Exploring the moderating role of product type in Indian m-commerce fashion and electronics market

Abstract

With m-commerce now contributing up to 70% of total sales for Indian e-tailers, research efforts into related marketing strategies tailored for improved customer experience across touch points and platforms have intensified. This paper has two main objectives: to empirically test a research model advancing the understanding of smartphone-based mobile shopping in India and to study the impact of product purchase context on consumer behaviour through a multi-group analysis performed on two broad product categories, i.e., electronics and fashion. Structural equation modelling was performed on primary data collected from 344 existing online customers in order to validate and examine the proposed research model. The findings provided evidence regarding the importance of perceived usefulness, perceived risk and perceived self-efficacy for long-term continued usage. Additionally, the findings also revealed the moderation influence of product type on two relationships: one between perceived risk and purchase intention and second between perceived self-efficacy and purchase intention.