Impact of Intrinsic Factors and Subjective Norms that Influence Purchase Intention in Sri Lankan Online Retail Apparel Industry

Abstract

Throughout the past decade, the development of the internet as a marketing tool has become a worldwide trend. In the apparel industry, the online platform has become a fertile ground for direct marketing resulting in the disintermediation of number of intermediaries in the traditional marketing channel. Compared to other developed countries, the habit of purchasing through digital market by Sri Lankan customers is obviously at a lower level. Moreover, even at the global level, there are few studies over purchasing of apparel online while scholars have emphasized the necessity of more studies in different contexts. In the Sri Lankan context, there is a lacuna of the empirical evidence in the area. The focus of this study is to identify and investigate the major factors that influence online purchasing intention among Sri Lankan online buyers. Therein, based on a comprehensive literature review, four factors were identified under the categories of subjective norms and intrinsic factors. A field survey was conducted to investigate the effect of perceived value, perceived risk, and perceived quality and peer pressure on online purchasing intention. The primary data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire and interviews from a sample of 384 customers selected on the simple random basis. The model was tested by using the simple regression analysis and the results revealed that perceived value, perceived quality and peer pressure show a positive effect on the online retail apparel purchasing intention among customers. The study also found that there are many research avenues for invigorating the scientific body of knowledge in this area.