Trust vs. E-commerce - The end of a myth?

There is still a big gap between the number of Internet users and online shoppers and although trust is considered by many as a key factor in e-commerce, the knowledge about it was little.

This was a quantitative research with a deductive approach in which statistical procedures were applied to validate the hypotheses of the theoretical frame of reference, and the research questions of this study were:


(i) What is the socio-demographic profile of university students’ online shoppers?
. Men have greater intention to buy online and recommend it to others than women.
. Working students have higher intention to purchase on the Internet than individuals who only study, but regarding their intent to recommend it to others the difference is not statistically significant.
. Older students have more intention to buy online and recommend it to others.
. Experienced online buyers have more intention to buy online and recommend it to others than individuals with less experience in online shopping.


(ii) What is the impact of trust and social influence in the intention to buy online?
. It was observed that the adjusted model regarding "Intention to Buy Online" in result of the weight of “Trust” and "Social Influence" explains only 1% of the variability of the "Intention to Buy Online", and although the "Social Influence" has more weight compared to “Trust", the relationships of these variables with the "Intention to Buy Online" are not statistically significant.


(iii) What is the impact of trust and social influence in the intention to buy online in individuals who never bought online before?
. It was observed that this model adjusted to the "Intention to Buy Online" regarding the weight of “Trust” and "Social Influence" explains only 4% of the variability of the "Intention to Buy Online" of those individuals, and despite that the "Social Influence" also has more weight than “Trust", the relationships of these variables with the "Intention to Buy Online "are also not statistically significant.


Conclusion:
This study confirmed the theoretical framework regarding the socio-demographic profile of online shoppers, namely that the profile is not homogeneous, even having differences between age groups as suggested by Reibstein (2002), with men having higher intention to buy online than women, as indicated by Greenfield Online in 1999 (quoted by Chih-Chung & Chang, 2005) and that the previous experience of Internet shopping of the individual is an important factor to consider, as stated by Perea y Monsuwe, Dellaert & de Ruyter (2004).

Regarding the central question of my research - "What is the Impact of Trust in the Intention to Buy Online?" - Turns out to be surprisingly that has been observed that Trust impact is in fact low, even in individuals who never bought online before.

However, some caution is required in interpreting these results, to avoid the mistake of generalization or abusive interpretation. Firstly, even considering that the sample was intentional, it is necessary to remember that the findings of this study apply only to the universe of students of ISEG (Technical University of Lisbon).

We also found that the impact of Social Influence in the "Intention to Buy Online" is very low too, although it was noted that this impact was greater than the Trust impact. So, it is important to remember that if consumers choose not to consult recommendations, consumers will rely on their knowledge or previous experience on the service to make their buying decision (Senecal, Kalczynski & Nantel, 2005).



Note: This is a summary of my Master Thesis. If you wish to read the complete study or the details of the mentioned bibliographic references, please follow the link below:

Antunes, A. (2011). Impacto da Confiança na Intenção de Compra Online. (Master Dissertation). Technical University of Lisbon Repository, Portugal.
https://www.repository.utl.pt/bitstream/10400.5/4459/1/DM-ANLGA-2011.pdf

The 2 Most Common Mistakes in Market Research

In management is common to rely on market research and statistics analysis to support the most important decisions in the company strategy.

Although the company top management don’t have to be experts in statistics, they must know how to identify the most common mistakes in Market Research studies.


1st Mistake: Correlation doesn't prove a cause-effect relation between the correlated variables

When a correlation is identified between 2 variables, you cannot automatically conclude that one reacts to another, establishing a cause-effect relationship between them.

Although it is possible that one of the variables causes a direct impact in the other variable, the correlation analysis is not enough to make that statement.

Example: Consider that there is a negative correlation between umbrella usage and beach towels usage in the summer.

Although there is a negative correlation you cannot conclude that if you force the population to use beach towels in a rainy day, they will automatically discard the umbrella usage in that same rainy day.

In this example the cause-effect relationship results from a 3rd variable not identified in the original correlation which is the weather in the summer. So, the weather in the summer is a 3rd variable that impacts directly both previous variables which were the umbrella usage and beach towel usage, creating a negative correlation between them.


2nd Mistake: “Confidence Interval” interpretation in a Market Research Study

When a market research report is presented, it’s common to rely only on the “Confidence Interval” to evaluate if the study conclusions are reliable or not.

That is a big mistake, because “Confidence Interval” is only relevant when presented also with the “Sampling Error”.

Why? It is easier to explain with examples:

Consider a study that has a 95% “Confidence Interval” and a 4% of “Sampling Error” usually is very reliable if the sampling method was appropriate an the interpretation of those statistical variables should be:
If I repeat the same study with other 100 samples of the same universe, probably I will get the same results only with 4% margin of error in 95 of those 100 samples.

On the other hand, if the study has the same 95% “Confidence Interval” but has 20% of “Sampling Error” usually that means that the results are not reliable, because the interpretation should be:
If I repeat the same study with other 100 samples of the same universe, probably I will get the same results with 20% margin of error in 95 of those 100 samples.

So, although you have the same “Confidence Interval”, the “Sampling Error” is critical to evaluate the quality of the Market Research study.

Top 10 Largest Hotels in the World

I expected that the largest Hotel in the world was located in Las Vegas or in Macau, therefore I was surprised when I became aware that was in Moscow.

Below you will find the the top 10 largest hotels in the world:

Rk	Name	City	Country	Rooms
1	Izmailovo Hotel	Moscow	Russia	7500
2	MGM Grand Las Vegas	Las Vegas	USA	6852
3	First World Hotel	Genting Highlands	Malaysia	6118
4	Disney's All-Star Resort	Orlando	USA	5524
5	Wynn Las Vegas + Encore Las Vegas	Las Vegas	USA	4734
6	Luxor Las Vegas	Las Vegas	USA	4408
7	THEhotel+Mandalay Bay+Four Seasons	Las Vegas	USA	4332
8	Ambassador City Jomtien	Pattaya	Thailand	4219
9	The Venetian Las Vegas	Las Vegas	USA	4049
10	Excalibur Hotel and Casino	Las Vegas	USA	4008

 


Source: Wikipedia

The first step to create your own business

Many people employed or unemployed are thinking about creating their own business, however the million dollar question is… what business should I create?

This post aims to help those people to identify what are the businesses opportunities at their reach.

So, first you must list your skills, or in another words, what are you capable to do or manage.

Then, you should filter each skill, evaluating if there is any relevant demand in the market for it.

Finally, for those skills that passed the demand filter, evaluate if you have financial capability available to convert that skill in a business.

This way you will conclude the first step to create your own business by successfully identifying business opportunities at your reach, which result from your skills that have demand in the market and require accessible investment to convert it in a business.

But remember, this is just the first step…

Top 100 most visited cities in the world

Find out below if your city is one of the most visited in the world in 2012.

My hometown Lisbon, is ranked 72nd with more than 2 million tourists.

Rank	City	Country	Arrivals (millions)
1	Hong Kong	Hong Kong / China	23,770.2
2	Singapore	Singapore	21,345.7
3	Bangkok	Thailand	15,822.6
4	London	UK	15,461.0
5	Macau	Macau	13,360.8
6	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	13,339.5
7	Shenzhen	China	12,100.4
8	New York City	USA	11,618.0
9	Antalya	Turkey	10,296.6
10	Paris	France	9,780.8
11	Istanbul	Turkey	8,820.1
12	Rome	Italy	8,670.7
13	Dubai	UAE	8,023.0
14	Guangzhou	China	7,879.6
15	Phuket	Thailand	7,217.0
16	Mecca	Saudi Arabia	6,852.9
17	Pattaya	Thailand	6,564.3
18	Taipei	Taiwan	6,561.2
19	Prague	Czech Republic	6,547.7
20	Shanghai	China	6,539.7
21	Las Vegas	USA	6,298.0
22	Miami	USA	5,987.0
23	Barcelona	Spain	5,459.1
24	Moscow	Russia	5,036.2
25	Beijing	China	5,035.4
26	Los Angeles	USA	5,017.0
27	Budapest	Hungary	4,821.6
28	Vienna	Austria	4,328.7
29	Amsterdam	Netherlands	4,289.2
30	Sofia	Bulgaria	4,126.3
31	Madrid	Spain	4,111.3
32	Orlando	USA	4,067.0
33	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	3,923.1
34	Lima	Peru	3,792.5
35	Berlin	Germany	3,789.2
36	Tokyo	Japan	3,754.2
37	Warsaw	Poland	3,660.3
38	Chennai	India	3,535.2
39	Cairo	Egypt	3,500.0
40	Nairobi	Kenya	3,438.4
41	Hangzhou	China	3,381.7
42	Milan	Italy	3,323.7
43	San Francisco	USA	3,210.0
44	Buenos Aires	Argentina	3,166.5
45	Venice	Italy	3,164.9
46	Mexico City	Mexico	3,127.3
47	Dublin	Ireland	3,098.6
48	Seoul	South Korea	2,999.9
49	Muğla	Turkey	2,981.4
50	Mumbai	India	2,977.0
51	Denpasar	Indonesia	2,956.0
52	Delhi	India	2,884.0
53	Toronto	Canada	2,819.0
54	Zhuhai	China	2,736.5
55	St. Petersburg	Russia	2,714.6
56	Burgas	Bulgaria	2,690.0
57	Sydney	Australia	2,678.0
58	Djerba	Tunisia	2,638.4
59	Munich	Germany	2,622.8
60	Johannesburg	South Africa	2,620.2
61	Cancún	Mexico	2,612.5
62	Edirne	Turkey	2,536.3
63	Suzhou	China	2,530.1
64	Bucharest	Romania	2,437.0
65	Punta Cana	Dominican Republic	2,398.5
66	Agra	India	2,353.7
67	Jaipur	India	2,344.4
68	Brussels	Belgium	2,294.1
69	Nice	France	2,242.9
70	Chiang Mai	Thailand	2,218.7
71	Sharm el Sheikh	Egypt	2,200.0
72	Lisbon	Portugal	2,191.8
73	East Province	Saudi Arabia	2,156.2
74	Marrakech	Morocco	2,101.0
75	Jakarta	Indonesia	2,098.1
76	Manama	Bahrain	2,035.5
77	Hanoi	Vietnam	2,007.9
78	Honolulu	USA	2,004.0
79	Manila	Philippines	2,000.4
80	Guilin	China	1,970.6
81	Auckland	New Zealand	1,965.4
82	Siem Reap	Cambodia	1,932.1
83	Sousse	Tunisia	1,929.9
84	Amman	Jordan	1,917.3
85	Vancouver	Canada	1,912.9
86	Abu Dhabi	UAE	1,876.0
87	Kiev	Ukraine	1,874.0
88	Doha	Qatar	1,867.7
89	Florence	Italy	1,834.0
90	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	1,796.7
91	Melbourne	Australia	1,780.0
92	Washington DC	USA	1,741.0
93	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	1,738.9
94	Christchurch	New Zealand	1,732.5
95	Frankfurt	Germany	1,731.2
96	Baku	Azerbaijan	1,709.1
97	São Paulo	Brazil	1,690.0
98	Harare	Zimbabwe	1,686.5
99	Kolkata	India	1,637.4
100	Nanjing	China	1,634.7

Source: Euromonitor International’s Top City Destinations Ranking

Portugal produces more cars per capita than China

This is a mind-blowing stat.

Although China is by far the greatest car manufacturer country in the world with 13,9 million cars produced in 2010, Portugal produced more cars per capita than China.

In 2010 were produced 0,011 cars per each Portuguese resident and were produced 0,010 cars per each Chinese resident.

If Portugal had the same population than China and this stats remained unchanged, Portugal would have produced 14,7 million cars, instead of 115 thousand cars.



Stats Source: Nationmaster

Is this the best Harley Davidson ad of all time?

It’s very hard to find an ad that really captures the essence of a brand.

In my opinion, this is the best Harley Davidson ad ever made and probably one of the best ads of all time.





 

What is the fastest man-made object

When people think on the fastest man-made object, usually they think in fast cars as the Bugatti Veyron, or in fast airplanes as F18-Hornet.

However the fastest man-made object ever is NASA’s Juno Spacecraft that in 2013 broke the previous record, and setting the bar at 140.013 kilometers per hour.

That means that this NASA satellite reached 38 kilometers (or 24 miles) per second when performing a slingshot manoeuvre around Earth.

Source: NASA

The most produced aircraft ever

Unless you are an aircraft fanatic, you would never guess.

It is the Cessna 172, which is still in production and have been produced since 1956 and currently is manufactured in the USA (country of origin) and also in France.

It is estimated that were produced to date, 43.000 units of this aircraft model.



Source: (Goyer, R, 2012)

Top 10 most competitive countries in 2014

According to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2014, the countries that currently have the most competitive economies are:

 1st – USA

2nd – Switzerland
3rd – Singapore
4th – Sweden
5th – Germany
6th – Canada
7th – UAE
8th – Denmark
9th – Norway
10th – Luxembourg
…
42nd – Portugal

Note – Hong Kong was ranked in 3rd place, but technically Hong Kong is not a country so I excluded it from the original ranking.

Source - IMD

Interesting video game industry facts

Video game industry is currently one of the fast growing industries in the world.

So, let’s look to some of the mind-blowing facts about the US market in 2013:

. 59% of Americans play video games.
. Americans spent $21,3 billion on videogames, hardware and accessories.
. The average gamer is 31 years old and has being playing games for 14 years.
. The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 35 years old.
. 48% of the gamers are women.
. 44% of the gamers play on their smartphone.



Source - ESA Entertainment Software Association

101st Post

I am glad to announce that this the 101st post of this blog.

80% of all cars registered in Albania are Mercedes

Albanians are truly the greatest Mercedes fans.

So much that 80% of all cars registered in Albania are Mercedes.

You can check here Top Gear's episode 5, of season 16, where this surprising fact was presented.
 

Obesity is a serious health problem – Top 10 Countries

Some people say that obesity is a result of wealth and abundance, because usually this problem occurs more often in some of the wealthy countries in the world.

Although the countries affected are usually economic developed, that doesn’t mean that all obese people are wealthy.

Remember that when the family budget is tight, families tend to buy cheaper food, which usually is not so healthy food.

Unfortunately obesity besides the mobility issues also brings along other serious diseases.

If you currently are having any obesity issues, please seek for help before your health deteriorates, and remember, as you can see in TV Shows as "The Biggest Loser", although it is hard, it is possible to recover a healthy life.

Below you will the top 10 countries with obesity issues and the percentage of obese that population:

1 United States  30.6%

2 Mexico  24.2%

3 United Kingdom  23%

4 Slovakia  22.4%

5 Greece  21.9%

6 Australia  21.7%

7 New Zealand  20.9%

8 Hungary  18.8% 

9 Luxembourg  18.4% 

10 Czech Republic  14.8%

...

16 Portugal  12.8% 

 

 

Source: Data from 2003, OECD Health Data 2005. Aggregates compiled by NationMaster.

China vs. USA – Exports Face off

The USA and China are the top economies in the world and China threatens to take the top spot from the US very soon.
So, a great way to check the differences in their economy strategies is take a better look on their exports.
As you can see below by the sales volume, China is more focused in the external market than the USA, which relies more in their internal market.
Although China has more focus than USA in industries that require more human resources as footwear, clothing and furniture, China also invested in industries as electronic equipment and machinery, and that destroys the myth that China is not developed in this type of industries.
The USA only has a clear superiority in their exports on aircraft, spacecraft and pharmaceutical products.

Check out below the top exports of USA and China:

USA Top 10 Exports (2013)
1. Machinery: $213,108,199,000 (13.5% of total exports)
2. Electronic equipment: $165,604,449,000 (10.5%)
3. Mineral fuels including oil: $148,426,743,000 (9.4%)
4. Vehicles excluding trains and streetcars: $133,640,479,000 (8.5%)
5. Aircraft and spacecraft: $115,380,944,000 (7.3%)
6. Optical, technical and medical apparatus: $84,281,276,000 (5.3%)
7. Pearls, precious stones, precious metals and coins: $72,830,232,000 (4.6%)
8. Plastics: $60,836,970,000 (3.9%)
9. Organic chemicals: $46,510,903,000 (2.9%)
10. Pharmaceutical products: $39,742,717,000 (2.5%)

China Top 10 Exports (2013)
1. Electronic equipment: $561,703,550,000 (25.4% of total exports)
2. Machinery: $383,310,504,000 (17.3%)
3. Knit or crochet clothing and accessories: $96,810,372,000 (4.4%)
4. Furniture, lighting, signs and prefabricated buildings: $86,435,683,000 (3.9%)
5. Optical, technical and medical apparatus: $74,689,712,000 (3.4%)
6. Non-knit and non-crochet clothing and accessories: $68,271,919,000 (3.1%)
7. Plastics: $61,775,281,000 (2.8%)
8. Vehicles excluding trains and streetcars: $58,588,779,000 (2.7%)
9. Iron or steel articles: $57,368,576,000 (2.6%)
10. Footwear: $50,766,207,000 (2.3%)

Exports data source:  World’s Top Exports