IMPACT OF PERCEIVED RISK ON ONLINE IMPULSE BUYING TENDENCY: SPECIAL REFERENCE TO BATTICALOA DISTRICT

Abstract

The rapid growth of the Internet, social media usage, und .uj.o--erce have drastically changed consumer lifestyles and buying patterns by enabling more convenient and comfortable online platforms. Most of the online shopping that takes place is the result of the impulsiveness of consumers, as they tend to buy on impulse. Sri Lanka is one of the growing markets in online retailing, therefore the industry is trying to make consumers more impulsive to increase the sales of their products and revenue, but the major obstacle for online retailers is to make impulsiveness regarding their products among consumers. The main reason is that customers experience panic when they perceive a risk while getting a desire to purchase a particular product when seeing it online. At that moment, consumers are becoming more aware and less likely to make impulsive purchases in an online context due to the perceived risk. It creates a negative impact on online retailers'who rely on impulse buying to drive sales. Therefore, understanding the impact of perceived risk on online impulse buying tendency is crucial for online retailers looking to increase their sales and customer retention. The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of perceived risk (financial risk, product risk, convenience risk, and delivery risk) on online impulse buying tendency. The data were collected through a self-administrated survey method with the use of a closed structured questionnaire through a simple random sampling technique from 364 respondents of government school teachers in the Batticaloa district. The data was analyzed by using SPSS software and the study used univariate, bivariate, and regression analysis techniques to analyze the data and find the results of the study objectives. Researcher hypothesized and found that overall perceived risk, financial risk, and product risk were found to have a moderately negative relationship with online impulse buying tendency whereas convenience risk and delivery risk had a negative but weaker relationship with online impulse buying tendency. The study also suggested recommendations to online retailers to develop effective strategies to mitigate risk and encourage impulse buying tendency