Internet Auctions in Marketing: The Consumer Perspective

摘要

Internet auctions for consumers are among the most popular and most successful business models in e-commerce. Research so far, however, has focused on prerequisites and consequences of auctions as a marketing instrument of suppliers. Even though it is a key success factor from a marketing perspective, the demand side has not inspired similar attention. This paper focuses on the attitudes, motives and behaviour of auction customers. It shows why current beliefs about bidder characteristics are myths. Taking these misconceptions as a starting point, the existence of an experiential and a pragmatic type of auction customer is proposed. An explorative empirical study indicates that less than half of auction shoppers are experiential oriented. Except substantial additional demand concerning technological and emotional qualities of auctions, these shoppers do not differ dramatically from pragmatic oriented shoppers. Both types are open-minded towards further development of consumer auctions to commercial marketplaces. Business models of auctioneers and suppliers should concentrate on the basic benefit of the auction algorithm by facilitating individual matchmaking instead of pursuing costly additional benefit by promoting the entertainment value of auctions.