Understanding female consumers’ intention to shop online

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1138-1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Raman

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to examine the female consumer’s intention to shop online. The rising number of female online shoppers has compelled the analysts and online vendors to believe that understanding the attitude and behaviour of the female consumers is very crucial for their growth. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model is proposed that expands the theory of reasoned action (TRA) with three additional constructs, namely, trust, convenience and customer service. The proposed model is examined with the help of questionnaire responses collected from 909 online shoppers from India. Findings The paper empirically shows that there is a significant influence of attitude, convenience, customer service and subjective norm on the female consumer’s intention to buy online. Customer service acts as the most crucial factor in influencing the attitude of female consumers towards online shopping. The paper also points out that trust does not directly affect the female’s intention to shop online but indirectly influences it through attitude. Practical implications The paper has significant implications for practitioners. First, the results advocate that convenience and customer service are the vital antecedents to both behavioural intention and behavioural attitude. Second, the paper also showcases that trust influences behavioural intention indirectly through attitude, stressing the need for the online retailers to develop consumers’ trust in online shopping. Originality/value The paper examines TRA framework in the context of female online shopping, while earlier studies have concentrated completely on efficiency-based software tools like word processing, spreadsheets, etc. The integration of the three constructs – trust, convenience and customer service – in the TRA framework has not been studied in the past. The interaction effect of the different elements of customer services on the female consumer behaviour has never been examined in the previous research works.

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingxia Cao ◽  
Haya Ajjan ◽  
Paul Hong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of post-purchase logistic services on customer satisfaction and future purchase decision, to reveal any differences across China and Taiwan, to fill in a gap in the literature focused on post-purchase logistic activities related to shipping, return, and tracking, to provide managerial guidance in logistics for e-commerce, and to develop insights on logistic services for future research. Design/methodology/approach Using a validated survey instrument, 384 respondents in China and 145 respondents in Taiwan are collected. The research model is analyzed using component-based estimation approach to structural equation modeling. Findings The structural equation analysis of the study found that post-purchase shipping and tracking have an impact on customer satisfaction in both China and Taiwan. It also found that customer service is the most significant factor among the examined antecedents for online shoppers in China. While, return service is more important for shoppers in Taiwan. Finally, customer satisfaction played a stronger positive role for online shoppers in Taiwan as compared to their counterparts in China. Research limitations/implications This research extended the current literature about post-purchase logistic services in an online shopping environment with a literature-based research model and good empirical data support. However, one limitation of the study is that the data collected represents a cross-sectional sample; future research should examine longitudinal sample to study customers’ purchase intentions over time. Practical implications This study can help both scholars and practitioners understand the importance of tracking, return, shipping, and customer service in an online shopping environment and across countries. It provides insights on designing e-commerce relevant shipping services to satisfy and attract customers across countries. Originality/value The study investigated how post-purchase activities contributed to customer satisfaction in online shopping and explored the influence of customer satisfaction on future purchase intention in China and Taiwan. This is one of the first studies available in the literature to provide empirical support and managerial insights about post-purchase activities related to shipping, tracking, and returns for e-commerce with cross-regional comparison.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 707-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mutaz M. Al-Debei ◽  
Mamoun N. Akroush ◽  
Mohamed Ibrahiem Ashouri

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer attitudes toward online shopping in Jordan. The paper introduces an integrated model which includes trust, perceived benefits, perceived web quality, and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) along with their relationships in order to examine their effects on consumer attitudes toward online shopping. Design/methodology/approach – A structured and self-administered online survey was employed targeting online shoppers of a reputable online retailer in Jordan; i.e. MarkaVIP. A sample of 273 online shoppers was involved in the online survey. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the research constructs, unidimensionality, validity, and composite reliability. Structural path model analysis was also used to test the hypothesized relationships of the research model. Findings – The empirical findings of this study indicate that consumer attitudes toward online shopping is determined by trust and perceived benefits. Trust is a product of perceived web quality and eWOM and that the latter is a function of perceived web quality. Hence, trust and perceived benefits are key predictors of consumer attitudes toward online shopping, according to the results. Further, the authors also found that higher levels of perceived web quality lead to higher levels of trust in an online shopping web site. Perceived web quality was found to be a direct predictor of trust, and the former positively and significantly influences perceived benefits. Also, the authors found that 28 percent of the variation in online shopping attitudes was caused by perceived benefits and trust. Research limitations/implications – The research sample included only early adopters who are usually described as personal innovators and risk takers. Future research is encouraged to focus on other groups such as non-adopters to understand their online shopping attitudes. Another limitation is derived from the geographical context of the current study; that is Jordan. The findings are not necessarily applicable to other Arab countries and the rest of the world. Therefore, replications of the current study in different countries would most likely strengthen and validate its findings. Also, the study is cross-sectional which does not show how attitudes of consumers may change over time. The authors encourage future studies to employ a longitudinal design to understand the changes in consumers’ attitudes toward using online shopping over time. Finally, this study examined only one case in point and thus findings cannot be generalized to other online shopping web sites. Future research is highly encouraged to examine consumers’ attitudes toward other online shopping web sites inside and outside Jordan. Practical implications – The paper supports the importance of trust and perceived benefits as key drivers of attitudes toward online shopping in emerging markets like Jordan. It further underlines the importance of perceived web quality contribution to perceived benefits and trust as well as the key role of the later in forming online shoppers’ attitudes. Online retailers’ executives and managers can benefit from such findings for future e-marketing strategies and acquire new customers to achieve long-term performance objectives. Originality/value – This paper is one of the very few attempts that examined attitudes toward online shopping in the Arab world. Importantly, it revealed the drivers of online shoppers’ attitudes in Jordan. National and international online retailers planning to expand their operations to Jordan or to the Middle East Region have now valuable empirical evidence concerning the determinants of online shopping attitudes and online shoppers’ behavior in Jordan upon which e-marketing strategies can be formulated and implemented.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef Chetioui ◽  
Hind Lebdaoui ◽  
Hajar Chetioui

PurposeThe coronavirus pandemic has created a new wave of first-time online shoppers in both industrialized and emerging countries. More interestingly, scholars and practitioners expect this transition to online shopping to eventually persist in the next few years. The current research study aims to investigate the factors explaining attitudes toward online shopping. The authors propose an integrated model in which trust mediates the effects of relative advantage and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on attitudes toward online shopping. The moderating effect of gender was also assessed using the multigroup analysis (MGA).Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from 378 Moroccan online shoppers, the authors empirically tested the hypothesized model using a partial least squares (PLS) estimation.FindingsFirst, relative advantage, eWOM and trust significantly impact consumer attitudes toward online shopping; at the same time, trust is influenced by relative advantage and eWOM. Second, results confirm that trust mediates the effects of relative advantage and eWOM on attitudes toward online shopping. Third, the MGA reveals that female consumers tend to exhibit a stronger effect of eWOM on trust and on attitudes toward online shopping.Originality/valueMost relevant studies have focused on the main predictors of attitudes toward online shopping but did not suggest mediating and moderating factors that can help in explaining indirect effects. The present paper bridges a gap pertaining to antecedents of attitudes toward online shopping by incorporating the mediating effect of online trust. The authors also examine gender disparities related to the predictors of trust and consumer attitudes toward online shopping. This study is the first of its kind to investigate the antecedents of attitudes toward online shopping in an African country.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Narpat Asia ◽  
Pramod Paliwal ◽  
Yupal Shukla

Learning outcomes The learning outcome of this paper are as follows: enabling students to learn about business and marketing issues of the natural gas distribution industry. To expose students to organizational processes aimed at finding solutions to customer issues. To make them appreciate the aspects of service quality and SERVQUAL model. To make the students aware of the significance of market research for problem-solving. How to use market research findings to address the customer issues? Enabling the students to learn how cross-functional teams contribute to addressing marketing and customer issues. Students should appreciate how to study towards creating a customer-centric organization with an organization-wide commitment including that from the top leadership. Case overview/synopsis Abhay Shankar, Sr. Manager-Customer Service at Reliable Gas Company Limited a state government piped natural gas (PNG) distribution utility whose customer service department is concerned about the provision of best service to its PNG domestic customers. Domestic customers are low volume but largest in numbers and are considered to be a tough, demanding customer segment. A general opinion among the marketing team of the company is that they are trying their best to serve its customers and that their efforts are no less than their private sector counterpart global gas customer service efforts. Abhay is in dilemma on what to do to improve customer services? Complexity academic level Masters students. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS: 8 Marketing.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Riley ◽  
Richard Klein

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ use of online retail channels. This study examines how tracking capabilities, delivery speed, trust, logistics carriers’ reputation, people important to the consumer and online reviews influence Millennials’ online purchasing attitudes and intentions. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered to 321 Millennials. Subsequently, it was used to test both direct and indirect hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques. Findings The study determined that tracking capabilities, trust, people important to the consumer and online reviews directly influence online purchase attitude and by extension intention formation. The results also revealed that logistics carrier reputation moderates the trust to online purchase attitude linkage. Research limitations/implications This work improves the explanatory power of the theory of reasoned action by linking logistics factors to online shopping behavior. Further, it provides insight into the moderating influence of logistics carriers’ reputation. Practical implications For retailers, the results provide information on how to better develop ecommerce service offerings. By providing information about logistics services and capabilities during the ecommerce transaction, retailers can improve the chance that consumers will complete online purchases. Originality/value This research fills a gap in the literature regarding how to influence millennial consumers. Moreover, findings strengthen the understanding of online-purchasing attitudes and intentions formation, important to retailers developing new online shopping platforms and technologies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 814-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupa Rathee ◽  
Pallavi Rajain

Purpose Online shopping has become a commonplace thing nowadays as people can buy products from the comfort of their home. But such environments do not offer a complete sensory interaction as consumers are unable to touch products which is quite important for certain categories of products such as apparels. Therefore, in order to find whether every individual seeks touch equally, the purpose of this paper is to deal with the differences in an individual’s preferences for touch. The study also evaluates customer responses towards the introduction of touch-enabling technology which can, to some extent, compensate for the lack of touch. Lastly, the study includes customers’ views regarding showrooming and webrooming. Design/methodology/approach A total of 203 responses were received through online and offline questionnaires. The data were analysed using ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis through SPSS version 23. Findings The results revealed that gender influenced the Need for Touch (NFT) with women having higher NFT. The people who were high in NFT preferred to buy in-store, whereas their low NFT counterparts were comfortable with both online and in-store options. Lastly, it was found that there was a significant impact of NFT on online buying behaviour. The new technology when used by online retailers would break the barriers that exist between real touch and virtual touch. Originality/value Although previous authors have given several options like mental representations, verbal details and brand image as alternatives to touch but the use of touch-enabling technology can revolutionise the way online products are perceived. The study adds value by relating NFT with online preferences, showrooming and webrooming.


Author(s):  
Syed Shah Alam ◽  
Mohd Helmi Ali ◽  
Nor Asiah Omar ◽  
Wan Mohd Hirwani Wan Hussain

The aim of this study is to examine the factors affecting customer satisfaction in online shopping. The conceptual model for this study was developed based on the previous research in the online shopping context. In this research, ten hypotheses on factors affecting customer satisfaction in online shopping are outlined with empirical data from 337 respondents. Data was collected through a Google form. The regression results show that customer service, information quality, response time, transaction capability, delivery, merchandise attributes, security/privacy, convenient payment method, and price have significant positive influence on customer satisfaction in online shopping. From a managerial viewpoint, this study results provide support for investment decisions for customer satisfaction from online retailers in Malaysia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 597-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinho Lin ◽  
Watcharee Lekhawipat

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of online shopping experience and habit in relation to adjusted expectations for enhancing online repurchase intention. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employed partial least square (PLS) as a technique used to analyze the measurement and structural models. Data for this research were collected from 240 Taiwanese online shoppers who had experienced online shopping at least four times. Findings – The result of this study indicates that online shopping habit acts as a moderator of both customer satisfaction and adjusted expectations, whereas online shopping experience can be considered a key driver for customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the research findings confirm that customer satisfaction is a vital driver of adjusted expectations and online repurchase intention. Adjusted expectations do mediate the impact of online repurchase intention. Research limitations/implications – This paper highlights the effect of online shopping experience and online shopping habit on enhancing repurchase intention. The result implies that the acquisition of usage experience and spontaneous purchases not only leads to higher customer satisfaction and customer expectations, but also strengthens online repurchase intention. The use of self-report scales suggests the possibility of a common method bias. Future studies may further test the robustness of this study in the interplay of experience and habit to shed more light on their relative importance in explaining online repurchase intention. Originality/value – This study extends expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, especially in the context of online shopping, by emphasizing cognitive, affective, and behavioral change on the attitude-intention behavior of online shoppers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yahong Li ◽  
Zhipeng Xu ◽  
Fuming Xu

We investigated whether or not self-efficacy mediated the enhancing effect of perceived control on purchase intention in online shopping. We randomly assigned 263 participants to experimental conditions in which they encountered different customer services. We assessed their perceived control, self-efficacy, and purchase intention via a self-evaluation survey. Results indicated that participants with the availability of live customer service had a higher level of perceived control and stronger purchase intention. There were significantly positive correlations among perceived control, self-efficacy, and purchase intention. Structural equation modeling showed that self-efficacy was a significant partial mediator of the effect of perceived control on purchase intention, accounting for 17.4% of the total effect. This finding implies that the provision of customer service in online shopping that leads consumers to have a perception of greater control can enhance their self-efficacy, and induce stronger purchase intention.


Author(s):  
Rose Sebastianelli ◽  
Nabil Tamimi ◽  
Murli Rajan

We survey a national sample of US online consumers about their perceptions regarding the quality of online shopping experiences.  Our intent is to examine whether the frequency with which they purchase products online and the types of products they purchase affect their perceptions of internet retailer quality.  In this study, the quality of online shopping is measured using a set of items that represent the four phases encountered when shopping via the Internet:  (1) the retailer’s homepage, (2) online product catalog, (3) order form and (4) customer service and support.  Factor analysis of these items uncovers the following seven underlying e-tailing quality dimensions: reliability, accessibility, ordering services, convenience, product content, assurance and credibility.   We find that frequent online shoppers consider both reliability and product content significantly more important than infrequent online shoppers; ordering services is significantly more important to infrequent online shoppers.  With regard to product type, we find some significant differences between online shoppers who purchase “search” versus “experience” products.  Specifically, those who purchase experience products online rate ordering services and product content significantly more important than those who buy search products.


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