Research Article
Analysis of Customer Attraction and Marketing Efficiency of Virtual Stores
Published: January 2002 · Vol. 31, No. 1 · pp. 257-279
Full Text
Abstract
This study empirically analyzed the relationships between various marketing activities of virtual stores and their performance. In particular, gross attraction (representing the number of visitors to a virtual store), effective attraction (representing the number of purchasers), and conversion efficiency (effective attraction divided by gross attraction) were used as performance variables. Analysis of data collected from 153 domestic virtual stores yielded the following results. First, in determining gross attraction and effective attraction, product, service, and promotional activities had partially or fully significant effects, while the effects of price, navigation, and network were not significant. Moreover, there were some differences between the variables that determine gross attraction and those that determine effective attraction. Specifically, breadth of product assortment, online advertising expenditure, and the number of emails sent were found to influence gross attraction but not effective attraction. Second, in the stimulus type analysis, as expected, online advertising and the number of emails sent showed a negative (-) relationship with conversion efficiency, following the Decreasing Efficiency hypothesis, while offline advertising and the number of media articles followed the Constant Efficiency hypothesis. However, no variables satisfying the Increasing Efficiency hypothesis could be found. Third, not only marketing activities but also the product categories handled were found to influence gross attraction, effective attraction, and conversion efficiency. For example, handling "home electronics/telecommunications equipment" and "cosmetics/perfume/women's products" increased gross attraction, while handling "fashion/miscellaneous goods" decreased it. Notably, handling "living/food products" reduced conversion efficiency, whereas handling "automobiles/leisure/health" increased conversion efficiency.
