VISITORS AT AMAZON.COM: A TWO-LEVEL EXPLORATION INTO THEIR BROWSING AND SPENDING BEHAVIORS

Abstract

Amazon.com has been investigated extensively. However, research rarely addresses behaviors at the fine level of visit sessions, aggregating them into broad levels of visitors to draw significant conclusions. Our goals are thus (1) to compare the browsing behaviors (a) between the sessions, and (b) between the visitors, with and without purchase experience; and (2) to explore at both levels whether browsing behaviors could explain spending behavior. In order to achieve the research objectives and to test the study hypotheses, data from 1,812,569 usable visit sessions at Amazon.com were converted into 79,696 unique visitors. The t-tests verify that visits are relatively rushed when a purchase is made. Further, the explanatory effect of browsing behaviors on basket value was confirmed using regression analysis that concludes the number of visits significantly helps explaining the basket value in the visit level.