Expert Journal of Marketing (May 2020)
Online Shopping: Motivation, Loyalty and Process
Abstract
The study’s objective was to understand the motivation and loyalty of online shoppers in South Africa, and to understand the process undertaken by online shoppers in procuring products and services online. The literature review covered benefits and factors that influence online shopping, online shopping behaviour and patterns, and products offering suitability for online sales. But, did not cover the consumers’ view and approach to online shopping, and the deeper decisions engaged during the process of shopping online. The study utilised the qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews were used to extract data from online shoppers. The study found that online shoppers viewed shopping as utilitarian activity for acquiring products. The activity did not provide any enjoyment or opportunity for human interaction. Online shopping value proposition anchored on efficiency in getting best product information, offering variety and purchasing the products. The study identified gaps in the online shopping process that inhibits rate of adoption. Online stores should attend to end-to-end shopping experience to mitigate impact of the weak links in the process. The product fulfilment (delivery) and product returns policy provides an opportunity to improve the adoption of online shopping. The study identified key questions to be excavated further; a key recommendation would be to study how subsidising cost of data would impact online visits.
