a pur-chase really is the major reason for why consumers hesitate to shop on the Internet, it


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could be difficult to sell for example clothing and textiles through the Internet, since one ofthe major factor when choosing those kind of goods are the structure of the fabric.

The recent rapid growth of E-commerce has resulted in that many companies, in variousindustries have decided to start up web sites for E-commerce. One of the most recentcompanies to start up a web site for E-commerce is Hemtex, which is a Swedish retailchain within home decor, and with a focus of home textiles (S. Lindstrm, personal com-munication, 2008-10-30). Hemtex is today the market leader, with 26 percent of the marketfor home textiles in Sweden. Due to Hemtexs recent start-up of a web shop, the research-ers decided that investigating Hemtexs customers as a critical case for this study could beinteresting and relevant for the study. Hemtexs main target group is 40-55 years, whichcorrespond to the group the researchers had aimed to make the investigation within (S.Lindstrm, personal communication, 2008-10-30). Due to this, the researchers considerHemtex as a representative case for this study.

Women are the main target group of Hemtex, and as mentioned above, women purchaseproducts online rather seldom. One reason for less satisfaction among women concerning

E-commerce might be that they purchase more emotionally charged products, such asclothing, perfume and makeup, whereas men primary shop books, magazines and CDs,

which is perceived as practical rather than emotional products (Harris & Rodgers, 2003).For women, more than men, shopping is a social activity, and shopping through the web isdone unaccompanied, which might increase womens discontent with the purchasing chan-nel. Belanger et al. (2002) suggest women might not be ready to leave their usual way ofshopping quite yet (Belanger et al, 2002). Women perceive online shopping as more haz-ardous than men do, and are more affected by word of mouth to fulfil a purchase. Market-ers might want to reduce womens perception of risk associated with online purchases, toincrease their online purchasing (Garbarino & Strahilevitz, 2004).

The aim of this study was to investigate the online behavior of women between 40-55,both concerning their behavior online and their habits of purchasing goods on the Internet.This was studied on the home textile industry, by using Hemtex consumers as a critical case(Patton, 2002). The authors ambition of this thesis was that the outcome of the studymight be useful for marketing managers, since it could provide them with more knowledgeof the target groups behavior concerning Internet shopping and what factors could inducetheir level of shopping on the Internet. During the literature review for this thesis, the au-thors found that much research has been done concerning the differences in purchasingbehavior related to gender and age when it comes to E-commerce. However, only a rela-tively small amount of previous research with focus on the purchasing behavior of older

women was discovered. This is another reason why it is interesting to investigate this par-

ticular demographic group.

1.3 Hemtex information

In the process of reviewing material with the intent to write a thesis within the field of E-commerce, the authors became aware of Hemtexs intentions to open a web shop in lateOctober 2008. The authors considered this as an interesting strategy of the company, sincetheir target group consisted mainly of middle-aged women, who the authors perceived tonot conduct much shopping online. Therefore using the customers of Hemtex as a criticalcase seemed to be an interesting topic for research. Hemtex was approached, and the au-thors asked for their permission to investigate their customers, which was granted. A small


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collaboration with Hemtex was established and maintained during the process of writingthe thesis.

Hemtex operates over 200 stores in the Nordic countries, where of 145 are situated inSweden. The major part is owned and operated by the corporate group, while 27 stores areoperated as franchises. Hemtex has expanded strongly the past eight years and is today themarket leader within home textiles and control 26 percent of the market. Their market po-sition has its focus on the middle-price segment with a certain part of the range of productsin the higher-price segments. Hemtex is the actor on the market that offers the broadestrange of products for home textiles. The main competitors in the market are Jysk, IKEA,and Kid Interior (Hemtex, 2008).

Hemtex AB has achieved better sales figures than expected the past five years, but the endof 2007 and beginning of 2008 they showed declining sales figures, and the board consid-ered new ways of increasing sales. In the spring of 2008 the board decided Hemtex shouldstart a web site for E-commerce. Their web shop was introduced in the end of October2008. The decision to start a web shop was mostly based on a willingness to catch up with

competitors, rather than a discovered customer need for a web shop of the target group,from extensive marketing research. The mail-ordering company Ellos has operated a webshop for svereral years, selling clothing and home textiles. They are Hemtexs main co m-petitor in the online market. Hemtex target group is 25-60 years (Hemtex, 2008), althoughtheir main target group is women between 40 to 55 years (S. Lindstrm, personal commu-nication, 2008-10-30).

1.4 Problem

With an annual turnover growth of 30 percent, E-commerce is turning into an importantretail channel in Sweden (HUI, 2006). Due to the high annual growth rate of E-commerce

it is an interesting area for research. To keep up with the competition many Swedish com-panies make the decision to start a web shop (S. Lindstrm, personal communication,2008-10-30) and in 2006 it was possible to make online purchases from more than 2000Swedish companies (HUI, 2006). However, not all consumers embrace the new sales chan-nel to the extent the companies managing the web shops would like them to. Research hasshown younger consumers to be more frequent online shoppers than older consumers(HUI, 2006) and men to make more online purchases than women do (Belanger et al,2002). As discussed in the background section, this implies that older women are the leastfrequent buyers in the online environment. Still, the demographic group in the ages be-tween 40 to 49 years is the one that increases their frequency of online shopping the mostannually (HUI, 2006). To summarize; middle aged women make few purchases online but

belong to a group that increases their online shopping the most annually. Combined with astrong purchasing power (SCB, 2008), this makes middle-aged women an interesting groupto investigate in the context of E-commerce, since companies targeting this group mighthave a possibility to increase their sales. If entering the online market as a pioneer, a com-pany can position themselves in the top of the customers mind, and thus become anonline market leader.

A major drawback with E-commerce is the intangibility of the products sold online, whichcan increase the difficulty for the customers to decide whether or not the product fits theirneeds (Forsythe & Shi, 2003). This implies it would be difficult to sell clothing and textilesusing the Internet as a sales channel, since for these products a customer decision is based

on the fabric, colour, fit and quality of the textile or garment. The home textile industry is


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an industry in which competition has increased during the past years due to both the entryof new actors (Hemtex, 2008b), as well as an expansion of the market into the E-commerce context (S. Lindstrm, personal communication, 2008-10-30). During the pastyears the interest of design and home dcor has increased rapidly in Sweden mostly with

women as the main customers (Hemtex, 2008b). The increased competition, the entry into

the E-commerce context combined with the difficulty of selling those products onlinemakes the industry an interesting area for research. Hemtex is a company in the home tex-tile industry, and opened a web shop in October 2008 (S. Lindstrm, personal communica-tion, 2008-10-30). Their main target group consists of women between the ages 40-55years. The age of the target group might be an obstacle to having a profitable web shop,since women in this age belong to one of the demographic groups conducting the leastamount of online shopping.

The problem of this thesis is how companies in the home textile industry could circumventthe intangibility problem experienced by consumers in relation to online shopping. Further,the problem involves a difficulty for the marketers of companies within home textiles, toconvince customers with a low frequency of online purchasing behavior to increase theirlevel of online purchasing. This thesis aims at describing the online purchasing behavior of

women in the age 40-55 years as well as to uncover factors that might increase their level ofonline shopping. The contents of these findings might facilitate for marketers from com-panies with a web shop within the home textile industry, who target women in the investi-gated age. The purpose of this thesis will be achieved be using customers of Hemtex as acritical case.

1.5 Purpose

The purpose of this thesis is to map out the present behavior of women between 40-55

years concerning Internet shopping. Furthermore, the research aims at finding and analyz-ing factors that might help marketers when persuading the target group to increase theirusage of Internet as a purchasing channel for home textile and decorations.

1.6 Research questions

1. How does the level of computer and Internet experience of the target group relate to the level of Internetpurchases?

2. Which factors does the target group perceive as the most important obstacles regarding Internet shoppingand why?

3. Which are the most important benefits according to the target group regarding Internet shopping, andwhy?

4. Which factors could increase the target groups Internet shopping?


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2 Frame of reference

2.1 Previous research

The authors of this thesis have reviewed a large amount of previous research within the

fields of online purchasing behavior, trust and gender. There were little or no researchfound that have investigated the online purchasing behavior of middle aged women. In ta-ble 1 previous research that is relevant to this thesis have been summarized.

Author; Main findings;

Harcourt, W. (Ed.). (1999). Women at Inter-net: creating new cultures in cyberspace. UnitedKingdom: Biddles Ltd.

Explores womens access to and knowledgeof the Internet, across the world, and sug-gest concrete implications in order to in-crease womens engagement with new in-formation technologies.

Gittler, M. A. (1990). Mapping womensglobal communications and networking. In

W. Harcourt. (Ed.), Women at Internet (p.91-101). United Kingdom: Biddles Ltd.

Investigating the communication and net-working abilities of women from a globalperspective.

Jack Neff, (2008). Wired women an un-tapped goldmine for package goods

Advertising Age (Midwest region edition). Chica-go: Vol. 79, No. 41; p. 21

Women do spend time chatting about andbuying low-involvement products online.

Claire Cain Miller, (2008) Woman to

woman online (Business/financial desk)New York Times. (Late Edition (EastCoast)). New York, N.Y.: Aug 14, pg. C.1

Advertisers think that products that are dis-

cussed on blog posts or in articles in tradi-tional womens magazines will increase insale due to the power of word of mouth.

Harris, M., & Rodgers, S. (2003). Genderand E-Commerce: An Explanatory Study.

Journal of advertising research, 322-329.

This study implies that women are lessemotionally content with online shoppingthan men are, this since women found itless convenient. Women also had less trustin online shopping than men.

Garbarino, E., & Strahilevitz, M. (2004).Gender differences in the perceived risk of

buying online and the effects of receiving asite recommendation. Journal of business re-search, 57, 768-775.

Women perceive it more risky to makeonline purchases than men. Women are

slightly more affected by recommendationsfrom friends concerning Internet shopping,both concerning perceived risk and pur-chasing intention.

Smith, S., & Whitlark, D. (2001). Men andwomen online: What makes them click?Marketing research. Summer. 13(2), 20-25.

Recognise that marketers in the digital envi-ronment need to understand what drivesmen and women online in order to make

web site decisions. Women and men differin online needs and motivations. 5 male and5 female type of Internet users are identi-


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fied.

Sorce, P., Perotti, V., & Widrick, S. (2005).Attitude and age differences in online buy-ing. International journal retail & distributionmanagement. 33(2). 122-132.

Older consumers find online shopping lessconvenient than younger do. Younger con-sumers search more frequently about prod-uct information than older do, but purchaseto similar extent.

Holsapple, C., & Sasidhara, A. (2005). Thedynamics of trust in B2C E-commerce.ISeB. 3. 377-403.

Trust is one of the most important factorsfor successful B2C E-commerce.

Kolsaker, A., & Payne, C. (2002). Engen-dering trust in E-commerce; a study ofgender-based concerns. Marketing intelligenceand planning. 20(4). 206-214.

Men and women are discovered to attributehigh levels of concern regarding security ofonline payment, the confidentiality of theirpersonal information and the integrity ofthe e-tailers.

Choudhury, V., Kacmar, C., & McKnight,D. (2002). Developing and validating trustmeasures for E-commerce: an integrativetypology. Information systems research, 13, 334-359.

Trust helps online consumers to overcomeperceived risk and insecurity.

Chiu, Y., Lin, C., & Tang, L. (2005). Gend-er differs: assessing a model of online pur-chase intentions in e-tail service. International

journal of service industry management. 16(5).

416-435

A model is tested to see how it influencesthe attitudes and the online purchase inten-tions of males and females. A gender differ-ence was discovered.

Table 1 Previous research and the main findings

2.2 Technology Acceptance Model, (TAM)

The authors chose to include the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), firstly because itis a well-known, acknowledged model, especially in information studies. Secondly, the au-thors have chosen to include the model since it can be well applied to the research findingsin terms of a foundation for womens computer knowledge and their ability to take on theonline purchasing technique. Thirdly, the model is introduced as a base for the other twofollowing models that are both an extension of the original TAM and applied to the onlineB2C context.

The aim of the TAM is [] to provide an explanation of the determinants of computeracceptance that is general, capable of explaining user behavior across a broad range of end-user computing technologies and user populations, while at the same time being both par-simonious and theoretically justified (Davis et al, 1989, p. 985). In 1989, Davis developedscales for two specific variables that were hypothesized to be basic determinants of user ac-ceptance of computers. These two variables were referred to as perceived usefulness andperceived ease of use. The purpose of the study was to, through the use of these two va-


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riables to investigate why certain people tend to accept information technology and somedo not (Davis, 1989).

Figure 1 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Source: Davis et al. (1989)

One of the most significant purposes of TAM was to provide a foundation for outliningthe impact of specific external factors on the internal beliefs, intentions and attitudes. Byidentifying a small number of basic variables suggested by previous research, TAM was de-

veloped as an attempt to achieve the purposes mentioned above (Davis et al, 1989).

2.2.1 Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use

Davis (1989), refers to perceived usefulness as [] people tend to use or not use an appli-cation to the extent they believe it will help them perform their job better (Davis, 1989, p320). However, even though potential users perceive a given application to be useful, theymay at the same time regard the system to be too difficult to use and that the effort of us-

ing the application outweighs the benefits. This is referred to as perceived ease of use ac-cording to Davis (1989). In the study, Davis could demonstrate that the new scales that hehad developed for perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were found to havestrong empirical relationships with the self-reported measures in the study of usage beha-

vior. He also found that usefulness was considerably more strongly linked to usage com-pared to ease of use (Davis, 1989). This technology acceptance model has been cited in

various research since it was introduced by Davis in 1989. Since Internet was introducedand the market for E-commerce started to emerge, some research has tried to apply thetechnology acceptance model in the E-commerce setting (Li and Qiu, 2008; Dellaert, Mon-suw and Ruyter, 2004).

The authors of this thesis have chosen two different models that have been further devel-oped from the TAM model and applied in an E-commerce setting. These two models,theextended TAM for online shopping and the framework for consumers intentions toshop online, have been chosen in particular because they are modifications of the TAMand are applied to the online shopping context. They will be used as a foundation for theanalysis where the authors aim at applying both models to the research findings and try toevaluate which of the two models that is the best one to consider when it comes to onlineshopping.


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2.3 Applying TAM in B2C E-commerce

This model was included in the study because it is a modified version of TAM that is ap-plied for the E-commerce context. Li and Qiu (2008) have added three additional factors,

which are social presence, trust and perceived enjoyment to the original TAM. The au-thors of this thesis have chosen to use this model because they believe that these three ad-ditional factors will have an important impact on womens attitudes towards E-commerce.

The different factors in the model also relate to perceived difficulties concerning onlineshopping, in terms of trust issues and the absence of social presence. The factors in themodel also relate to advantages with online shopping, in terms of perceived enjoyment ofonline shopping. The extended TAM for online shopping will be used as a mean to facili-tate the analysis of the empirical data and to answer the research questions. The factorsfrom the original TAM; perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use will be analyzedtogether with the empirical findings in order to answer research question one. Further, thefactor trust will be discussed and analyzed more in-depth in research question two. Lastly,in research question three the factors social presence and enjoyment will be discussed inthe analysis.

In their article, Li and Qiu (2008), take the technology acceptance model, TAM, and addthree additional constructs to the model to make it more applicable in the study of onlineshopping adoption behavior. The cognition-oriented constructs (Figure 2, below) refers toperceived usefulness and perceived ease of use from the TAM.

Figure 2 Extended TAM for online shopping

Source: Li and Qiu (2008)

2.3.1 TrustIn any close relationship, trust is one of the most desired qualities (Holmes, Rempel &Zanna, 1985). Gefen and Straub (2003) state that due to the lack of social presence mayhold back the growth of B2C E-services and this by hampering the development of con-sumer trust that the consumer seeks in the service provider. In the creation of trust, humaninteraction is believed to be a critical element. In fact, one of the major issues that affectthe exceptional growth rate of E-commerce is trust (Gefen & Straub, 2003). According toLi and Qiu (2008), perceived usefulness can be affected by trust both in the short termand in the long term. At the same time, perceived ease of use is believed to have a positiveinfluence on trust. This is because perceived ease of use may help promote the consum-ers positive impressions of E-businesses and may improve the consumers willingness to

invest and make a commitment in the buyer-seller relationship (Li & Qiu, 2008).


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2.3.2 Social Presence

The term social presence refers to the feeling of being together with others. The concept ofsocial presence is indeed relevant when it comes to the online shopping environment.Some E-commerce web sites have started so called consumer-to-service person interac-tions such as live help or instant messaging tools simulating interpersonal communications

between shopping friends. This is done in order to provide online shoppers with similarperceptions to what they could experience in the real world (Li & Qiu, 2008). In their ex-tended model, Li and Qiu (2008) state that the social presence that a web site can contri-bute with, can positively contribute to trust among consumer. Trustworthiness in face-to-face human interactions is usually noticeable by an excess of important social cues. When aconsumer interacts with a web site for the first time, they have a difficulty trying to judgethe trustworthiness of the web site because they understand few of these social cues (Li &Qiu, 2008).

2.3.3 Perceived Enjoyment

According to Venkatesh (1999), a high level of intrinsic motivation (motivation that ariseswithout any external stimulation) is likely to lead to a higher level of sustained usage beha-vior when it comes to technology. The level of intrinsic enjoyment of an activity is a com-mon measure of flow. The term flow refers to a positive feeling a person gets when he orshe experience total involvement in an activity. Due to the fact that online shopping is li-mited to mostly two-dimensional pictures and text, it does not always provide the sameenriching and emotionally fulfilling experience as shopping in the physical world provides(Koufaris, 2002). Li and Qiu (2008) suggests in their extended model that perceived en-joyment will apply both direct and indirect influences on the adoption intentions of thoseconsumers that are users of an online shopping web site. If consumers perceive a web siteto be fun to use, they will regard the task as less boring and therefore they are more likely

to be engaged in the task, finding the right product and pay for it. This will lead to a com-pleted purchase (Li and Qiu, 2008).

2.4 Framework for consumers intention to shop online

Dellaert et al. (2004) have constructed the framework for consumers intentions to shoponline. Dellaert et al (2004) developed this model based on TAM. This model was chosento be included in the study because it is an extension of the original TAM and applied tothe E-commerce context. Compared to the previous mentioned modified model, this oneis more extended, as the authors of this model have added more factors to TAM than theprevious mentioned one. The authors of this thesis have chosen to use this model as it re-lates to computer knowledge, and positive and negative issues with online shopping. Thefactors usefulness and ease of use are related to computer knowledge. Enjoyment is re-lated to the positive outcome of online shopping. Trust in online shopping is related to po-tential negative aspects of E-commerce. This model also includes situational factors andconsumer characteristics, which also are important factors that affects the consumers on-line purchasing behavior. As this model included more factors than the extended TAM foronline shopping, it was used as a foundation for some of the questions in the question-naire, in which the online purchasing behavior was mapped out. Common for the bothmodified models are that they both have added enjoyment and trust to the original TAM.

This is why the two models are interesting to compare in the analysis of the research find-ings.


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The model framework ofconsumers intentions to shop online will serve as support forthe researchers when analyzing empirical data and answering the research questions. Thefactors usefulness and ease of usewill together with the factors personal characteristicsand consumer traits help the researchers to analyze the empirical findings and answer re-serach question one. In research question two, the factors trust in online shopping and

product characteristics will be analyzed together with the empirical findings. Lastly, thefactors enjoyment and situational factors will be analyzed in research questions three.

Figure 3 Framework of consumers' intentions to shop online Source: Dellaert et al., (2004)

Factors in the modified TAM such as CROI, Service Excellence, Experience, Control,Computer Playfulness and so forth, that are a part of the factors usefulness, ease of use

and enjoyment are disregarded in this thesis, since they are not applicable and relevant forthis study.

2.4.1 Usefulness

Usefulness is defined as the perception of the individual that his or her performance will beimproved or enhanced by using the new technology (Davis, 1989). Dellaert et al. (2004)classifies the new technology as shopping on the Internet and the individuals performanceas the outcome of the online shopping experience. In their interpretation of the model,usefulness refers to the perceptions of the consumers that by using the Internet as ashopping means, the outcome of their shopping experience will be enhanced. The attitudes


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of the consumers toward online shopping and their intentions to shop online are influ-enced by these perceptions (Dellaert et al, 2004).

2.4.2 Ease of Use

According to Dellaert et al. (2004), and their extension of the TAM model, ease of use

implies that the consumer perceive the online shopping to require a minimum of effort.The difference between ease of use and usefulness is that ease of use is more focusedon the consumers perception of the process that leads to the final shopping outcome,

whereas usefulness refers to only the outcome of the online shopping experience. It canbe concluded, in a simplified manner, that ease of use is how easy the Internet is to use asa tool for shopping, and usefulness describes how effective online shopping is in helpingconsumers in completing their task. Consumers are more likely to intend to use the tech-nology the more effortless and easier they regard it to be. According to Dellaert et al.(2004) since using a computer is a necessary requirement for online shopping, the comput-er anxiety will have a negative influence on the consumers perception of using Internet asa shopping tool (Dellaert et al, 2004).

2.4.3 Enjoyment

In their modified model, Dellaert et al. (2004), refer to the factor enjoyment as the out-come of the playfulness and fun of the online shopping experience. This is compared toonly shopping for the completion of the task shopping in itself. According to Dellaert et al.(2004), the actual purchasing of goods might be subsidiary to the actual experience ofshopping online. Due to this, consumers perceptions concerning the potential entertain-ment of online shopping is reflected by the factor enjoyment (Dellaert et al, 2004).

2.4.4 Consumer traits

To understand why consumers choose to shop online one needs to address different con-sumer traits, such as personality characteristics and demographic factors (Dellaert et al,2004). The authors of this thesis regard the demographic factors as most relevant to theirstudy, and therefore the personality characteristics will not be discussed. Burke (2002) hasidentified four demographic factors that are relevant; age, gender, education and income.

According to Dellaert et al. (2004), these four factors have a considerable moderating effecton the relationship between usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and the attitude of theconsumers towards online shopping. The importance of age is significant, due to the factthat younger adults, in particular those under age 25, are more interested in using newtechnology, compared to older consumers. The younger generations tend to be more inter-ested in using the Internet to search for product information and compare and evaluate al-ternatives (Wood, 2002).

Gender is another factor that is relevant for attitudes among consumers to perform onlineshopping. In general, men are more interested in using different types of technologies intheir shopping process. Female consumers prefer to use a catalog when shopping fromtheir homes, whereas men are more positive towards using the Internet as a shoppingmeans. However, those female consumers that do perform online shopping, tend to do thismore frequently than men that are using the Internet as a shopping means (Burke, 2002).

Education is a third factor that is relevant in the relationship between the three basic de-terminants and the attitudes of the consumers to shop online (Dellaert et al, 2004). Accord-ing to Burke (2002) consumers with higher education are more likely to feel comfortable


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2.4.7 Product characteristics

According to Dellaert et al. (2004), consumers attitudes towards shopping online is also in-fluenced by the characteristics of the product or service that is under consideration. In theonline shopping context, there is a lack of assistance and physical contact. This factor willinfluence the suitability for different products and this means that some product categories

are more suitable for the online shopping contexts than other categories (Dellaert et al,2004). Grewal et al. (2004) argue that for some products, for example clothing, the custom-er has a need to feel, touch and try them on and these types of products can therefore bedifficult to purchase over the Internet. This entails that more standardized products likebooks, CDs and videotapes are more likely to be considered for online shopping (Dellaertet al, 2004).

2.4.8 Trust in online shopping

According to Lee and Turban, (2001), online shopping involves more uncertainty and riskthan traditional shopping and the lack of trust in Internet shopping is still an unresolved

issue for consumers who intend to shop online. Trust is also emphasized by Choudhury,Kacmar and McKnight (2002), who claim trust help E-consumers to overcome their senseof insecurity and risk. Doney and Cannon, (1997) argue that the salesperson is the mostimportant source of trust in the retail setting. The consumer trust is dependent on the li-keability and expertise of the salesperson. Due to the fact that the consumers are not ableto examine the product or control the sending of their personal and financial information

when shopping online, online shopping always contains a certain level of risk (Lee & Tur-ban, 2001). As this situation creates a sense of powerlessness among consumers who shoponline, trust is indeed an important factor that affects the relationship between consumersattitude and their intentions towards online shopping (Dellaert et al, 2004). Due to the lo-

wered risk involved in exchanging information, a high level of privacy and security in the

Internet shopping experience will affect consumer trust in a positive way. The level of trustis generally positively related to the attitudes and intentions of the consumers to shop on-line. At the same time, abuse of consumers trust in online shopping will have a negative ef-fect on consumers attitudes towards online shopping. Abuse of their trust can be invasionof privacy or misuse of personal information and this can lead to a reluctant behavioramong consumers future online shopping behavior (Dellaert et al, 2004).


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3 Method

3.1 Research approach

When conducting research, there are two different approaches to take. The researcher can

apply the deductive reasoning, which is the logical process of getting a conclusion fromsomething that is already known to be true. The inductive approach, on the contrary, is thelogical process of, on the basis of observation of facts; establish a general proposition(Zikmund, 2000). According to Kirkeby (1990), there is a need for an additional researchapproach. Induction and deduction cannot give us qualitative new knowledge, which isknowledge that is not of a kind that we already have. The solution to this dilemma is theconcept of abduction. The abductive approach is somewhat similar to the inductive ap-proach, and is used as a method to create new terms and methods through the analysis offacts (Kirkeby, 1990). In this thesis, the aim is to map out the behavior of women concern-ing their Internet shopping, as well as analyzing the factors that may increase their frequen-cy of Internet shopping. Since there is limited information about womens Internet shop-

ping in the age group of 40 to 55 this study takes an abductive approach to the researchbecause there is a possibility that a general proposition can be established about the targetgroup and their purchasing behavior online.

Research can take several different forms; it could be explanatory, descriptive or explorato-ry. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) explanatory studies are studying aproblem or situation to explain the relationship between variables. Robson (2002) explainsdescriptive studies as describing a correct profile of events, situations or persons. (Cited inSaunders et al, 2007) Robson (2002) mean that exploratory studies is a way to find out whatis happening in a particular situation, to assess phenomena and ask questions in a new light.(Cited in Saunders et al, 2007). This study used all three methods in different ways; howev-

er, the focus was on the explanatory form. When mapping out the behavior of womenconcerning their Internet shopping, a descriptive form was used, since the aim was to de-scribe the target groups attitudes toward Internet as a purchasing channel. This wasachieved by using a questionnaire. The explanatory form was used when finding and ana-lyzing the factors that might increase the groups Internet shopping, and to explain why thetarget group behaves in a certain way. This was conducted through the use of a focusgroup. The exploratory form was used in the pre study, which aimed at gathering basic in-formation concerning the area of interest, and as a base for the questionnaire. However,the purpose of the thesis is descriptive and explanatory.

When collecting data for empirical research, there are generally two different research strat-egies to apply; the quantitative approach, which includes all data collection techniques thatgenerate or use numerical data. The qualitative approach on the contrary, is mainly used asa synonym for all data collection techniques that generates or uses non-numerical data. Itcan therefore refer to data that is not only words, but also other non-numerical data suchas video clips, observations and pictures (Saunders et al, 2007).

This study includes both a quantitative and qualitative approach due to the nature of ourpurpose, which is both descriptive and explanatory. When mapping out the behavior of

women in the age of 40 to 55 concerning Internet shopping, the quantitative approach wasused. By using the quantitative approach, a larger portion of the population can be investi-gated, than could have been by only using a qualitative research. Using a quantitative ap-proach enabled the results to be conceptually generalized, which mean that the findings

could be applicable in the sense of the critical case. The purpose also aims at finding fac-


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tors of how to increase the usage of Internet as a purchasing channel for home textiles, aswell as to find the reasons behind the attitudes and behavior of the target group. To answerthis part of the purpose a qualitative approach was taken by using a focus group. It wouldbe difficult to uncover factors by using a quantitative approach because there is a need togo in depth into the subject. The intention of the qualitative research approach was to un-

cover factors that can motivate and influence the target group to increase their purchasingonline.

3.2 Choice of data collection

To answer the purpose of the thesis, both primary and secondary data had to be collected.Primary data is data collected especially to answer the purpose and research questions ofthe current study. This data must be gathered by the researcher of the study at hand andcan be done by observation, interviews or questionnaires. Secondary data is data that hasbeen collected earlier, to fulfill the purpose of some other study. This data can be gatheredfrom books, articles, reports and many others sources (Saunders et al, 2007). How primary

and secondary was collected to this study will be described in the two following sections.

3.2.1 Primary Data Collection

In this study, primary data was collected through standardized interviewer-administeredquestionnaires. However, data was also collected through a focus group where several par-ticipants could discuss a specific subject more in depth. Before the questionnaire was com-piled, a pre study was conducted.

There are four types of interviews that can be conducted; personal interviews where only asingle person is being interviewed, focus groups where several people are being interviewed

at the same time, telephone interviews where the interview is conducted through a tele-phone conversation or convenience interviews where the interview is conducted in a placewith many people (Christensen, Engdahl, Grs & Haglund, 2003). In order to design thequestionnaire, a pre study had to be conducted to attain relevant information. The prestudy was conducted in the form of personal interviews with open answer questions, whichalso is a type of qualitative sampling. To conduct the qualitative part of the data collection,a focus group was used to find out how to increase the usage of Internet as a purchasingchannel for home textiles. A focus group is characterized by having several participants atthe same time discussing a specific subject. The group discussion is lead by a moderator.

The aim with the focus group is to create a discussion where unpredicted reasoning can bedetected (Christensen et al, 2003). It would have been difficult to uncover factors of how

and why Internet shopping can be increased by only using the quantitative approach. Byhaving a qualitative approach too, the study can go more in-depth within this subject. Thedecision to use a focus group was based on the belief that a discussion between several res-pondents would let more feelings and thoughts arise, than if the same questions would bediscussed with only one respondent in an ordinary interview. By listening to each other, therespondents in the focus group could come up with ideas they would not have done in aone-to-one setting.

There are two types of questionnaires, interviewer-administered and self-administeredquestionnaires. When conducting an interviewer-administered questionnaire an interviewerneeds to be present, while in the self-administered questionnaires the respondents com-plete the form by themselves (Christensen et al, 2003). For this data collection the decision

was to use an interviewer-administered questionnaire, since it would decrease bias resulting


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from respondents who might have skipped one or more questions, which would havemade the analyzes less credible. In addition, if any questions or difficulties arose an expla-nation could be given and thus reassure that the correct information was collected.

3.2.2 Secondary Data Collection

To be able to build a frame of reference and gather information about the background tothe problem there was a need for secondary data. The main source of secondary data con-sisted of scientific articles that were found in several databases available through the Uni-

versity Library, such as; Emerald, Google scholar, ABI/inform, and Scopus. Books fromthe library, statistics from SCB and reports from Handelns Utredningsinstitut were alsoused in the secondary data collection.

3.3 Sampling

The target group for this study is women in the age of 40 to 55, since they are a demo-

graphic group, which do not conduct much purchasing online, combined with havingstrong purchasing power. This combination makes the mentioned target group especiallyinteresting to investigate. This target group also was a special interest to Hemtex since theyautumn 2008 opened a web site targeting women in this age group.

Sampling of primary data can be divided in two groups, probability sampling and non-probability sampling. In probability sampling, each case has an equal chance of being se-lected. To use probability sampling the researcher needs a sampling frame, that is; a list ofall cases in the population, and must select cases randomly. When a sampling frame is notavailable, non-probability sampling is one alternative method for sampling. Non-probabilitysampling includes; quota sampling, purposive sampling, snowball sampling, self-selection

sampling and convenience sampling. The latter means cases are selected haphazardly andare most appropriate when for example interviewing customers at a shopping centre for amarketing survey. Gathering respondents will be continued until the sample size has beenreached (Saunders et al, 2007). In this case, a sampling frame was not available, whichmeant that probabaility sampling could not be used. Instead the researchers decided to useconvenience sampling, which is a type of non-probability sampling since it seemed suitableas the questionnaire would take place in a shopping mall.

3.3.1 Critical case sampling

The critical case sampling method is a strategy for selecting purposeful samples. Critical

cases can also be used to represent particularly important things. They are also representa-tive to prove that if something happens here, it will happen anywhere, or the opposite, if itdoes not happen here, it will not happen anywhere. What is crucial in the data collectionfor this type of sampling is the understanding of what is happening in the critical case. Incases where resources can limit the evaluation to the study of one location alone, it is par-ticularly important to look for critical cases. In these situations, it makes sense to choosethe location that can have the largest impact on the development of knowledge and yieldmost information to the study. It is not possible to make broad generalizations to all possi-ble cases, only by studying one or a few critical cases; however, from the weight of evi-dence from a single critical case, logical generalizations can often be made (Patton, 2002).

In this study, the authors have chosen to study Hemtex AB and their customers as a criticalcase. The authors believe that Hemtex have the potential of being a representative sample


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for the home textile industry. This is because Hemtex recently introduced their web shopand their target group is women and particularly in the ages 40-55 years. It is interesting toregard Hemtex as a critical case, because the authors can argue that the outcome of the re-search may be applicable to other similar companies that distribute home textiles via Inter-net in an online store (Patton, 2002). Since there is not any list available of all the cases in

the sampling frame, probability sampling could not be used. Instead, this study used non-probability sampling by the usage of convenience sampling. This study is conducted onHemtex customers, since this will allow the results to be utilized on the home textile indus-try. The respondents were asked to respond to a questionnaire outside the Hemtex storesin Jnkping City and at A6 center between 10 of November to 23 of November, accord-ing to the schedule below. A6 center is an in-door shopping mall just outside the city centrein Jnkping, and has nearly 90 stores.

Date Time Place

10-nov 13.00-17.30 A6 centre

11-nov 13.00-15.00 A6 centre

12-nov 16.00-18.00 A6 centre

13-nov 16.00-18.00 City

14-nov 16.30-19.30 A6 centre

15-nov 11.00-15.00 A6 centre

16-nov 12.00-15.00 A6 centre

17-nov 17.00-19.00 A6 centre

19-nov 17.00-19.00 A6 centre

20-nov 17.00-19.00 A6 centre

21-nov 12.00-14.00 City21-nov 16.00-18.00 A6 centre

22-nov 12.30-13.30 A6 centre

Table 2 Schedule for gathering of questionnaires

The aim was to have an equal distribution of respondents from the stores at A6 andJnkping City. Due to bad weather, the study could not be completed outside, and insteadhad to be conducted indoors at A6 centre. This did not however affect the results of thestudy, since the reason to have two locations was mainly to finish the primary data collec-

tion in a more efficient way.The sample size of the questionnaire aimed at including at least 90 respondents, since thetarget group 40-55 was divided into three age categories; 40-45, 46-50 and 51-55, since thestudy also aimed at investigating if there were any differences regarding the attitudes to-

ward Internet shopping in the age groups. The aim was that each age group should consistof at least 30 respondents since this fulfills the central limit theorem, which makes the re-sult from the study somewhat generalizable (Saunders et al, 2007). In total 93 respondentsanswered the survey, 30 in the lowest and the highest and 33 in the middle age group. Thereason for the unequal distribution was that all 90 surveys was filled out by the respon-dents, and when summarizing how many respondents from each age group wererepresents, there were three missing in one of the groups. These were gathered by conveni-


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ence sampling, using the researchers personal network of women in the appropriate agethat were current customers at Hemtex.

The women approached and asked to take part in the survey were generally very positive,and most of the women that were asked to participate did so. The reason for the large timeconsumption of the data collection was that only about 40 percent of the shoppers in thestore were appropriate age group of the study. The interviewer had to determine the age ofthe potential respondent by using her own judgement before approaching, which mighthave affected the lower age group to be more time consuming to collect.

At the end of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked if they were interested to par-ticipate in a focus group on the subject. The respondents were told they would receive cof-fee and cookies, as well as a Hemtex voucher worth 100 SEK. Approximately 10 percentof the respondents said they would be interested in taking part in the focus group. After afew days, the volunteers were contacted and asked if they could participate on a specificdate and time.

3.4 Pre study

To design a questionnaire, information is needed about the specific target group. Althoughmany articles and reports were read, little information could be found that only dealt withInternet shopping of middle-aged women. In order to construct the questionnaire a prestudy was needed to collect basic information. To find the respondents, convenience sam-pling was used. The pre study included five women from the age 40 to 55, and the inter-

views were conducted with open questions since the goal of the study was to uncover fac-tors, feeling and ideas relevant for this specific age group. The pre study was a great helpand facilitated the compilation of the questionnaire.

The notes, in Swedish, from the pre study interviews are available in the appendix. The rea-son for conducting the interviews in Swedish was that the respondents were not fluent inEnglish and would be able to express themselves more accurately in Swedish.

3.5 Questionnaire design

As mentioned earlier, the questionnaire was interviewer-administrated, which mean that theinterviewer read the questions for the respondents and noted their answers on the answer-ing sheet.

The questionnaire was built upon the research questions, and was divided into four sec-

tions. The first section starts with the computer and Internet habits of the respondents,thereafter questions about their shopping habits online were inquired. The questions in thefirst section are based on scientific articles (Belanger et al, 2002; Choudhury et al, 2002),from the framework of consumers' intentions to shop online (Dellaert et al, 2004) and areport (HUI, 2006).

The second and third section deals with the perceived difficulties and benefits concerningInternet shopping. In these sections no questions were asked, instead statements were usedas a way to measure attitudes and feelings. The respondents were asked to determine how

well they agreed to the statement on five point Likert scale. Likert scale is a scale used inquestionnaires where the respondent can state how well he or she agrees with a statement,for example strongly agree or strongly disagree(Oxford Reference Online, 2008). A five-point Likert scale was used since it was perceived as most appropriate way of getting accu-
http://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20http://samsok.libris.kb.se/V/IIRHSS7BGIBUJAJ3G1YXTY7S76679PBC9HTG72KSBLF37KJAXY-74509?func=native-link&resource=LIB02017%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20


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rate answers. According to Fink (1995) when conducting interviewer-administered ques-tionnaires or telephone interviews, the most common scale to use is a four or five pointscale. A discussion concerning whether to use an odd or even scale was held and the deci-sion was that an odd scale is the best approach since it would not force the respondents totake a stance as it could result in misleading information, thus reducing the credibility in the

study. Also in this section, the information was based on the pre study, a scientific article(Choudhury et al, 2002) and a report (HUI, 2006).

A fourth and final section was added to the questionnaire, dealing with questions concern-ing Hemtex and the respondents awareness of Hemtex recently opened web shop. Thereason for including these questions was to give the marketers at Hemtex a chance to re-analyze and interpret the results of this study in a way that more focus Hemtex rather thanthe whole industry.

When designing a questionnaire, several types of questions can be used. This paragraph willbring up the types used in the questionnaire for this study. Open questions let the respon-dent answer freely to the question, or to mention a certain number alternatives, which the

respondent chooses freely from. Open questions are used when the author is unsure aboutthe response. The drawback of open questions is that they are time consuming to analyze(Saunders et al, 2007). In this questionnaire, only one open question was used, since the au-thors did not know what the respondents might answer. List questions provide the respon-dent with a list of alternatives, which they might choose from (Saunders et al, 2007). Thistype of question was used in a few questions to find out the major preference of the res-pondent, or which alternatives the respondent had experienced. Category questions arecustomized so that the respondent can only answer one alternative (Saunders et al, 2007).

This type of question was used in the first section, when the target groups behavior wasmapped out. Ranking questions let the researcher find out the respondents perception ofthe alternatives relative importance (Saunders et al, 2007). A ranking question was only

used once in the questionnaire, since having too many ranking questions in a questionnairemake it fairly complex for the respondent to answer. Rating questions are often used tocollect data on how the respondent feels about something, or their opinions. One exampleis how well the respondent agrees to a statement made by the interviewer (Saunders et al,2007). Rating questions was the most common type of question in this questionnaire sinceit allows posing many questions to the respondents without confusing them, since the samescale is used.

According to Saunders et al. (2007), it is good to pilot test the readymade questionnaire tomake sure respondents have no problems understanding the questions, and that the ques-tionnaire is easy for the interviewer to use. If problems arise, the questionnaire can be re-

designed, which could decrease bias in the analyses of the data (Saunders et al, 2007). Whenthe questionnaire was finished, it was tested on five respondents, who answered the ques-tionnaire and afterwards were interviewed about if the questions and instructions had beenclear, and if not, why. The comments were analyzed and a few adjustments were made tothe questionnaire in terms of for example phrasing. The five questionnaire interviews werealso timed, to determine how much time would be required to answer the questionnaire.

3.5.1 How the empirical material of the survey was derived

In order to obtain descriptive data of the results from the survey, the raw data need to beprocessed in a computer program. To achieve this, the authors used a statistical computer

program called Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS), which was supplied by


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Jnkping International Business School. When the required number of questionnaires hadbeen collected, they were assigned identification number from one to 93. To facilitate thedata entry processes in SPSS, the questionnaire had been pre-coded, by assigning each al-ternative in all questions with a number.

To start with, all questions were given specific labels and variable names in the variableview window in SPSS. For example, the question Have you ever made a purchase usingthe Internet? was given the label Ever purchased over the Internet, and the variable nameEverpurch. This question had two possible answers; Yes or No and these were givennumerical codes Yes=1 and No=2. The same procedure was done with all questions inthe questionnaire, even though in somewhat different ways, due to the construction of thequestion and the number of alternatives available.

In the data view window in SPSS and the actual data entry began. This started with ques-tionnaire number one, where the reader read the numerical codes for each question and thetyper typed them into the program. All questionnaires together took approximately fourhours to enter.

Once the data was entered into SPSS, the data had to be searched for errors, using the var-ious methods available in SPSS for this purpose. Errors need to be corrected before ananalysis is conducted to avoid unnecessary bias. A few errors were found and corrected, bygoing through the concerned surveys. The correct code was found and entered into SPSSand thereby the error was corrected. Next, the researchers explored the data by construct-ing various tables, bar charts and pie charts, to get an overview of the data. Based on thisoverview it was decided what was most interesting to focus on and how this could be pre-sented. The findings from the questionnaires are presented in tables, bar charts and piecharts. These were added to the empirical findings section along with comments and ex-planations to make them more easily interpreted for the reader. The majority of the charts

are presented in the appendix, and only the most interesting ones can be found in the em-pirical section.

3.6 The focus group

A focus group is characterized by a group of people discussing a particular subject, productor topic. The aim with a focus group is to create an interactive discussion amongst thegroup members. To be able to generate a good discussion the participants characteristicsare important, the participants must have some common characteristics that are connectedto the topic so that they can share their ideas and thoughts. (Saunders et al, 2007). Most of-ten, focus groups are unstructured and lead by a moderator. The task for the moderator is

to introduce the topic and ask questions without interfering in the group discussion. Thegroup should consist of six to ten participants that are homogenous; a heterogeneousgroup can cause confusion due to differences among the participants. When conducting afocus group the participants can talk freely about their feelings, fears and worries. Thisgives the researchers more in-depth information that would have been hard to acquire us-ing a questionnaire or other similar methods (Zikmund, 2000).

The participants where approached during the questionnaire and later contacted for moreinformation about what day the focus group would be held, and if they could attend. Theaim was to have two focus groups, one focus group of shoppers and one of non-shoppers,to be able to further investigate their differences. Of the 93 survey participants, 10 left their

contact information for taking part in the focus groups. Due to low interest and inability to


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attend by the participants of the survey, some focus group members had to be sampled byusing convenience sampling of the researchers private networks. However, due to the lowinterest, it was difficult to get participants to participate in the focus groups to be able toconduct two groups, since each group had to consist of at least six members, preferably sixto ten. Instead, only one focus group was conducted, containing a mix of shoppers and

non-shoppers.The areas and questions up for discussion in the focus groups was derived from the resultsof the survey, the extended TAM model for online shopping, the framework of consum-ers' intentions to shop online and the research questions. This was done to gather relevantinformation for the analysis.

The focus group was scheduled on 2 December at 18.00 to 20.00. The location was agroup room at Jnkping University library. The occasion began with a small welcomingspeech by the moderator, and thereafter the moderator explained the process of participat-ing in a focus group to the members. This followed by a small chat where the participantscould become familiar with one another, during which coffee, sandwiches and cookies

were served. After this, the moderator held a small introduction with charts and figures ofthe results from the questionnaire.

After the presentation, the moderator, repeated the structure of the evening, and askedagain if everything was clear. Before starting the discussion, the moderator explained theneed to record the conversation on tape and asked again for their permission. Thereafterthe moderator started the tape recorder and the discussion. The participants were asked todiscuss the possible reasons for why the results of some survey questions looked a certain

way. They were also asked to discuss potential factors that could increase their online pur-chasing. At the beginning of the focus group discussion, there was a sense of nervousnessamong the members of the group, and the members basically just talked directly to the

moderator. However, as they understood the procedure of participating in a focus group,and that the questions would only address their own thoughts and feelings, they becamemore comfortable and began to discuss among themselves. The moderator guided themthrough the discussion with the predetermined areas or questions, as well as follow-upquestions.

The focus group discussion was held in Swedish, since the members of the group were notcomfortable in speaking English, and would be able to express themselves more clearly intheir mother tongue. After the discussion was finished, the moderator expressed her grati-tude for the helpfulness of the participants and distributed the 100 SEK vouchers forHemtex.

3.6.1 How the empirical material of the focus group was derived

A tape recorder was used during the focus group, and the conversation on this tape waswritten down word by word as a transcript. The transcript was scrutinized and the most es-sential q

Women Sample Project

Documents

Transcript of Women Sample Project