Impact of Product Line on Shopping Motivations of Consumers in E-commerce—A Correspondence Analysis

Abstract

An increasing number of e-commerce sites offering products globally have created a highly competitive marketplace across various market segments. E-retailers look to update their sites regularly to facilitate consumer decision-making. This article examines consumers’ motivational factors when shopping online and their association with online shopping sites offering different product lines delineating one online shopping site from another. Significant online shopping motivational factors identified through the literature review such as ease of navigation and website content, personalized services, discounts/promotional offers, range of products, familiarity with an e-store, reviews on-site, cancellation and returns policy, product quality and logistics were mapped with a few popular e-commerce sites in India offering different product lines, using correspondence analysis. Findings suggest consumers give more importance to quality, ease of navigation and website content, and personalized services when shopping at e-commerce platforms offering limited product lines like grocery/apparel. In contrast, good reviews, good logistics, clear order cancellations and return policy are more important when shopping at e-commerce sites providing an extensive product line. Such information can assist e-retailers in improvising their services to gain customer satisfaction and differentiate their website from others.