Investigating webrooming behavior: a case of Indian luxury consumers

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the current study is to examine why luxury consumers webroom. The study further examines the intervening effects of social norms, age, and gender.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional data from 374 Indian luxury consumers was collected using questionnaire surveys. Confirmatory factor analysis, covariance-based structural equation modeling and PROCESS macro were used to analyze the data.FindingsFindings suggest that perceived usefulness of searching online, sales-staff assistance, socialization, and need for touch have significant positive effect on attitude toward webrooming. The moderation effect findings suggest that subjective norm significantly moderates the association between attitude toward webrooming and webrooming intention.Practical implicationsPractically, the findings are likely to aid luxury marketers in designing effective channel strategies to maximize their reach via both offline and online channel.Originality/valueThis study provides several contributions to the luxury marketing and retailing literature by examining luxury consumers' webrooming intention.