The connection and disconnection between online retailers and their customers: an examination through the regulatory focus and regulatory fit frameworks

Abstract

Significant time, resources, and attention have been given over the past few decades to how business can attract more customers to their online stores, yet the problem remains. It is still difficult to convert an initial online encounter with potential customers into a buying relationship. That is, e-retailers still have more to learn about online customers’ decision-making behaviors and their shopping practices (i.e., selecting an appropriate website, exploring it further and making a product/service purchase decision) and how to design and present websites that can turn browsing “visitors” into “buyers.” This study aims to develop a deeper comprehension of the driving forces that not only attract visitors to a website but also motivate them to make a purchase. Drawing from the e-retailing, services, regulatory focus, and regulatory fit literatures, this study crafts a series of predictions about visitors’ intensity of liking a website and intention to purchase from that website. By conducting studies across a number of different countries, this research found evidence that visitors’ evaluation and purchase intention are determined by the fit between the e-service offered (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and visitors’ regulatory orientation (promotion vs. prevention). More specifically, it has been illustrated that, mediating through the mechanisms of engagement, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, promotion-focused (prevention-focused) shoppers are more likely to have a favorable attitude towards and a higher intention to purchase from a website when it offers more hedonic (utilitarian) services. By extending the goal compatibility principle to the online shopping context, it has also been shown that shoppers experiencing fit are able to sustain their regulatory orientation in subsequent decisions, which results in a preference for products that emphasize the same regulatory goal. The findings of this study offer important and timely contributions to the online retailing and regulatory focus literature by not only investigating the principle of regulatory focus and regulatory fit in the online shopping context, but also by documenting a new source of regulatory fit: a match between the hedonic or utilitarian online service and a shopper’s promotion versus prevention regulatory orientation. Finally, this study will also help e-retailers increase sales by clarifying why, when, and to what extent an e-retailer should offer hedonic versus utilitarian services.