An Empirical Evidence Study of Consumer Perception and Socioeconomic Profiles for Digital Stores in Vietnam

Abstract

Digital stores are spreading their tentacles slowly in Vietnam, the most upcoming economy of the ASEAN region, so it is a relevant and contemporary study to know the perceptual thought and socioeconomic profiles of customers. Since there is a lack of independent study in this area, the relationships can be researched and presented. The context of digitization and consumerism is slowly growing in the Vietnamese market. So, this article studies the factors influencing online consumer perception and purchase orientation for digital stores operating in Vietnam through apps and websites. This study is a bi-phase study. In the first phase, constructs, such as digital store images, digital customer loyalty, satisfaction and digital socio-economic profiles of consumers, are examined. In the second part, the empirical analysis is carried by the authors. The study is done by SPSS 22, R studio, and R-cran software packages. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, very simple structure (VSS) criterion, and parallel analysis are used for the study. Customers have an almost balanced view of shifting to other stores and the image of the digital store, which makes the price have a substantial effect on the digital store image. The education and empathetic nature of employees also affect the way customers complain, and the way delivery is handled, which is Factor 1 for the model. Factor 2 is promotion, pricing, billing ease, or proper billing, which influence the purchasing power of the customer. So, the service provider or digital store has to be cautious of a specific socioeconomic variable. Digital store image is significantly about complaint handling methods, promotional aspects, and image-driven pricing. So the digital store has to be more careful about these factors. So, from the model, it can be concluded that digital consumers’ socioeconomic profiles, the price of the product, and the digital store’s image appear to have a significant relationship. A consumer pattern is having the education and the period of purchase, which explains the relationship better. The level of education and the period of purchase from a digital store also have significant differences among each other. Thus, the digital service provider should consider the level of education and the period of continuous purchase from a digital store as the criteria for evaluating digital customer loyalty. The price of the product seems to be significant as a variable too. The digital store image appears to be substantial for grievances, promotion, and image driven by price. So this considerable relationship has to be taken into consideration by the service provider while focusing on making decisions for customer loyalty.