Modeling online apparel shopping behavior

To effectively market apparel products, it is necessary to understand consumers' apparel shopping behavior and why they choose to shop online for apparel. Most of the current research on consumer Internet shopping behavior simply extends current theories of consumer behavior into this new consumption realm. Furthermore, not enough attention has been devoted specifically to online apparel shopping. Our study fills this gap by focusing on online shopping behavior for apparel through an integrated innovation adoption and consumer decision-making perspective. To empirically test the proposed online shopping framework, a national online survey of 368 apparel purchasers was conducted. Exploratory quantitative analysis identified three dimensions of perceived Internet retailers' characteristics ( product and selection, customer service, and shopping incentives) and three dimensions of innovation characteristics of the Internet shopping medium (relative advantages, perceived enjoyment, and perceived risk). A two dimensional model of online apparel shopping behavior provided the best fit (GFI =. 994; RMSEA =. 014; p =0. 382). Relative advantages and perceived product risk were found to be important predictors of consumers choosing the Internet to purchase apparel. Insights are offered for increasing online apparel sales through providing more advantages to online consumers and reducing their perception of risk.