The fun side of the Internet

A great deal of research has definitively shown that consumers’ buying processes are not purely rational: they are context dependent, and often follow a wide range of emotions, so that goal-directed “utilitarian” motives are complemented by more “hedonic” ones, like fun, curiosity, joy and pleasure. This chapter investigates how hedonic and utilitarian shopping orientations influence consumer behaviour on the Internet. We present an empirical analysis and confront data collected for different product-categories. The data highlight that the online shopping context appears to already possess its own identity, and to be able to evoke its own specific behavioural and emotional patterns. Moreover, a hedonic approach to the Internet leads to longer and more frequent connections. Finally, consumers strongly prefer to buy products and brands on the Web if they have already seen and experienced them Offline.