In developing the conference program we have attempted to attract papers that offer new news with respect to Internet research, that cover topics not presented at last years seminar or that offer significant further progress in areas already examined.
This paper is based upon the experience of the authors in researching general and specialized retailing and consumer behaviour, on related research projects in other countries and on a research program regarding the Internet Consumer, whose aim was to study family members relations with the Internet and consumer acceptance, barriers, and expectations towards various electronic commerce formats. The paper describes the conclusions and reflections on the above mentioned research experiences, allowing a global but also a specific perspective (about the Portuguese market status) on the developing changes and trends at the retailing scene. It presents a qualitative research theoretical and methodological approach on the characterisation of the transition mechanisms from traditional retailing places to virtual on-line environments.
This paper documents the changing role of brands over the past fifty years. Originally created to individualize products, brands began instead to individualize people, culminating today with megabrands competing with other megabrands for a larger and larger share of peoples spirits and souls. This is a story of escalating strength, energy and influence, where todays brands have taken on power that more than one observer has likened to rivaling that of nation states. As they enter The Third Age of their evolution, it is proposed that the further weakening or strengthening of brands will be challenged by electronic commerce. The paper concludes by asking whether marketers and researchers have new responsibilities in a world inhabited by increasingly powerful brands.
The great development of the multimedia technologies in this decade scams to impose a real revolution on our environment and on the relationships among manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. New frontiers arc opening in front of us due to the tied links in the world of telecommunications, electronics and computer technologies. A few years ago. Virtual Reality was confined to laboratories, amusement arcades and science fiction novels and was rarely taken seriously in the business world, Today, however, it is entering the mainstream of corporate computing and is being used for everything from complex engineering design work to medical training, retailing and data visualisation. In 1994 in Europe of the 800 virtual reality projects in existence, more than 600 were in areas not associated with entertainment. These applications have been developed using the technology evolution that has allowed the system manufacturers to reduce the costs, which have been the real barrier for a massive implementation.
In my paper two vital distinctions are made; the distinction between shopping on the one hand and paying on the other the distinction between home access and public access systems. Following this the paper can be divided in four parts. The paper has become a state of the art document in the sense that I have tried to locate all main developments on the subject in the Netherlands. While finishing this paper some research projects have only just started or have not yet been completed. As appropriate, new results will be included in the presentation in September 1987.