Exploring the Critical Website Characteristics and their Influence on the Online Shopping Adoption of Consumers in Mumbai
Keywords:
Website characteristics, Online shopping adoption, DemographicsAbstract
Purpose- Online retail, while today representing a small fraction of the e-commerce space is one of the fastest growing segments. It is also the most challenging in fulfilling its fundamental proposition of transcending physical boundaries to deliver a variety of products to the customer’s doorstep. The potential growth of online shopping has triggered the idea of conducting a study on online shopping in India. This study explored the important online website characteristics that influence online shopping adoption in Indian context. Design/Methodology/Approach- This was an empirical study utilizing exploratory cum descriptive type of research design. Data were collected through structured questionnaire. This study is based on the large sample collected from Mumbai. Socio-demographic profiles of respondents were analyzed using frequency distribution. Factor analysis using principal components method of factor extraction with varimax rotation was used. Item analysis, linear regression analysis technique was also used to determine the influence of various dimension of website characteristics on online shopping adoption of consumer. Findings- the research results reveal six important online website characteristics which influence the online shopping adoption in Indian context. These six factors are visual appearance, ease of use, website management, interactivity, security and privacy information and financial benefits. Practical implications - These findings enable the e-commerce companies to gain a meaningful insight of understanding nuances of important website characteristics and their influence on online shopping adoption. The study also provides a powerful tool for e-commerce marketers for strategy formulation in the areas of marketing, brand positioning, pricing policy, and distribution etc.
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