Intention to use e-commerce vs physical shopping. Difference between consumers in the post-COVID era

ABSTRACT

The increase in the widespread use of e-commerce reveals a greater tendency towards online shopping. The objective of this research is to analyze the drivers and barriers of online channel usage intention and their implications for physical channels, based on a modification of the UTAUT2 model, as well as to identify the relevant segments of e-commerce consumers versus physical shoppers in the post-COVID-19 era, using Hierarchical Tree Regression applying the CHAID method through an online questionnaire on a final sample of 491 Portuguese and 345 Spanish users. The results confirm the differences in the adoption of the use of electronic channels between the two countries, the absence of influence of most socio-demographic variables on intention, and the importance of behavioral variables in the definition of segments in both populations. Finally, strategic recommendations are made for each of the identified groups to improve the intention to use e-commerce platforms.