Author(s): Jayjit Chakraborty
This study presents a dataset-based analysis of online food and grocery shopping behaviour in India, which comprises of 421 valid responses and 55 observed variables. The instrument collects data on demographics, purchase frequency and expenditure indicators, platform preferences, and a comprehensive array of perceptual factors including usability and convenience, information accessibility, payment security, credibility of information and reviews, personalisation, perceived risk and effort, logistics and complaint resolution, hygiene and delivery safety, hedonic experience and aesthetic appeal, lifestyle compatibility, variety of assortment, perceptions of freshness and quality equivalence, price prominence and promotional appeal, as well as social influence. Utilising the Technology Acceptance Model and its extensions (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh et al., 2003), perceived risk theories (Bauer, 1960; Slovic, 1987), service quality frameworks (Parasuraman et al., 1988), and relationship marketing trust and commitment theories (Morgan & Hunt, 1994), the study transforms measured variables into internally consistent composite constructs and investigates their relationships with advocacy and continuance outcomes present in the dataset. Reliability diagnostics demonstrate acceptable to good internal consistency for the majority of multi-item composites (Cronbach’s alpha ≈ 0.61–0.81), hence endorsing construct development in a strictly measurementdriven approach. Regression and logistic models show that perception of risk/effort and social influence are the important predictors of recommendation and continuance intention, but usability/convenience and service/logistics capabilities also exhibit the strong relationships with retention intention. This analysis indicates that there is a significant gap in terms of execution: respondents rate payment security, billing, tracking, transaction modes, high, but the confidence in the authenticity of the reviews, clarity of value-for-money, responsiveness to complaints, and worries about the issue of quantity compromise are relatively lower. The implications of the results in the architecture and governance of Indian e-retail are stated and the arguments that the dataset can and cannot support are carefully considered.