Abstract
While virtual communities (VCs) have been used mainly for information sharing and social networking, little is known as to how online vendors can derive benefits from them in practice. VCs are particularly successful in attracting and retaining members. Online vendors have attempted to capitalize on this characteristic of a virtual community (VC) for obtaining numerous commercial benefits, such as customer service. Online vendors also expect the VC members to become their customers thus improving their online sales. In practice, however, not many online vendors have been successful in converting their VC members into customers. If the VC members could be converted into online customers, online vendors can benefit greatly from having a VC as it is capable of attracting and retaining members. However, there is hardly any study which examines the conversion process of a VC member into an online customer. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the transformation process of a VC member into an online customer. Understanding this transformation process would facilitate online vendors in their endeavors for benefiting from their VC. Also, it would provide insights into the usefulness of VC for commercial purposes apart from increasing sales.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 770-784 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Publication status | Published - 2006 Dec 1 |
| Event | 10th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: ICT and Innovation Economy, PACIS 2006 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Duration: 2006 Jul 6 → 2006 Jul 9 |
Other
| Other | 10th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: ICT and Innovation Economy, PACIS 2006 |
|---|---|
| Country | Malaysia |
| City | Kuala Lumpur |
| Period | 06/7/6 → 06/7/9 |
Fingerprint
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Information Systems
Cite this
}
Converting virtual community members into online purchase customers. / Sumeet, Gupta; Kim, Hee Woong; Zheng, Raymond Jun.
2006. 770-784 Paper presented at 10th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: ICT and Innovation Economy, PACIS 2006, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
TY - CONF
T1 - Converting virtual community members into online purchase customers
AU - Sumeet, Gupta
AU - Kim, Hee Woong
AU - Zheng, Raymond Jun
PY - 2006/12/1
Y1 - 2006/12/1
N2 - While virtual communities (VCs) have been used mainly for information sharing and social networking, little is known as to how online vendors can derive benefits from them in practice. VCs are particularly successful in attracting and retaining members. Online vendors have attempted to capitalize on this characteristic of a virtual community (VC) for obtaining numerous commercial benefits, such as customer service. Online vendors also expect the VC members to become their customers thus improving their online sales. In practice, however, not many online vendors have been successful in converting their VC members into customers. If the VC members could be converted into online customers, online vendors can benefit greatly from having a VC as it is capable of attracting and retaining members. However, there is hardly any study which examines the conversion process of a VC member into an online customer. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the transformation process of a VC member into an online customer. Understanding this transformation process would facilitate online vendors in their endeavors for benefiting from their VC. Also, it would provide insights into the usefulness of VC for commercial purposes apart from increasing sales.
AB - While virtual communities (VCs) have been used mainly for information sharing and social networking, little is known as to how online vendors can derive benefits from them in practice. VCs are particularly successful in attracting and retaining members. Online vendors have attempted to capitalize on this characteristic of a virtual community (VC) for obtaining numerous commercial benefits, such as customer service. Online vendors also expect the VC members to become their customers thus improving their online sales. In practice, however, not many online vendors have been successful in converting their VC members into customers. If the VC members could be converted into online customers, online vendors can benefit greatly from having a VC as it is capable of attracting and retaining members. However, there is hardly any study which examines the conversion process of a VC member into an online customer. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the transformation process of a VC member into an online customer. Understanding this transformation process would facilitate online vendors in their endeavors for benefiting from their VC. Also, it would provide insights into the usefulness of VC for commercial purposes apart from increasing sales.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80053527686&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80053527686&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Paper
AN - SCOPUS:80053527686
SP - 770
EP - 784
ER -