Consumer behaviour in online shopping: an updated view of the role of gender and shopping involvement
In traditional commerce, the socio-demographic profile of the customer has usually been a means of segmenting the company's target customers (Lin, 2002; Hernández et al., 2010). Variables such as gender, age or income have allowed companies to create clusters of customers with different motivations, needs, price sensitivity, etc. One of the objectives of this research was to empirically test whether these variables are still valid for segmentation when it comes to online shopping. In this study, the main variables that influence the behaviour of users in online shops have been taken, studying through a sample of 223 individuals the existing differences between different sexes and generations. The variables analysed: Trust, Perceived Usefulness, Ease of Use, Web Design, Information Quality, Discounts and Brand Preference. The results of the study show that, with the exception of the variable Discounts, there are no differences in the ratings of men and women with respect to the main quality indicators of an online shop. In the case of discounts, significant differences between men and women were identified for two items, D1 and D3. The results indicate that a.) women show a greater propensity to buy online when products are on promotion. b.) in a situation of having to choose between a well-known brand and a brand on promotion, women are more likely to choose the promoted brand. The other variables, including the perception of trust between different generations, do not show significant differences and indicate that, in general, in an online shopping context, socio-demographic characteristics are not a good means of segmentation. In order to get to know the online shopper better and to be able to serve him/her with value-added products and services, in this study we have tried to discover the differences in the ratings of individuals with high, medium and low involvement in shopping. Supported by the literature, we hypothesised that involvement causes differences in the perception and valuation of the variables Brand Preference, Trust, Perceived Usefulness, Discounts and Information Quality. The results regarding the discriminating role of purchase involvement are highly satisfactory and of great interest to marketers. Of all the variables analysed, only Information Quality shows no significant differences between users with different levels of involvement. a.) In terms of Brand Preference, significant differences were found between users with low involvement, medium involvement and high involvement. On a 7-point Likert scale, the mean scores were: Low Involvement: 4.68 Medium Involvement: 4.96 High Involvement: 6.03. These significant differences show that the preference for well-known brands is higher in users with a high level of involvement. b.) Trust towards the brand is a variable in which significantly different average ratings are also found in users with low, medium and high involvement. Specifically, scores of 3.57 4.35 and 5.19 were obtained respectively. We can affirm that involvement with the purchase is related to a greater perception of trust towards the online retailer. c.) Perceived Usefulness has also been shown to be related to the level of involvement with the purchase. Thus, more involved users find it more useful to shop online than those with low involvement. d.) As with the evaluation of discounts between genders, we also found significant differences in the case of involvement. Users who are more involved are more motivated by discounts. The study was conducted under the supervision of University of Granada for final thesis. Full study can be found here: https://beevoo.net/img/Granada-university/Consumer-behaviour-in-online-shopping-an-updated-view-of-the-role-of-gender-and-shopping-involvement.pdf For more information about sample process please read section 3.1 Sample in the original document.
Keywords
ecommerce, shopping, technology, marketing