The effect of digital economy resulting from the worldwide spread of the Internet is reaching not only industries but also consumers. The extension of digital economy based on the Internet provides opportunities to both consumers and corporation and h...
The effect of digital economy resulting from the worldwide spread of the Internet is reaching not only industries but also consumers. The extension of digital economy based on the Internet provides opportunities to both consumers and corporation and has brought the transition of business paradigm from offline to online.
To overcome the obstacle, payable Internet contents was suggested as an alternative and, as a matter of the course, the portion of online contents sales is going up. Since payable contents began for entertainment contents such as games and movies and high quality community services such as avatars, the economic value of contents have been recognized widely. With payable Internet contents, the revenue model of Internet businesses is in the process of restructuring.
Internet businesses in the early stage attracted customers through free services of search, community and contents and made profits from advertisements and e-commerce activities. With the worldwide economic depression since 2000, however, Internet business with low entry barrier suffered excessive competition and as a result the revenue model met a huge obstacle.
Thus, concerning payable Internet contents, the present study was carried out with the following objectives. First, this study derives the traits of payable Internet contents perceived by users based on previous researches on free contents and demonstrative analysis of payable Internet contents users. Second, it analyzes how the traits of payable Internet contents affect users' attitude and behavior, namely, their flow and satisfaction. Third, it examines the correlation between payable Internet contents users' flow, satisfaction and intention to repurchase. Fourth, it derives factors related to the success of payable Internet contents through determining differences between impulsive purchase and non impulsive one in their effect on payable Internet contents users' flow, satisfaction and intention to repurchase.
The results of analyzing the relation between the traits of payable Internet contents and customers' satisfaction, flow and repurchase are summarized as follows.
First, payable Internet contents are characterized by convenience, information and stability, which are also the traits of free contents in ordinary websites, as well as by expense paid for the high quality of payable contents. Second, the factor that affects payable Internet contents users' satisfaction was expense, and information and convenience appeared to affect customers' flow. In addition, information and convenience were found to have a direct effect on users' flow experience.
The present study divided payable Internet contents users' purchase styles into impulsive purchase and non-impulsive one, and examined differences between the two types of purchase.
First, because of their traits, impulsive buyers are satisfied only with information. On the contrary, convenience, stability and expense appeared not to affect their satisfaction. Through the satisfaction, they experience flow, which in return stimulates their intention to repurchase. Second, because of their traits, non-impulsive buyers are satisfied only with expense, and convenience, information and stability do not affect their satisfaction. Through the satisfaction, they experience flow, which in return stimulates their intention to repurchase.