Understanding Consumers Online Furniture Purchase Behavior: An Updated UTAUT Perspective

Abstract

Furniture is large-volume durable goods, and the furniture purchase behavior is featured by live experience, large payment for a single purchase, and low frequency of purchase. We selected consumers who accept online furniture shopping behavior. This study on the online furniture purchase behavior of these potential customers would facilitate precise marketing activities for furniture e-commerce and build a full-line e-commerce model for large-volume durable goods. The revised UTAUT2 (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology) model was used to design a questionnaire on the intention for online furniture purchase. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data obtained from the responses to questionnaires distributed among 277 Chinese consumers. By order of importance, the price value, performance expectancy, and social influence exerted a significant positive impact on online furniture purchase intention, while the perceived risk exerted a significant negative impact on consumers’ online purchase intention. Although the facilitating conditions exerted no significant impact on online shopping intention, they had a significant positive impact on the acceptance of online furniture shopping, just like purchase intention. Furthermore, gender, online shopping years, and online furniture purchasing experience exhibited a partial moderating effect on consumers’ online purchases of furniture. Thus, sellers can effectively promote consumers’ online furniture purchase by promotions, pricing, and service.