Research On The Phenomenon Of "Window Shopping" On E-commerce Platforms Based On The "Stressor-Strain-Outcome" Model

With the rapid development of e-commerce related technologies,the way of shopping has changed greatly.It is increasingly common for consumers to shop through e-commerce platforms.Online shopping has not only brought economic benefits to the platforms and merchants,but also brought great convenience to consumers.As the number of online retailers and e-commerce users continues to grow,the phenomenon of "Window shopping" is becoming more and more salient.Window shopping refers to the phenomenon that consumers browsing and selecting commodities on e-commerce platforms,but not placing orders.Although window shopping brings attention to the store,it is essential for the development of e-commerce enterprises to reduce the window shopping behavior of consumers so as to improve the order rate.Therefore,it is important to conduct an in-depth research on the phenomenon of window shopping.The study consists of two parts: a qualitative research that explores the stressors that cause the phenomenon of window shopping,and a quantitative research that investigates the influence of these stressors on consumers’ shopping cart abandonment behavior and delayed purchase behavior.This study also provides suggestions for ecommerce platforms and merchants based on the findings.In the qualitative part of the research,the "Stressor-Strain-Outcome" model(SSO)was used as the theoretical foundation to explore which stressors may cause the window shopping behavior.Specifically,this part of the research used semi-structured interviews for data collection and content analysis for data analysis.Five possible stressors that may lead to the window shopping phenomenon were identified:commodity price,service quality,commodity quality,choice overload,and excessive marketing.In the quantitative part of this paper,two behaviors are studied(i.e.,shopping cart abandonment and delayed purchase)based on the "stimulus-response" model(SR).Using the stressors derived from the qualitative research as stimuli and the two behaviors as the response,a theoretical model was built to investigate the effect of stressors on consumers’ shopping cart abandonment and delayed purchase behavior.Data were analyzed with Smart PLS 4.0.A total of eleven hypotheses were proposed in this part of the research.Nine hypotheses were supported.It is found that consumers’ concerns about service quality,commodity quality,commodity price,excessive marketing,and choice overload are positively associated with their shopping cart abandonment behavior.In addition,consumers’ concerns about commodity price,excessive marketing,and choice overload are positively associated with their delayed purchase behavior.Moreover,consumers’ shopping cart abandonment behavior is also positively related to the delayed purchase behavior.Finally,based on the results of the research,this paper provides recommendations for e-commerce platforms and merchants to control the quality of commodities,improve the quality of services,break the dilemma of excessive marketing,alleviate the choice overload,and achieve reasonable pricing of commodities,in order to reduce the phenomenon of window shopping.The recommendations may help eliminate consumers’ concerns,assist consumers to get the commodities they want,improve customer satisfaction,bring consumers a pleasant shopping experience,and thus promote the sustainable development of e-commerce platforms.