Online consumer behavior and its relationship with socio-demographics, shopping orientations, need for emotion, and fashion leadership

With online shopping entering a consolidation phase, there is a need for research differentiating online consumer behavior for a range of product categories. Also, individual differences in online shopping need to be considered. Therefore, a survey (N = 405) assessing online information search and online shopping for nine different product categories as well as socio-demographic and individual variables (shopping orientation, need for emotion, and fashion leadership) was conducted in Germany. Results showed significant differences in online information search as well as shopping regarding gender, status of employment, and education. Moreover, individual variables were differently related to online shopping behavior. Findings are discussed with respect to the future development of the internet as well as scientific and practical in-sights.