Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the consumers’ perception of on-line product search using a questionnaire-based survey. We identify that the information retrieval activity of the purchase process can be performed with three Web applications: a search engine, a price comparison service, and a Web shop. The study underlines the need for linked product data as proposed by the Semantic Web. We argue that linked data will result in easier product search on the Web for the consumer.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alba J, Lynch J, Weitz B, Janiszewski C, Lutz R, Sawyer A, Wood S (1997) Interactive home shopping: consumer, retailer, and manufacturer incentives to participate in electronic marketplaces. J Mark 61(3):38–53
Beatty SE, Smith SM (1987) External search effort: an investigation across several product categories. J Consum Res 14(1):83–95
Bizer C, Heath T, Berners-Lee T (2009) Linked data - the story so far. Int J Semantic Web Inf Syst 5(3):1–22
Bloch PH, Sherrell DL, Ridgway NM (1986) Consumer search: an extended framework. J Consum Res 13(1):119–126
Davies J, Studer R, Warren P (eds) (2006) Semantic web technologies: trends and research in ontology-based systems. Wiley, Chichester
Davis I (2012) Productdb. http://productdb.org/. Accessed 24 Feb 2012
Detlor B, Sproule S, Gupta C (2003) Pre-purchase online information seeking: search versus browse. J Electron Commer Res 4(2):72–84
Flavián-Blanco C, Gurrea-Sarasa R, Orús-Sanclemente C (2011) Analyzing the emotional outcomes of the online search behavior with search engines. Comput Hum Behav 27(1):540–551
Google: doubleclick ad planner by google (2011). http://www.google.com/adplanner/static/top1000/. Accessed 12 Feb 2012
Häubl G, Dellaert BGC, Donkers B (2010) Tunnel vision: local behavioral influences on consumer decisions in product search. Mark Sci 29(3):438–455
Hepp M (2011) Goodrelations— the most powerful web vocabulary for e-commerce. http://www.heppnetz.de/projects/goodrelations/. Accessed 16 Feb 2012
Huang P, Lurie NH, Mitra S (2009) Searching for experience on the web: an empirical examination of consumer behavior for search and experience goods. J Mark 73(2):55–69
Koufaris M, Kambil A, LaBarbera PA (2001) Consumer behavior in web-based commerce: an empirical study. Int. J. Electron. Commerce 6(2):115–138
Li B, Ghose A, Ipeirotis PG (2011) Towards a theory model for product search. In: Proceedings of the 20th international conference on world wide web WWW 2011, ACM, New York, pp. 327–336
Pavlou PA (2003) Consumer acceptance of electronic commerce: integrating trust and risk with the technology acceptance model. Int J Electron Commerce 7(3):101–134
Rangaswamy A, Giles CL, Seres S (2009) A strategic perspective on search engines: thought candies for practitioners and researchers. J Interact Mark 23(1):49–60
Vandic D, Dam J V, Frasincar F (2012) Faceted product search powered by the semantic web. Decision Support Systems. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2012.02.010
Wikipedia: comparison shopping agent— wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_shopping_agent. Accessed 24 Feb 2012
Wikipedia: price comparison service— wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_comparison_service. Accessed 12 Feb 2012
Yee PL, Hsieh-Yee I, Pierce GR, Grome R, Schantz L (2004) Self-evaluative intrusive thoughts impede successful searching on the internet. Comput Hum Behav 20(1):85–101
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Questionnaire
The table below contains the questions from the survey. For questions 1−6, for each product group the subjects indicate whether they agree with the statement on a five-point Likert-scale, with 1 being `strongly disagree’, 3 being `neutral’, and 5 represents `strongly agree’. The questions 1−3 refer to the ease-of-search, while questions of 4−6 relate to the use of the information retrieval tools. Questions 7−9 are intended for the identification of characteristics of the respondents.
Questions | Variable | |
|---|---|---|
1. | When i dont know exactly what to buy, i find it easy to locate the relvant product information when searching for: | Clothing(locate product information, low need specificity) Smart –phone(locate product information, low need specificity) Vacations(locate product information, low need specificity) |
2. | When i do know what product to buy,i find it easy to locate the relevant product information when searching for: | Clothing(locate product information, low need specificity) Smart –phone(locate product information, low need specificity) Vacations(locate product information, low need specificity) |
3. | When i do know what product to buy,i find it easy to locate the shops that sell it when searching for: | Clothing(locate shops) Smart-phones(locate shops) Vacations(locate shops) |
4. | I use a search engine(e.g., Google)when searching for: | Clothing(Search engine) Smart-phone(Search engine) Vacations(Search engine) |
5. | I use a price comparison service(e.g.,Google shopping)when searching for: | Clothing(price comparison service) Smart-phone(price comparison service) Vacations(price comparison service) |
6. | I use a specific web store that i know of when searching for | Clothing (Web shop) Smart-phone(Web shop) Vacations(Web shop) |
7. | Your gender | Gender |
8. | Your age | Age |
9. | Your education level | Education |
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bouzidi, S., Vandic, D., Frasincar, F., Kaymak, U. (2014). Product Information Retrieval on the Web: An Empirical Study. In: Uden, L., Wang, L., Corchado Rodríguez, J., Yang, HC., Ting, IH. (eds) The 8th International Conference on Knowledge Management in Organizations. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7287-8_35
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7287-8_35
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7286-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7287-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)