A Method to Understand the Customers’ Needs for a Product Based on Their Behaviors on EC Sites

Abstract

　On EC sites, it is difficult for the provider to grasp the customers’ needs for a product because there is no face-to-face communication between the customers and the provider. This paper focused on tangible products, considered a model that takes into account the differences in attributes of products and customers, and conduct a virtual purchase experiment, and examined the possibility of a method of understanding customers’ needs for a product from the customers’ behaviors on EC sites. As a result, it was found that 1) customers’ needs for products ( importance, and attractive / must-be degree of quality element ) and customers’ behaviors on EC sites can be summarized into a small number of factors, respectively, 2) customers’ needs for a product change customers’ behaviors on EC sites, but their relationships are affected by attributes of products and customers, and 3) by using these relationships, there is a possibility of understanding customers’ needs for a product based on customers’ behaviors on EC sites.