Compra de alimentos en línea: determinantes y perfil de los compradores en Portugal durante la pandemia
| Autor | Sofia Gomes, João M. Lopes, José Oliveira |
| Cargo | Ph. D. in Economics Professor, Universidade Portucalense Porto, Portugal/Ph. D. in Management Researcher, Miguel Torga Institute of Higher Education and University of Beira Interior Covilhã, Portugal/Ph. D. in Management Professor, Instituto Superior Politécnico de Gaya Porto, Portugal |
73
INNOVAR
COMPRA DE ALIME NTOS EN LÍNEA: DE TERMINANT ES Y PERFIL DE LOS
COMPRADORE S EN PORTUGAL DU RANTE LA PA NDEMIA
RESUMEN: la pandemia de COVID -19 permitió acelerar la a ceptación y el uso de
comportamie ntos e innovaciones exis tentes por parte de la so ciedad y el mer-
cado, entre los que d estaca la compra de aliment os en línea, mecanismo que
hizo posible que las em presas de alimentos r ediseñaran sus modelo s de negocio
para hacer frent e a la demanda durante la pandemia . Esta investigación t iene
como objetivo re conocer el perfil de lo s compradores de alimento s en línea en
Portugal y compr ender los determ inantes de la intenc ión de compra de alimen tos
mediante este c anal en el context o de la pandemia. La meto dología aplicada es
de tipo cuantita tivo, con el uso de mínimo s cuadrados parciale s para contrastar
las hipótesis for muladas en el modelo es tructural prop uesto. Los dato s utilizados
resultaron de la apl icación de un cuestionar io en línea a 358 consumidores de
alimentos en Por tugal. Los result ados muestran qu e los factores si tuacionales di-
rectamente r elacionados con los há bitos alimenticio s impactan positi vamente la
experiencia de c ompra de aliment os en línea, favo reciendo la int ención de compr a
bajo esta modalid ad durante la pandemia de C OVID-19. En cuanto al per fil del e-
consumidor, parec e que tener un vehículo inf luye negativame nte en la intención
de compra de aliment os de manera elect rónica, mientra s que el nivel de ingreso s
se constituy e como un factor positiv o. Desde una perspect iva teórica, esta in -
vestigación ap orta a la literatura s obre el comercio elec trónico de alimentos en
tiempos de pandemi a, que actualmente es u n tema poco abordado. E n cuanto a
las implicacione s prácticas , la identifica ción de tendenci as en el comport amiento
de los consumidore s durante y despu és de la pandemia pe rmiten que las emp resas
puedan anticipar se y prepararse mejor p ara satisfacer las nu evas necesidades y
perfiles de co nsumidores, desar rollando nuevas estr ategias e increment ando sus
niveles de venta s en el canal electró nico. Dado que Port ugal cuenta con una po -
blación digital p equeña y menos de 35 % de sus ha bitantes son n ativos digital es,
el protagonismo d e los estudios en esta á rea del conocimiento e s modesto. Por
ello, la presente in vestigación result a ser original e innovadora, y a que son es-
casos los est udios que analizan el c omportami ento del consumid or en el comercio
electrónico de a limentos de dicho p aís, y específ icamente duran te una pandemia.
PALABRAS CLAVE: comercio electrónico, comportamiento, intención de compra,
COVID-19, online, alimentos.
COMPRAS DE AL IMENTOS ON-LINE : DETERMINAN TES E PERFIL DOS
COMPRADORE S PORTUGUESES N O CONTEXT O PANDÊMICO
RESUMO: a pandemia ocasionad a pela covid-19 trouxe a opor tunidade de ace-
lerar a aceitaç ão e o uso de comportament os e inovações existent es pela so-
ciedade e pelo merc ado. Entre essas inovações , destaca-se o e-commerce de
alimentos, que per mitiu que as empresas de a limentos redesenha ssem seus mo-
delos para enfren tar a demanda durante a pande mia. Esta pesquisa te m como
objetivo recon hecer o perfil do s compradores de alim entos on-line dent ro de Por-
tugal e entender os d eterminantes da inten ção de compra de alimento s on-line
no contexto da p andemia. A metodologia aplic ada é quantitativa, a par tir do
método Parcial L east Squares p ara testar as h ipóteses fo rmuladas pelo mo delo es-
trutural propo sto. Os dados u tilizados re sultaram da apli cação de um que stionário
on-line a 358 consumido res de alimento s em Portugal . Os resultado s mostram que
fatores situacionais diretamente relacionados ao comportamento alimentar im-
pactam posit ivamente a ex periência de c ompra de aliment os on-line, aum entando
a intenção de comp rar alimentos on-line dura nte a pandemia. Com respe ito ao
perfil do consu midor eletrônico, p arece que possuir um ve ículo influencia n egati-
vamente a intenç ão de comprar alim entos no e-commerce, a o contrário do ní vel de
renda, que se revelo u um fator posit ivo. Quanto ao asp ecto teóric o, esta pesqui sa
colabora para a lit eratura ao contr ibuir com o tema do e-commerce alim entar no
período pandêmic o, que atualmente é muito esc asso. Quanto às contribu ições
práticas, por m eio da identificação da s tendências de comport amento do con-
sumidor durante e apó s a pandemia, as empres as podem antecipar e s e preparar
melhor para novas necessidades e perfis de consumidores e, consequentemente,
desenvolver no vas estraté gias e aumentar suas ve ndas no e-commerce. Como P or-
tugal tem uma peque na população digital e me nos de 35% de nativos digit ais,
o destaque dos es tudos nessa área é m enor. A pesquisa atual é or iginal e inova-
dora, pois estudos que analisam o comportamento do consumidor no comércio
eletrônico de alim entos neste país, e specificamen te durante uma pandemia , são
mais escassos.
PALAVRA S-CHAV E: e-commerce, compor tamento, inte nção de compra, co vid-19,
on-line, alimento.
LES ACHATS ALIME NTAIRES EN LIGNE : DÉ TERMINANTS E T PROFIL DES
ACHETEURS POR TUGAIS DANS LE CO NTEXTE DE L A PANDÉMIE
RÉSUMÉ : La pandémi e de COVID-19 a été l'occasion d'acc élérer l'acceptation
et l'utilisatio n des comportements exi stants et des innovations p ar la société
et le marché. Parmi c es innovations, l'alim entation en ligne se dist ingue, ce qui
permet aux entre prises alimentaire s de redéfinir leurs mo dèles pour faire face à
la demande pendant la pa ndémie. Cett e recherche vis e à reconnaître le pr ofil des
acheteurs d'alim ents en ligne au Portug al et à comprendre les déte rminants de
l'intention d'ac hat d'aliments e n ligne dans le conte xte de la pandémi e. La métho -
dologie appliquée e st quantitative, en u tilisant la méthode des m oindres carrés
partiels pour t ester les hypothès es formulées par le modèle s tructurel proposé .
Les données util isées proviennent de l 'application d'un ques tionnaire en ligne à
358 consommateur s de produits alimen taires au Port ugal. Les résult ats montrent
que les facteur s situationnels dire ctement liés au comp ortement aliment aire ont
un impact positi f sur l'expérience d'acha t de produits alimentaire s en ligne, en
augmentant l'int ention d'acheter des pr oduits alimentaires en l igne pendant la
période COVID-19. En ce qui concern e le profil de l'e -consomma teur, il semble que l e
fait de posséder un véhicule influence négativement l'intention d'acheter des ali-
ments en ligne, co ntrairement a u niveau de reve nu, qui est un fac teur posit if. Sur le
plan théorique, c ette recher che contribue à l a littératur e en apportant un e contri-
bution sur le thème d e l'e-commerce ali mentaire en périod e de pandémie, ce qui
est actuellem ent très rare. Qu ant aux contribu tions pratiqu es, grâce à l'ide ntifica-
tion des tendanc es dans le comportem ent des consommateur s pendant et après
la pandémie, les ent reprises peu vent mieux antic iper et se préparer a ux nouveaux
besoins et prof ils des consommat eurs, et donc déve lopper de nouvelle s stratégies
et augmenter leur s ventes de commerce él ectronique. Comme l e Portugal a une
petite populat ion numérique et moins de 35% de na tifs numériques, la pr oémi-
nence des étude s dans ce domaine es t mineure. La re cherche act uelle est origin ale
et innovante, ca r les études qui analyse nt le comportement d es consommateurs
dans le commerce éle ctronique alim entaire dans ce pa ys, spécif iquement pendan t
une pandémie, sont p lus rares.
MOTS-CLÉ : Commerc e électronique, comportement, intention d'achat, COVID-19,
en ligne, alimentation.
SUGGESTED CITATION: Gomes, S., Lopes, J. & Oliveira, J.
(2023). Online food shopping: determinants and profile of
Portuguese buyers´ in the context of the COVID-19 pande-
mic. Innovar, 33(87), 73-91. https://doi.org/10.15446/
innovar.v33n87.105507
JEL CODES: E21, M31, J16.
RECEIVED: 28/2/2022 APPROVED: 30/7/2022
This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCom-
mercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Marketing
* This paper is derived f rom the Projec t “UIDB/04630/2020,” financed by NECE-UBI, Rese arch
Centre for Busines s Sciences. This work was funded by F CT—Fundação para a C iência e
a Tecnologia, IP.
Online Food Shopping:
Determinants and Profile
of Portuguese Buyers in
the Pandemic Context
*
Sofia Gomes
Ph. D. in Economics
Professor, Universidade Portucalense
Porto, Portugal
Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies – REMIT
Author’s role: intellectual and experimental
sofiag@upt.pt
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0326-0655
João M. Lopes
Ph. D. in Management
Researcher, Miguel Torga Institute of Higher Education and University of Beira Interior
Covilhã, Portugal
Research Unit in Business Sciences NECE-UBI
Author’s role: intellectual and experimental
Joao.nuno.morais.lopes@ubi.pt
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2968-4026
José Oliveira
Ph. D. in Management
Professor, Instituto Superior Politécnico de Gaya
Porto, Portugal
Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies – REMIT
Author’s role: intellectual and experimental
jcastroliveira@ispgaya.pt
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4014-8491
ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic brought the opportunity to accelerate the acceptance and
usage of existing behaviors and innovations by society and the market. Amongst these innovations,
e-commerce food stands out, allowing food companies to redesign their models to face the demand
during the pandemic. This research aims to recognize the profile of online food buyers within
Portugal and understand the determinants of online food purchase intention in the context of the
pandemic. The methodology applied is quantitative, using the Partial Least Squares method to test
the hypotheses formulated by the proposed structural model. The data used resulted from applying
an online questionnaire to 358 food consumers in Portugal. The results show that situational
factors directly related to eating behavior positively impact the online food shopping experience,
increasing the intention to purchase food online during COVID-19. Concerning the profile of the e-
consumer, it seems that owning a vehicle negatively influences the intention to purchase food in
e-commerce, as opposed to the level of income, which is a positive factor. On the theoretical side,
this research contributes to the literature by contributing on the theme of food e-commerce in a
pandemic time, which is currently very scarce. As for practical contributions, through the identifi-
cation of the trends in consumer behavior during and after the pandemic, companies can better
74 INNOVAR VOL. 33, NÚM. 87, ENERO-MARZO DEL 2023
Marketing
Introduction
The recent COVID-19 pandemic caused an upsurge of stress
and anxiety never seen in the past years (Zwanka & Cher yl,
2020) and instigated changes in traditional social contacts
such as job, school, leisure, and shopping behavior (Eger et
al., 2021). Since pandemics af fect consumer behavior (Koch
et al., 2020), when COVID-19 arose, polic ymakers in nu-
merous countries quickly realized that messages regarding
food availability should be announced to avoid shopping
panic and hoarding. Policymakers also tried to minimize the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing staff, mes-
sengers, and volunteers assuring that supply chains were
not short of food and cleaning products. Consequently,
during the mandatory confinement, the supply chains
were never interrupted, despite the fear of the scarcit y of
available produc ts (Hao et al., 2020; Oliveira et al., 2021).
With the emergence of COVID-19, consumer behavior to-
wards food consumption has changed, and consumers
began accumulating food, consequently increasing their
domestic stocks (Long & Khoi, 2020). Moreover, the
number of consumers who started to prefer to buy food
online (to practice social distancing and to be able to have
food products without facing long and dangerous lines in
stores and supermarkets) increased substantially (Alaimo
et al., 2020). Likewise, there has been a change in the use
of digital technology and its applications, making it more
common to use it to shop online and not be isolated from
society (Sheth, 2020).
For Kirk and Rif kin (2020), history has proved that there
are transformations within society in times of crisis. These
authors point out changes in consumer behavior in three
different stages: i) reacting (e.g., hoarding and rejecting),
ii) coping (e.g., social connectedness maintaining, DIY be-
haviors, changing views of brands), and iii) longer-term
adapting (e.g., possible changes in consumption and indi-
vidual and social identity).
In recent years, academics have seen a growing interest
in investigating new information technologies (Gao et al.,
2020; Goldfarb & Tucker, 2019). Most investigations study
e-commerce through the economic, cultural, and social
characteristics of users (cultural differences, salary, place
of residence, qualifications, age, habits, and gender) (Bin
et al., 2003; Heidarian, 2019; Norum, 2008; Stylianou et
al., 2003; Yoon, 2009; Zhu et al., 2020). The interest in
studying e-commerce was more accentuat ed by the current
COVID-19 pandemic.
At this point, e-commerce channels help to control food
purchases, therefore, disabling panic and preventing consu-
mers from accumulating food. E-commerce allows con-
sumers to make their purchases without leaving their
homes, thus avoiding large groups of people in physical
stores, and assures that consumers are not infected with
the COVID-19 pandemic, as they do not need to leave their
homes for shopping. With the advent of this pandemic,
the main increase in consumer spending on groceries was
sensed by online retailers (Grashuis et al., 2020).
To cater to the growing number of e-commerce purchases,
retail food companies have strengthened their food de-
livery services to customers’ homes (Gao et al., 2020; Hao
et al., 2020; Tran, 2021). The number of visitors to retail
food companies’ websites in China increased by 127.5%,
as well as the quantities ordered and the value per order. In
turn, e-commerce purchases for fresh product s (vegetables,
meat, or fish) grew by 167% and purchases by about 80%
(Hao et al., 2020).
Disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, pan-
demics, or others often affect the supply chains and all
their actors (retailers, distributors, sellers, and producers).
Consumers are not indifferent and tend to adapt their be-
havior to the new circumstances they are living. On the
other hand, retailers also tend to adjust to consumers’
needs. However, sometimes under difficult periods such as
COVID-19, retailers have to impose some criteria to main-
tain the fulfillment of orders, e.g., limiting some items to
one per purchase (Grashuis et al., 2020). Thus, the adop-
tion of e-commerce and its development are significant
to examine (Yoon, 2009) as consumers are increasingly
adopting new technologies. In times of pandemic, as a rule,
consumers tend to shop online to avoid becoming infected.
Studies that analyze consumer behavior in e-commerce
food during a pandemic are scarce (Gao et al., 2020; Hao
et al., 2020), being a relevant topic of analysis.
The significant upsurge in online food purchases was also
evidenced in the research by Reardon et al. (2021) and
anticipate and prepare for new consumer needs and profiles, consequently developing new strate-
gies and increasing their e-commerce sales. Since Portugal has a small digital population and less
than 35% of digital natives, the prominence of studies in this area is minor. The current research
is original and innovative, as studies that analyze consumer behavior in food e-commerce in this
country, specifically during a pandemic, are scarcer.
KEYWORDS: behavior, buying intention, COVID-19, E-commerce, food, online.
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