Memoire Online - Evolution du comportement du consommateur français dans l'e-commerce B2C

3.1 Measurements of the risk according to individuals' .................................. P. 19

3.2 Reducers of risk ...................................................... P. 19

3.3 Strategies of reduction risk ....................................... P. 20

Chap.2 determinants of the risk perceived within the framework of the electronic trade

1.3 Assessment and origin of the delay of France ................................ P. 27

2.1 Experiment with Internet .................................................. P. 29

2.2 Various risks ....................................................... P. 30

3.1 Promotion of Internet ...................................................... P. 32

3.2 Investments carried out .............................................. P. 32

2nd part :

Description of the empirical study

1.1 Object of the study ............................................................. P. 38

1.2 Presentation of the filed study (1999) ............................... P. 38

2.1 Stages of the study ........................................................... P. 39

1. Distribution ............................................................................... P. 42

2. Contents .................................................................................... P. 45

3. Measurements : Use of the statistical tools .................................... P. 54

4. Results .................................................................................... P. 56

3rd part :

Analyzes and critical of the results

according to the perception of the risks

1.1 Classification ................................................................... P. 69

1.2 Objective risks or realities ................................................. P. 69

2.2 Report/ratio according to the age ........................................................ P. 75

2.3 Report/ratio according to the wage activity or not ............................... P. 76

3.1 Character of the individual .................................................... P. 78

3.2 Experiment of the individual .................................................. P. 78

3.3 Relation between perception and request ................................. P. 81

4. Perception according to characteristics' of the product ............................... P. 82

Bibliography ......................................................................... P. 85

Glossary .............................................................................. P. 92

Appendix 1 : Talks ............................................................. P. 94

Appendix 2 : Questionnaire ......................................................... P. 97

INTRODUCTION

At the end of 2002, French the Prime Minister declared : « look at well at the bottom of the bottle from where bubble Internet left : you will see that it remains there still much of soap ! »^1(*).

This quotation takes again well the inventory of fixtures of the use of medium Internet today, when one leans on the figures, we realize that we are only with the first steps...

If the figures and forecasts concerning the development of the Internet and the electronic trade for the private individuals, whose first steps go back to 1997, often proved too optimistic, the potential represented by Internet, for the control of commercial transactions, is immense.

A presentation of Internet in some figures, in this introduction, is necessary but insufficient. Indeed, the figures are quickly obsolete in comparison with the constant evolution of new technologies. Moreover, the institutes of surveys do not have the same criteria and definitions for the studies : what calls you one a Net surfer ? From which frequency, which age... ? So we will present to you, that briefly, a world inventory of fixtures.

In 2004, the world counts 725 million Net surfers is 2 times more than in 2000 (eMarketer Source, International Telecom Union) ; approximately 35% of these Net surfers are cyberconsommateurs (source IDC), that is to say also 2 times more than in 2001 (source Taylor Nelson Sofres). In its 725 million surfers, 23 are French (Médiamétrie), that is to say the double that in 2001 and the 9th world place (Eurobarometer) ; 36% of these Net surfers are cyberconsommateurs (Taylor Nelson Sofres).

In order to include/understand the reason of the figures electronic commercial and to explain why nearly 2/3 of the Net surfers do not consume on the fabric, it is important to study the behavior of the consumer.

The behavior of purchase of the consumer is composed of several stages : release, the search for information, the evaluation of the choices offered, the decision of purchase and the behavior post-purchase (Engel, Kollat and Blackwell, 1973 and Howard and Sheth, 1969). However, the stages and the importance attached to each level of this decision-making process vary much according to a factor : the perceived risk. The risk has been a research topic scour, studied for several decades, in various fields, in particular in marketing, to study this behavior of the consumers and their decision-making at the time of the purchase.

The risk perceived influence has degrees different the behavior from purchase, for each transaction and each consumer, according to the personal implication, the type of products, the situation of purchase... The perceived risk is thus present of share the individual himself, but also from the environment which surrounds it.

It is about one of principal dimensions of the personality of the consumer. On the level of the individual, the perceived risk creates for itself of share the factors D `attitude, practice, innovativity, perception...

The more confused the new subject will be, the more the need of transfers of knowledge and of explanations will be important, in order to reduce the fear of the consumer.

This topic of perceived risk is thus even more present today, with the birth of new sectors, produced... increasingly powerful but also increasingly complex.

The risk can be defines as « the state where the number of possible events is higher than the number of events which will really occur and for which some measurements of probabilities can be attached there «^2(*). The performance as for it, is a quantified concept related to the effectiveness of a result, the quality of a production observed, an output... Thus, the new products, services, sectors... allow this performance.

The consumer always makes vis-a-vis the problem of the adequacy « risk-performance ». As soon as a new product or channel of sale is set up, a time of adaptation is necessary. Indeed, the innovation causes, initially more or less long, a more important assimilation with the image of risk that with the image of performance. The electronic trade with the innovation which it brings, but also its complexity faces this adequacy risks required perceive-performance.

« By electronic trade, one gathers all the exchanges and all the transactions that a company [or an individual] can be brought to make through electronic media or of a network »^3(*).

Several researchers showed that the use of Internet, like channel of distribution, is perceived by the consumers as being riskier than the other channels of distribution, more traditional (Bellman, Lohse and Johnson, 1999, Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997, Van den poel and Leunis, 1999).

Thus, which evolutions of behaviors of purchases of the consumer can one underline, since 1999, for this medium ?

The commercial practices installation have made it possible they to decrease the risk has an acceptable level and thus to meet the needs for the consumers so that they can supplement their decision-making process and carry out a transaction on line ?

A conceptual clarification of the risk, and more particularly of the perceived risk, is first of all necessary considering the confusion which surrounds the definition of this concept in marketing. This stage requires the presentation of the marketing risk, its dimensions and the strategies installation by the consumer to reduce these risks. We will bring this theoretical analysis closer to the E-trade with a presentation of its evolution, since 1998, and its perceived risks. In one second part, we will present our methodological step by presenting our comparative study, the assumptions and the questionnaire used. A description of the results could then be given. Our third part will analyze these risks perceived and their perception generally, then according to characteristics' of the individuals and the product.

1ère part :

Importance of the concept of risk perceived in the electronic trade

The concept of risk is a central topic of research in fields as varied as finance, marketing, sociology and psychology.

It is in the Twenties that the concept of risk started to be studied. Finance was one of the first fields to exploit this concept. In this matter, the risk is centered on the personality with individuals downpours and takers of risks. The decision maker knows the consequences of the alternatives and their probabilities of occurrence. The attitude towards the risk is thus defined compared to the real risk which a situation presents.

In marketing, the risk is less clear than finances some and source of many debates as for the detail of the stages of behavior of the consumer. Indeed, various determinants, dimensions and attitudes make the perceived risk.

This risk perceived by the individuals is one of the principal causes of the weak development of the electronic trade. It is thus interesting to see the evolutions in France of 1998 to 2004 and to describe the facets of risk for this medium.

Chap.1

The concept of risk perceived in the management of the risk

The risk, from a marketing point of view is based on the perception of the individual vis-a-vis the situation, nature and the consequences which can be negative. It is thus about the cognitive evaluation (the reflection on the product) and emotional of the risk (felt).

Contrary to the other matters, the concept of risk is only related to the negative consequences of the choice.

The risk is regarded as a decisional factor, which will lengthily be studied in the behavior of the consumer with the process of deliberation and the decision-making. It is a stage of the process of purchase, but also a variable which affects the continuation of the decision-making process (Flown, 1995).

Bauer 1960 was the first to be spoken about risk perceived as an element of the behavior about the consumer. This concept is to be brought closer the concept of ignorance where neither the consequences, nor the probabilities are known with precision.

It is difficult, for the scientific community to find an agreement on the risk and on what composes really the perceived risk. We will try to join together, in this part, all the great theories around the risk perceived in order to release a clear delimitation from it.

1. Framing of the marketing risk

One presents the risk under 3 different concepts : the perceived risk, the objective risk and the attitude towards the risk.

It is into 1960 that introduced Bauer, for the first time, the concept of risk perceived. For Bauer, «the behavior of the consumer implies a risk in the direction where any action of the consumer will generate consequences that it can anticipate only with one approximate certainty and of which some could be unpleasant»^4(*). Thus, Bauer establishes his definition according to negative uncertainty and consequences', while underlining the dimensionnality of the concept with the various negative consequences for the consumer.

The perceived risk is, actually, only one problems of choice. The consumer does not have all information necessary and builds itself of the assumptions concerning his environment. The individual faces his cognitive limits, which reduce its anticipations and its limits of assignment of probabilities to the negative consequences. He must thus show subjectivity to mitigate this problem.

During years, the perceived risk remained a vague concept in marketing ; many researchers tried to clarify this concept while being pressed more or less on the two principal components, defined by Bauer : the uncertainty and importance of losses (negative consequences).

In 1967, Cunningham compares the risk perceived to « perceived uncertainties » and with their consequences. Thus, with « perceived uncertainty », it under hears that no objective probability can be associated each loss. Indeed, the consumer cannot consider the degrees of uncertainties real ; uncertainty is thus based on subjectivity in the probability of carrying out a bad choice : « the true probabilities of loss are not relevant for the reaction of the consumer vis-a-vis the risk. The consumer reacts, only, only with the quantity of risk which it really receives and with its subjective interpretation of this risk »^5(*).

This uncertainty can be either in front of the identification, the fixing and the validity of its targets of consumption, or in the évaluative comparison between the objectives considered and the products considered. For the consumer, one speaks about internal uncertainty and external uncertainty. Internal uncertainty is related to knowledge available to an individual compared to the alternatives of choice and external uncertainty is related to information available on the alternatives of choice.

Thereafter, other authors present the risk perceived as of advantage related to importance of the loss and with the probability of unpleasant results (Roselius 1971, Bettman 1973, Lutz and Reilly 1973, Taylor 1974, Peter and Tarpey 1975 and Peter and Ryan 1976). Thus, these authors are delayed more on gravity and the extent of the negative result.

The behavior of the consumer is thus based on the evaluation and the anticipation of the unpleasant consequences of purchase. These factors will be functions of the attachment which tests the consumer for the realization of his objectives, the investment carried out and the importance attached to the consequences.

This concept of loss or negative consequences is evoked differently according to researchers', 3 great representations coexist.

For Cox (1967) the potential losses are important by their diversity ; indeed, those include/understand the aims set but unfulfilled, the penalties inflicted by the environment (negative feeling), the losses of the average volunteers in the purchase (money, time...) and all other dangers associated with the purchase.

For Peter and Tarpey (1975) and Humphreys and Kenderline (1984), the loss is represented by the awaited net income of a choice, i.e. balances it between the positive consequences and the negative consequences of a choice.

For Kahneman and Tversky (1979) and Yates and Stone (1992) the loss is defined as the situation where the individual obtains a result lower than a point of reference. This loss is measurable and variable according to the difference between the result obtained and the point of reference (personal experiment passed, a given context, a social reference, targets to reach, result or possible maximum regret). Thus, a profit for an individual, can be regarded as a loss by another individual.

Flown (1995) gathers in its definition of the risk, these 2 principal components of uncertainty and loss in an equivalent way with the concept of subjectivity, it speaks thus about total risk. « The risk [total] is the uncertainty subjectively perceived by an individual as for the whole of the potential losses relating to the determining attributes of the choice of a product in a situation of purchase or consumption given ». It also defines this term as « the perception of an uncertainty relating to the negative consequences potentially associated an alternative of choice. The risk is the possibility of undergoing losses at the time of the purchase or of the consumption of a product, well or service »^5(*).

In his presentation of the perceived risk and behavior of the consumer, Pierre Volle underlines the ambiguity of the situations of purchases between a total uncertainty with unknown potential losses and an objective uncertainty with a probability attached to each loss.

The objective risk (or reality) is different from the perceived risk. Dandouau (2001) defines it as : «The number of states which a situation can take, the objective probability of appearance of each one and the loss or the profit which are associated there». In the behavior of purchase, the consumer processes the data collected of his environment in such way that it perceives a risk which corresponds to the objective or real risk.

Dandouau clearly makes the distinction with the risk perceived while insisting on the subjectivity of the perceived risk, which it defines as : « A mental construction related to anticipations of the individual on the three aspects of the objective risk [a number of states, objective probability, loss and profit] by the uncertainty which surrounds them and the importance that it grants to them », « the perceived risk comes within province of the representation, i.e. the result of a construction combined of the indices of danger resulting from perception and network of knowledge activated with the moment of perception »^6(*).

A third concept comes to be added to the risk marketing, the attitude towards the risk. It is about the general predisposition of the consumer to the risk with his interpretation and its degree of appreciation.

Lopes (1987) based himself on this general predisposition to define the attitude of an individual vis-a-vis the risk. The attitude is stable or different according to situational factors', defined by the answers of the individuals to immediate opportunities or needs, and according to factors' dispositionnels, with the motivations and the personality of the individual, i.e. takers or éviteurs of risk.

For Weber and Milliman (1997), it is necessary to distinguish and specify the type of risk for which the individual develops an attitude. Thus, if compared to a given situation, the perceived risk is different from the objective risk, then the attitude towards this risk will be different.

It is important to divide the attitude towards the risk and the perception of the risk, always in a preoccupation with a comprehension of the behavior of purchase. Thus, if the attitude towards the risk is more dominant, it is necessary to exploit the emotional level (felt of the consumer) ; if the perception of the risk (subjective or objectifies) is more important, it is necessary to work on the cognitive aspect of the individuals (knowledge of the product).

The definition of Bauer (1960) presents, for the first time, the problems of the choice in the study of the behavior of the consumer. Cunningham (1967) takes again these problems by presenting the perceived risk like « the general conceptual framework of the decision-making, i.e. the process by which the individual chooses which product or which mark to buy »^7(*). Indeed, the individual cannot anticipate the consequences of his decisions, thus, it seeks to limit the risks of his choices.

In a general way, the level of perceived risk and thus, difficulty of the choice, will vary according to stages' of the decision-making process ; the level of risk reaches its maximum after release, then it decreases more or less gradually until the behavior post-purchase (Mitchell and Boustani, 1994).

For each individual, the importance of the level of perceived risk is more or less given according to internal factors like the personality of the individual, and external factors like produces it or the situation of purchase. For example, according to Murphy and Enis (1986), the level of perceived risk increases gradually while passing from the products of current purchases, with the products of differentiated purchases, the products of considered purchases and, finally, with the products of specialized purchases. If these internal and external factors, make that the level of perceived risk is too high, compared to the level of acceptance of the consumer, that Ci will seek to reduce the risk.

Ingene and Hughes (1985) proposed a modeling of the treatment of the risk by the consumer, in the decision of purchase :

3rd stage : Driving risk management to the decision-making (Satisfaction, evaluation of the brakes...)

To stress its importance, Volle (1995) affects a double theoretical statute with the perceived risk, by presenting it like stage of the process of purchase and determinant of the continuation of the process of purchase. It stresses the importance for the companies to crystallize on the determination and the evaluation of the risks by the individual by taking again a quotation of Halvena and DeSarbo (1991) « the taking into account of the perceived risk improve the performance of the companies by a better adaptation from their mix, than they are for example conditioning, the communication, the channel of distribution, or the attributes of the products like the price or safety »^8(*).

Many scientists criticize the theory of the risk perceived by proposing the many problems which accompanies it.

Yates and Stone (1992) underline the absence of a clear consensus and Net on the definition of the risk. During years, a too important amalgam was made between risk and uncertainty, whereas these 2 terms are different from share the installation of probabilities for the risk and not for uncertainty. Moreover, no clear definition was still found to precisely define this marketing term of perceived risk, which is not moreover, not clearly measurable.

Gronhaug and Stone (1995) even speak « of failure of the theory »^9(*) due to soft operational and of definition of the concept ; indeed, the researchers do not use the same terms to indicate the risk (perceived risk, objective risk and total risk).

Mitchell (1999) critical, when with him, the confusion made by several authors between the perceived risk and the implication. The perceived risk was considered by certain authors a component of the implication ; out, according to the definition of Strazzieri (1994) « the implication describes a consumer who likes the product, while the perceived risk described a consumer who is afraid to make a bad purchase »^10(*).

clear of the perceived risk. We will thus gather all these theories to leave the following definition it : In marketing, the perceived risk is a component, nonmeasurable, behavior of purchase, whose amplitude is defined by the individual, the product and the situation. This subjective factor is based on uncertainties of losses, their importance and their consequences multidimensional.

MARKETING : comprendre le processus décisionnel dans le comportement de choix du consommateur

* ¹ Jean-Pierre Raffarin, extracted the speech on the company of information, November 11, 2002

* ³Definition of the AFCEE (French Association of the trade and the electronic exchanges)

* ⁴ Bauer, Raymond A. (1960), « Consumer Behavior have Risk Taking ", in Dynamic Marketing for has Changing World «, R.S. Hancock ED., Chicago, IT: American Marketing Association, p.389-398

* ⁵ Cunningham S. Mr. (1967), « The majors dimensions off Perceived Risk ", Risk taking and Information handling in Consuming Behavior, D.F. Cox ED, Boston, Harvard University Close p.82-108.

* ⁵ Stolen P. (1995), « The concept of risky perceived in psychology of the consumer: antecedents and theoretical statute » Research and Applications in Marketing, vol.10, n° 1, p.40-56

* ⁶ Dandouau J.C. (2001), « Risk, Decisional Inférence and Skews in the food choices of consumption », Re-examined French from Marketing, p.183-184, 133-148.

* ⁷Cunningham S. Mr. (1967), « The majors dimensions off Perceived Risk ", Risk taking and Information handling in Consuming Behavior, D.F. Cox ED, Boston, Harvard University Close p.82-108.

* ⁸ Havlena W.J and DeSarbo W.S. (1991), «One The Measurement off Perceived To consume Risk», Decision Sciences, vol.22, n°4, p.927-939.

* ⁹Stone R.N. and Gronhaug K. (1993), «Perceived Risk : further considerations for the marketing disciplines «, European newspaper off marketing vol.27, n°3, p.39-50.

* ¹⁰ Strazzieri A. (1994), « To measure the durable implication of a product independently of the perceived risk » , Research and applications in marketing, vol.9, n°1, p.73-92.

Evolution du comportement du consommateur français dans l'e-commerce B2C

2.1 Determinants of the risk perceived .......................................... P. 14

2.2 Dimensions in the literature ...................................... P. 17