The explosion of the Internet has caused substantial growth in electronic commerce (e-commerce) as many businesses found that the start of online businesses provides unparalleled opportunities for organizations to extend their operations. The Internet is a medium that is gaining popularity across the world. In this age of globalization, the Internet has gone beyond networking and is now concentrating on the delivery and trading of information, goods, and services. This increasing use of the internet has been simplified by the growing spread of e-commerce websites, mobile commerce (m-commerce) applications such as mobile phones online shopping, and mobile payments for different categories of products, as well as food ones.
Developments in technology are allowing business transactions to take place and have led to an expansion of shopping choices, beyond traditional methods that used to impose time and displacement constraints. Nowadays, people across the globe have moved towards the intensive use of the Internet as a market channel, owing to the number of advantages it offers. Online grocery shopping is a way of purchasing foodstuffs including perishables and other household supplies through a web-based shopping service and it is significantly different from general online shopping due to the characteristics of the food products and the frequency of the purchasing activity.
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As stated in a report from the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen, around 70% of consumers will shop online for groceries by 2024. The implementation of online shopping, mainly online grocery shopping, continues to witness incredible growth. Research shows that the majority of shoppers are expected to be buying their grocery shopping online and nowadays even Mauritius is trying to keep pace with the technological advancement which is prevailing in the market. Other changes have greatly contributed to the rise in e-shopping, particularly due to the increased use of credit cards and the progress of secure online payment solutions. Even though online grocery shopping is a relatively new environment, it has experienced continuous growth worldwide.
Another factor that has led to a rise in online shopping is the current COVID-19 pandemic which has drastically changed and redefined the daily way of life. With the lockdown resulting from the pandemic, buying products online has become a facility for the community and this applies to food products. Even during the pandemic, groceries are still basic human necessities. For instance, traditional grocery shopping inconveniences are eliminated which makes online grocery shopping even more tempting. Therefore, from banking, and bill payment to purchasing, the Internet has brought forward a new platform for these activities to be undertaken. All this has led numerous food companies to re-introduce themselves by announcing technological solutions for the management of online orders and for home delivery to meet the growing demand from consumers.
Although Mauritius is going through a gradual proliferation of online grocery shopping, Mauritians are already being immersed in the e-commerce waves. In this digital age, consumers prefer not to spend long hours in supermarkets to shop for their groceries, as well as for social distancing reasons. However traditional shopping methods persist and the integration of online shopping into the lifestyle of Mauritians is far from those of similar developed nations where online shopping has already become a common practice.
In light of the rise in online shopping, the Mauritian shopping landscape is undergoing significant transformations and the consequence is that traditional retailers are trying to adjust their strategies to take advantage of this transformation. Indeed, there are many success stories of organizations that adopted e-commerce, however, many organizations are still lagging in establishing an online presence. This is because several problems can emerge while adopting e-commerce. The failures of e-commerce in Mauritius have also often been attributed to the conservative nature of Mauritians, given that typical Mauritians prefer their conventional way of making their purchase rather than going online.
The purpose of this study is to assess how effective online grocery shopping has been in Mauritius over the years. The study will also analyze the perceptions that Mauritians have towards online grocery shopping compared to conventional grocery shopping methods, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic which is redefining the purchasing behavior of consumers. The various factors which encourage or deter consumers from using online grocery shopping will be investigated as well. The different factors that influence online grocery shopping behavior among Mauritian people will also be identified and how online shopping behavior is related to demographics such as age, gender, income, occupation, education, marital status, and internet access at home. These factors will enable us to predict future online grocery shopping intentions.
Therefore, taking into consideration that online grocery shopping is still in its early stage of development, the purpose of this study is to fill that knowledge gap by exploring Mauritian attitudes and behavior towards online grocery shopping and how they relate to this new shopping channel. The study aims to analyze and understand the attitudes, perceptions, and behavior of Mauritian residents towards online grocery shopping. The study will revolve mostly around the following research objectives.
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