Product type
Nelson (1970) classified products into search and experience goods. The distinction is
based on the extent to which consumers can evaluate goods or their attributes prior to
purchase. In electronic commerce, communication is through the channel of Internet.
Weathers et al. (2007) took a slightly different view of the search/experience distinction.
They based classification on the extent to which consumers feel they need to directly
experience goods to evaluate quality. For experience goods, consumers need to directly
experience goods to evaluate quality, examples include apparels and musical
instruments. For search goods, consumers can make judgment of the quality
depending on second-hand information, examples include books and CDs. In online
markets, due to the spatial separation product can only be evaluated online when a
buyer is making a purchase decision. Buyer can relatively easily evaluate search
goods, but it is difficult to evaluate experience goods when making the purchase
decision. They may have different risk perception for search and experience goods.
Thus, it is reasonable to believe that product type may influence the buyer’s perceived
risk for a BIN transaction.