Consumer buying behavior towards online shopping: the case of Kosovo

AuthorAfërina Skeja
PositionUniversity 'Ukshin Hoti' Prizren
Pages79-95
Vo
l.
5
N
o
. 2
Jul
y
, 201
9
ISS
N 2410-391
8
A
cces on
l
ine at www.ii
p
cc
l
.or
g
7
9
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Sciences
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustria
Consumer bu
y
ing behavior towards online shopping: the case of Kosov
o
Afërina Ske
U
niversity “
U
kshin Hoti” Prizren
Ab
str
a
ct
O
ur daily life is in uenced by technology and internet herbs which are of utmost importance.
A
s the number and quality of services provided by internet increases, online shopping turns
out to be the most developed channel which is one of the reasons why numerous current
research works are dedicated to it. The number and quality of services provided over the
i
nternet has been continually increasing in recent years and online shopping is one of the
f
astest developing channels. This rapid improvement may cause consumers to have negative
e
xperiences along with positive ones.
O
n one hand consumers may choose to give up shopping
online because o
f
discouraging
f
actors and on the other hand may choose to shop more online
or start shopping online because of encouraging factors on the internet platform. Consumers
a
re the building blocks of a healthy business and that is why we need to give importance to
consumers’ preferences and comments. The aim of this study is to examine the actual status o
f
online shopping in Kosovo, determine the thoughts of consumers about online shopping and
determine encouraging and discouraging factors of Kosovar consumers on online shopping.
K
e
y
words:
O
nline Shopping,
O
nline Consumer, Consumer Buying Behavior,
O
nline
Consumer Behavior,
O
nline Consumer Preference.
I
ntr
oduc
t
io
n
I
n addition to
p
roviding u
p
-to-date in
f
ormation
ow and having access to
i
n
f
ormation, using in
f
ormation and communication technologies in an e
cient wa
y
a
re two other im
p
ortant conditions re
q
uired
f
or a success
f
ul in
f
ormation societ
y
in
our era. Progress in internet technolog
y
has enabled businesses to be easil
y
accessible
f
or customers sca ered across di
erent geogra
p
hical areas.
O
n
e
of
th
e
r
ea
s
o
ns
w
hy
on
l
ine s
h
o
pp
ing activit
y
is
d
eve
l
o
p
ing so ra
p
i
dly
as an internet initiative is t
h
e
wide range o
f
o
pp
ortunities o
ered to consumers.
O
nline sho
pp
ing is a
p
rocess that
e
nables customer relationshi
p
s to be established and maintained in order to
f
acilitate
t
he trading o
f
p
roducts, services and ideas that will satis
fy
both the consumer and
t
he com
p
an
y
. Customers who sho
p
online can easil
y
have access to the
p
roducts the
y
want, and observe the wide variet
y
o
f
p
roducts.
Consumers who
p
re
f
er using online sho
pp
ing can save a lot o
f
time during the da
y
by
com
p
aring thousands o
f
p
roducts and bu
y
ing the most reasonable one with the
h
el
p
o
f
just a
f
ew clicks.
I
n addition to saving mone
y
, consumers who
p
re
f
er online
s
ho
pp
ing can save mone
y
and energ
y
too (
U
ğur, 2016).
T
he number o
f
com
p
uters having an internet connection is growing ex
p
onentiall
y
.
T
he
f
ast s
p
read o
f
internet to man
y
grou
p
s o
f
societ
y
not onl
y
changed the lives o
f
i
ndividuals, but also changed their behaviors as consumers. Since saving time
f
or
d
ai
ly
activities in or
d
er to
b
e a
bl
e to engage more in socia
l
activities is ver
y
im
p
ortant
Vo
l.
5
N
o
. 2
J
u
ly
, 2019
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Science
s
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustri
a
I
SSN 2410-391
8
A
cces online at www.ii
p
ccl.or
g
80
in our ra
p
i
dly
d
eve
l
o
p
ing wor
ld
, on
l
ine s
h
o
pp
ing
h
as starte
d
to gain more im
p
ortance
by
eac
h
p
assing
d
a
y
(Gü
l
taş an
d
Y
ı
ld
ırım, 2016)
.
O
nline sho
pp
ing is a
f
orm o
f
electronic commerce that allows consumers to bu
y
p
roducts or services from the seller via the
I
nternet using. Most of consumers who bu
y
in t
h
e on
l
ine s
h
o
pp
ing environment
d
o s
h
o
pp
ing on
l
ine to
b
u
y
goo
d
s an
d
services,
c
ollect
p
roduct in
f
ormation or even have
f
un (Gana
p
athi, 2015).
O
nline sho
pp
ing has
di
erent stages com
p
ared to traditional sho
pp
ing. Consumers cannot get enough
in
f
ormation in online sho
pp
ing es
p
eciall
y
in the market research stage and
rms
c
reate we
b
sites t
h
at tr
y
to gras
p
consumers’ a ention. Firms organize cam
p
aigns,
g
ive
p
rizes, o
er discounts and make a ractive advertisements to a ract consumer
a ention (Li an
d
Z
h
ang, 2002).
O
nline sho
pp
ing is an e-commerce s
y
stem used b
y
sho
pp
ers in the context o
f
b
usiness-to-consumer (B2C) or
b
usiness-to-
b
usiness (B2B) (Ling, C
h
ai an
d
Piew,
2010).
O
nline sho
pp
ing means the
p
rocess o
f
bu
y
ing
p
roducts or services via the
I
nternet. With the ra
p
id develo
p
ment o
f
technolog
y
and internet, researchers
h
ave been
f
ocused on
guring out the behavior o
f
consumers engaged in online
sho
pp
ing with a s
p
ecial concentration on identi
fy
ing the relevant characteristics and
assessing them a
erwards. Consumers can easil
y
have access to the
p
roduct or new
p
roduct in
f
ormation, collect in
f
ormation and easil
y
bu
y
b
y
com
p
aring alternative
p
roducts thanks to the advantages o
f
using the internet.
A
wide range o
f
sho
pp
ing
c
enters, trans
p
ortation
p
roblems and
p
arking
p
roblems create a ver
y
com
p
lex and
p
roblematic sho
pp
ing environment. Some o
f
the bene
ts o
f
online sho
pp
ing can be;
c
onvenience,
f
ull time access to stores,
p
roduct in
f
ormation and reviews, time and
e
nerg
y
saving, com
p
arison o
f
p
rices, be er
p
rices,
p
roduct variet
y
, sending online
g
i
s, no crowds and
p
ressure. Some o
f
the disadvantages can be listed as
f
ollows;
r
isk o
f
f
raud, securit
y
concerns, secure sockets la
y
er (SSL),
p
hishing, lack o
f
f
ull
c
ost
d
isc
l
osure,
p
ro
d
uct suita
b
i
l
it
y
, s
h
i
pp
ing
p
ro
bl
ems an
d
d
e
l
a
y
s, com
pl
ications or
p
ro
bl
ems in returns, com
pl
icate
d
we
b
sites or a
ppl
ication, no sa
l
es assistance etc
.
L
i
t
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
R
e
v
iew
Researc
h
ers
h
ave main
ly
ana
ly
ze
d
consumer
b
e
h
avior, encouraging reasons an
d
r
e
l
ate
d
c
h
aracteristics in stu
d
ies regar
d
ing on
l
ine s
h
o
pp
ing. Kuo an
d
Russe
ll
(1999)
in their research claim that consumers who are bu
y
ing online more
f
re
q
uentl
y
are
more suitabilit
y
-oriented. Shun and
Y
unjie (2006) in their stud
y
show that consumers
p
urchase online usuall
y
books, so
ware, electronics and music. The most common
r
eason
b
e
h
in
d
t
h
is is t
h
at consumers
d
o not nee
d
to in
d
ivi
d
ua
lly
examine t
h
ose
p
roducts since the
y
include
p
roduct ex
p
lanations and descri
p
tions. Soon
y
ong and
Lee (2010) show that the e
ect o
f
online consumer reviews on
p
urchase intention
is stronger
f
or
f
emales than males. Females also tend to get a
ected b
y
a negative
r
eview more than b
y
a
p
ositive one, which im
p
lies that the negativit
y
e
ect is more
e
v
i
d
e
nt
fo
r
fe
m
a
l
e
s th
a
n
fo
r m
a
l
e
s.
A
zadavar et al. (2011) in this research show that
f
actors such as: trust,
p
re
f
erence,
c
ustomer service, customers’ income, services an
d
securit
y
are more im
p
ortant t
h
an
c
om
p
uter re
l
ate
d
p
ro
d
ucts an
d
services to encourage
p
eo
pl
e to s
h
o
p
on
l
ine. Pro
d
uct

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