Factors influencing the purchase decision in the B2C sector through social commerce channels: empirical research

At present the advance of social commerce is due to the increased activity of users making purchases through Internet. At the end of 2017, the number of orders in Internet trading increased by 7% on the domestic market with 31% made in Moscow (AKIT, 2017). The developing trend of purchasing through the Internet arouses a lot of interest. Since there is increasing continuous concern for the lack of sales channels and channels of interaction with customers, the issue of finding appropriate and effective channels is currently an active area of research among organizations. That is why social commerce channels are becoming an increasingly important online-shopping channels. Now more and more consumers use channels of social commerce in the process of purchasing starting from understanding the need to the purchase itself. Companies are gradually realizing that social networks are becoming a significant channel of trade. It is essential to understand consumers’ preferences and factors influencing their purchase decision in order to successfully use the channels of social commerce. The project aims to identify the most important factors influencing the decision to purchase from a company through the channels of social commerce in order to use these factors in practical recommendations for companies in the Russian market. For identifying the social commerce channels and methodologies of its studying in previous research, documentary analysis was implemented. This method serves for systematizing the existing knowledge about social commerce and determination the classification of social commerce channels. At this stage, a primary list of factors influencing the purchase decision was formed. In-depth interviews were processed to expand the list of factors influencing the purchase decision with insights got from companies’ representatives. In order to identify the most significant factors influencing the purchase decision through social commerce channels, the online survey was conducted. The participants represent customers who made purchases through social commerce channels over the past year. Other selection criteria include age from 18 to 26 and place of residence in Moscow. The obtained data was analyzed using statistical analysis namely exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and discriminant analysis. The project has major practical implications. Based on the findings of in-depth interviews and online-survey analysis a list of the most significant factors influencing the purchase decision through social commerce channels was identified. These factors include social interaction, service, consumer expectations, reviews, website. A list of recommendations for companies was compiled aimed at improving the experience of using social commerce channels.