 The role of the Internet on free-riding: An exploratory study of the wallpaper industryS. Umit Kucuk and Robert C. Maddux Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2010, vol. 17, issue 4, 313-320 Abstract: This study discusses the role of the Internet on possible free-riding activities for product categories where retail services are a critical part of the completed consumer purchase transaction. The study investigates free-riding in terms of consumer pre-purchase activities during the information search stage (how they process shopping information) and actual purchase decisions with a literature review. The study's empirical findings indicate that full-service retailers’ beliefs about online consumers’ choice of purchase outlet are predominantly influenced by online retailer prices rather than availability of a variety of products (place) on the Internet. This, in turn, indicates the possibility of strong free-riding opportunities in the sample wallpaper market. The study, in this context, proposes strategies and policies to eliminate many of the destructive effects of the opportunities for free-riding provided by the Internet for long-lasting channel and market effectiveness and efficiency. Keywords: Free-riding; Retail services; Information search; Online shopping; Online free-riding; The Internet (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:17:y:2010:i:4:p:313-320 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.03.003 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is currently edited by Harry Timmermans More articles in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services from Elsevier |
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