Local Food Shopping: Factors Affecting Users’ Behavioural E-Loyalty

Abstract

While most research on electronic commerce has focused on customer behaviour according to websites’ functional tasks, consumers are influenced by many other factors such as website content and design, especially in online food shopping. This is the first study that aims to examine which variables best explain satisfaction and behavioural e-loyalty (to return to the website and purchase) regarding online local food shopping. It empirically tested a model with a local food e-commerce website using a sample of 305 real e-buyers. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to estimate the structural relationships. The findings revealed that all the tasks of a website could be strategically designed to enhance users’ loyalty, and stressed the importance of measuring how all website features jointly influence perceived flow and control. This study makes a significant contribution to the consumer literature that deals with local food websites, a subject which is currently under-researched, and the eventual impact on behavioural e-loyalty.