E-Commerce Article Review

Article Review

Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2003

“E-(Embodied) Knowledge and E-Commerce: How Physiological Factors Affect Online Sales of Experiential Products” by Jose Antonio Rosa and Alan J. Malter

The commercial success of online business is here to stay, but while some industries have been able to easily move from offline to online retailing, it has become apparent that other industries are still struggling to market online. In particular, goods such as books, airline tickets, and computers can easily be sold using a two-dimensional interface that offers little more than pictures and descriptions. Many products have been significantly more challenging to market online, especially products that require high amount of embodied knowledge (i.e. touch, body movement). Products such as sports equipment, clothing, cosmetics, and automobiles have struggled to utilize the online experience to facilitate online purchases, rather many consumers research these products online, but purchase offline. In this article, Rosa and Malter explore the problems e-marketers face attempting to sell products online that require high levels of embodied knowledge, offer some possible solutions, and advocate that more research is needed on how embodied knowledge influences consumer behaviour.

The fashion and apparel industry has long struggled to sell online because of the perceived risks (sizing, fit, fabric texture) associated with online clothing shopping. The industry has also been vulnerable to higher rate of return for clothing items purchased online, and the company must often pay for the return process to ease customers concerns about purchasing clothing online. Part of the problem is that consumers know that industry sizing “is subject to deliberate and accidental misrepresentation, which leads to unavoidable size variations between manufacturers and sometimes between items from the same” company. In a brick and mortar store consumers resolve this problem by “trying clothes on.” Unfortunately, consumers are not able to receive this embodied knowledge as easily online. This problem has created challenges for e-marketers to better provide embodied knowledge through the online medium.

Valuable information on consumer behaviour can help e-commerce sites better understand its customers. For instance, it is known that men and women tend to have different views on the importance of different body parts when purchasing clothing. This knowledge allows marketers to design the appearance of clothing differently for the two sexes by accentuating features that are desired, while diminishing the parts that are more sensitive. The goal of marketers is not just to improve the appearance of products online, but to also provide an experience online that closer aligns with the experience of shopping at brick and mortar store. Since consumers cannot actually “try on clothing” online, retailers must find better ways to engage embodied knowledge factors. The clothing company “Land’s End” uses a “virtual model” tool that allows customers to create a mannequin that reflects their shape, size, and gender to virtually “try on clothing.” The model is 3-Dimensional and rotates allowing the customer to get a better “feel” for how that clothing fits. As technology improves e-marketers will be able to created programs that can put the models into motion (i.e. sitting, walking) to give the consumer a more realistic feel for the products. The use of this technology to engage consumers with products in a more physical experience can help firms drive down costs and increase value in the online channel.

While the article goes into to detail on possible improvements for the online apparel industry, the solutions for products such as automobiles, bicycles, and tennis rackets are not quite as clear. The article goes into great detail about consumer psychology, and the impacts and challenges facing e-commerce. In particular, the article goes into great depth on the affects body image and body schema has on the consumer experience. One example where consumer behaviour affects online retailing is in the case of tennis rackets. A consumer shopping online may be able to view different rackets and assess the quality by reading descriptions, yet consumers still desire to “try out” the rackets. When a consumer puts the racket in their hand they are able to “feel” the difference between rackets that have virtually the same properties. The difference in “feeling” is often how consumers make decisions, yet most people have a difficult time explaining this “feeling.” According to Rosa and Malter, the difference in “feeling” is combination of proprioceptive knowledge with other type’s knowledge into mental simulations of owning the product. Similar processes are involved when purchasing items such as fishing poles, baseball bats, work tools, and bicycles. Great challenges remain in these product categories, and additional research and new technology will be required to provide a better online experience.

Overall, the article provides a detailed analysis of how various psychological factors affect the purchase of products that require a physiological experience. The authors willingly acknowledge that the challenges are large for many product categories, but state that it is important that managers understand the importance of embodied knowledge in online shopping and continue to search for ways to provide a better experience. This article is very interesting for marketers interested in consumer psychology and the affects of different types of knowledge on e-commerce. Most importantly, the authors stress the need for marketers to understand the importance embodied knowledge to influence customers both offline and online.