Consumers’ purchase intention of online product customization using different terminals with/without default template

Abstract

To provide more personalized products, many vendors allow consumers to design their products by selecting attribute by attribute, a technology commonly called customization. Complexity of customizing process has been a concern for consumers, and default template was introduced to solve this dilemma. With the rapid development of mobile internet, mobile terminals, such as tablets and smart phones, play ever vital roles in conducting e-commerce. The shift from desktop computers to mobile terminals may generate changes in the response of consumers viewing identical content as digital interfaces fundamentally change the experience of the content they access. However, little attention has been paid to the impacts of different terminals on consumers’ purchase intention. This research aims to find out the impact of default template on consumers’ purchase intention, and the interaction effect that terminal and need for uniqueness have on the relationship. A lab experiment was conducted to test the proposed hypothesis. The result shows that default template increase consumers’ intention to buy. Besides, terminal and need for uniqueness have moderating effect on the relationship.