benefits of online shopping research paper

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Drivers of shopping online: a literature review

Consumers are increasingly adopting electronic channels for purchasing. Explaining online consumer behavior is still a major issue as studies available focus on a multiple set of variables and relied on different approaches and theoretical foundations. Based on previous research two main drivers of online behavior are identified: perceived benefits of online shopping related to utilitarian and hedonic characteristics and perceived risk. Additionally, exogenous factors are presented as moderating variables of the relationship between perceived advantages and disadvantages of internet shopping and online consumer behavior.

Entradas no índice

Keywords: , texto integral, 1. introduction.

1 The increasing dependence of firms on e-commerce activities and the recent failure of a large number of dot-com companies stresses the challenges of operating through virtual channels and also highlights the need to better understand consumer behavior in online market channels in order to attract and retain consumers.

2 While performing all the functions of a traditional consumer, in Internet shopping the consumer is simultaneously a computer user as he or she interacts with a system, i.e., a commercial Web site. On the other hand, the physical store has been transformed into Web-based stores that use networks and Internet technology for communications and transactions.

3 In this sense, there seems to be an understanding that online shopping behavior is fundamentally different from that in conventional retail environment, (Peterson et al ., 1997) as e-commerce relies on hypertext Computer Mediated Environments (CMEs) and the interaction customer-supplier is ruled by totally different principles.

4 Understanding the factors that explain how consumers interact with technology, their purchase behavior in electronic channels and their preferences to transact with an electronic vendor on a repeated basis is crucial to identify the main drivers of consumer behavior in online market channels.

5 Online consumer behavior research is a young and dynamic academic domain that is characterized by a diverse set of variables studied from multiple theoretical perspectives.

6 Researchers have relied on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989: Davis et al ., 1989), the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fisbein and Ajzen, 1975), the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), Innovation Diffusion Theory (Rogers, 1995), Flow Theory (Czikszentmihalyi, 1998), Marketing, Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction Literature in investigating consumer’s adoption and use of electronic commerce.

7 While these studies individually provide meaningful insights on online consumer behavior, the empirical research in this area is sparse and the lack of a comprehensive understanding of online consumer behavior is still a major issue (Saeed et al ., 2003).

8 Previous research on consumer adoption of Internet shopping (Childers et al ., 2001; Dabholkar and Bagozzi, 2002; Doolin et al ., 2005; Monsuwé et al .; 2004; O´Cass and Fenech, 2002) suggests that consumers’ attitude toward Internet shopping and intention to shop online depends primarily on the perceived features of online shopping and on the perceived risk associated with online purchase. These relationships are moderated by exogenous factors like “consumer traits”, “situational factors”, “product characteristics” and “previous online shopping experiences”.

9 The outline of this paper is as follow. In the next section an assessment of the basic determinants that positively affect consumers’ intention to buy on the Internet is carried out. Second, the main perceived risks of shopping online are identified as factors that have a negative impact on the intention to buy from Internet vendors. Third, since it has been argued that the relationship between consumers’ attitude and intentions to buy online is moderated by independent factors, an examination of the influence of these factors is presented. Finally, the main findings, the importance to professionals and researchers and limitations are summarized.

2. Perceived benefits in online shopping

10 According to several authors (Childers et al ., 2001; Mathwick et al ., 2001; Menon and Kahn, 2002;) online shopping features can be either consumers’ perceptions of functional or utilitarian dimensions, or their perceptions of emotional and hedonic dimensions.

11 Functional or utilitarian perceptions relate to how effective shopping on the Internet is in helping consumers to accomplish their task, and how easy the Internet as a shopping medium is to use. Implicit to these perceptions is the perceived convenience offered by Internet vendor whereas convenience includes the time and effort saved by consumers when engaging in online shopping (Doolin, 2005; Monsuwé, 2004).

12 Emotional or hedonic dimensions reflect consumers’ perceptions regarding the potential enjoyment or entertainment of Internet shopping (Doolin, 2005; Monsuwé, 2004).

13 Venkatesh (2000) reported that perceived convenience offered by Internet Vendors has a positive impact on consumers’ attitude towards online shopping, as they perceive Internet as a medium that enhances the outcome of their shopping experience in an easy way.

14 Childers et al . (2001) found “enjoyment” to be a consistent and strong predictor of attitude toward online shopping. If consumers enjoy their online shopping experience, they have a more positive attitude toward online shop ping, and are more likely to adopt the Internet as a shopping medium.

15 Vijayasarathy and Jones (2000) showed that Internet shopping convenience, lifestyle compatibility and fun positively influence attitude towards Internet shopping and intention to shop online.

16 Despite the perceived benefits in online shopping mainly associated with convenience and enjoyment, there are a number of possible negative factors associated with the Internet shopping experience. These include the loss of sensory shopping or the loss of social benefits associated with shopping (Vijayasarathy and Jones, 2000).

17 In their research, Swaminathan et al . (1999) found that the lack of social interaction in Internet shopping deterred consumers from online purchase who preferred dealing with people or who treated shopping as a social ex perience.

3. Perceived risk in online shopping

18 Although most of the purchase decisions are perceived with some degree of risk, Internet shopping is associated with higher ri sk by consumers due to its newness and intrinsic characteristics associated to virtual stores where there is no human contact and consumers cannot physically check the quality of a product or monitor the safety and security of sending sensitive personal and financial information while shopping on the Internet (Lee and Turban, 2001).

19 Several studies reported similar findings that perceived risk negatively influenced consumers’ attitude or intention to purchase online (Doolin, 2005; Liu and Wei, 2003; Van der Heidjen et al ., 2003).

20 Opposing results were reported in two studies (Corbitt et al ., 2003; Jar venpaa et al ., 1999). The authors found that perceived risk of Internet shopping did not affect willingness to buy from an online store. One of the reasons for this contradictory conclusion might be due to the countries analyzed, respectively New Zealand and Australia, where individuals could be more risk- taken or more Internet heavy-users.

21 In examining the influences on the perceived risk of purchasing online, Pires at al. (2004) stated that no association was found between the fre quency of online purchasing and perceived risk, although satisfaction with prior Internet purchases was negatively associated with the perceived risk of intended purchases, but only for low-involvement products. Differences in perceived risk were associated with whether the intended purchase was a good or service and whether it was a high or low-involvement product. The perceived risk of purchasing goods through the Internet is higher than for services. Perceived risk was found to be higher for high-involvement than for low-involvement-products, be they goods or services.

22 Various types of risk are perceived in purchase decisions, including prod uct risk, security risk and privacy risk.

23 Product risk is the risk of making a poor or inappropriate purchase deci sion. Aspects involving product risk can be an inability to compare prices, being unable to return a product, not receiving a product paid for and product not performing as expected (Bhatnagar et al ., 2000; Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997; Tan, 1999; Vijayasarathy and Jones, 2000).

24 Bhatnagar et al . (2000) suggest that the likelihood of purchasing on the Internet decreases with increases in product risk.

25 Other dimensions of perceived risk related to consumers’ perceptions on the Internet as a trustworthy shopping medium. For example, a common perception among consumers is that communicating credit card information over the Internet is inherently risky, due to the possibility of credit card fraud (Bhatnagar et al ., 2000; George, 2002; Hoffman et al ., (1999); Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997; Liebermann and Stashevsky, 2002).

26 Previous studies found that beliefs about trustworthiness of the Internet were associated with positive attitudes toward Internet purchasing (George, 2002; Hoffman et al ., (1999); Liebermann and Stashevsky, 2002).

27 Privacy risk includes the unauthorized acquisition of personal information during Internet use or the provision of personal information collected by companies to third parties.

28 Perceived privacy risk causes consumers to be reluctant in exchanging personal information with Web providers (Hoffman et al ., 1999). The same authors suggest that with increasing privacy concerns, the likelihood of purchasing online decreases. Similarly, George (2002) found that a belief in the privacy of personal information was associated with negative attitudes toward Internet purchasing.

4. Exogenous factors

29 Based on the previous literature review, four exogenous factors were reported to be key drivers in moving consumers to ultim ately adopt the Internet as a shopping medium.

4.1. Consumer traits

30 Studies on online shopping behavior have focus mainly on demographic, psychographics and personality characteristics.

31 Bellman et al . (1999) cautioned that demographic variables alone explain a very low percentage of variance in the purchase decision.

32 According to Burke (2002) four relevant demographic factors – age, gen der, education, and income have a significant moderating effect on consum ers’ attitude toward online shopping.

33 In studying these variables several studies arrived to some contradictory results.

34 Concerning age, it was found that younger people are more interested in using new technologies, like the Internet, to search for comparative information on products (Wood, 2002). Older consumers avoid shopping online as the potential benefits from shopping online are offset by the perceived cost in skill needed to do it (Ratchford et al ., 2001).

35 On the other hand as younger people are associated with less income it was found that the higher a person’s income and age, the higher the propen sity to buy online (Bellman et al ., 1999; Liao and Cheung, 2001).

36 Gender differences are also related to different attitudes towards online shopping. Although men are more positive about using Internet as a shop ping medium, female shoppers that prefer to shop online, do it more frequently than male (Burke, 2002; Li et al ., 1999).

37 Furthermore Slyke et al . (2002) reported that as women view shopping as a social activity they were found to be less oriented to shop online than men.

38 Regarding education, higher educated consumers have a higher propen sity to use no-store channels, like the Internet to shop (Burke, 2002). This fact can be justified as education has been positively associated with individ ual’s level of Internet literacy (Li et al ., 1999).

39 Higher household income is often positively correlated with possession of computers, Internet access and higher education levels of consumers and consequently with a higher intention to shop online (Lohse et al ., 2000).

40 In terms of psychographics characteristics, Bellman et al . (1999) stated that consumers that are more likely to buy on the Internet have a “wired life” and are “starving of time”. Such consumers use the Internet for a long time for a multiple of purposes such as communicating through e-mail, reading news and search for information.

41 A personality characteristic closely associated with Internet adoption for shopping is innovativeness defined as the relative willingness of a person to try a new product or service (Goldsmith and Hokafer, 1991).

42 Innovativeness seems to influence more than frequency of online purchasing. It relates to the variety of product classes bought online, both in regard to purchasing and to visiting Web sites seeking information. (Blake et al ., 2003). In this sense innovativeness might be a fundamental factor determining the quantity and quality of online shopping.

4.2. Situational factors

43 Situational factors are found to be factors that affect significantly the choice between different retail store formats when consumers are faced with a shopping decision (Gehrt and Yan, 2004). According to this study, the time pressure and purpose of the shopping (for a gift or for themselves) can change the consumers’ shopping habits. Results showed that traditional stores were preferred for self-purchase situations rather than for gift occasions as in this case other store formats (catalog and Internet) performed better in terms of expedition. As for time pressure it was found that it was not a significantly predictor of online shopping as consumers when faced with scarcity of time responded to temporal issues related to whether there is a lag of time between the purchase transaction and receipt of goods rather than whether shopping can take place anytime.

44 Contradictory results were reported by Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2001). According to this study important attributes of online shopping are convenience and accessibility. When faced with time pressure situations, consumers engaged in online shopping but no conclusions should be taken on the effect of this factor on the attitude toward Internet shopping.

45 Lack of mobility and geographical distance has also been addressed has drivers of online shopping as Internet medium offers a viable solution to overcome these barriers (Monsuwé et al ., 2004). According to the same au thors the physical proximity of a traditional store that sells the same prod ucts available online, can lead consumers to shop in the “brick and mortar” alternative due to its perceived attractiveness despite consumers’ positive attitude toward shopping on the Internet.

46 The need for special items difficult to find in traditional retail stores has been reported a situational factor that attenuates the relationship between attitude and consumers’ intention to shop online (Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2001).

4.3. Product characteristics

47 Consumers' decisions whether or not to shop online are also influenced by the type of product or service under consideration.

48 The lack of physical contact and assistance as well as the need to “feel” somehow the product differentiates products according to their suitability for online shopping.

49 Relying on product categories conceptualized by information economists, Gehrt and Yan (2004), reported that it is more likely that search goods (i.e. books) can be adequately assessed within a Web than experience goods (i.e. clothing), which usually require closer scrutiny.

50 Grewal et al . (2002) and Reibstein (1999) referred to standardized and fa miliar products as those in which quality uncertainty is almost absent and do not need physical assistance or pre-trial. These products such as groceries, books, CDs, videotapes have a high potential to be considered when shopping online.

51 Furthermore in case of certain sensitive products there is high potential to shop online to ensure adequate levels of privacy and anonymity (Grewal et al ., 2002). Some of these products like medicine and pornographic movies are raising legal and ethical issues among international community.

52 On the other hand, personal-care products like perfume or products that required personal knowledge and experience like cars or computers, are less likely to be considered when shopping online (Elliot and Fowell, 2000).

4.4. Previous online shopping experiences

53 Past research suggests that prior online shopping experiences have a direct impact on Internet shopping intentions. Satisfactory previous experiences decreases consumers’ perceived risk levels associated with online shopping but only across low-involvement goods and services (Monsuwé et al ., 2004).

54 Consumers that evaluate positively the previous online experience are motivated to continue shopping on the Internet (Eastlick and Lotz, 1999; Shim et al ., 2001; Weber and Roehl, 1999).

5. Conclusion

55 Relying on an extensive literature review, this paper aims to identify the main drivers of online shopping and thus to give further insights in explaining consumer behavior when adopting the Internet for buying as this issue is still in its infancy stage despite its major importance for academic and professionals.

56 This literature review shows that attitude toward online shopping and in- tention to shop online are not only affected by perceived benefits and perceived risks, but also by exogenous factors like consumer traits, situations factors, product characteristics, previous online shopping experiences.

57 Understanding consumers’ motivations and limitations to shop online is of major importance in e-business for making adequate strategic options and guiding technological and marketing decisions in order to increase customer satisfaction. As reported before consumers´ attitude toward online shopping is influenced by both utilitarian and hedonic factors. Therefore, e-marketers should emphasize the enjoyable feature of their sites as they promote the convenience of shopping online. As personal characteristics also affect buyers´ attitudes and intentions to engage in Internet shopping e-tailers should customize customers´ treatment. Furthermore, the e-vendor should assure a trust-building relationship with its customers to minimize perceived risk associated to online shopping. Adopting and communicating a clear privacy policy, using a third party seal and offering guarantees are mechanisms that can help in creating a reliable environment.

58 Some limitations of this paper must be pointed out as avenues for future. The factors identified as main drives of shopping online are the result of a literature review and there can always be factors of influence on consumers´ intentions to shop on the Internet that are not included because they are addressed in other studies not included in this review. However there are methodological reasons to believe that the most relevant factors were identified in this context. A second limitation is that this paper is the result of a literature review and has never been tested in its entirety using empirical evidence. This implies that some caution should be taken in applying the findings that can be derived from this paper Further research is also needed to determine which of the factors have the most significant effect on behavioral intention to shop on the Internet.

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Ana Teresa Machado , «Drivers of shopping online: a literature review» ,  Comunicação Pública , Vol.2 nº4 / nº3 | 2006, 39-50.

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Ana Teresa Machado , «Drivers of shopping online: a literature review» ,  Comunicação Pública [Online], Vol.2 nº4 / nº3 | 2006, posto online no dia 30 outubro 2020 , consultado o 23 abril 2024 . URL : http://journals.openedition.org/cp/8402; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/cp.8402

Ana Teresa Machado

Escola Superior de Comunicação Social Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa

[email protected]

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Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development pp 801–813 Cite as

Research and Analysis on Influence Factors of Consumers’ Online Purchasing Behavior After Pandemic in Perspective of Mental Accounting

• Xinjia Chen 7  
• Conference paper
• First Online: 28 June 2023

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Part of the book series: Applied Economics and Policy Studies ((AEPS))

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has had a large impact on the online industry. There is a lot of uncertainty in online shopping, which can make consumers perceive risks. Therefore, the decision-making process of consumers online is more complex than traditional shopping and it is important to study the psychological process of consumers in order to develop a realistic marketing strategy. This paper focuses on the study of the influence of online consumption factors on consumers’ online consumption behavior after a pandemic and establishes a “consumer black box” model by using the gain and loss evaluation principle in the mental accounting theory. On this basis, with consumers as the main research object, a questionnaire survey and empirical analysis are conducted. The results show that the three dimensions of convenience, online word-of-mouth, and the impact of the pandemic have a significant positive impact on the purchase intention of online consumers. Price has a negative correlation with consumers’ purchase intention. The research results will help guide e-commerce companies to enhance consumers’ perceived value and gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

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Chen, X. (2023). Research and Analysis on Influence Factors of Consumers’ Online Purchasing Behavior After Pandemic in Perspective of Mental Accounting. In: Li, X., Yuan, C., Kent, J. (eds) Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development. Applied Economics and Policy Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7826-5_78

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New technologies are impacting a wide range of Americans’ commercial behaviors, from the way they evaluate products and services to the way they pay for the things they buy

Table of contents.

• 1. Online shopping and purchasing preferences
• 2. Online reviews
• 3. New modes of payment and the ‘cashless economy’
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

Americans are incorporating a wide range of digital tools and platforms into their purchasing decisions and buying habits, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. The survey finds that roughly eight-in-ten Americans are now online shoppers: 79% have made an online purchase of any type, while 51% have bought something using a cellphone and 15% have made purchases by following a link from social media sites. When the Center first asked about online shopping in a June 2000 survey, just 22% of Americans had made a purchase online. In other words, today nearly as many Americans have made purchases directly through social media platforms as had engaged in any type of online purchasing behavior 16 years ago.

But even as a sizeable majority of Americans have joined the world of e-commerce, many still appreciate the benefits of brick-and-mortar stores. Overall, 64% of Americans indicate that, all things being equal, they prefer buying from physical stores to buying online. Of course, all things are often not equal – and a substantial share of the public says that price is often a far more important consideration than whether their purchases happen online or in physical stores. Fully 65% of Americans indicate that when they need to make purchases they typically compare the price they can get in stores with the price they can get online and choose whichever option is cheapest. Roughly one-in-five (21%) say they would buy from stores without checking prices online, while 14% would typically buy online without checking prices at physical locations first.

Although cost is often key, today’s consumers come to their purchasing decisions with a broad range of expectations on a number of different fronts. When buying something for the first time, more than eight-in-ten Americans say it is important to be able to compare prices from different sellers (86%), to be able to ask questions about what they are buying (84%), or to buy from sellers they are familiar with (84%). In addition, more than seven-in-ten think it is important to be able to try the product out in person (78%), to get advice from people they know (77%), or to be able to read reviews posted online by others who have purchased the item (74%). And nearly half of Americans (45%) have used cellphones while inside a physical store to look up online reviews of products they were interested in, or to try and find better prices online.

The survey also illustrates the extent to which Americans are turning toward the collective wisdom of online reviews and ratings when making purchasing decisions. Roughly eight-in-ten Americans (82%) say they consult online ratings and reviews when buying something for the first time. In fact, 40% of Americans (and roughly half of those under the age of 50) indicate that they nearly always turn to online reviews when buying something new. Moreover, nearly half of Americans feel that customer reviews help “a lot” to make consumers feel confident about their purchases (46%) and to make companies be accountable to their customers (45%).

But even as the public relies heavily on online reviews when making purchases, many Americans express concerns over whether or not these reviews can be trusted. Roughly half of those who read online reviews (51%) say that they generally paint an accurate picture of the products or businesses in question, but a similar share (48%) say it’s often hard to tell if online reviews are truthful and unbiased.

Finally, this survey documents a pronounced shift in how Americans engage with one of the oldest elements of the modern economy: physical currency. Today nearly one-quarter (24%) of Americans indicate that none of the purchases they make in a typical week involve cash. And an even larger share – 39% – indicates that they don’t really worry about having cash on hand, since there are so many other ways of paying for things these days. Nonwhites, low-income Americans and those 50 and older are especially likely to rely on cash as a payment method.

Among the other findings of this national survey of 4,787 U.S. adults conducted from Nov. 24 to Dec. 21, 2015:

• 12% of Americans have paid for in-store purchases by swiping or scanning their cellphones at the register.
• Awareness of the alternative currency bitcoin is quite high, as 48% of Americans have heard of bitcoins. However, just 1% of the public has actually used, collected or traded bitcoins.
• 39% of Americans have shared their experiences or feelings about a commercial transaction on social media platforms.

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Online Food Shopping: A Conceptual Analysis for Research Propositions

Shopping foods online is different from shopping other things online. To stimulate more thinking and enrich potential future research imagination, this paper reviews for online food shopping features, offers a commentary, and proposes future research directions. The propositions include the following: (1) The design and implementation of online food shopping (eco)systems should engage the consumers and other stakeholders to co-create collective and social values; (2) A better fit between technologies’ and food businesses’ natures could generate better applications for online food shopping; (3) A business model with sound finance systems becomes the core of a healthy online food ecosystem; (4) The interaction and transformation between online (virtual) and offline (virtual) food businesses determines the dynamic development of future food shopping.

Introduction

Most studies on online shopping focus on the implications and benefits of e-commerce. This focus is expected to increase as more people are pushed toward shopping online in a bid to avoid crowded shopping malls for fear of contracting the dreaded COVID-19 virus. A gap in the literature, however, is that while the topic is rife with studies detailing how online shopping works, there is limited research on shopping foods online, which is inherently with very different characteristics from buying other kinds of commodities via the World Wide Web. Nonetheless, food is one of the most common products for the mankind, and so are with great impact for human’s online shopping life. A critical analysis for in-depth understanding of the special attributes that online food shopping has can facilitate the construction of a precise (for stakeholders’ needs) and high-quality (for stakeholders’ safety and satisfactions) online food shopping ecosystem. This paper presents a conceptual analysis aimed at explicating the significant themes within the current literature. The review will conduct critical propositions reflected from these studies to propose future research directions. The academic review is significant to both researchers and online food stores as people across the world start embracing online shopping more than ever before.

Background Descriptions

Before beginning the conceptual analysis with literature review, a broader background discussion is needed. Practically, the broader background constitutes: e-commerce platforms, consumer preferences and attitudes, marketing approaches, and packaging and delivery considerations.

E-Commerce Platforms

Silva et al. (2017) define e-commerce platforms as the set of technologies designed to help online businesses to manage their marketing, sales, and operations. Wei’s et al. (2018) study sought to examine the purchase intention of fruits among online shoppers. The authors argue that the past few years have seen the emergence of online purchase platforms for fruits, a trend that has significantly advanced e-commerce development and improved the quality of human life. Although their study sought to investigate consumers’ purchase intention, the results reveal that compared to other products, the e-commerce platforms for fruits did not play a major role in influencing a buyers’ purchase decision. On the contrary, the success of fashion products and electronics is dependent on how online customers perceive their e-commerce platforms ( Huete-Alcocer, 2017 ). For example, customers are less likely to purchase luxury fashion products from a poorly designed website ( Kang et al., 2020 ) and ( Buckley, 2016 ). Thus, while there are limited studies on the differences between buying food and other products online, at least the current studies evidence that e-commerce platforms do not play a significant role in influencing buyers’ purchase decisions.

Consumer Preferences and Attitudes

Kim Dang et al. (2018) study on consumer preference and attitudes regarding online food products examines how the Internet has changed people’s food-buying behaviors. The study is significant because it establishes the underlying consumers’ concerns with regards to food safety information, especially for online food products. Compared to other products, consumer preferences and attitudes toward buying food online differs in that the perceived risks and information quality do not play major roles in influencing their buying behavior ( Li and Bautista, 2019 ; Sanchez-Sabate and Sabaté, 2019 ; Zieliñska et al., 2020 ). Kim Dang et al. (2018) study relies on a cross-sectional study conducted in Hanoi, Vietnam. The findings are reliable as they are based on responses gathered from over 1736 customers through face-to-face interviews. While the preferences and attitudes toward buying food online differ from buying other commodities, Kim Dang et al. (2018) note that the laws governing e-commerce in Vietnam are the same. As such, the findings provide practical advice to online food retailers and the Vietnam government on how to implement appropriate legislation with regards to trading online food products.

Martínez-Ruiz and Gómez-Cantó’s (2016) study emphasizes that using the Internet to seek food service information has now become a common practice among people today. More people than ever before have positive attitudes toward finding information about food online ( Martínez-Ruiz and Gómez-Cantó, 2016 ; Maison et al., 2018 ). Also, people are more likely to search information about food on the Internet than any other product or service ( Hidalgo-Baz et al., 2017 ; Whiley et al., 2017 ; Wong et al., 2018 ). However, Kim Dang et al. (2018) study found that a significant number of consumers were unconcerned about the accuracy of the evidence regarding food safety they found online in selecting food products on the Internet. The conclusions drawn from the current article review produces practical pieces of advice to consumers buying food online as well as the food retailers selling food over the Internet.

Marketing Approaches

Rummo et al. (2020) examine the relationship between youth-targeted food marketing expenditures and the demographics of social media followers. The authors sought to establish the extent to which teenagers follow food brands on Twitter and Instagram by examining the relationships between brands’ youth-targeted marketing practices and the overall percentages of adolescent followers. The study provides evidence showing that unhealthy food brands, especially fast food and sugary drink have more adolescent followers on social media ( Rummo et al., 2020 ). These study results are consistent with Salinas et al. (2014) findings which show that unhealthy food products enjoy a higher market base than the healthy ones. The high percentage of teenage followers is concerning among health experts mainly because most of the advertisements from these companies are biased and do not highlight the unhealthy consequences associated with eating these foods. Compared to other products, food companies are often not required by regulations to highlight their negative consequences ( Salinas et al., 2014 ). For example, cigarette and alcohol companies are mandated to disclose their effects of use on all marketing materials ( Gravely et al., 2014 ). Consequently, with the ubiquitous use of social media by teenagers, young people are more exposed to food and beverage advertising which occurs across multiple digital channels.

The failure to address digital advertising when formulating policies makes it harder to governed youth-targeted food marketing. Food products are often marketed using the general techniques and approaches applied in other products and services. Juaneda-Ayensa et al. (2016) note that food marketing topics such as market segmentation, strategic positioning, test marketing, branding, consumer research, targeting, and market entry strategy are highly relevant. Moreover, food marketing is affected by the major challenges that affect conventional markets such as dealing with perishable products whose availability and quality varies as a function of the current harvest conditions ( Hongyan and Zhankui, 2017 ). However, Topolinski et al. (2015) note that the value chain in food marketing is particularly important because it highlights the extent to which sequential parties within the marketing channel add value to the final product. According to Linder et al. (2018) processing new distribution options often provides additional opportunities available to food marketers to provide the final consumer with convenience. However, when overhead costs such as marketing and processing are added they result in significantly higher costs ( Lou and Kim, 2019 ).

Demographics play an essential role in food marketing almost more than any other product. According to Qobadi and Payton (2017) , food companies must utilize statistical demographics to understand the inherent characteristics of a population. For food marketing purposes, such knowledge can help firms develop a better understanding of the current market place as well as predict future trends ( Isselmann DiSantis et al., 2017 ). For example, with regards to the current market, food companies interested in entering a new market with sports drinks might first study the overall number of people between the ages of 15 and 35, who would constitute a particularly significant market. In such cases, most food companies often prefer shifting their resources toward products consumed by a growing population. As such, the success of the marketing strategy employed by a food company is contingent on how good it studies the demographical makeup of its target market.

Packaging and Delivery Consideration

One of the primary consideration food consumers take into account when making a purchase decision online involves packaging and delivery. According to Chen et al. (2019) , the modern consumer is more interested in food products that utilize sustainable packaging and delivery systems. Hu et al. (2019) add that most customers today are more focused on recyclable packaging systems. Grace (2015) further notes that sustainability is one of the primary sustainability attributes online shoppers look for. For example, over 33% of online consumers believe that packaging and recyclability are more important to them when ordering food items online ( Gutberlet et al., 2013 ). Additionally, 13% of online shoppers cite a lack of packaging information available online, which suggests that there is an existing opportunity for e-retailers to increase their sustainability information ( Quartey et al., 2015 ).

As the world continue grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, online purchases for fresh food is gradually becoming the norm across the world. As such, food producers must be able to adapt accordingly to take advantage of the emerging market. However, the majority of consumers are still concerned about freshness and food waste ( Yu et al., 2020 ). Unlike in a brick-and-mortar store where shoppers can visibly check the freshness of their produce, this is more difficult with home delivery ( Song et al., 2016 ). Thus, brands must try and opt for packaging that can keep food safe and fresh during transit and displays its freshness to re-assure customers. Moreover, to meet sustainability goals, fresh food brands need to balance the use of more sustainable, recyclable materials, with packaging that continues to extend shelf life and avoid food waste.

Conceptual Analysis for Future Research Propositions

The article review shows that sufficient studies have been conducted on online food shopping. As more people start shopping online, the number of articles on online food shopping is expected to increase. However, despite studies on online food shopping and business models remain rife, there are key gaps in research. These gaps are a result of the majorities of the researchers’ focus on highlighting their perspectives and largely ignore those of the consumers and businesses. Moreover, these studies do not consider crisis (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic) when making these future predictions. The forecasts made about future help in developing a better understanding of the various implications of ordering via mobile apps. Also, it provides a background for examining the emerging technologies in online food ordering. As such, the critical propositions reflected in the literature review propose the following four future research directions.

Value Co-creation With Stakeholders

From a business perspective, getting partners and investors on board is not easy and most restaurants tend to stay away from technology. Thus, the preposition made involves conducting research aimed at developing a better understanding of the customer and business’ perspectives. According to Chen et al. (2018) , setting the commission rates with restaurants is a major problem within the online food industry. Moreover, the majority of startups are depended on restaurants to deliver food at the customer’s doorstep ( Onyeneho and Hedberg, 2013 ). Hwang et al. (2020) argue that relying on technology is not the main focus of a restaurant because preparing food is its main core business. As such, even if an investor trusts a food startup, integrating technology within its business process will always be perceived as a high risk. The lack of sufficient evidence on the business’ perspective toward technology and online platforms make it more difficult for rescuers to tailor their studies to generate crucial insights that help in making better business decisions.

One of the problems identified from the consumer’s perspective is that most of the things mentioned in the online food menus are often not available. Instead, they act as click baits designed to entice online users to continue interacting with their platform and marketing content ( Lara-Navarra et al., 2020 ). In rare cases, some clickbait links often forward online users to pages that require them to make payments, register, or even fill in their payment details. Consequently, a significant communication gap exists between consumers and restaurants while shopping on phone and online. While numerous studies examine the purchase intention of food among online shoppers, few highlight the inherent challenges experienced by consumers as they go about their day.

While it is crucial to investigate both perspectives, more studies need to be conducted on the customer ones. This is because most online businesses often find it difficult to deal with customers, but Ho et al. (2014) note that this is usually because they do not see things from the buyers’ point of view. The authors, however, refutes the popular phrase that “customer is always right” and notes that even when they are completely wrong, they can always win. For example, customers can criticize a business online or even refuse to pay their bills. As such, failing to grasp a customer’s perspective can result in a meltdown with them which is always bad business. It is also essential for future businesses to take into consideration the fact that work is much more enjoyable and profitable when people work alongside the customer rather than against them. Thus, conducting more studies aimed at understanding customers can help develop the necessary recommendations to help businesses see things from their point of view.

One of the ways future studies can explore to better understand the customer’s perspective involves exploring the issues related to empathy. Charles et al. (2018) note that empathy does note naturally to most people but it reinforces one’s ability to understand and share the feelings of a customer by placing themselves in their shoes. Future studies should highlight how online businesses can ask questions about how their current and potential customers would feel in different circumstances. Also, future studies must examine how well online businesses can listen to their customers. Afshar Jahanshahi and Brem (2018) notes that the first step in customer relations involves actively listen to them. Finally, future studies must be able to provide recommendations on how online food businesses can grow trust and show respect to their customers. The prepositions made with regards to the business and customers’ perspective provides the background information for future studies. Also, bridging the current research gaps will help business adopt a more effective online model that maximizes customer satisfaction when purchasing foods. Based on the discussions above, this article suggests the following proposition to both identify the gap in the literature and the corresponding future research directions.

Proposition 1: the design and implementation of online food shopping (eco)systems should engage the consumers and other stakeholders to co-create collective and social values.

Technological Nature

Although smartphone apps provide an efficient way to replace the conventional methods of ordering food through a phone call, there lacks sufficient evidence on the implications of placing orders through them. A partial but potentially important reason is the lack of in-depth and broader understanding of the technology per se . Mobile ordering apps have caused a significant change in food delivery and pickup business ( Onyeneho and Hedberg, 2013 ). With more and more retailers and restaurants adopting these technologies, the modern consumer is willing to place fewer delivery and pickup orders through their phones. Instead, they are now opting to utilize mobile apps. Studies aimed at exploring the implications of food delivery apps help in establishing whether it is hurting or assisting the business. Thus, as a restaurant owner, one has to be careful with regards to utilizing third-party services to do business. For instance, apps such as Uber Eats have endless possibilities as they make delivery faster, for both the customers and the business. However, future studies must examine the potential disadvantages to using such third-party services. Firstly, the added cost of a food delivery app may be prohibitive to most customers. For example, the cost of using services like Uber Eats changes how businesses price their meals. In the end, customers are likely to end up paying more. Thus, future studies have to consider this fact when developing recommendations on how businesses can use food delivery apps without undermining their financial positions. Also, these studies will help show how customers are likely to react to a price surges.

Subsequent studies on the implications of ordering food through mobile apps should also focus on the issues relating to control and accountability. Cecchi and Cavinato (2019) note that some customers have complained about being unable to control the food ordering process. For example, once the customer’s food is in the possession of the Uber driver, there is little left for them to do, which is perceived as a bad thing. Also, Isoni Auad et al. (2018) note that customers lack control over how their drivers handle their food. One of the consequences of being unable to control the process is that when a customer’s food is mishandled or ends up late, the restaurant is the one that is held accountable. Finally, with regards to the implications, future studies must monitor their third party service to safeguard their brand’s reputation. As such, subsequent studies need to ensure that they highlight the importance of maintaining an effective brand image. Mao et al. (2018) recommend online food businesses to monitor how long it takes their delivery people to transport their customers’ food to establish whether it is being handled with the necessary care it deserves. However, more studies are required to highlight the customer’s grievance which can easily fall on the businesses when the delivery issues are ignored.

Despite the various implications of using mobile apps to order food online, there are numerous benefits associated with online models. As such, as the growth of online applications continues, the subsequent studies need to add to the existing literature on the benefits businesses are likely to accrue from adopting such technologies. According to Li et al. (2020) , this trend is a result of the numerous benefits associated with using the apps compared to the conventional methods of shopping over the phone or waiting in line. These benefits are 2-fold, they include benefits to the consumer and the restaurants. Firstly, there are numerous consumer benefits of using mobile ordering apps to purchase food.

Consumers across the world are downloading mobile ordering apps at lightning speed. For example, When Chick-fil-A, one of the largest American fast food restaurant chains, released its first official app, it reached first place in the app store in only 3 days after it was launched. Mayordomo-Martínez et al. (2019) note that these apps are popular for four main reasons. Firstly, customers feel that no one is waiting in line or getting put on hold. Secondly, customers can pick up food on the go. Thirdly, customers get the whole menu right at their fingertips, including items they may not have known existed. Finally, most restaurants award patrons’ loyalty reward points. In most cases, these points are easy to track directly through applications and lead to big savings if the customer order frequently.

The restaurant benefits from the mobile ordering apps too. While these apps may be created for the customer, they achieve some important objectives that can greatly help out the restaurant or retail store as well ( Ferguson and Solo-Gabriele, 2016 ). For example, they can handle more orders as is the case with Chipotle, an American chain of fast-casual restaurants, which claims that it is capable of processing six additional orders every hour when placed through a mobile app ( Ferguson and Solo-Gabriele, 2016 ). Moreover, customers are more likely to spend more through an ordering app than in person because they have more time to decide since the entire menu is in front of them and they typically want to score more reward points. Based on the discussion above, this article made the propositions as follow.

Proposition 2: A better fit between technologies’ and food businesses’ natures could generate better applications for online food shopping.

New Business Models and Finance Systems

Although numerous studies have highlighted the various emerging trends in buying food online, most were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, future studies need to capture how the pandemic has affected the online ordering industry. Such studies will provide the insights necessary to help the business withstand emerging competition as well as keep up with the ever-changing customer demands and the latest trends and technological advancements. Wang et al. (2020) note that the various responses to the COVID-19 global pandemic will shape the online food delivery industry in 2020 and beyond. Thus, future studies need to identify and critically examine the top online food shopping trends that customers and businesses must remain aware of.

For the better part of the year 2020, global cities have become deserted and shopping malls closed. The restaurant sector is one of the most affected as people are recommended to maintain social distancing and remain at home. As the Coronavirus continue spreading across the world, the pandemic is projected to have more economic implications than undermine global health. Thus, future studies must offer people a glimpse of how lockdowns will affect the online food industry, which is hailed as the future in the restaurant sector. However, even at the current stage of the Covid-19 pandemic lifecycle, several lessons are already emerging from China with regards to how people can cope with the commercial and social disruptions. For example, the pandemic is a key driver for digital technologies.

There are three areas that future studies need to focus on. They include the emergence of digitally enabled delivery systems and consumer comfort with the online food sector. Firstly, the prevalence of digitally enabled delivery systems is expected to grow in the coming years. As such, studies are needed to develop a better understanding of how these online delivery systems will affect the food industry. For example, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more people than ever before purchase their groceries and other food items online ( Hua and Shaw, 2020 ; Zhang and Ma, 2020 ). This is mainly a result of the growing deployment of digital technologies across the country in an attempt to limit interactions among people and mitigate the spread of the virus. Secondly, subsequent studies must examine the factors affecting consumer comfort within the online world. It is projected that in the next decade, online platforms will transform people’s purchasing behaviors, especially with regards to acquiring food items. Thus, studies are needed to help businesses identify the existing opportunities and mitigate the main threats likely to undermine growth within the online food ordering business. Last but not least, more detailed academic investigation and practical development of payment mechanisms are needed. By its nature, payment mechanisms deal with technological development of payment methods and techniques that constantly try to improve user convenience and experiences of payments. Hence, existing discussions/examinations relied heavily on technical aspects of payment mechanisms (or schemes). However, technologies in business world can generate implications beyond technical dimension, but also in the social, cultural, psychological, and/or even political dimensions (e.g., Yang et al., 2012 ; Koenig-Lewis et al., 2015 ; Nelms et al., 2017 ; Verhoef et al., 2019 ). Hence, interdisciplinary works, either conceptual or empirical, can contribute to the literature for analyzing on more complex dynamics of online payment – not just about the technology/system per se , but also about the ecosystem composed of human, system, and knowledge in it. In sum, the discussions in this section emphasize the importance of business models with high-quality finance (e.g., payment) systems. This article makes the following proposition.

Proposition 3: A business model with sound finance systems becomes the core of a healthy online food ecosystem.

Online-Offline Interactions and Transformations

Shopping food online is viewed by most researchers as one of the biggest disruptions in the supermarket and grocery business models. From smaller stores to fewer discounts and more service and robots, these are just a few of the changes brought about by online platforms ( Kuss and Griffiths, 2011 ). The problem is that few studies are examining whether new disruptions will continue emerging or whether the online food sector has reached maturity. Such studies are necessary because they will help manufacturers and retailers react accordingly. These studies can focus on trying to understand how consumers can purchase food in the future, which can be online or in physical stores or from larger or smaller stores. Some of the research questions can focus on establishing whether future customers will continue buying to take dine at home or consume right on the spot.

Despite the numerous uncertainties, with regards to brick-and-mortar stores, Burgoine et al. (2017) note that they may survive even with the growth and prevalence of online businesses. As such, future studies must explore how changes in e-commerce will affect shoppers and online businesses. Such studies are essential because the current findings on consumer behavior seem to suggest that customers prefer interacting at a physical store by seeing, smelling, and even touching products they find there. Moreover, there is an immediate satisfaction when a customer picks up something. The insights generated from such studies can help retailers establish the inherent need to focus their attention on emotional elements as well as create unique experiences.

Studies focused on making future forecasting will help in understanding how online food platforms can achieve the social roles enjoyed by supermarkets. Otten et al. (2017) note that supermarkets increasingly place their shopper firsts and tap into their individual needs in an attempt to mitigate the rising competition from online shopping. As such, studies must thoroughly analyze the existing demographic data to make future predictions on whether the online food ordering platforms can ever enjoy the same social roles which are currently the precincts of supermarkets. Finally, a sufficient number of studies have predicted that artificial intelligence and robots are likely to take over the responsibilities of human beings within the online food sector. However, while most of these studies make future predictions, they do not take into account how automation and artificial intelligence will help online supermarkets to become more efficient. Thus, subsequent studies should establish a balance between human interaction and automation. This article makes the following proposition according to the discussions here.

Proposition 4: The interaction and transformation between online (virtual) and offline (virtual) food businesses determines the dynamic development of future food shopping.

The majority of studies examining online food shopping have provided sufficient evidence highlighting both the implications and benefits of e-commerce. However, most of these studies generalize all forms of online shopping and ignore the fact that shopping foods online is inherently different from buying other commodities. As such, the comprehensive academic review conducted helps at explicating the significant themes within the current literature. Hence, the critical propositions that reflected from these studies help in proposing the following four future research directions. They include conducting studies to highlight the customer and business’ perspectives, making future predictions, understanding the implications of ordering via mobile apps, and examining the emerging technologies in online food ordering. The academic review and prepositions made are significant to both researchers and online food stores as people across the world start embracing online shopping more than ever before.

Theoretical Implications

To generate theoretical implications in a more holistic and comprehensive level, this article focuses on the inter-relationships between the four propositions derived after our conceptual analysis. To recall, the four propositions are inherently about: engaging stakeholders to co-create values, in-depth understanding of technological natures, well-designed business models and finance systems, and online-offline dynamics. One suggestion for future research directions is to develop a holistic-view, often qualitative investigation of a online food shopping ecosystem that composes of interested stakeholders operating with diverse technological sets embedded in well-designed business models that simultaneously incorporate concerns of both online and offline developments of food shopping. Complexity is a point to be explored but is often oversimplified if we could not take a eco-systematic perspective and analyze for both qualitative-quantitative data sources. For a better theoretical development and practical design, the complexity of a food shopping ecosystem can help identify research questions, sketch phenomenon structures and elements, as well as specify heterogeneous interests for policy making. Following this point, another suggestion for future research directions is to address established issues/research questions through cross-disciplinary explorations. As has been discussed, complexity characterizes modern food shopping system, especially the online one. To explore in-depth knowledge of complexity, single disciplinary system of thoughts might limit the imaginations one can create. A cross-discipline approach for studies on online food shopping can both offer fresh explanations for unanswered questions or that in tension, and also help identifying unnoticed phenomenon for further exploration.

Practical Implications

For online retailers, conceptual analyses and the four resulting propositions can generate practical implications too. First, when designing a online food shopping business/system, practitioners need to adopt an ecosystem viewpoint to prevent incomplete thinking and ignorance of any stakeholder’s opinion. Second, practitioners need to take care of the interfaces between the virtual and physical sub-systems even if it is an online food shopping ecosystem. By considering the interfaces between the sub-systems, not just connection and coordination works would be cared about, but also transformation work should be articulated. For example, the transformation of values in the process flows between material (e.g., food products), informational/technological (safety labels; blockchain applications in supply chain communications; human-machines interface in online purchase procedures, etc.), financial (budgeting; pricing; payment, etc.), human (i.e., stakeholders), and other sub-systems should be implemented with a fully consistent and engaging logic.

Limitations

In nature, a conceptual analysis is done without empirical and original data collection. However, this article has tried to avoid such inherent limitation by conducting the conceptual analysis with as many practical examples as possible. Additionally, our analysis focuses on the online shopping for foods only. Future studies can also take a similar approach but discuss other characterized industries, such as online shopping for precious metals, intangible services, and so on. Also, our focus on food is limited to foods in general. Future studies can be more detailed, by characterizing more for different food categories (e.g., organic vs. non-organic foods).

Author Contributions

C-FL was the major author of this article. C-HL reviewed and revised the manuscript. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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A study on factors limiting online shopping behaviour of consumers

Rajagiri Management Journal

ISSN : 0972-9968

Article publication date: 4 March 2021

Issue publication date: 12 April 2021

This study aims to investigate consumer behaviour towards online shopping, which further examines various factors limiting consumers for online shopping behaviour. The purpose of the research was to find out the problems that consumers face during their shopping through online stores.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative research method was adopted for this research in which a survey was conducted among the users of online shopping sites.

As per the results total six factors came out from the study that restrains consumers to buy from online sites – fear of bank transaction and faith, traditional shopping more convenient than online shopping, reputation and services provided, experience, insecurity and insufficient product information and lack of trust.

Research limitations/implications

This study is beneficial for e-tailers involved in e-commerce activities that may be customer-to-customer or customer-to-the business. Managerial implications are suggested for improving marketing strategies for generating consumer trust in online shopping.

Originality/value

In contrast to previous research, this study aims to focus on identifying those factors that restrict consumers from online shopping.

• Online shopping

Daroch, B. , Nagrath, G. and Gupta, A. (2021), "A study on factors limiting online shopping behaviour of consumers", Rajagiri Management Journal , Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 39-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/RAMJ-07-2020-0038

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Bindia Daroch, Gitika Nagrath and Ashutosh Gupta.

Published in Rajagiri Management Journal . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Today, people are living in the digital environment. Earlier, internet was used as the source for information sharing, but now life is somewhat impossible without it. Everything is linked with the World Wide Web, whether it is business, social interaction or shopping. Moreover, the changed lifestyle of individuals has changed their way of doing things from traditional to the digital way in which shopping is also being shifted to online shopping.

Online shopping is the process of purchasing goods directly from a seller without any intermediary, or it can be referred to as the activity of buying and selling goods over the internet. Online shopping deals provide the customer with a variety of products and services, wherein customers can compare them with deals of other intermediaries also and choose one of the best deals for them ( Sivanesan, 2017 ).

As per Statista-The Statistics Portal, the digital population worldwide as of April 2020 is almost 4.57 billion people who are active internet users, and 3.81 billion are social media users. In terms of internet usage, China, India and the USA are ahead of all other countries ( Clement, 2020 ).

The number of consumers buying online and the amount of time people spend online has risen ( Monsuwe et al. , 2004 ). It has become more popular among customers to buy online, as it is handier and time-saving ( Huseynov and Yildirim, 2016 ; Mittal, 2013 ). Convenience, fun and quickness are the prominent factors that have increased the consumer’s interest in online shopping ( Lennon et al. , 2008 ). Moreover, busy lifestyles and long working hours also make online shopping a convenient and time-saving solution over traditional shopping. Consumers have the comfort of shopping from home, reduced traveling time and cost and easy payment ( Akroush and Al-Debei, 2015 ). Furthermore, price comparisons can be easily done while shopping through online mode ( Aziz and Wahid, 2018 ; Martin et al. , 2015 ). According to another study, the main influencing factors for online shopping are availability, low prices, promotions, comparisons, customer service, user friendly, time and variety to choose from ( Jadhav and Khanna, 2016 ). Moreover, website design and features also encourage shoppers to shop on a particular website that excite them to make the purchase.

Online retailers have started giving plenty of offers that have increased the online traffic to much extent. Regularly online giants like Amazon, Flipkart, AliExpress, etc. are advertising huge discounts and offers that are luring a large number of customers to shop from their websites. Companies like Nykaa, MakeMyTrip, Snapdeal, Jabong, etc. are offering attractive promotional deals that are enticing the customers.

Despite so many advantages, some customers may feel online shopping risky and not trustworthy. The research proposed that there is a strong relationship between trust and loyalty, and most often, customers trust brands far more than a retailer selling that brand ( Bilgihan, 2016 ; Chaturvedi et al. , 2016 ). In the case of online shopping, there is no face-to-face interaction between seller and buyer, which makes it non-socialize, and the buyer is sometimes unable to develop the trust ( George et al. , 2015 ). Trust in the e-commerce retailer is crucial to convert potential customer to actual customer. However, the internet provides unlimited products and services, but along with those unlimited services, there is perceived risk in digital shopping such as mobile application shopping, catalogue or mail order ( Tsiakis, 2012 ; Forsythe et al. , 2006 ; Aziz and Wahid, 2018 ).

Literature review

A marketer has to look for different approaches to sell their products and in the current scenario, e-commerce has become the popular way of selling the goods. Whether it is durable or non-durable, everything is available from A to Z on websites. Some websites are specifically designed for specific product categories only, and some are selling everything.

The prominent factors like detailed information, comfort and relaxed shopping, less time consumption and easy price comparison influence consumers towards online shopping ( Agift et al. , 2014 ). Furthermore, factors like variety, quick service and discounted prices, feedback from previous customers make customers prefer online shopping over traditional shopping ( Jayasubramanian et al. , 2015 ). It is more preferred by youth, as during festival and holiday season online retailers give ample offers and discounts, which increases the online traffic to a great extent ( Karthikeyan, 2016 ). Moreover, services like free shipping, cash on delivery, exchange and returns are also luring customers towards online purchases.

More and more people are preferring online shopping over traditional shopping because of their ease and comfort. A customer may have both positive and negative experiences while using an online medium for their purchase. Some of the past studies have shown that although there are so many benefits still some customers do not prefer online as their basic medium of shopping.

While making online purchase, customers cannot see, touch, feel, smell or try the products that they want to purchase ( Katawetawaraks and Wang, 2011 ; Al-Debei et al. , 2015 ), due to which product is difficult to examine, and it becomes hard for customers to make purchase decision. In addition, some products are required to be tried like apparels and shoes, but in case of online shopping, it is not possible to examine and feel the goods and assess its quality before making a purchase due to which customers are hesitant to buy ( Katawetawaraks and Wang, 2011 ; Comegys et al. , 2009 ). Alam and Elaasi (2016) in their study found product quality is the main factor, which worries consumer to make online purchase. Moreover, some customers have reported fake products and imitated items in their delivered orders ( Jun and Jaafar, 2011 ). A low quality of merchandise never generates consumer trust on online vendor. A consumer’s lack of trust on the online vendor is the most common reason to avoid e-commerce transactions ( Lee and Turban, 2001 ). Fear of online theft and non-reliability is another reason to escape from online shopping ( Karthikeyan, 2016 ). Likewise, there is a risk of incorrect information on the website, which may lead to a wrong purchase, or in some cases, the information is incomplete for the customer to make a purchase decision ( Liu and Guo, 2008 ). Moreover, in some cases, the return and exchange policies are also not clear on the website. According to Wei et al. (2010) , the reliability and credibility of e-retailer have direct impact on consumer decision with regards to online shopping.

Limbu et al. (2011) revealed that when it comes to online retailers, some websites provide very little information about their companies and sellers, due to which consumers feel insecure to purchase from these sites. According to other research, consumers are hesitant, due to scams and feel anxious to share their personal information with online vendors ( Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001 ; Limbu et al. , 2011 ). Online buyers expect websites to provide secure payment and maintain privacy. Consumers avoid online purchases because of the various risks involved with it and do not find internet shopping secured ( Cheung and Lee, 2003 ; George et al. , 2015 ; Banerjee et al. , 2010 ). Consumers perceive the internet as an unsecured channel to share their personal information like emails, phone and mailing address, debit card or credit card numbers, etc. because of the possibility of misuse of that information by other vendors or any other person ( Lim and Yazdanifard, 2014 ; Kumar, 2016 ; Alam and Yasin, 2010 ; Nazir et al. , 2012 ). Some sites make it vital and important to share personal details of shoppers before shopping, due to which people abandon their shopping carts (Yazdanifard and Godwin, 2011). About 75% of online shoppers leave their shopping carts before they make their final decision to purchase or sometimes just before making the payments ( Cho et al. , 2006 ; Gong et al. , 2013 ).

Moreover, some of the customers who have used online shopping confronted with issues like damaged products and fake deliveries, delivery problems or products not received ( Karthikeyan, 2016 ; Kuriachan, 2014 ). Sometimes consumers face problems while making the return or exchange the product that they have purchased from online vendors ( Liang and Lai, 2002 ), as some sites gave an option of picking from where it was delivered, but some online retailers do not give such services to consumer and consumer him/herself has to courier the product for return or exchange, which becomes inopportune. Furthermore, shoppers had also faced issues with unnecessary delays ( Muthumani et al. , 2017 ). Sometimes, slow websites, improper navigations or fear of viruses may drop the customer’s willingness to purchase from online stores ( Katawetawaraks and Wang, 2011 ). As per an empirical study done by Liang and Lai (2002) , design of the e-store or website navigation has an impact on the purchase decision of the consumer. An online shopping experience that a consumer may have and consumer skills that consumers may use while purchasing such as website knowledge, product knowledge or functioning of online shopping influences consumer behaviour ( Laudon and Traver, 2009 ).

From the various findings and viewpoints of the previous researchers, the present study identifies the complications online shoppers face during online transactions, as shown in Figure 1 . Consumers do not have faith, and there is lack of confidence on online retailers due to incomplete information on website related to product and service, which they wish to purchase. Buyers are hesitant due to fear of online theft of their personal and financial information, which makes them feel there will be insecure transaction and uncertain errors may occur while making online payment. Some shoppers are reluctant due to the little internet knowledge. Furthermore, as per the study done by Nikhashem et al. (2011), consumers unwilling to use internet for their shopping prefer traditional mode of shopping, as it gives roaming experience and involves outgoing activity.

Several studies have been conducted earlier that identify the factors influencing consumer towards online shopping but few have concluded the factors that restricts the consumers from online shopping. The current study is concerned with the factors that may lead to hesitation by the customer to purchase from e-retailers. This knowledge will be useful for online retailers to develop customer driven strategies and to add more value product and services and further will change their ways of promoting and advertising the goods and enhance services for customers.

Research methodology

This study aimed to find out the problems that are generally faced by a customer during online purchase and the relevant factors due to which customers do not prefer online shopping. Descriptive research design has been used for the study. Descriptive research studies are those that are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual or group. This study targets the population drawn from customers who have purchased from online stores. Most of the respondents participated were post graduate students and and educators. The total population size was indefinite and the sample size used for the study was 158. A total of 170 questionnaires were distributed among various online users, out of which 12 questionnaires were received with incomplete responses and were excluded from the analysis. The respondents were selected based on the convenient sampling technique. The primary data were collected from Surveys with the help of self-administered questionnaires. The close-ended questionnaire was used for data collection so as to reduce the non-response rate and errors. The questionnaire consists of two different sections, in which the first section consists of the introductory questions that gives the details of socio-economic profile of the consumers as well as their behaviour towards usage of internet, time spent on the Web, shopping sites preferred while making the purchase, and the second section consist of the questions related to the research question. To investigate the factors restraining consumer purchase, five-point Likert scale with response ranges from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”, with following equivalencies, “strongly disagree” = 1, “disagree” = 2, “neutral” = 3, “agree” = 4 and “strongly agree” = 5 was used in the questionnaire with total of 28 items. After collecting the data, it was manually recorded on the Excel sheet. For analysis socio-economic profile descriptive statistics was used and factors analysis was performed on SPSS for factor reduction.

Data analysis and interpretation

The primary data collected from the questionnaires was completely quantified and analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. This statistical program enables accuracy and makes it relatively easy to interpret data. A descriptive and inferential analysis was performed. Table 1 represents the results of socio-economic status of the respondents along with some introductory questions related to usage of internet, shopping sites used by the respondents, amount of money spent by the respondents and products mostly purchased through online shopping sites.

According to the results, most (68.4%) of the respondents were belonging to the age between 21 and 30 years followed by respondents who were below the age of 20 years (16.4%) and the elderly people above 50 were very few (2.6%) only. Most of the respondents who participated in the study were females (65.8)% who shop online as compared to males (34.2%). The respondents who participated in the study were students (71.5%), and some of them were private as well as government employees. As per the results, most (50.5%) of the people having income below INR15,000 per month who spend on e-commerce websites. The results also showed that most of the respondents (30.9%) spent less than 5 h per week on internet, but up to (30.3%) spend 6–10 h per week on internet either on online shopping or social media. Majority (97.5%) of them have shopped through online websites and had both positive and negative experiences, whereas 38% of the people shopped 2–5 times and 36.7% shopped more than ten times. Very few people (12%), shopped only once. Most of the respondents spent between INR1,000–INR5,000 for online shopping, and few have spent more than INR5,000 also.

As per the results, the most visited online shopping sites was amazon.com (71.5%), followed by flipkart.com (53.2%). Few respondents have also visited other e-commerce sites like eBay, makemytrip.com and myntra.com. Most (46.2%) of the time people purchase apparels followed by electronics and daily need items from the ecommerce platform. Some of the respondents have purchased books as well as cosmetics, and some were preferring online sites for travel tickets, movie tickets, hotel bookings and payments also.

Factor analysis

To explore the factors that restrict consumers from using e-commerce websites factor analysis was done, as shown in Table 3 . A total of 28 items were used to find out the factors that may restrain consumers to buy from online shopping sites, and the results were six factors. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure, as shown in Table 2 , in this study was 0.862 (>0.60), which states that values are adequate, and factor analysis can be proceeded. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity is related to the significance of the study and the significant value is 0.000 (<0.05) as shown in Table 2 .

The analysis produced six factors with eigenvalue more than 1, and factor loadings that exceeded 0.30. Moreover, reliability test of the scale was performed through Cronbach’s α test. The range of Cronbach’s α test came out to be between 0.747 and 0.825, as shown in Table 3 , which means ( α > 0.7) the high level of internal consistency of the items used in survey ( Table 4 ).

Factor 1 – The results revealed that the “fear of bank transaction and faith” was the most significant factor, with 29.431% of the total variance and higher eigenvalue, i.e. 8.241. The six statements loaded on Factor 1 highly correlate with each other. The analysis shows that some people do not prefer online shopping because they are scared to pay online through credit or debit cards, and they do not have faith over online vendors.

Factor 2 – “Traditional shopping is convenient than online shopping” has emerged as a second factor which explicates 9.958% of total variance. It has five statements and clearly specifies that most of the people prefer traditional shopping than online shopping because online shopping is complex and time-consuming.

Factor 3 – Third crucial factor emerged in the factor analysis was “reputation and service provided”. It was found that 7.013% of variations described for the factor. Five statements have been found on this factor, all of which were interlinked. It clearly depicts that people only buy from reputed online stores after comparing prices and who provide guarantee or warrantee on goods.

Factor 4 – “Experience” was another vital factor, with 4.640% of the total variance. It has three statements that clearly specifies that people do not go for online shopping due to lack of knowledge and their past experience was not good and some online stores do not provide EMI facilities.

Factor 5 – Fifth important factor arisen in the factor analysis was “Insecurity and Insufficient Product Information” with 4.251% of the total variance, and it has laden five statements, which were closely intertwined. This factor explored that online shopping is not secure as traditional shopping. The information of products provided on online stores is not sufficient to make the buying decision.

Factor 6 – “Lack of trust” occurred as the last factor of the study, which clarifies 3.920% of the total variance. It has four statements that clearly state that some people hesitate to give their personal information, as they believe online shopping is risky than traditional shopping. Without touching the product, people hesitate to shop from online stores.

The study aimed to determine the problems faced by consumers during online purchase. The result showed that most of the respondents have both positive and negative experience while shopping online. There were many problems or issues that consumer’s face while using e-commerce platform. Total six factors came out from the study that limits consumers to buy from online sites like fear of bank transaction and no faith, traditional shopping more convenient than online shopping, reputation and services provided, experience, insecurity and insufficient product information and lack of trust.

The research might be useful for the e-tailers to plan out future strategies so as to serve customer as per their needs and generate customer loyalty. As per the investigation done by Casalo et al. (2008) , there is strong relationship between reputation and satisfaction, which further is linked to customer loyalty. If the online retailer has built his brand name, or image of the company, the customer is more likely to prefer that retailer as compared to new entrant. The online retailer that seeks less information from customers are more preferred as compared to those require complete personal information ( Lawler, 2003 ).

Online retailers can adopt various strategies to persuade those who hesitate to shop online such that retailer need to find those negative aspects to solve the problems of customers so that non-online shopper or irregular online consumer may become regular customer. An online vendor has to pay attention to product quality, variety, design and brands they are offering. Firstly, the retailer must enhance product quality so as to generate consumer trust. For this, they can provide complete seller information and history of the seller, which will preferably enhance consumer trust towards that seller.

Furthermore, they can adopt marketing strategies such as user-friendly and secure website, which can enhance customers’ shopping experience and easy product search and proper navigation system on website. Moreover, complete product and service information such as feature and usage information, description and dimensions of items can help consumer decide which product to purchase. The experience can be enhanced by adding more pictures, product videos and three-dimensional (3D), images which will further help consumer in the decision-making process. Moreover, user-friendly payment systems like cash on deliveries, return and exchange facilities as per customer needs, fast and speedy deliveries, etc. ( Chaturvedi et al. , 2016 ; Muthumani et al. , 2017 ) will also enhance the probability of purchase from e-commerce platform. Customers are concerned about not sharing their financial details on any website ( Roman, 2007 ; Limbu et al. , 2011 ). Online retailers can ensure payment security by offering numerous payment options such as cash on delivery, delivery after inspection, Google Pay or Paytm or other payment gateways, etc. so as to increase consumer trust towards website, and customer will not hesitate for financial transaction during shopping. Customers can trust any website depending upon its privacy policy, so retailers can provide customers with transparent security policy, privacy policy and secure transaction server so that customers will not feel anxious while making online payments ( Pan and Zinkhan, 2006 ). Moreover, customers not only purchase basic goods from the online stores but also heed augmented level of goods. Therefore, if vendors can provide quick and necessary support, answer all their queries within 24-hour service availability, customers may find it convenient to buy from those websites ( Martin et al. , 2015 ). Sellers must ensure to provide products and services that are suitable for internet. Retailers can consider risk lessening strategies such as easy return and exchange policies to influence consumers ( Bianchi and Andrews, 2012 ). Furthermore, sellers can offer after-sales services as given by traditional shoppers to attract more customers and generate unique shopping experience.

Although nowadays, most of the vendors do give plenty of offers in form of discounts, gifts and cashbacks, but most of them are as per the needs of e-retailers and not customers. Beside this, trust needs to be generated in the customer’s mind, which can be done by modifying privacy and security policies. By adopting such practices, the marketer can generate customers’ interest towards online shopping.

Conceptual framework of the study

Socioeconomic status of respondents

KMO and Bartlett’s test

Cronbach’s α

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Further reading

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