Consumer Characteristics, Product Characteristics and Choice of E-commerce Platforms in Kenya

Abstract

Overtime e-commerce businesses have gone from their simple initial stages to becoming a threat to the more established, big retail businesses. E-commerce and all its related processes can be unified with traditional business processes to enhance quality of products and services in a company, hence stimulating marketplace performance. This research study was aimed at assessing the the factors influencing customer preference for e-commerce platforms in Kenya. The study was guided by the Theory of Bounded Rationality, Theory of Trust formation and Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior. The researcher employed a cross-sectional survey-based research design. The researcher targeted people who have access to internet only and are computer literate. Simple random sampling design was used to sample 50 Kenyans seeking services at Huduma Centers and Immigration offices. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analyzing quantitative data using SPSS version 24. Data were presented in the form of tables. The findings show that: there was a positive correlation between consumer characteristics and consumers’ choice of e-commerce, a significant correlation between consumer perceptions and consumers’ choice of e-commerce and a positive correlation between product characteristics and consumers’ choice of e-commerce. The research paper concludes the main factors influencing customer preference for e-commerce platforms in Kenya are consumer characteristics, consumer perceptions and product characteristics. The researcher recommends that; e-commerce sellers should consider the demographics of their target customers when planning their marketing strategies. E-commerce sellers should also be creative when designing their websites by ensuring that they offer standard and the right product as ordered by the consumer. They should also offer various products and brands and emphasize more on convenience of shopping online.