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Acknowledging previous scholarly focus on functional attributes in understanding technology acceptance behaviour, the current study aims to offer a novel perspective by integrating eight different dimensions of utilitarian and hedonic attributes to examine their influence in delivering a holistic web-based retail shopping experience.

The research model was tested and validated through data collected from 370 online shoppers across both hedonic and utilitarian product ranges. Hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modelling with multi-group analysis to examine the moderation effect.

The findings strongly support the model confirming eight new utilitarian and hedonic dimensions that influence web-based retail shopping behaviour. The findings also confirm that hedonic attributes remain important even for utilitarian product purchasing.

The key managerial implication is the demonstrated need to balance utilitarian and hedonic attributes in web-based retail platforms, where previously, there has been an overemphasis on functional features. Web-based retailers should consider the optimal blend of utilitarian (e.g. information quality) and hedonic (e.g. aesthetic) attributes in the design of a retail shopping site, irrespective of the product category.

This study integrates multiple dimensions of utilitarian and hedonic attributes into a single model and highlights the interplay of these attributes, thus extending the technology acceptance model. This paper also advances scholarship through its identification of attribute impact across different product categories.

This paper explores the use of interactive marketing by UK on‐line wine providers to discover the extent to which strategic or tactical use is made of the web‐based presence. The four principles of relationship marketing were used as an evaluative framework against which on‐line wine providers were assessed. The paper finds that most UK on‐line wine providers use interactive marketing tactically without giving sufficient consideration to maximising the potential of building relationships through Interactivity.

With the rapid evolution of technology and the changing pattern of wine purchase, providers need to consider the adoption of technology by consumers and hence how this impacts on strategic marketing planning. This paper tracks the evolution of Internet marketing of wine in the UK and focuses on whether wine providers currently use the Internet as a fundamental ingredient of their marketing strategy or whether the Internet is purely employed tactically. The authors present evidence that the wine sector is under‐utilising the potential of the Internet as part of an integrated marketing strategy and proposes that a customer‐oriented computer interface is required.

Managing potential customers' perception of risk is essential to successful Internet wine retailing. If on‐line providers can minimise risk thus instilling a level of trust, then the initiation of an on‐line purchasing relationship can commence. This paper reviews the literature surrounding trust and risk and describes early findings of the elements of trust based on recent primary research. In addition, the paper develops an illustrative framework showing the links between the elements of trust and the parameters of risk for on‐line wine purchasing. Finally, the paper offers recommendations to on‐line wine providers to encourage trust, and these are outlined under the three discrete functions of an on‐line provider: site design, marketing and the e‐tailing function, on‐line wine purchasing. Finally, the paper offers recommendations to on‐line wine providers to encourage trust, and these are outlined under the three discrete functions of an on‐line provider: site design, marketing and the e‐tailing function.

Buyer trust is needed to begin any purchasing relationship whether the exchange is to take place online or offline. In the online environment, instilling trust is critical to the formation of a purchasing relationship owing to the perception of increased risk on the part of the would‐be consumer. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the elements of trust that influence potential consumers differ between on and offline wine purchasing.

An interactive data collection tool was employed, in the form of an internet based questionnaire that focused on what influences a consumer of wine to trust enough to purchase online for the first time. This paper reports the findings based on a permission‐based email sample of more than 1,000 current consumers who professed to buy wine.

The findings demonstrate that there is a difference in the elements of trust that consumers use to determine whether or not to purchase wine online and offline.

The authors suggest that the services marketing mix holds relevance for those online retailers who wish to attract consumers of wine for the first time. The paper concludes with recommendations for marketers on how to influence the initial wine purchase.

This paper's value lies in the comparison between on and offline trust and initial buying behaviour. It provides insight into the initiation of trust and the formation of relationships between customers and providers by identifying the elements that instil trust.

The potential influence of consumer generated communication in the form of online discussion fora has been overlooked by marketers. The purpose of this paper to explore the content of discussion and the relationships between posters on social networks using the wine sector as the research basis.

The paper examines the current usage of discussion fora by wine enthusiasts through a netnographic approach. A non‐probability purposive sample of wine discussion fora in three countries is employed to determine the content and style of the contributions posted.

The paper indicates that individuals within fora develop relationships with each other, the network itself and brands. Such relationships are predicated on trust between members, shared interests and experiences and relationships with the brands that they discuss. These relationships can develop into strong bonds and even evolve into offline activities.

The paper is an exploratory study with a sample limited to one product type and thus generalisation is difficult.

The paper outlines the strength and types of relationships between social network members. It demonstrates how netnography can provide insights into consumer behaviour and relationships between consumers and products. Marketers should consider the content of discussion fora as a valuable resource for learning about contemporary consumer communication and appreciate the power of peer‐to‐peer online relationships.

The paper uses a novel, but accepted, research method to discover useful insights into consumer perceptions and behaviour.

Organisations now regard having a web site as mandatory but as more businesses create websites the real challenge lies in driving traffic to a specific web site. Little research attention has been paid to the issues for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of how to increase traffic to their web site. This paper addresses the issue of web site traffic generation for SMEs which have limited resources to determine how SMEs might make more effective use of search engine marketing (SEM) tools to increase web site traffic.

An investigation of specific SEM tools, including press release distribution and directory submission, that are available to SMEs was conducted. This research paper follows a mixed methods approach incorporating Pearson's product moment correlation conducted on web site traffic and backlinks data as well as qualitative analysis of interview transcripts of three SME organisations and their use of search engine optimisation across different industries.

The findings indicate that a combined use of both press release distribution and directory submission does increase traffic generation to a web site. A tentative model is proposed which requires further testing.

This paper demonstrates the synergy that can be created from two easily accessible and low cost SEM tools for SMEs in order to improve web site traffic generation.

The value of this research lies in the fact that the tools used in the creation of the model are within the means of small organisations and therefore highly relevant to SMEs.

The purpose of this exploratory research paper is twofold. First, to identify how wine is being talked about within the Twitter environment and second to examine whether the constructs of soft and hard value can be demonstrated within the social media, Twitter content. The overall aim is to establish whether Twitter can create value for wine stakeholders.

A netnographic approach has been adopted through the collection of 1,500 English language tweets on the subject of wine which were analysed using Nvivo qualitative data analysis software against the constructs of value found in the literature.

The early findings suggest that Twitter can create soft value for wine focused businesses but that hard value is not yet strongly evident. Wine marketers need to be more aware of both the content of wine tweets and the profiles of those who tweet.

The use of social media within wine businesses is in its infancy. Wine focused businesses are currently not optimising value creation through Twitter. Whilst Twitter does exhibit value, wine marketers, wine brands and wine retailers are not engaging with consumers who are talking about wine via Twitter.

This paper has provided evidence that there is value within social media, specifically Twitter. The contribution of this paper lies in identifying not only the types of value that wine businesses could develop by embracing Twitter but also how the different profiles use Twitter differently.

Increasing competitiveness in the marketplace has led to pressure being applied to brands and past poor brand management in the 1980s saw brands suffering under short‐term, profitability‐based aims. The need for stability throughout the commercial environment in the 1990s has led to the longer‐term view now being adopted by marketing practitioners. This paper will highlight how direct marketing can be employed as a strategic marketing management tool to build a brand through the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship. In this paper the authors will demonstrate the important role that direct marketing can play in establishing and building a brand through the in‐depth analysis of a single case study within the business‐to‐business arena. By using the case study approach the authors will combine relevant theory and practice to illustrate the potential of direct marketing in brand building.

The purpose of this chapter is to situate how the digitalized research environment is changing the roles of researchers and participants, and how these changes lead to more complex and less discrete ethics challenges. Incorporating contemporary examples from the social sciences, we outline the core challenges of the changing research landscape that embrace both research actors (researcher, participant, and research users) and data issues. The ethical implications related to research actors’ roles are discussed by considering how data is accessed, how people can now participate in research, and issues related to accessing participants. Digital data and associated ethical issues are explored through examining authorship and ownership, how digital data is produced, and how research transparency can be achieved. Following on from this consideration of research actors and data issues, we suggest which challenges have been re-contextualized by the digital environment, and which are novel to the digital research context, outlining six practical yet reflective questions for researchers to ask as a way to navigate ethics in the digital research territory.