Abstract
In China, the mature development of online retail channels provides consumers with multiple consumption choices, and the factors that affect whether consumers choose to search or purchase online are numerous and complex. In this context, this paper reports on experimental research regarding consumers’ willingness to choose channels based on the two-stage decision-making theory. Using structural equation modeling, the factors influencing consumers’ online search intention and purchase willingness and the relationship between them are studied. In particular, the perceived benefits, channel trust, and channel transfer costs are explored. Furthermore, a Bayesian network is used in order to analyze the degree of influence of each factor quantitatively. It is found that online trust is an important factor affecting consumers’ online search intention, and the most important factor for consumers’ online purchase intention is their perceived benefits of online shopping. At the same time, there is a positive relationship between online search intention and purchase intention. This study can provide management decision support for online retail enterprises and help to promote the healthy development of online shopping.
Highlights
The recent emergence of multiple retail channels has made consumers’ choice of shopping channels more complex, causing consumers to rethink their choice of shopping channels
Before the formal survey, we conducted a pre-survey on the questionnaire with college students who have online shopping experience (100 students in total) and revised the questionnaire based on the suggestions made by them and experts
The results showed that as: (1) Consumers’ perceived benefits, channel trust, and switching cost have a positive impact on search intention, and consumers’ trust in online channels is the main factor driving their choice of online search, this result is consistent with the results found in the previous studies (e.g., Hajli, 2015; Martin et al, 2015; Reimer and Benkenstein, 2016; Zhao et al, 2017)
Summary
The recent emergence of multiple retail channels has made consumers’ choice of shopping channels more complex, causing consumers to rethink their choice of shopping channels. Based on two-stage decision-making theory, we take into account the online channel searching and purchasing intention of consumers in this paper and accurately analyze the factors that affect how consumers make choices online and their complex relationships. Based on the above analyses, the degree of consumers’ perceived benefits of retail channels reflect their willingness to choose search information or purchase products. Building on this discussion, the study suggests the following hypotheses: H2: There is a positive relationship between perceived benefits and online search intention, and search willingness can have a reverse impact on perceived interests.
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