Coping with the crisis: new ways of consuming on line

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Author/s Ariela Mortara, Antonella Ardizzone
Publishing Year 2013 Issue 2013/132 Language Italian
Pages 13 P. 158-170 File size 259 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2013-132012
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E-commerce emerges as the economic sector that has best withstood the downshifting in consumption involving Italy. The growth of e-commerce is fostered by the spreading of the on line outlets, that offer, at a heavily discounted price, mostly clothing and accessories; by the skyrocketing diffusion of on line couponing sites, allowing people to have access, at a bargain price, to local services; and, last but not least, by the rapid spread of smartphones. The aim of the paper is to understand if the phenomenon of on line couponing is the effect of a new way of being consumers, i.e to be individuals who use their skills to enact strategies that allow them to limit their downsizing, to live new experiences and to recover a rational approach to consumption, thus affirming through consumption acts their social belonging. The paper discusses results emerging from an exploratory analysis, conducted through on line focus groups, on a sample of 21 consumers (15 women and 6 men), aged between 25 and 45 years, all buyers of on line coupons.

Keywords: E-commerce, on line coupon, focus group, economic crisis, consumption, internet

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Ariela Mortara, Antonella Ardizzone, Resistere alla crisi: nuovi modi di consumare on line in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 132/2013, pp 158-170, DOI: 10.3280/SL2013-132012