Evaluating the potential of interactive media through new lens: Search versus experience goods

The burgeoning growth of interactive media, and more specifically the Internet, as communication vehicles has inspired flurry of market research that attempts to measure the impact of advertising in the new media, utilizing traditional advertising measurement methods. However, the full impact of these new media will nor be realized unless we engage in more thorough research into how to evaluate their potential in terms of their influence on information search behavior. This article seeks to provide direction for such exploration by proposing a new model of consumer information search that integrates the principles of information economics and a goods classification model based on the search/experience/credence paradigm. This model will facilitate a greater understanding by marketers and academics of how a medium can influence consumer information search through its impact on the critical information consumers have access to prior to product usage. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.