Investigating the segment specific preferences for hedonic and utilitarian online shop characteristics: the case of German online wine shops
Recently the market for grocery online shopping is expanding. Therefore, this study analyse the influencing factors of online shoppers' preferences for online wine shops with an adaptive choice based conjoint analysis (ACBC) As these factors in general differ for hedonic and utilitarian goods, we investigated what characteristics presented in the online shop are most important to customers of a primarily hedonic product like wine. Surprisingly, respondents in general favoured utilitarian over hedonic characteristic levels. In addition, we identified two distinct customer groups by applying a preference based market segmentation (CCEA) The price/efficiency seeking group favoured utilitarian characteristics. The quality seeking group favoured hedonic over utilitarian characteristics, but with a strong importance of some utilitarian website characteristics. Finally management implications are presented.