Buying Perfume in the Digital Age: A Study on E-Shoppers’ Perceptions and Typologies

Abstract

Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This study aims to shed light on the factors that facilitate online purchase of perfume. It specifically: 1) explores the antecedents of online purchase behaviour in the case of experience goods; 2) analyses the motivations, perceived benefits and perceived risks associated with online purchase of perfume; and 3) identifies perfume e-shoppers’ profiles. Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative research approach involving interviewing 27 perfume e-shoppers from Brazil, Iran and Portugal was adopted. Research findings: The findings of this study reveal that there are three types of perfume e-shoppers: 1) experienced e-shoppers, 2) bargain e-seekers, and 3) expert e-shoppers. Competitive prices, enjoyable online experiences and greater varieties of perfumes are among the perceived benefits that motivate the online shoppers. The inability to test the perfumes, particularly those that are never tried before, appears to be the major drawback. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study provides interesting cues on a topic that has so far been disregarded by the literature despite its growing importance as a business sector—online purchase of perfumes. It offers the categorisation of three e-shopper profiles, based on consumers’ narratives, and highlighted the importance of further addressing the dynamic nature of consumer behaviours, particularly in the online context. Practitioner/Policy implications: The findings show that the main trigger of buying perfume online is the price discounts, which is particularly important to less experienced Web shoppers. This indicates that experience goods such as perfume should, at the initial stage, be sold in stores that offer an assortment of products. Online perfume stores should consider alternatives to provide perfume testing. Research limitation/Implications: Purposive sampling does not allow results’ generalisation; hence future research is needed to further validate the findings.

e-RetailTest: Scale to Assess the Attitude of Consumers towards E-Commerce in the Retail Sector

“…The e-RetailTest scale was built based on theoretical models that determine customer perceptions of their attitude towards online purchases in the retail sector [22,28,30,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]63,64], therefore, these perceptions are determined, among others, by five variables present in the online purchase process: (a) Quality of web design, for which eight items were established and aimed at measuring the design of the information, specifically, the way in which the information published on the website is organized [37][38][39][40]; (b) Risk at the time of making a purchase, for which four items were established that evaluate the uncertainty and unpredictable consequences that customers experience at the beginning of a purchase process [41,42]; (c) Customer service, determined by three items that evaluate the action that leads to effective communication between the company representative and the online customer [40,[44][45][46]; (d) Security, which has three items and measures the customer's perception of privacy, protection, and trust throughout the purchase process [47][48][49] and (e) Satisfaction, represented by two items that evaluate the positive attitude of the customer regarding the service received and their expectations and that succeeds in promoting repurchase behavior [50]…”

“…At a theoretical level, the e-RetailTest scale contributes to the line of instrumental research by offering a means to measure the attitude to purchase online, specifically in the retail sector, based on current and current theoretical models on the variables related to the purchase process or purchasing online [22,28,30,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]63,64], whose authors state that the attitudes of customers in an online purchase process and their prediction for future purchases can be measured through various evaluations that the customer made from the security during the online purchase process [47][48][49], the risk perceived during the purchase intention [41,42], the ease that the design of the virtual store offers to make the purchase [37][38][39][40], the service received through the different communication channels and the delivery process [40,[44][45][46], and the satisfaction perceived from the online shopping experience [50][51][52][53]. In addition, it is made known that the first version of this instrument was not built to be exclusive to online purchases in the retail sector; however...…”

“…The scale has a total of 20 items that are evaluated using a Likert scale, in a range of 1 to 5 points, corresponding to the categories that go from "totally disagree" to "totally agree", respectively. The scale was developed based on the updated literature regarding the variables present in an online purchase process that impact consumer attitudes, web design quality [28,[37][38][39]54,55], perceived risk [22,30,[41][42][43], customer service [45,50,54,55], safety [41,48], and satisfaction [29,36,37,40,53,55].…”

“…Financial risk refers to the loss of money from a client for various reasons associated with the purchase of a product, while product risk refers to the loss incurred when a product or service does not comply with what is offered [42]. Other authors analyzed various sources of perceived risks online, such as the recording of personal data, the security of financial transactions, and product performance [22,43].…”

The Role of Attitude Towards Behavior and Utilitarian Benefit in Intention to Purchase Based on Theory of Planned Behavior in Generations Y and Z

“…The increasing development of perfume, especially designer perfume brands, is starting to become the target of many young people, coupled with the virality of several luxury perfume products. Perfume is a product that requires direct involvement of the five senses of smell, but now, more and more consumers are buying perfume online (Barbosa et al, 2021). Consumers are even willing to pre-order or buy perfume from international brands or luxury brands abroad so they can own the perfume.…”