Impact of perceived risks on consumers' purchase intention while buying luxury items online

Abstract

The advent of internet has brought about a paradigm shift in the way shopping is done. From brick and mortar to virtual store, e-shopping is easy and time saving. However, consumer still perceive buying products online risky, especially if the items are luxury. The present study investigates the impact of perceived risks on consumers' online purchase intention of luxury items. Snowball sampling was administered to collect 242 usable responses from consumers. The present research takes into consideration apparel and watch as it is bought by both the genders. Structural equation modelling analysed data and evaluated the strength of model fit. Result revealed that perceived financial risk, perceived functional risk and perceived psychological risk had a significant negative effect on online purchase intention. However, perceived physical risk had insignificant negative effect on online purchase intention. Marketers may use these findings for developing policies and strategies to provide safe and trustworthy online shopping experience. This research is one of the prefatory investigations in Indian context that examine the impact of different perceived risks while purchasing luxurious items online.