E-commerce in the fashion business: the roles of the COVID-19 situational factors, hedonic and utilitarian motives on consumers’ intention to purchase online

Abstract

The study intends to investigate the roles of the COVID-19 epidemic situational factors and hedonic and utilitarian motives on consumers' intent to buy fashion products online. It is theorised that the COVID-19 epidemic situational factors include physical obstacles caused by the lockdown and the closings of brick-and-mortar retailers, the antecedent states linked to the anxiety during the outbreak, the store atmosphere characterised by the risk of contracting the Coronavirus during shopping activity, and social distancing. An online questionnaire was collected from 351 Indonesian consumers. SmartPLS 3 and PLS-SEM were used for hypothesis testing. The results reveal that the COVID-19 epidemic situational factors, utilitarian and hedonic motives positively and significantly affect consumers' intent to buy fashion products online. These findings will help online marketers and retailers develop their websites and improve their selling endeavours.