What makes people revisit e-commerce platform? A case study on Pinduoduo platform in China

Abstract

In recent years, China's e-commerce market has been growing very fast with many new platform companies are in fierce competition. However, there is not much research done previously which attempted to identify factors that contribute to the platform success in China. In view of this apparent shortage in the literature, this study aims to take a case approach to verify whether the characteristics of the Pinduoduo platform affect the platform attitude to enhance customers' revisit intention. With a view to confirming internal and external stimuli, this study adopted product satisfaction and social network services (SNS) utilization as mediator and moderator variables respectively. For this purpose, this study conducted an online survey on consumers who have purchase products from Pinduoduo platform in China. 253 questionnaires were used for analysis. The results of the study confirmed that both perceived price discounts and platform recognition have significantly affected platform attitude. In addition, the platform attitude had a significant impact on product satisfaction. Finally, SNS utilization played a significant moderating role in the relationship between platform attitude and revisit intention.