Critical Factors Influencing Millennials' Online Retailing Repurchase and Switching Behaviour in Lagos Metropolis using Analytical Hierarchy Process

Abstract

The emergence of online retailing in Lagos metropolis brought about new challenges in the retailing business operation and consumer shopping behaviour. Understanding and predicting post-purchase factors used by online retailing consumers in the evaluation of online retailing industry in Lagos metropolis has became a pressing issue for online retailing service providers. This study explores the application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to investigate factors that are critical for online consumers repurchase and switching behaviour. A sample of 380 millennial online retailing consumers among MBA part-time students were drawn from tertiary institutions in Lagos metropolis using a multistage sampling process. The data obtained was analysed using descriptive statistics and the Super Decision Lens 3.2.0 software. The result from the AHP analysis revealed that the most critical factor in the evaluation of the online retailing service providers is information quality, followed by service quality, vendor dimension, system quality while the least factor is the consumer dimension. This shows that among the five criteria identified in determining consumers’ online retailing post-purchase evaluation, information quality was rated highest, indicating that online retailing consumers are more concerned with the amount, accuracy and the form of information about the goods and services offered on online retailing service providers websites.  The implication of this is that e-loyalty among online consumers is not guaranteed and the model applied in this study would assist online retailing service providers to formulate appropriate competitive strategies. Hence, there is a need for online retailing service providers to re-evaluate policies in line with the identified factors in this study for sustainable competitive advantage.