Impact of Online Retail Store Environment on Customer Purchase Intention

Abstract

At present, the online store environment concept is at the growing stage in the retail industry in Sri Lanka. With the rapid development of information and communication technology along with the globalization, consumers are forced to become online shoppers. Though consumers are increasingly adopting electronic channels for purchasing, explaining online consumer behavior is still a major issue. Through this study, the attention has been paid to analyze the relationship between online store environment and customer purchase intention, due to lack of existing studies available in Sri Lankan context related to the study area. So, the objective of this study is to identify the influence of each of the online store environment factor on customer purchase intention. The study was conducted in Southern Province and 100 respondents were selected as the sample based on the criterion that they have purchased goods online. Primary data were collected by using a survey based questionnaire. Basically, three online store environment factors such as availability, appearance and usability/regularity were measured through descriptive statistics. Additionally, the relationship between each of the store environment factor and customer purchase intention was measured by using correlation statistics. Results indicated that all the three store environment factors have a positive influence to change Customer’s Purchase Intention. Specially, when purchasing a product online, customers are highly concerning about the appearance of the store environment.