Investigating consumers' online purchasing behavior: Single-brand e-retailers versus multi-brand e-retailers

摘要

The increasing prevalence of e-commerce in the consumer context raises the issue of the difference in consumer perception and behavior considering single-brand e-retailers and multi-brand e-retailers. In which situations and conditions, if any, do customers prefer one of these types of e-retailers? Little empirical research has been conducted in area. We investigate an online purchasing behavior model that includes the two types of e-retailers. The model confirms a difference in customers' perceptions between single-brand e-retailers and multi-brand e-retailers. In fact, for single-brand e-retailers, value, and implicitly quality, are indicators of repurchase intention, while in both websites, when customers believe that the brand of the product gives them prestige, they tend to repurchase. However, the impact of price on prestige differs between these two types of websites.