This study explores the experiences of Cebuanos in shopping online during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigates the factors that influence customer satisfaction in this context. The research aims to provide insights into the challenges, preferences, and satisfaction levels of online shoppers in Cebu, Philippines, during a period marked by significant shifts in consumer behavior due to the pandemic. Furthermore, the research delves into the influence of demographic factors such as age, gender, income level, and previous online shopping experience on customer satisfaction and shopping behavior. It seeks to identify patterns, preferences, and areas of improvement that can enhance the online shopping experience for Cebuano consumers and contribute to the growth of e-commerce in the region. Overall, this study contributes valuable insights to the field of e-commerce and consumer behavior, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and underscores the importance of customer-centric approaches in shaping the future of online shopping experiences in Cebu and beyond.
I. INTRODUCTION
Due to the rapid advancement of the internet, mobile applications, and numerous digital innovations, online shopping is thriving in the Philippines. It is a simple solution to the COVID-19 pandemic and hectic lifestyle that the globe is currently experiencing. According to a Statista analysis, the Philippines surpasses its Southeast Asian neighbor to rank third among the world's fastest-growing e-commerce markets [1]. In addition, research indicated that Filipinos preferred to purchase online due to the ease of not having to visit and wait in lines at physical stores (58%), better pricing (47%), and bargains (46%) [2].
A crucial component of successful e-commerce is the analysis of consumer purchasing behavior. According to a study, it is challenging to establish e-commerce without understanding the elements that encourage online purchasing [3]. E-commerce must determine the criteria they should adhere to and the variables they must meet. Knowledge exploration was defined as an individual's actions when purchasing online, according to a study that was undertaken in order to discover characteristics of persons who make online purchases [4].
According to a different study, sentiments and a shift in consumers' views regarding online shopping are important online shopping determinants [6-7]. Contrarily, a study demonstrates that online advertising, enjoyment, social influence, and risk perception all have a substantial impact on the decision to shop online [8]. Moreover, the elements that affect customers the most are those that relate to consumer feedback, trust, perceived utility, and information quality [9–10]. Word-of-mouth, loyalty, and post-recovery pleasure were found to be additional factors by a study [3]. Price, availability, scarcity, product information, circumstances, and social media may all have an impact on consumers' purchasing decisions, according to another study [11]. Customer satisfaction was the subject of an empirical investigation into online buying, and the findings showed that loyalty, price apathy, quality, time, and information accessibility have a big impact on it. [12-13].
The goal of this study is to identify the variables influencing Cebuanos' online customer satisfaction before, during, and after the COVID-19 epidemic. The study seeks to close the gap by establishing the connection between the determinants, purchasing choices, and consumer satisfaction in light of the rising popularity of online shopping.
II. METHODOLOGY
This study covered how consumers make purchases when shopping online. In this study, no specific App or platform was used. The goal of this study was to increase Cebuanos' online customer satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instrument Design.The researcher will utilize a researcher-made questionnaire. For this thesis, the researcher has come up with a questionnaire written in English that does not contain respondent identification to maintain anonymity except for the one being asked for profiling purposes. The instrument is divided into two sections. The first part employs a nominal scale to gather the fundamental data on consumer characteristics to ensure eligibility, including gender, age, marital status, employment status, monthly income, and frequency of online buying each month. The elements impacting consumer purchase decisions were introduced in the second section [3].
Environment.This study will be conducted within the confines of the Municipality of San Fernando, Cebu, where the researcher resides.
Data Collection.The study focuses on a sample of Cebuanos who shop online. Collection of the fielded and answered survey questionnaires shall be done in an orderly fashion to ensure that all questions have been answered and no participant missed any aspect of the survey. Google Forms and other non-physical data collection methods will be employed in data gathering. The researcher will field the questionnaires online and will collect as many retrievals as possible to target respondents. This is to also aid in ensuring that research findings will not be affected by the inadequacy of sample size.
This sampling strategy was employed to find participants because it enables access to a connected network of people and is well-known for being affordable, efficient, and successful [5, 14]. All answered questionnaires shall then be transcribed by encoding the data, organizing them, and then preparing them for data analysis. Data gathered shall be destroyed after completion of the research study.
A valid sample size of 10 was obtained from the online survey's 15 responses, of which 5 were invalid since the respondents had no prior experience with online buying. Participants ranged in age from 23 to 36 with 2 men and 8 women. All respondents willingly participated in the survey. The respondents' descriptive data are displayed in Table 1.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Respondents (N=10)
[Editor’s note: This table is not part of this sample.]
Questionnaire.
The first part of the questionnaire is about the descriptive data of the respondents. It will require the respondents to just provide data as shown in Table 1.
The second part of the questionnaire is a Likert-scale measurement that will determine how influential the factors are in their intention to purchase online. The premise that lies between part 1 and part 2 of the questionnaire is the assumption that Cebuanos may consider certain factors but not find them very important in attributing them to their intention to buy online. There are 18 statements, each representing one factor on the 6 factors being considered. After each statement, the respondents will be required to check whether it is extremely important, very important, less important, and not important in their intention to purchase online. A numerical code is assigned to each scale at 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively. In analyzing the descriptive outcome of this aspect, the researcher is guided by the parameter limits see Table 2.
Table 2. Parameter limits for the descriptive outcome
[Editor’s note: This table is not part of this sample.]
The factors in Table 3 [3] that influence consumer purchase decisions are outlined.
The first component, or technology component (TF) [4], consisted of inquiries regarding knowledge acquisition and possessing superior technology abilities. The second component, operational (OF), is focused on the security, dependability, and educational value of the online shopping experience [15, 16]. Usability, utility, the purchasing experience, and customer feedback are the main topics of the third component, sometimes known as Consumer Factors (CS) [3, 12, 16]. The fourth component is the accessibility of product information, product categories, and services identified as Products/Services (P/S) [10]. The fifth element, or pricing factor (PF), is where sales, discounts, and other incentives are taken into account [3, 5, 17–18]. Last but not least, the degree to which Cebuanos are satisfied with their online buying.
III. RESULTS
Table 3.List of factors, and Questions.
[Editor’s note: This table is not part of this sample.]
One (1) indication in the technological components received the highest weighted mean of 3.2 out of the three statements, "easy to navigate." A weighted mean of 3.0 was obtained for one operational indication, "it saves a lot of time." In addition, one indicator in Product/Service obtained a weighted mean of 3.2, which is "I can easily find and buy various products," and one item in the Consumer factor got a weighted mean of 3.1, which is "I find enjoyment in browsing the products."
One indicator for pricing received a weighted mean of 3.3, "I shop online when there are sales," while the indicator for customer satisfaction received a weighted mean of 3.1, "I will continue to buy as long as I am satisfied with the product." But intriguingly, every indicator from the six criteria was found very important, as shown in Table 3.
IV. DISCUSSION
The examination of the data showed that the most significant predictors of the buying decision are the pricing factor and the products/services. The outcome is in line with a prior study that found that the availability of product information, product type, specification, and competitive pricing can all have a favorable impact on consumers' purchasing decisions when they shop online [3, 11]. This study found that Cebuanos look for more information that matches their tastes when shopping online. It's interesting to note that the elements with the largest indirect impact on customer satisfaction were determined to be products/services and pricing.
The analysis of the data revealed that the factors of pricing and goods/services are the most important predictors of the purchasing decision. The results are consistent with a previous study that discovered that consumers' purchase decisions when they shop online can be positively impacted by the availability of product information, product type, specification, and competitive pricing [3, 11]. According to this study, Cebuanos who shop online look for additional details that suit their preferences. It's noteworthy to notice that pricing and products/services were shown to have the biggest indirect effects on customer satisfaction.
The influence of sales advertising is still given less weight than the needs and desires of Cebuanos [9]. According to the study, consumers' purchase decisions are somewhat influenced by their online shopping experiences. Purchase intention may be influenced by online buying experiences and motives [5]. Additionally, the pursuit of information influences purchasing decisions. It implies that Cebuanos may not be able to satisfy their online buying needs due to the limited application of the e-commerce browser.
Customers can easily compare a variety of products from one location when using a product comparison application in an online store [11]. Surprisingly, the study was unable to find any evidence of a statistically significant impact of operational factors on satisfaction and purchasing decisions. This finding runs counter to the majority of studies [3, 8-9, 16].
Security, however, has a tenuous relationship with consumer happiness, according to one study [13]. This could be because consumers have more trust in online transactions the longer they buy there. Additionally, purchasing choices had a big impact on customer satisfaction. There is a connection between satisfaction and intentions for continued use [15]. If their prior online
purchases went well, Cebuanos are more likely to continue doing so.
Overall, the study showed that the five identified characteristics had a considerable impact on consumer purchasing behavior, which has an impact on customer satisfaction. Online platforms can give these things that need to be improved more priority by learning what Cebuano users are interested in. Therefore, all online platforms can concentrate on the strategy they can execute to stay ahead as top e-commerce versus its rivals in Cebu in particular and in the Philippines in general by knowing what their customers want.
Although this study adds to the theory and practice of e-commerce sites, it contains shortcomings that can be resolved in further studies. First, additional research into the relationships between elements that might influence purchasing decisions is crucial in the future studies. Customer Loyalty might be incorporated into the study to make it more pertinent. Second, despite the author's efforts to get a large sample, the number of responders was poor, which might have had an impact on the results. It may be useful also to include the respondents' demographic information and length of online buying experience. Last but not least, kindly take note that buying patterns changed after Covid-19 as shown in Table 4.
Table 4.Comparison of online purchases after Covid.
[Editor’s note: This table is not part of this sample.]
According to Table 4, there has been a reduction in respondents' online purchases, which will be a focus of the upcoming study on developing an eCommerce business continuity plan. A business continuity plan explains the steps to keep your online store operational in the event of a natural disaster or technological failure. In the event of a data breach, warehouse disaster, IT server issue, or any other significant disruption, failing to have a strategy in place might be detrimental to your company's income and reputation.
Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of having a business continuity plan, a poll found that nearly three out of four small enterprises lack one. A business continuity plan will equip you with the tools you need to react promptly to a crisis and minimize any possible harm it may create.
V. CONCLUSION
In the Philippines, the COVID-19 pandemic is a significant problem [19]. The rise of internet shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines makes it crucial to comprehend Cebuanos' purchasing behavior. This study's goal was to identify the variables influencing online shoppers' satisfaction. In this study, 10 Cebuanos who provided legitimate responses took part. The causal relationship between the discovered components was validated and put to the test using a Likert-scale evaluation.
The findings showed that factors such as goods/services, pricing, consumers, operational factors, and technology factors all had a substantial impact on consumer purchasing decisions, which also had an impact on customer satisfaction. Surprisingly, all variables were found to be important as a predictor of consumer choices and satisfaction. The study's findings may be useful to e-commerce platforms and companies, helping them to better understand the factors that influence consumer happiness and purchasing decisions.
But as the COVID-19 epidemic has starkly shown, it's not always possible or even advantageous to resume normal operations after a calamity. Following the epidemic, several businesses noticed a change in what their customers wanted from them, and many responded by changing their product lineup and value propositions. As a result, with BCP, the key question is not just how rapidly an organization can restart activities, but also how quickly it can make changes to them.
As a result, agility will play a bigger role in BCP going forward, and it might even be necessary for BCP to have specific ways of determining whether consumer needs have changed in relation to the organization's previous business model. Therefore, recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) are two essential components of business continuity and catastrophe recovery planning. In order to fulfill client demand again quickly after a disruption in business, they define the organization's objectives in terms of this capability.
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Appendix A
Questionnaire
Dear respondents,
Please answer the questionnaire that follows as honestly as you can, your
responses will be helpful and vital.
The Researcher
Profiling:
Gender:
Age:
Marital Status:
Single
Married
Others
Employment Status:
Employed Full-time Employed part-time Self-employed
Monthly Income (Php):
Below 10,000
10,001 to 25,000
25,001 to 35,000
35,001 to 45,000
Above 45,001
Frequency of online Shopping purchases in a month (during covid)
1 time
2 to 3 times
More than 3 times
Rarely
Frequency of online Shopping purchases in a month (after covid)
1 time
2 to 3 times
More than 3 times
Rarely
1. How would you rate the following factors in terms of importance that affect your buying decision? Check the column corresponding to your best response after each statement.
[Editor’s note: This table is not included in this sample.]
Legend: A numerical code is assigned in each scale at 4,3,2,1 respectively. Check the column corresponding to your best response after each statement. 4 – if it is extremely important, 3 - for very important, 2 – less important, and 1 – not important in your intention to shop online.
Factor:
TF – Technological factor
OF – Operational factor
CF – Consumer factor
P/S – Product/Services
PF – Pricing factor
CS – Customer Satisfaction
Appendix B
[Editor’s note: This table is not included in this sample.]