PRICE TRACKING BEHAVIOUR IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE AND THE MODERATING ROLE OF FAIR PRICE PERCEPTION

With the rapid advancements in the Electronic Commerce sector, modern consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the prospects of the various pricing strategies, which have made their purchase decisions more sophisticated. Recent literature portrays an increased tendency among online shoppers to track product prices and wait for price markdowns prior to making their purchase decisions. This act of consumers is seen as strategic purchase behaviour, which is necessary for sellers to be aware of and frame their counter-strategies accordingly to prevent potential loss of revenue. This study aims at analyzing and measuring crucial factors that influence price tracking among online consumers. These include shopping experience, fair price perceptions and awareness about dynamic pricing. Using PLS SEM, this study also analyses the moderating effect of fair price perceptions on the overall shopping experience and price tracking behaviour of consumers. Statistical results reveal all three factors have significant direct and positive influence on price tracking behaviour and the moderation effect is significant and negatively influences consumer price tracking behaviour.