I Can't Believe Online: A Study on How Negative Reviews Move Online Shoppers to the Offline Channel

Abstract

Despite the benefits of online shopping, we easily observe consumer behaviour when making purchases through offline channels. Why do they choose to go offline by taking the effort to go there? As a factor influencing decisionmaking, this study assumes that distrust of online shopping increases webrooming intentions that online consumers move to offline channels. Consumers check online reviews as well as seller information to increase their purchasing confidence. There are few studies on the effect of negative online reviews on consumers' purchasing decisions. Contrary to the pessimistic results of previous studies, the results of this study explain the mechanism by which consumers who saw negative online reviews feel distrust of online shopping and go to offline stores. It provides implications for understanding the migration phenomenon of online shoppers to offline channels and what strategies should be prepared to retain and attract customers to each channel.