Sloan Center for Internet Retailing - University of California, Riverside

The Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, located at the University of California, Riverside, is the world's leading university research center dedicated to improving the effectiveness of online retailing.

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Below are the most recent posts of the Sloan Center blog. We invite you to browse.

Novak, Thomas P. and Donna L. Hoffman, "Measuring the Flow Experience Among Web Users," (July 1997).

Abstract.  The flow construct has recently been proposed as essential to understanding consumer navigation behavior in online environments. We review definitions and models of flow, and describe an empirical study which measures flow in terms of respondents’ skills and challenges for using the World Wide Web. Skills and challenges are shown to correlate in anticipated ways with scales measuring constructs of flow, control, arousal, and anxiety that underlie previous models of flow. By taking the sum and difference of skills and challenges as axes of a two dimensional space, we derive a simple conceptualization of flow. The sum and difference of skills and challenges for using the Web relates in hypothesized ways to measures of consumer search and purchase behavior in online and traditional media. Download pdf.

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "A New Marketing Paradigm for Electronic Commerce," (October 1996).

Abstract. The World Wide Web possesses unique characteristics which distinguish it in important ways from traditional commercial communications environments. Because the Web presents a fundamentally different environment for marketing activities than traditional media, conventional marketing activities are becoming transformed, as they are often difficult to implement in their present form. In this paper, we assert that these changes portend an evolution in the "marketing concept" and argue that in order for marketing efforts to be successful in this new medium, a new business paradigm is required in which the marketing function is reconstructed to facilitate electronic commerce in the emerging electronic society underlying the Web.  Download pdf.

See also the February 1996 earlier working paper.

Novak, Thomas P. and Donna L. Hoffman, "New Metrics for New Media: Toward the Development of Web Measurement Standards," (September 1996).

This paper appears in print as: Novak, T.P. and D.L. Hoffman (1997), "New Metrics for New Media: Toward the Development of Web Measurement Standards," World Wide Web Journal, Winter, 2(1), 213-246.  Download pdf.

Hoffman, Donna L., WIlliam D. Kalsbeek, and Thomas P. Novak, "Internet and Web Use in the United States: Baselines for Commercial Development," (July 1996).

Abstract.  Tapping the enormous potential of the Internet as a commercial medium and market is proving to be challenging. Computer-mediated environments like the World Wide Web on the Internet are not well understood and possess unique characteristics which distinguish them in significant ways from traditional, physically-bound targets of opportunity. Electronic commerce, as a research area, a business and investment opportunity, and an entire new industry, is in its infancy. There is a great deal of uncertainty in this complex commercial environment, and very little solid information on which to base critical business decisions.

A wide variety of studies have suggested that the demographic characteristics of individuals are highly correlated with their use of the Internet. For example, previous research suggests that current Internet use is related to gender, education, income, race, occupation, and even geographic region, with some of the general conclusions being that males are more likely than females to use the Net, people with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to use the Net, and whites are more likely to use the Net (see, for example, Times Mirror 1995; Yankelovich Partners 1995). Recent research also suggests that the demographics of Internet use are shifting over time, with the result that the Internet appears to be going more "mainstream" in its demographic makeup and that this trend is likely to continue as the Internet moves toward critical mass as a commercial medium (Hoffman 1996).

Our objectives are twofold: 1) provide interested parties - consumers, market researchers, Internet-based business interests, investors, the media, and policymakers - with the accurate baseline numbers and marketing insights necessary to aid decision-making and stimulate inquiry in this complex and rapidly changing environment, and 2) demonstrate the difficulties and indeterminancies inherent in estimating a complex and moving target.  Download pdf. 

Download appendix containing supplemental tables.

The April 1996 working paper is an earlier, longer draft, which includes additional technical details not present in the final published version

Hoffman, Donna L, Thomas P. Novak, and Patrali Chatterjee, "Commercial Scenarios for the Web: Opportunities and Challenges," (December 1995).

Abstract.  The potential of the World Wide Web on the Internet as a commercial medium and market has been widely documented in a variety of media. However, a critical examination of its commercial development has received little attention. Therefore, in this paper we propose a structural framework for examining the explosion in commercial activity on the Web. First, we explore the role of the Web as a distribution channel and a medium for marketing communications. Second, we examine the factors that have led to the development of the Web as a commercial medium, evaluating the benefits it provides to both consumers and firms and its attractive size and demographic characteristics. Third, we discuss the barriers to commercial growth of the Web from both the supply and demand side perspectives. This analysis leads to a new classification of commercialization efforts that categorizes commercial Web sites into six distinct types including 1) Online Storefront, 2) Internet Presence, 3) Content, 4) Mall, 5) Incentive Site, and, 6) Search Agent. The first three comprise the "Integrated Destination Site," and the latter three represent forms of "Web Traffic Control." Our framework, argued in the context of integrated marketing, facilitates greater understanding of the Web as a commercial medium, and allows examination of commercial Web sites in terms of the opportunities and challenges firms face in the rush towards commercialization.  Download pdf.

This material first appeared on the Project 2000 Website in the summer of 1995. Many of the original links have been lost, but we have attempted to archive much of the original content for historical purposes.  

The Cyberporn Debate.

The July 3, 1995 Time magazine cover story on “Cyberporn” by Philip Elmer-Dewitt , is based on its exclusive access to Marty Rimm’s Georgetown Law Journal paper, “Marketing Pornography on the Information Superhighway .” Already, the Rimm study and the Time cover story are providing ammunition for conservative special interest groups, lobbyists, and elected officials. However, as documented in the series of critiques which follow, both the Rimm study and the Time cover story contain serious conceptual, logical, and methodological flaws and errors. These flaws and errors are sufficiently severe that neither the Rimm study nor the Time cover story should be taken seriously by policy makers considering issues involving the Internet and the so-called “Information Superhighway.”

Continue reading →

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments:  Conceptual Foundations," (July 1995).

Abstract.  This paper addresses the role of marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated environments (CMEs). Our approach considers hypermedia CMEs to be large-scale (i.e. national or global) networked environments, of which the World Wide Web on the Internet is the first and current global implementation. We introduce marketers to this revolutionary new medium, propose a structural model of consumer behavior in a CME that incorporates the notion of flow, and examine the set of consequent testable research propositions and marketing implications that follow from the model.  Download pdf.

Also see the earlier January 1995 working paper version.

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "The Challenges of Electronic Commerce," (December 1994).

This paper appears in print as: Hoffman, D.L. & Novak, T.P. (1994), "The Challenges of Electronic Commerce," HotWired (Intelligent Agent Section), December 29.  Download pdf.

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "Wanted: Net.Census," (November 1994).

Abstract.  Companies want to do business on the Internet, but so far it's proven a tough target for spreadsheet jockeys. Without accurate numbers indicating the Net's size and market potential, many firms investigating electronic commerce are reluctant to invest in net.product development. Instead, with limited resources, investors may choose to direct funds to alternative new markets like so-called "interactive TV," which, though easier to measure and understand because they mirror traditional mass-media markets, do not possess anywhere near the Net's potential for growth, development, and reinvention of market systems.  Download pdf.

Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "How Big is the Internet?" (August 1994).

Abstract.  Peter Lewis of the New York Times caused a stir on the Internet with his August 10, front-page, article "Doubts are Raised on Actual Number of Internet's Users." Lewis cast doubt upon the commonly cited number of 20 to 30 million Internet users, quoting John Quarterman as saying "Suppose there were really only two million or three million." A deflation of market size by a magnitude of ten is certainly cause for alarm. But are there grounds to sound the alarm?  Download pdf.