IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfe/zbefri/v41y2023i1p157-181.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decision trees do not lie: Curiosities in preferences of Croatian online consumers

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Marija Filipas

    (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Rijeka, Croatia)

  • Nenad Vretenar

    (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Rijeka, Croatia)

  • Ivan Prudky

    (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Rijeka, Croatia)

Abstract

Understanding consumers’ preferences has always been important for economic theory and for business practitioners in operations management, supply chain management, marketing, etc. While preferences are often considered stable in simplified theoretical modelling, this is not the case in real-world decision-making. Therefore, it is crucial to understand consumers’ preferences when a market disruption occurs. This research aims to recognise consumers’ preferences with respect to online shopping after the COVID-19 outbreak hit markets. To this purpose, we conducted an empirical study among Croatian consumers with prior experience in online shopping using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 350 respondents who met the criteria. We selected decision-tree models using the J48 algorithm to determine the influences of the found shopping factors and demographic characteristics on a consumer’s preference indicator. The main components of our indicators that influence consumer behaviour are the stimulators and destimulators of online shopping and the importance of social incidence. Our results show significant differences between men and women, with men tending to use fewer variables to make decisions. In addition, the analysis revealed that four product groups and a range of shopping mode-specific influencing factors are required to evaluate consumers’ purchase points when constructing the consumers’ preference indicator.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Marija Filipas & Nenad Vretenar & Ivan Prudky, 2023. "Decision trees do not lie: Curiosities in preferences of Croatian online consumers," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 41(1), pages 157-181.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfe:zbefri:v:41:y:2023:i:1:p:157-181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.efri.uniri.hr/upload/06-Filipas_et_al-2023-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. JiHyo Moon & Yunseon Choe & HakJun Song, 2021. "Determinants of Consumers’ Online/Offline Shopping Behaviours during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Dominici, Andrea & Boncinelli, Fabio & Gerini, Francesca & Marone, Enrico, 2021. "Determinants of online food purchasing: The impact of socio-demographic and situational factors," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Hood, Nick & Urquhart, Ryan & Newing, Andy & Heppenstall, Alison, 2020. "Sociodemographic and spatial disaggregation of e-commerce channel use in the grocery market in Great Britain," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    4. Rupa Rathee & Pallavi Rajain, 2019. "Online shopping environments and consumer’s Need for Touch," Journal of Advances in Management Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(5), pages 814-826, June.
    5. Truong, Dothang & Truong, My D., 2022. "How do customers change their purchasing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Lindsey G. Smith & Michael J. Widener & Bochu Liu & Steven Farber & Leia M. Minaker & Zachary Patterson & Kristian Larsen & Jason Gilliland, 2022. "Comparing Household and Individual Measures of Access through a Food Environment Lens: What Household Food Opportunities Are Missed When Measuring Access to Food Retail at the Individual Level?," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 112(2), pages 542-562, February.
    7. Jozef Bucko & Lukáš Kakalejčík & Martina Ferencová, 2018. "Online shopping: Factors that affect consumer purchasing behaviour," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1535751-153, January.
    8. Rupa Rathee & Pallavi Rajain, 2019. "Online shopping environments and consumer’s Need for Touch," Journal of Advances in Management Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(5), pages 814-826, June.
    9. Azarnoush Ansari & Arash Riasi, 2019. "Using decision trees to analyse the customers' shopping location preferences," International Journal of Business Excellence, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 18(2), pages 174-202.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Francisco Pais & António Cardoso Marques & José Alberto Fuinhas, 2022. "The cost of healthier and more sustainable food choices: Do plant-based consumers spend more on food?," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Francesca Serravalle & Milena Viassone & Giacomo Chiappa, 2022. "Sensory disclosure in an augmented environment: memory of touch and willingness to buy," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2022(4), pages 401-417, December.
    3. Leo Van Hove, 2022. "Consumer characteristics and e-grocery services: the primacy of the primary shopper," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 241-266, June.
    4. Wang, Jiawei, 2023. "The relationship between loneliness and consumer shopping channel choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Barbara Urszula Buraczyńska & Anna Elżbieta Żelazna & Agnieszka Barbara Bojanowska, 2022. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Behaviours of Polish Consumers in the Organic Products Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-12, September.
    6. Beckers, Joris & Cardenas, Ivan & Sanchez-Diaz, Ivan, 2022. "Managing household freight: The impact of online shopping on residential freight trips," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 299-311.
    7. De Canio, Francesca & Fuentes-Blasco, Maria, 2021. "I need to touch it to buy it! How haptic information influences consumer shopping behavior across channels," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Yuen, Kum Fai & Chua, Jie Ying & Li, Xue & Wang, Xueqin, 2023. "The determinants of users’ intention to adopt telehealth: Health belief, perceived value and self-determination perspectives," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Arroyos-Calvera, Danae & Covey, Judith & McDonald, Rebecca, 2023. "Are distributional preferences for safety stable? A longitudinal analysis before and after the COVID-19 outbreak," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    10. Panduru Andrei-Dorian, 2021. "The Profile Of The European E-Buyer– The Dynamics And The Acquisition Criteria," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 5, pages 246-249, October.
    11. Jianxin Guo & Songqing Jin & Jichun Zhao & Yuhua Li, 2023. "E‐commerce and supply chain resilience during COVID‐19: Evidence from agricultural input e‐stores in China," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 369-393, June.
    12. Junming Liu & Weiwei Chen & Jingyuan Yang & Hui Xiong & Can Chen, 2022. "Iterative Prediction-and-Optimization for E-Logistics Distribution Network Design," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 34(2), pages 769-789, March.
    13. Jingci Xie & Jianjian Liu & Xin Huo & Qingchun Meng & Mengyu Chu, 2021. "Fresh Food Dual-Channel Supply Chain Considering Consumers’ Low-Carbon and Freshness Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-29, June.
    14. Jee-Won Kang & Young Namkung, 2022. "Measuring the Service Quality of Fresh Food Delivery Platforms: Development and Validation of the “Food PlatQual” Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-19, May.
    15. Shi, Kunbo & De Vos, Jonas & Cheng, Long & Yang, Yongchun & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "The influence of the built environment on online purchases of intangible services: Examining the mediating role of online purchase attitudes," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 116-126.
    16. Mohammed Arshad Khan & Vivek & Syed Mohd Minhaj & Mohd Afzal Saifi & Shahid Alam & Asif Hasan, 2022. "Impact of Store Design and Atmosphere on Shoppers’ Purchase Decisions: An Empirical Study with Special Reference to Delhi-NCR," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, December.
    17. Christina Kleisiari & Marie-Noelle Duquenne & George Vlontzos, 2021. "E-Commerce in the Retail Chain Store Market: An Alternative or a Main Trend?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-21, April.
    18. Zhang, Dianfeng & Shen, Zifan & Li, Yanlai, 2023. "Requirement analysis and service optimization of multiple category fresh products in online retailing using importance-Kano analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Yajia Liang & Taiyang Zhong & Jonathan Crush, 2022. "Boon or Bane? Urban Food Security and Online Food Purchasing during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Nanjing, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, June.
    20. Kvalsvik, Fifi, 2022. "Understanding the role of situational factors on online grocery shopping among older adults," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    decision-making; consumers’ preferences; data mining; decision trees; shopping behaviour indicators;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C44 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rfe:zbefri:v:41:y:2023:i:1:p:157-181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Danijela Ujcic (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efrijhr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.